The Popularity of Blu-ray versus HD DVD

At the Sixth Annual Home Entertainment Summit, DVD & Beyond was held in Los Angeles on June 2007, Stephen Nickerson, the senior vice president of market management for WARNERHOME VIDEO presented an address entitled, “The State of the Home Entertainment Industry.” Below are some interesting numbers.

The worldwide DVD sell-through business decreased 2.6 percent to $10.4 billion as of June 2, 2007, however, the next generation DVD software market increased to $54 million. (Source: Consumer Spending). The international DVD sell-through total was $10.5 billion.

Tom Arnold also recapped this year's numbers in an article focusing on the popularity of Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD in Home Media Magazine, stating, "when given the choice, consumers are going with Blu-ray." He gave the example of Warner Home Video's release for The Departed which was released the same day, Feb. 13, on both formats. "Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 units on HD DVD," according to Home Media Magazine’s market research, based on studio estimates and Nielsen VideoScan point-of-sale data.

Now, thanks to the recent news on September 20 from the Board of the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), commercial vendors and consumers will be able to legally create CSS copy-protected DVDs for playback on their own DVD players. This means vendors like Acutrack, Inc. (http://www.acutrack.com/) could create on demand protected DVDs in custom runs. Individual consumers are now also able to legally record content at home in a process that will use special blank DVD discs with CSS encryption. The copies will be compatible with millions of DVD players in businesses and homes.

Chris Cookson, Chairman of the DVD CCA Board said, “Now that the process needed to enable this exciting capability is complete, we anticipate that new products and services will quickly appear in the marketplace."

Point well said ... and just after Acutrack announced its On Demand Short Run CD/DVD Production which enables customers to order small batches of CDs and DVDs online, in real time, 24/7, and then ship to customers, one at a time. On Demand Short Run offers multiple packaging choices, retail finish quality, quick turnaround and no minimum orders. The entire process of ordering, production, packaging and shipping is automated with the company's On Demand engine, enabling the management of thousands of unique orders.

One great example is that a musician could send a finished product directly to a radio station without having to produce thousands of copies, or a marketing director could produce a PowerPoint presentation on a CD with custom printed artwork that includes their client's name and logo."

The entire process allows people to deliver personalized or custom content when, where and how they want it.

Sources:
http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=10559
http://www.acutrack.com/onlineshortrun

New Developments in World of DVD Downloads

There is an interesting development in the world of DVD downloads. Up until now, Hollywood studios have only allowed downloaded movies to be played and viewed on computer screens or portable devices. Now, the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA) has authorized companies to sell digital downloads for on demand viewing. This would also allow consumers to download the content to a physical DVD. What this means is that movies bought over the Internet can be burned onto a DVD that can play on any machine, which is a move that could dramatically change the way movies are sold.

Interestingly, back when DVDs were invented twenty years ago, nobody thought about the fact that some day there would be something called the Internet where people could download content. Standard DVD players are hardwired with the keys to unlock the digital security system built into pre-recorded DVDs, but DVD burners on computers and writeable DVD discs don't contain the locks.

Thanks to the DVD Copy Control Association, everyone finally has agreed to standards allowing the digital locks to be included in a downloaded movie file and then transferred to a protected DVD to work on current players.

The DVD CCA is an organization primarily responsible for the copy prevention of DVDs. The Content Scramble System (CSS) was devised for this purpose to make copyright infringement difficult. The association is also responsible for the much criticized regional playback control (RPC), the region encoding scheme which gives movie studios geographic control over DVD release dates to maximize their profits.

This is great news because they realized that the digital download is still having downloading issues. There is an increased revenue for studios to allow the content be available for downloads on physical medium. In the above scenario, organization such as (cinemanow.com) are offering consumers downloadable DVD content that they can burn on their CD burner. The problem is that consumers still need a fast Internet connection plus they need a DVD burner and need to keep DVD-R discs in stock. Plus they would have to hand write the title by pen.

Acutrack’s On Demand model is a perfect solution that is available today, allowing distributors to offer consumers a physical DVD without worrying about anything. As soon as the consumer requests a physical DVD, Acutrack's On Demand engine downloads the content from the distributor’s site, produces a physical DVD with a professional retail printing, package and mail.

For more information on this topic check out the press release about DVD authoring posted on MSNBC.

Acutrack, Inc. (http://www.acutrack.com ) enables customers to create, publish and deliver custom content for DVD and CD distribution worldwide. The company provides fast, high-quality CD and DVD production including video editing, DVD authoring, graphic design, photo realistic and silkscreen printing, and a variety of packaging, copy protection and fulfillment services.

Need Short Run DVD or CD Duplication?

Let's say you are a musician who wants to send a new song on a CD/DVD to just local radio stations. You don't want to have to produce 500 or 1,000 CDs. You just need six, and you want your artwork and logo on the CD cover. Where can you do this?

A new product called On Demand Short Run CD/DVD Production, enables people like this musician to order smaller batches of CDs and DVDs in real time online 24/7 and ship to customers, one at a time. On Demand offers multiple packaging choices, retail finish quality, quick turnaround and no minimum orders. The complete process -- ordering, production, packaging and shipping -- is automated. And it works because of Acutrack, Inc.'s On Demand engine. Acutrack has the ability to manage thousands of unique orders like this one.

Another example is a marketing director who wants to produce a PowerPoint presentation on a CD with custom printed artwork that includes their client’s name and logo. On Demand Short Run can accomodate this person in real-time, to meet deadlines. Or, this executive's associates could complete the job while he's in an airplace heading to the meeting, and when he arrives at the meeting the next day, his presentation is already in the hands of the new prospect.

Acutrack’s proprietary CD and DVD On Demand Production technology is a system that allows customers to manufacture CDs & DVDs, package and ship worldwide, and track orders. On Demand helps customers:

• Avoid the hassle of inventory, packaging and fulfillment.
• Add value to a product via custom branding each disc with unique content or artwork.
• Reduce the up-front cost of producing multiple copies.
• Deliver personalized or custom content when and where customers want it.
• Eliminate inventory and obsolescence costs of pre-produced inventory.
• Automate and track order processing.

Acutrack’s proprietary On Demand production gives customers the ability to produce and ship custom packaged CDs or DVDs one at a time. It takes care of inventory, packaging, and fulfillment, and is ideal for customer’s who are selling downloadable content and are not sure how many units to produce.