Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders
Stimulating DVD Movie Demand with Legal Burning (Part 2 of 2)
Podcast Video | Posted by Phil Leigh on February 21, 2008
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If you would like to learn a legal way for Internet merchants to produce DVD movies on-demand, or retail outlets to burn them on premises, or consumers to download and burn them on their home computers, this interview is for you. (Part 2 of 2).
Subject: Our guest today is Jim Taylor who is the Senior Vice President and Manager of the Advanced Technology Group at Sonic Solutions. His company is a leader in multimedia software. Their new Q-flix technology enables DVDs of popular movies to be created on-demand. It can be applied to (1) Internet merchants who will use it to fill orders much like on-demand book publishing, (2) retail stores at Kiosk stands or at counters similar to photo processing labs, and (3) consumers with Internet-connected computers in their own homes.Sonic believes that Q-flix can be applied to three new businesses.
First, is the Internet merchant like Amazon.com. If Amazon does not have a DVD movie in stock to ship in response to an online order, Q-flix will enable them to burn a copy-protected DVD themselves. Then all they have to do is package and ship it to the buyer. Since they won’t have to back-order a prepackaged disc, they can get the product to the buyer faster.
Second, might be a retailer like CVS or Walgreens that already has a photo lab on the floor. Customers who are waiting for prescriptions to be filled might use a touch screen device at the photo counter to burn a copy of a movie that they want to see when they get home.
Third, Q-flix enables Internet merchants who sell movies in a downloadable format to also make them “burnable” into copy-protected DVDs. That way the buyer can watch the movie on her television through a conventional DVD player instead of being limited to the computer or having to use a networking device to get the digital file to the television.
Phil’s Take. Ideally, when I buy a movie I’d like to buy it like I do music from iTunes or Amazon. That way there’s no need for intermediate media like a CD or DVD. However, the problem is that nobody is yet providing a convenient way to get the digital files to the television. Apple TV and Amazon/TiVo seem to get the closest, but it’s still a bit of a hassle. Unfortunately, Sonic’s Q-flix isn’t altogether satisfactory either because one must wait to complete the burning process.
The best market for Q-flix is probably the Internet merchant who wants to fill orders promptly from the Long-Tail where he cannot afford to stock inventory. The second best market might be the retail merchant like CVS or Walgreens, but if too many customers queue-up at a Q-flix enabled photo lab or Kiosk, they may have too much of a wait.
Categories: Podcast Video
Tags: digital media, DVD, Hollywood Studios, Internet Media, Jim Taylor, Motion Pictures, Movies, Online Media, Phil Leigh, Sonic Solutions
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Clips and Bits have been the first to offer a true DVD on demand service. Each DVD created by a customer is unique. See it action at www.clipmash.com and www.OUWCB.co.uk.
The Interface has been developed by Clips and Bits as well as the production engine. It is slowly growing in popularity but needs some serious content to really go forward.