Movie Studios

Sonic Solutions to Offer HD DVD, Blu-ray Authoring Systems to Movie Studios

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 5, 2005 - 2:50am.

Las Vegas -- Sonic Solutions, a provider of professional and consumer DVD creation software, announced on Wednesday that it is developing systems for professional production of both HD DVD and Blu-ray next-generation high-capacity DVDs by Hollywood movie studios. Novato, Calif.-based Sonic said its HD DVD authoring system will be available in the summer of 2005. The company partnered with Japan's Matsushita (Panasonic) to develop a Blu-ray authoring system, but did not provide a timetable as to when the system would be available to movie studios. Both HD DVD, developed by Toshiba, and Sony's Blu-ray format will boost the capacity for DVDs beyond the current standard 4.5GB to up to 50GB per disc, enabling storage of high-definition video.

tags: Blu-ray | HD DVD | Movie Studios | Sonic Solutions |

Movie Studios, NFL Petition FCC to Ban TiVo Content-Sharing Feature

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 23, 2004 - 4:45am.

San Jose, Calif. -- A number of Hollywood movie studios and the NFL have filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), seeking to block approval of a service from digital video recorder firm TiVo that would allow users to send recorded programs to laptops and PCs, the Associated Press reported. The TiVo To Go feature would also enable users to share shows with a limited number of friends -- but the copyright holders do not believe TiVo has installed sufficient safeguards against piracy. "We don't have a problem if you want to move the content to your summer home, or your boat, but the TiVo application does not require any kind of relationship with the sender," Motion Picture Association of America executive vice president Fritz Attaway told AP. "It could be to a nightclub in Singapore."

tags: TiVo | NFL | FCC | Movie Studios | Ban | Content-Sharing |

Movie Studios to Pay Asian Informants for Info On Pirate DVD Facilities

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 20, 2003 - 2:48am.

Bangkok -- Reuters reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is stepping up its anti-piracy efforts in the Asia-Pacific region by allotting $150,000 in rewards for informants who provide information on pirate DVD facilities. The MPAA began enlisting informants in Hong Kong last year, and will now expand the practice into India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. "The informants could be anyone, plant engineers or the wife of the guard," Michael Ellis, Asia-Pacific anti-piracy head for the MPAA, told Reuters. "We'll work with some informants over a long period. Some people are professional informants, they can make a good living out of working with us." The MPAA estimates its member studios lost $3 billion in revenue in 2002 to pirate DVDs, and $646 million in Asia. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57730,00.html