DEG launches digital copy logo for DVD, Blu-ray
Studios put feature on more titles
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/28/2008
AUG. 28 | The Digital Entertainment Group unveiled a new logo to identify DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles that carry digital copy files, just as the feature is becoming ubiquitous on fourth-quarter releases.
Two logos are available to accommodate packaging styles.
The promotion group, which expects the logo to become an industry standard, has created a vertical sticker and a horizontal banner for packaging flexibility. Digital copy’s key benefits are identified as, “Simple. Fast. Portable.” The packaging also will highlight compatibility with such devices as iPod, PlayStation Portable and Windows Media Player.
The logo is expected to be included on a number of fourth-quarter DVD and Blu-ray releases, according to the DEG.
“We believe this logo will allow consumers to easily identify which products on DVD and Blu-ray Disc have the added value of a digital copy,” said Ron Sanders, president of both the DEG and Warner Home Video.
A slew of high-profile fall releases will be released with digital copy on either their DVD or Blu-ray versions, including Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s WALL-E, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Hancock and Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s The Incredible Hulk. Paramount Home Entertainment’s The Love Guru, due Sept. 16, also comes with digital copy, the studio’s first release with the feature.
In fact, several standard-definition special edition releases are expanding from two to three discs to accommodate digital copy. Disney’s WALL-E and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Universal’s The Incredible Hulk all include a third disc with the digital copy.
At the same time, some studios are expanding digital copy to more catalog releases.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will launch 20 catalog titles enhanced with digital copy for the first time, including Napoleon Dynamite, Office Space and all three X-Men movies, on Sept. 23.
Fox’s embedded digital copy will be compatible with both Apple and PC computer and mobile platforms.
Additional upcoming comedy digital copy releases from Fox are The Girl Next Door, Grandma’s Boy, There’s Something About Mary, Dodgeball and Super Troopers.
The studio also will re-promote current copy-enhanced action features Behind Enemy Lines; The Day After Tomorrow; Die Hard; Fantastic Four; Hide & Seek; I, Robot; Independence Day; Speed and The Transporter.
Also, a new edition of the Reno 911! feature film, Reno 911!: Miami—More Busted Than Ever Unrated Cut, will bow on Sept. 23 with digital copy.
All titles (prebook now) are priced at $19.98.
On all forthcoming Fox digital copy titles, packaging will provide a how-to guide on transferring files to various platforms.
Many studios are focusing digital copy primarily on major new releases, but Fox sees the need to expand the technology in order to match demand.
“Our research shows that when given the option, consumers recognize the incredible value proposition that digital copy provides as a simple, fast way to move content to a portable device,” said Mary Daily, Fox’s executive VP of North American marketing. “Digital copy puts the disc at the center of the digital revolution happening in households nationwide and meets the entertainment needs of the entire family from the TV, to the computer, to an iPod.”
