More burning issues: Audio-tech good guys Sonic Solutions confirmed they’re bringing to market a technology that allows video downloaders to copy their content to discs that’ll play on standard DVD players.
The news comes just days after the DVD Copy Control Assn. announced it had cleared software that allows burned discs of downloads to be played on home-system DVD players. Burners and discs utilizing the Sonic Solutions Qflix software aren’t expected until sometime in the first quarter. Blu-ray player maker Pioneer and Dell computers are lined up as supporters of the technology, the L.A. Times reported.
“It removes the last real obstacle toward on-demand movie purchase,” said Van Baker of Gartner Inc. “You don’t have to go to a store anymore. You can just log on, say “I want this for my library, and away you go.”
“It’s not going to take the world by storm, because people haven’t been screaming about the fact that they have to go to the store to buy a DVD,” Baker said.
Sonic Solutions’ press release says the players will run on “new drives by companies such as DataPlay, Pioneer, PLDS (Philips &Lite-On Digital Solutions Corp.), Plextor, TSST (Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp.), and others using special blank discs being released by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM)/Verbatim, and RITEK.”
Dave Habiger, president and CEO of Sonic Solutions, said: “By creating a system that combines the convenience of electronic delivery with the simplicity and compatibility of DVD, we are helping the industry deliver to consumers a far greater range of content than ever before – at home, online, or at their favorite retail location.”
Further Sonic Solutions spin went like so: “Qflix Pro also enables retailers to broaden the number of movies by augmenting physical product with on-demand DVD creation kiosks in their stores. The consumer version of Qflix provides a long-awaited downloading and burning solution for movies and premium video content in computers and consumer electronic devices such as set-top boxes, networked DVD recorders, and DVRs.”
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