According to a new Wall Street Journal article, Hong Kong based movie pirates have begun selling bootleg Blu-ray films on standard DVDs, using the AVCHD format to fit a 720p film onto a cheap DVD-5.
Although AVCHD only offers 720p and not the full HD 1080p, most consumers cannot tell the difference, and just see it as an upgrade from standard DVD anyways.
The MPA warns that because blank DVDs can be had for, on average, 30 cents a unit, the pirates are making a huge profit on every bootleg sold.
“We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue,” said Mike Ellis, the Asia-Pacific managing director for the MPA.
The industry only first began taking notice last month when a large stash of the bootleg Blu-rays were found during a raid in China. Some of the 800 discs seized included popular titles such as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, “Transformers”, and “X-Men 3.” The bootleg discs were packaged in blue cases and even included holograms to make them look like the originals.
“Pirated DVDs from this region…have been exported all over the world in the last few years. These syndicates are very quick to spot market opportunities,” said Mr. Ellis.
The MPA added that while retail Blu-ray discs retail for $25 or so, the pirated AVCHD discs sell for $7. Fortunately for the industry, the MPA says, the discs have not yet appeared outside of Asia.
“When we created the specifications for Blu-ray, we were very serious about trying to stem the tide of pirate discs regardless of where they were in the world,” noted Andy Parsons, a senior vice president at Pioneer Electronics Inc.’s Home Entertainment Group and the U.S. chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association Promotions Committee.
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Result for: entertainment group
Microsoft has announced that will stop producing its HD DVD player add-on for the Xbox 360, citing Toshiba’s end of support for the format as the key reason why.
The company said it would continue to provide warranty support for the 300,000 or so players that had been purchased to date.
“HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a High Definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own,” added Blair Westlake, a VP of Microsoft’s media and entertainment group.
Microsoft was the second largest backer of the format behind Toshiba, and has said it will continue to look into how HD DVD technology, such as the interactive layer HDi, can be applied to other platforms.
Result for: entertainment group
Microsoft has announced that it has struck a deal with PBS to have some of the broadcaster’s TV series available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
XBL users can download Ken Burns’ Jazz and America series as well as “Wired Science” and “Scientific American.” PBS added that XBL users will have access to over “8,500 hours of programming from 45 content producers.”
“Non-fiction programming has performed very well on Xbox Live,” Ross Honey, general manager of Microsoft’s media and entertainment group, added. “The addition of a premiere brand such as PBS will not only enhance our overall video offering but will strengthen a content category that our users demand.”
Microsoft has been adding more and more media content to its Marketplace over the past six months including a huge deal with Netflix and another large deal with NBC-Universal.
