Download-and-burn closer to market

Dubbed Qflix, the program will be the first to allow burn-to-DVD using the same CSS copy-protection technology that is used on commercial DVDs.

In late November, the DVD Forum approved a new type of recordable disc that will accept movies encrypted with CSS and playable on set-top DVD players. The move cleared the way for companies to begin offering download-to-burn with CSS protection.

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.

“We’re making this announcement in part to show that there are a lot of companies and a lot of partners lined up and ready to go once we get all the final technical and licensing issues resolved,” said Jim Taylor, general manager of Sonic’s Advanced Technology Group.

Among the details still pending is formal approval of the technical specs for the new discs that will be used for custom burning. That’s expected to happen at the DVD Forum’s Steering Committee meeting in Japan this month.

Final details also are yet to be hammered out on changes to the CSS Master License needed to cover burning.

The original Master License, which is controled by Toshiba and Matsushita, the inventors of CSS, gave the DVD Copy Control Assn. the authority to license hardware and software manufacturers to use CSS for prerecorded discs and disc drives.

If DVD-CCA is to be the agency to oversee the use of CSS in on-demand burning, the scope of its master license from Toshiba and Matsushita must be expanded.

Toshiba and Matsushita have made formal commitments to complete the work on the master license by the end of January.

Movie download companies have been waiting for burn-to-DVD, believing that it will help jump-start the download business by offering consumers an easy way to watch movie downloads on their living room TV.

But without the ability to use CSS encryption, content owners would have to rely on other forms of copy-protection, which can cause playability problems on some set-top DVD players.

“With the installed base of DVD players in over 80 million U.S. homes, Internet delivery can now become a mass-market channel for movie distribution,” Movielink CEO Jim Ramo said.

No studio has formally announced plans to license the Sonic system. However, Warner Bros. Entertainment chief technology office Chris Cookson offered words of praise for Sonic’s efforts.

“Warner Bros. is committed to giving consumers the widest range of choices to access our content in ways that recognize and protect its value,” he said in a statement included in the Sonic news release. “We are pleased and encouraged to see efforts like Sonic’s creation of Qflix that address the need for industry-standard protection.”

In addition to the software to manage the encrypted transmission and burning of downloaded content, Qflix includes as part of its licensing package most of the underlying IP rights needed to manufacture commercial DVDs on demand.

“Qflix includes some of the joint IP pools, and with our partners, we hope to be able to announced those in a month or two,” Taylor said.