Disney to remove all extras from rental DVDs as well
Following in Fox’s footsteps, Disney has announced that it will become the second studio to release two different “classes” of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, a “premium” version, and a bare-bones rental version.
Starting in June with the movies Morning Light, Confessions of a Shopaholic and Jonas Brothers: The Concert Experience, the studio will offer the premium version with extras and other “value-added material” while also offering the cheaper stripped-down rental versions.
The move follows that of 20th Century Fox, however with some significant differences. Disney will offer the rental versions at a lower price point, whereas Fox offers both versions at the same price. Fox also controls what rental or retail outlets can buy, however Disney gives all companies the option to buy what they please.
The rental units will not be shrink wrapped and will have no promotional inserts inside either. For example, the Jonas Brothers premium DVD, with digital copy and bonus features, has a MSRP of $39.99 USD while the single disc rental version will have the movie only, and has an MSRP of $29.99 USD.
Retailers seemed to generally respect the decision. “That is all we care about,” added one executive. “Not only do you have the difference in price, but retailers can buy either version.”
Fox has been having issues with their decision recently, and is even considering dissolving their DVD class separation.
Despite leak, ‘Wolverine’ is hit at box office
On April 1st, one month before its theatrical release, a workprint version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked online, and saw giant amounts of downloads.
The release, being a “workprint“, had some special effects missing, as well as the occasional view of wires still attached to actors during action scenes.
Despite this leak however, the movie appears to be successful at the box office, making $35 million USD on its opening day on Friday and making a total of $87 million USD for its first weekend. Comparably, the blockbuster Iron Man made the same amount on its first day.
Production companies says the movie cost about $140 million to create, so $87 million is not quite spectacular, but not to shabby either.
Paramount to use BD+ protection
Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that it has become the second major Hollywood studio to license Macrovision’s BD+ copy-protection for Blu-ray Discs, following Fox as the only studios to use the extra layer of protection.
The deal also includes licenses for ACP and RipGuard, technologies used for copy-protection in DVDs and video streams.
“We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with Macrovision to preserve Paramount Home Entertainment’s high-quality products,” Paramount worldwide president for Paramount Home Entertainment Kelley Avery added. “Macrovision’s technologies cover a variety of distribution channels, providing necessary safeguards, which benefit both the studio and the consumer.”
The company did not say if only certain Blu-ray titles would be given the added layer of protection or whether all new movies would use it.
The technology system allows Paramount to add a title-specific layer of copy protection on top of the AACS which is used on all BD releases, regardless of studio.
“We are delighted that Paramount has chosen to continue its Macrovision relationship and that Macrovision can aid them in realizing full-market value for their content,” noted Macrovision president/CEO Fred Amoroso. “With our solutions, we believe Paramount will be able to confidently explore a broad set of distribution channels while ensuring a consistent product to its customers.”
iTunes gets Blu-ray support?
Rumors have been flaring today that the new, upcoming iTunes 8.2 will include Blu-ray support. The evidence, say the reports, is in the new “About iTunes” splash screen.
Currently, Macs do not support BD, and users with external Blu-ray drives need to boot to Windows to use it. If iTunes is allowing ripping and burning of BD however, it could signal that Macs will finally have integrated Blu-ray support and possibly internal drives.
Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs infamously called Blu-ray licensing a “bag of hurt,” noting it was overly expensive and complicated and that Macs wouldn’t be seeing integrated support anytime soon.
Here is the screenshot, via 9to5Mac:
Sony to stream free movies on Crackle
Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced that it will begin streaming over 100 full-length feature films on its video site Crackle.com including Spider-Man 2, Stripes and Godzilla.
The move follows Sony’s previous deal with YouTube to stream full movies through the popular video sharing site.
Sony notes that Crackle users only spent 5 minutes on average on the site for the month of March, and Sony is hoping to keep users around longer, especially if they are viewing more ads.
Although the site is no competition against YouTube, Hulu and TV.com, the site posted an 84 percent gain in streams to users, year on year, for the Q1.
“Our movie lineup is unmatched online,” adds Sony Pictures Television senior VP of digital networks Eric Berger.
Acer creating Android smartphones, other devices
According to a new report, Acer is planning on producing an Android-based smartphone as well as a “other devices” by this fall, each using the open-source operating system.
“The entire industry is looking at Android,” said Acer president and CEO Gianfranco Lanci said. “I think it’s too early to say if we’re going to see Android on a netbook in the near future,” he concluded however, not committing to any particular device.
Recent data suggests that Android is becoming more popular in phones, and the landmark T-Mobile G1 recently sold its one millionth handset.
As previously reported, the first known Android-based netbook is expected to sell for $250 USD and should be available soon.
JVC’s XV-PB1 Blu-ray player supports MKV?
According to the manual for JVC’s first Blu-ray player to hit the United States, the XV-PB1 supports the Matroska (MKV) multimedia container. It’s manual states it supports MPEG-4/AVC content up to 1080p (from file on USB, or streamed), making the MKV container support even better. MKV is a very flexible multimedia container format that is used widely for High-definition content.
This might push the player slightly up the list of Blu-ray players currently available, even though it has been largely ignored since its unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year. It supports BD-Live and network streaming from PCs, and reportedly has a very fast booting time.
EFF files lawsuit against Apple
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had teamed with OdioWorks lawyers to file a lawsuit against Apple Inc. in a federal court, claiming the company has stifling free speech by bullying OdioWorks into pulling content that shows how to use an iPod with stores other than iTunes. “I take the free speech rights of BluWiki users seriously,” said OdioWorks owner Sam Odio, owner of OdioWorks.
He continued: “Companies like Apple should not be able to censor online discussions by making baseless legal threats against services like BluWiki that host the discussions.” The problem Apple had was with the BluWiki site, which contained information on using the company’s iPhone and iPod products with stores other than iTunes.
BluWiki users edited it themselevs, sharing insights on reverse engineering Apple software to “manage their media with whatever program they chose.” However, late last year, the BluWiki site was shut down after Apple lawyers threatened to sue for spreading word of how to circumvent its digital rights management technology.
“Apple’s legal threats against BluWiki are about censorship, not about protecting their legitimate copyright interests,” said EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann. “It’s legal to engage in reverse engineering in order to create a competing product, it’s legal to talk about reverse engineering, and it’s legal for a public wiki to host those discussions.”
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ESA criticizes ‘gaming addiction’ study
A recently reported study that suggested large numbers of young gamers exhibit signs of addition to videogames has come under scrutiny from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The trade group sent a letter to Dr Robert Kail (editor of Psychological Science), citing a blog by ABC News’ director of polling, Gary Langer, which called into question the claim that the results can be applied to the broader population.
The study, carried out by Professor Douglas Gentile, used data from Harris Interactive through an opt-in online survey. The survey itself actually reads, “because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.”
Gentile responded to this discovery by admitting making a mistake. “I’d assumed they had gathered the population initially as part of a random probability sample, I missed that when I was writing this up. That is an error then on my part.” Michael Gallagher, CEO of The ESA, wrote in his letter to Dr Kail: “The concern arises from the fact that the sample group for the study was not randomly chosen… It was a ‘convenience’ sample of individuals who agreed to participate in the survey.”
“As you are likely aware, such a sample is not truly representative of a national population group. Thus the results cannot be projected onto the broader population of children in this country. And the sampling error of plus or minus 3 per cent that Dr Gentile cited in the study is also meaningless,” he wrote. “Based on the public comments of both Dr Gentile and Harris Interactive, we are requesting that any references to the study in your publication and on your website, clarify the methodological flaws in Dr Gentile’s study and inform your readers how those flaws affect the accuracy of the study.”
EU reaches draft deal on telecoms reform
We reported that the EU’s telecom’s reform efforts were under threat when questions of how to handle Internet piracy caused a spat between Parliament and states, despite the fact that the issue was never part of the reform which focused more on infrastructure. European lawmakers worried that over two years work was under threat from a last minute debate over the responsibility of Internet Service Providers (ISP) to fight Internet piracy.
However, it now appears that the European parliament and states have come to a draft deal to resolve the argument and cut the delays. “Subject to final agreement by all member states tomorrow I do think we have a package which will advance the European telecoms sector,” said Malcolm Harbour, a British center-right member of the European Parliament.
He continued: “I am absolutely delighted. It has been deeply frustrating to feel this one issue which was not in any way at the center of what we were doing could derail two years of work.” The Parliament agreed that the body of the reform must emphasize consumers’ freedom to access the Internet, and that cutting of Internet access for crimes like copyright infringement should be done with the agreement of an impartial and independent tribunal, as outlined under the European Convention of Human Rights.
