Disney's disposable DVD to hit test markets Sept 8 (1 Viewer)

[richardWI]

I'm sure everyone will rush out to buy a disposable version of The Hot Chick or Frida.

I wish those titles would have self destructed BEFORE they were foisted on the public.

 

[Travis_W]

I saw a TV spot for this last night and it claimed they never go bad, which is completely untrue.

 

[Eric Emma]

This is going fail... With my blockbuster rewards gold card, every time I rent a movie, I get a free old movie rental. I can keep the old retal for a week and the new one for 2 days and an evening which totally beating Disney plan...

 

[Michael Boyd]

I dont really understand the point of using older titles. I think most of these titles being tested have hit the Blockbuster previously viewed shelf sometime ago. It may make Disney see a lack of interest in this new venture. Aw darn.

However I dont really buy the environmental hazard. Blockbuster is a much worse offender on that end with throwing out the original DVD cases and placing the disc in new cases for rental/previously viewed.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I dont really understand the point of using older titles. I think most of these titles being tested have hit the Blockbuster previously viewed shelf sometime ago. It may make Disney see a lack of interest in this new venture. Aw darn.

Disney's initial test market plan may be more interested in checking compatibility and durability than demand for new titles.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

And now for the question none of us wanted to hear....

What if Disney's next release was only issued this way?

Glenn

 

[Mike_G]

Austin, Texas; Peoria/Bloomington, Illinois; Charleston, South Carolina; and Kansas City, Missouri

Huh? Where's NY, LA, Vegas, Chicago, etc.? I've been to Bloomington. It's not a bad area, but from what I saw of it, I'd hardly think of the place as a test bed for a new technology.

 

[Mike_G]

And now for the question none of us wanted to hear....

What if Disney's next release was only issued this way?

I have the technology.

I've never used it. Never abused it.

I have over 1000 CDs and 700 DVDs. I pay for everything.

I've never turned to the dark side.

But if The Lion King ever came out ONLY in this format....

Mike

 

[Greg_M]

Why would anyone by a DVD which will only last for a few days????? Why? Why? When for a few dollars more they can buy one that's gonna last for many years? Especially children's films. Kids watch these things over and over and over. For an extra $10.00 the kids can watch the thing through adulthood.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Huh? Where's NY, LA, Vegas, Chicago, etc.? I've been to Bloomington. It's not a bad area, but from what I saw of it, I'd hardly think of the place as a test bed for a new technology.

Because they're good test beds for how middle america will accept something. When Miramax brought out Mononoke Hime, they did a big release in one state, either Michigan or Minnesota with big ad campaigns and everything to see if people'd go for it.

 

[Larry P]

As if Walmart and Zellers haven't dumbed down DVD to the 'great unwashed' enough, in a move reminiscent of Circuit City's DIVX debacle, Disney is carrying out their plan to issue self-destructing DVD.

LOL. Maybe the "great unwashed" masses don't want to pay Blockbuster's prices for rentals that have been viewed a hundred times and are probably scratched and nasty. And maybe they aren't able to afford to shell out 20 bucks everytime to buy a film they don't know they'll even like.

This is a great idea. If we should be complaining about anything, it should be Blockbuster, not how Wal Mart has brought the prices of DVD's down to where the "unwashed" masses can actually afford them. God forbid!

And I would be worrying about a great many other things that can "destroy" the planet Earth before these will. The Hot Chick may have not been the greatest movie, but it's not going to destroy human life as we know it. Get over it.

 

[John_Berger]

I'll just repost my original statements in the original thread regarding this abomination. (The quotes are also from the original thread.)


So, shall we all start to make wagers regarding how long it will take for Disney to make this their DVD standard, particularly on kids' titles?

Better yet! Let's guess how many pieces of non-biodegradeable plastic will now be added to the world's landfills each year because of this revolutionary new idea!

And what about disc cases that managed to get damaged in shipping or storage so that the 48-hour period starts before the customer actually goes to watch the disc?

Then of course we have the customers who will open the case, not reading the instructions to not open the case until they actually plan on watching the movie, and then complaining why their disc is unreadable a week after purchase.

Yessir, this is so-o-o much better than just renting a DVD locally or through NetFlix -- and with NetFlix you don't even have to go past your mailbox!

Disney just can't seem to get away from the Circuit City DIVX mentality, can they?

But if The Lion King ever came out ONLY in this format....

Surely I need not mention those disc "cleaners" that actually scrape a layer from the disc. And since the protective coating is an external layer...

I also need not mention a DVD-R burner + certain free tools.

It all comes down to the fact that EZ-D is just like sex: the best method to prevent unwanted problems is abstinence!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

LOL. Maybe the "great unwashed" masses don't want to pay Blockbuster's prices for rentals that have been viewed a hundred times and are probably scratched and nasty. And maybe they aren't able to afford to shell out 20 bucks everytime to buy a film they don't know they'll even like.

These discs are more expensive than a ballbuster rental, about 2/3 more

 

[John_Berger]

These discs are more expensive than a ballbuster rental, about 2/3 more

Oh, but with Blockbuster they'd you'd actually have to get their your lazy ass back to the store! { whimper whimper } God forbid!

{END OF DRIPPING SARCASM}

 

[Nick Graham]

Whoah...geez, I think this is a really dumb idea on Disney's part, but don't tear the guy apart for having a differing opinion.

This format is going to fail, no need to turn into Chicken Little, the sky is not falling, and especially no need to call the guy a lazy ass when you don't even know him.

Ah, KC is just an hour away, but I am flat broke and five days away from opening my new shop. If I had spare cash and a little time I'd run up there, grab one, and do a little experimentation with my new burner (strictly for the sake of experimentation...I have no remote interest in any of the titles released).

I'd assume there was some sort of above and beyond copy protection aside from just the chemical reaction, but considering how braindead this concept is to begin with,
I doubt those in charge thought that far ahead.

 

[John_Berger]

I'd assume there was some sort of above and beyond copy protection aside from just the chemical reaction,

How? The only DVD-compliant copy protections are Macrovision and region coding, both of which were broken years ago. The chemical reaction is NOT a method of copy protection. It's nothing more than making the DVD a one-way rental.

DIVX redux. Let's hope that it dies even faster and more brutally.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I would like to see the projected sales figures that somebody came up with to get this project approved. For less than $5 I can buy either a bargain bin DVD from pretty much any retail store in town or I can do a traditional rental. If it were priced at $2.50 it just might stand a chance but there's no way people are going to pay more to get less.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

It's being test-marketed in mid-size cities. This is normal. Large cities are too expensive. If you produce an quantity of product designed for the Chicago market and it fails, you've lost a lot of money. Peoria not so much. And Hicksville isn't big enough to give useful data.

 

[John_Berger]

Although the disposable DVD format does not make it harder for digital pirates to make illegal copies, Blaustein said by making DVDs cheaper the effort would also undercut the incentive to make such bootleg copies.

In other words, they're adding no extra copy protection of any kind.

What's really ironic is that this is only going increase the incentive to make bootlegs! Yes, people can go to Blockbuster to save money, but why make the extra trip to illegally duplicate a Blockbuster DVD when you can pick up the EZ-D while you're shopping for anchovy paste and just rip it within 48 hours? Either way, you're still going to spend less money than if you bought the real thing!

So, exactly how is this stupidity going to "undercut the incentive"? I see it doing the exact opposite.

And once the word is spread on how to defeat the coating when the proper method is inevitably found ... look out!

 

[Steve Berger]

Let's see , $7 for second rate movies with 0 features (want to bet on Pan-n-Scan?) . These are the movies that should normally sell for $5.99. I don't think that we're the target customer. So far they've picked titles that no on would want to rip. This test could be as much about who is renting and who is buying as it is about a new product.

They want to see if they can attract the person who got his player when he opened a new bank account and doesn't rent or buy movies (plays his CD on it). By comparing sales to changes in buying and renting patterns they may be able to determine just how many of those people there are (at least that's what someone hopes to do , I suspect.