I Am Legend to carry digital file

Studios eye compatibility with multiple formats

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 2/29/2008

FEB. 29 | I Am Legend will mark Warner Home Video’s second DVD release with an embedded digital copy, as the studio and others experiment with files for a widening selection of media platforms.

Like Warner’s first file-embedded DVD, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Legend will carry the embedded file only on its special-edition standard DVD, due for release March 18.

The digital version can be played back on either Windows Media-based portable devices or PCs. In the future, however, Warner and other studios are hoping to hike popularity for digital copy by making it available on a widening selection of media platforms.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be the first studio to offer copies for use on the PlayStation Portable game console with the April 29 direct-to-DVD action releases Hero Wanted and Diamond Dogs. Sony copies also work for PCs.

Earlier this year, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment introduced digital copies for playback on iPods. That was considered a coup as iPods’ digital rights management has limited its video content to the selection offered through Apple’s iTunes service. Fox copies also are compatible with PCs, Macs and Windows-based portable devices.

Jim Wuthrich, Warner senior VP of digital distribution, said the studio is working on getting its own digital copies in sync with more devices. Adding both PSP and iPod functionality would be a boon for a digital copy, said Wuthrich. But Warner is working through space constraints issues, as only so many file types can conceivably fit on a DVD.

Since 2005, 20 million video-capable iPods have sold in the U.S., according to the NPD Group. Also, according to NPD, there have been 10.7 million PSPs sold in the U.S. to date.

“This idea is to make it as widely available as possible,” said Wuthrich. “It would be interesting working with iPod at some point. But there are technical limitations. Every one of these platforms is a little different, and there is only so much space on a disc. The issue is trying to come up with some way where you don’t have to keep adding separate files for each platform onto [the DVD].”

Wuthrich estimates that it takes between 2GB and 3GB of space to include the portable and PC versions of digital copy on Warner discs. Including an Apple-based file takes up another 1GB to 1.5GB of space. And there would be some amount more needed to also add a PSP-workable file.

The limit on available disc space also is preventing Warner from embedding a digital copy into a Blu-ray title. The studio is discussing potentially including individual codes inside Blu-ray titles, where users can access copies through Web registration and download, as an alternative to transferring the copy off the physical disc.

So far, the studio is enjoying bigger-than-expected consumer demand for the technology. With little traditional advertising beyond labeling Harry Potter special editions as containing digital copies, about 50,000 households have accessed either a PC or portable copy of the film, said Wuthrich.

“The key thing is that we are adding value to the DVD, which is an important revenue stream,” he said. “And it’s a legitimate way of getting a digital copy. Other ways are illegal and can sometimes not be pleasant experiences.”

Going forward, Warner is planning to embed digital copies in all available special-edition standard DVD versions of its major theatrical releases.