This disc will self-destruct in 48 hours.
[Of course computer tinkerers can't prevent it from rusting, but chemical tinkerers will have fun. Or are inert gasses to be banned under DMCA? Hmmm, a hermetic case-mod..] That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) will issue this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become unplayable and do not have to be returned. Disney home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment will launch a pilot movie "rental" program in August that uses the self-destruction technology, the company said on Friday. The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting makes them unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser. Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without setting up a system to get the discs back. The discs work perfectly for the two-day viewing window, said Flexplay Technologies, Inc., the private company which developed the technology using material from General Electric Co.(NYSE:GE - news) The technology cannot be hacked by programmers who would want to view the disc longer because the mechanism which closes the viewing window is chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology. However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window. Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/media_disney_dvds_dc_1
On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 02:30 PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/ media_disney_dvds_dc_1
You left out the rest of the article: "Disney says that their market research shows that films they are planning to introduce with EZ-D are films no one in their right mind would _want_ to watch a second time, let alone keep. "We found that 85% of our test subjects stopped watching "The Hot Chick" less than 30 minutes into the playing, and that 97% of those who finished watching "Signs" turned to their friends and family and said "That was really, really lame."" I would not want to be the reliability engineer on this product. What happens when a batch goes bad before the official 48-hour expiration? And since oxidation (rust) is an Arrhenius process (activation energy, the usual rate proportional to exp (- activation energy/kT)), storing the disks in a hot car or even just a non-air-conditioned house could cause it to oxidize many times faster than when storing it in a cool place. Or, as others have noted, in a freezer. Seems to me it could be fun to rent some of these Disney turkeys, force them to wear out (rust) much faster than normal, then go to the rental place with a wild, crazed look and tell the manager: "THESE WON'T FUCKING PLAY, ASSHOLE. YOU HAVE RIPPED ME OFF. GIVE ME ALL OF MY MONEY BACK OR YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS BURNS TO THE GROUND. GOT IT, ASSHOLE?" I would not personally do this. However, if I rented one of these things and for any reason it stopped playing properly before the official, contractual time, I would consider burning down the rental place to be morally justified. I just wouldn't threaten to do it! The more I think about this, the more I am looking for an April 1st date in the whole thing. --Tim May "We are at war with Oceania. We have always been at war with Oceania." "We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia." "We are at war with Iraq. We have always been at war with Iraq. "We are at war with France. We have always been at war with France."
On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 02:30 PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
[Of course computer tinkerers can't prevent it from rusting, but chemical tinkerers will have fun. Or are inert gasses to be banned under DMCA? Hmmm, a hermetic case-mod..]
I don't know if by "inert" you mean the noble gases, such as helium, neon, xenon, etc., but of course nitrogen will work perfectly well. Winemakers and other foodmakers have inexpensive tools for spreading a nonoxidizing layer across casks of wine, olive oil, and so on. There are so many ways to slow down oxidation and so many ways to speed it up (thus causing the consumer to not get his contractual product) that I cannot see this product succeeding. What happens when a customer takes a product back to Wherehouse or Blockbuster and says "I got it Saturday morning. When I went to watch it Sunday night, the picture was already losing bits and breaking up." Can the store on Monday somehow confirm this, or is the customer just told to go fuck himself? As I said in my last message, will be cool to get one of these on a Saturday morning, accelerate the aging process in trivial ways (hot sun, pure oxygen feed, etc.), and then stand at the return counter yelling in a very, very loud voice "I GOT IT THIS MORNING. IT WON'T PLAY. TEST IT YOURSELF. I'LL WAIT RIGHT HERE WHILE YOU CONFIRM IT. NO, I WON'T FILL OUT A FORM AND WAIT FOR DISNEY TO GET BACK TO ME. I WANT THIS FIXED RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, OR I'M NOT LEAVING. GOT IT, ASSHOLE?" If this is real, this is going to be a bigger clusterfuck than the Circuit City DIVX (no relation to the currently namely DIVX!) was/ I can't wait to game the system and have some righteous fun demanding satisfaction from the yahoos (TM, The Yahoo Corporation, all rights to this word reserved) renting or selling these turkeys. --Tim May
On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 04:30 PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) will issue this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become unplayable and do not have to be returned.
. . .
Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without setting up a system to get the discs back.
. . .
However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window.
Stupid. This will probably encourage piracy -- not to mention the large amount of plastic trash generated by the oxidized disks. j burnes
[Of course computer tinkerers can't prevent it from rusting, but chemical tinkerers will have fun. Or are inert gasses to be banned under DMCA? Hmmm, a hermetic case-mod..]
Why bother with hermetic cases? Just cover the disc with a thin layer of something inert with suitable transparency. Or, if the coating is thin, just polish it away. Toothpaste does wonders. Or, the oxidized layer could be maybe reduced back, using a suitable chemical process. Or, it could be oxidized further, breaking the polyaromatic structures causing light absorption. Oh, the possibilities! I *knew* those thick chemistry books will be handy for me to keep around! :)
participants (4)
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jburnes -
Major Variola (ret) -
Thomas Shaddack -
Tim May