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Author Topic: Disney to begin renting Self-Destructing DVD's Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-16-2003 03:24 PM                     Starting this August Disney will start releasing DVD's that will self-destruct in 48 hours. Looks like one of those DIVX guys got a job over at Disney Video. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/media_disney_dvds_dc http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/ontv/052103_nw_disney_technology.html [ 05-21-2003, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Bill Gabel ]  |  IP: Logged John Lasher Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Newark, DE Registered: Aug 2001 posted 05-16-2003 06:11 PM                        Hopefully this will bankrupt the studio. I imagine it will cost somewhere around 5 dollars to get one of these. Why on earth would I put down $5 of my hard earned money to get something for 2 days, when I can get it at the same price for 5 days at Hollywood Video, I can even keep it late, they'll just charge me for an extra 5 days. If anyone in LA law enforcement is reading this, I think the boys at Disney are using some sort of illegal, mind-altering substance!  |  IP: Logged Pete Lawrence Expert Film Handler Posts: 192 From: Middleburg, PA Registered: Aug 1999 posted 05-16-2003 08:27 PM                     I give them credit for trying something different. If it's priced to high the market place will take care of the problem and it will die quietly. However, the self destruction of Disney material is an old tradition that dates back to their IB Technicolor 35mm prints. Disney prints seem to die from vinegar syndrome more than any others. The suspected reason is Disney would rejuvenate prints in an effort to squeeze every nickel they could out of them. This process made the film stock prone to VS. I guarantee someone will be selling a storage box for Disney DVDs that will at least slow the color change down. Check Ebay the day these DVDs hit the stores.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 05-16-2003 09:12 PM                     The technology will serve no purpose, other than to make the disks a "throw-away item" after 48 hours. I think it will be more of a burden on the rental facilities who have to maintain an inventory of the DVD's people want to view at home. I think in the long run, instituting a program like self-distructing DVD's is going to cost more than what it will yield. Another problem I see is they still can be copied perfectly up to the 48-hour time frame. DVD rippers are becoming more popular as time goes on, and many movies DVD's go "out of print" soon after they are released. It will probably stop the sale of rental DVD's of old stock because it is no longer "moving". There simply won't be any available to sell, which will represent a loss of revenue for the rental facility. People can get some good deals on buying used DVD's. They are all over the place. People might catch on to the piracy aspect as being a viable option for adding movies to their personal archives simply because they can no longer buy used stock from the rental facilities. As an example, I can truthfully say that at least 70% of my VHS archives came from used stock sales purchased from rental facilities. With the price of new DVD's, the sales are dropping like a lead bowling ball. The average blue collar worker sees the prices are just too high to plop down 25 bucks to buy a DVD of a movie that is not even worth seeing in the first place. Disney Studio's idea could possibily backfire.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-16-2003 11:48 PM                        Unless I can buy Disney's new disposable DVds for less than $2.00, the plan will not work for me because I can rent both old and new DVDs from $1.35 to $1.85 per day as part of my special senior citizen discount from Tower Video. As a movie lover, I have made an effort to see almost every major film in a theatre up until about three months ago but because of my senior status in renting DVDs and the excellent home theatre system I have, I have decided to see only special films in a theatre and the others at home. Putting up with late comers, cel phone use, people talking and other things that used to annoy me in a theatre is non existent at home. If I have to go to the batroom at a theatre, I would miss at least five to ten minutes of a film. I will not miss out on anything at home because I can press "Pause" when I have to go to the bathroom. I just love it. By the way, tonight's feature at my home theatre will be "BATTLE CRY" with Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Nancy Olson and Tab Hunter and will be in the original CinemaScope ratio and a brand new 5.1 soundtrack remixed from the original four track mag. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Daniel Fuentz Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Fresno, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 05-17-2003 01:20 AM                     I see these as being terribly wasteful. Is Disney also going to start a program to recycle the useless discs? DIVX was a flop -- granted these do not require a special machine to play them, but the idea is the same. Well, as John said, if people don't want them this plan will die a quiet death.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-17-2003 01:58 AM                  Oh sure, I didn't see this thread so Daryl gave me a rash of shit and closed my thread I started on this topic. What a jerk...him not me! >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 05-17-2003 02:07 AM                        My question is "WHY?" What made them want to do this? I'm sure they see tons of dollar signs, but I don't. Covering the already littered landscape with millions of useless DVDs is also an issue. Talk about overflowing landfills. Disney loves waste. Paul, you are contributing to piracy by purchasing USED (gasp) movies!!!!! NONE of the money you paid goes to the studio who made the film. You and people like you will ensure that the movie industry will grind to a halt. How dare you. The studios need your money more than you do. They only made a 4 billion dollar profit last year and that is simply not enough. How can you expect them to survive on only $4 billion profit? Utterly ridiculous. It would have been at least $25 billion if not for you, and that still is not enough. Shame on you. Shame shame!!!  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-17-2003 02:43 AM                  I would NEVER purchase "used" tapes or DVD's. It is akin to taking bread from the mouths of the people that worked so hard to create the fantastic entertaiment that we all enjoy. I think anyone that rips DVDs, or purchases USED CD's, DVD's or tapes are among the lowest of all possible life in the solar system. >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 05-17-2003 03:11 AM                        Being brought up in the automotive and aviation industries, like Phil, I think that anyone who purchases used cars or airplanes are also among the lowest of all possible life in the solar system. In fact, that goes for anybody that has ever purchased used projection equipment or film too!  |  IP: Logged Daniel Fuentz Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Fresno, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 05-17-2003 04:14 AM                     So then what should we do with movies and CD's we don't want anymore? Throw them out? Burn them? Bury them and salt the land so nothing will ever grow there again?? And if I have a car I no longer want, should I just park it on some railroad tracks or drive it off a cliff into the ocean where it will explode upon impact, just like on TV?? </sarcasm> When Garth Brooks was making all that fuss over The Wherehouse selling used CD's, I thought Donna Summer or Olivia-Newton-John oughta publicly denounce the Goodwill store for selling their LP's and not giving them a cut!  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 05-17-2003 12:44 PM                     One thing I like about buying a used VHS movie is that if I don't like the movie, I can always erase it and use the cassette for something else... Hmmmm....2 bucks or less a pop for a used cassette in good condition from the Salvation Army, Good Will, Safeway, or whatever is not too bad of a deal. VHS inventories are dropping like flies. In fact, the last VHS cassette I bought either new or used was well over 5 years ago. I even stooped so low to buy a Pioneer CLD-900 Lazer Disk Player at a garage sale for 30 bucks 12 years ago, and got a bunch of Lazer Disks with it. I dragged it home, cleared the jam, and used it for 10 more years before it finally died. Got 10 years of service out of it. Another low-life thing I pulled was I got a 1983 Honda Civic out of a junk year for $150 bucks. I hung a used door and a used hood (same color) and drove it for 100,000 miles and then gave it away when it finally blew the engine. The last two DVD's I bought were new. Dazed and Confused and Detroit Rock City were the titles.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-17-2003 02:16 PM                     The same goes for any studio that sends out a used print to a theater. That is just wrong! They should strike brand new prints for every engagement. Does anyone care to disagree with me on this one?  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-17-2003 03:39 PM                  In answer to the problem of used and trashed prints going out to theatres, Kodak heard the cries and has released a new product called "FilmX ™". It's a low-cost, high-quality, fine-grain color print stock with a specially formulated emulsion which peels off after 7 days or 50 plays, whichever comes first. This should alleviate the problem of poor print quality arriving at theatres. The base stock can then be used as clear leader, thus helping to protect the environment and preserving our national resources. >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 05-17-2003 04:37 PM                        quote: ...They [studios] should strike brand new prints for every engagement. Does anyone care to disagree with me on this one? Oh, absolutely not! Matter of fact, expanding on Daryl's distain for used-equipment lowlifes, we should insist that all new prints be presented on new projectors, thereby perpetuating the species' (manufacturers, technicians, etc). This equipment should be installed and maintained at studio expense, so as to justify first-week percentages. When the engagement ends, all projectors should be packaged in those corrugated boxes for pickup by Technicolor, along with the prints... after which they'll be melted down and recast for new machines.  |  IP: Logged

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