Rattle wrote:
] Oh, yeah, this was such a GREAT idea the first time around
] when it was called DIVX.
]
] The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting
] makes them unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they
] are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the
] coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser.
]
] You get a week from most rental places. I don't see what the
] consumer appeal is going to be with these. They are not going
] to sell.
]
] Oh, wait, I know.. You can buy them, take them home, and copy
] them with the DVD burners that are starting to become cheap..

Well, the problem with that is that currently there are no dual layer burners - after all, DVD-9's and DVD-18's are mastered as separate passes on the disc. What does that mean for copying? Well, the studios have finally given us *so much* content (yay!) that it won't fit on one side of a 4.7 GB DVD+/-R. You can fit a < 2 hour movie with only one audio track on a single disc, so you'd lose all of those special features.

Some may ask, then, "who cares?" since you get the movie. Many people would agree with you, but I think that the demographics intersect such that those with DVD burners are also those that want the extra content. At that point, and with online discount houses, you may as well go ahead and buy the real thing. As the price of DVD burners drops (and more importantly, the media, which is still in the several dollar range in quantity) the impact will increase, but then again, that's why the manufacturers are pushing hard for blue laser technology. The DVD player has turned into a commodity (you can get a DVD/FM tuner/DD5.1 amp/speakers combo for < $150 these days) so the electronic manufacturers want a new stream of income.

RE: Yahoo! News - Disney to Begin Renting 'Self-Destructing' DVDs