This should finally give some hope to the online movie services out of the current morass: Hollywood studios have approved the CSS lock on DVDs burned in a computer or a retail kiosk. The lock, known as “content scrambling system,” or CSS, comes standard on prerecorded DVDs today, and matches the descramblers on DVD players. But online movie download services such as Movielink, CinemaNow and Amazon.com’s Unbox haven’t been able to use CSS because studios fear widespread DVD burning could lead to piracy.
Earlier in November last year, the DVD Forum gave formal approval to a new type of recordable disc that will accept movies encrypted with CSS.
Now Sonic Solutions is introducing the Qflix system for adding a standard digital lock to DVDs burned in a computer or a retail kiosk…but consumer will need new blank DVDs and compatible DVD burners to use it. Consumers still would be subject to restrictions placed by the movie service and studios, such as the number of times a DVD could be copied.
Video Business: Movie download services Movielink and Akimbo, kiosk providers Polar Frog Digital, Lucidiom and MOD Systems and drugstore chain Walgreens have all inked deals with Sonic to use the Qflix technology. The company also has deals with DVD drive manufacturer Plextor and disc publishers Rimage and Primera Technology to provide an end-to-end download-to-burn solution.