DVD Burns of Digital Movies Coming

The film industry is about to remove some of the roadblocks that have prevented legally recording downloadable movies onto DVD, which could also spur the creation of kiosks and other ways that consumers could burn their own movie discs.

The DVD Copy Control Association said special blank DVDs would allow this process.

Like standard DVDs, the discs would include a technology called the Content Scramble System (CSS), which is designed to prevent illegal copying. The rule changes would make this technology more widely available to allow for movie download providers such as Movielink to enable burning capabilities.

"The creation of new ways to legally create secure DVD content is the logical next step to answer industry and consumer demand for additional legal digital distribution alternatives." DVD CCA chairman Chris Cookson said. "Allowing the creation of high performance, protected DVDs in the business or at home that, until now, could only be mass-produced in factories is another major step forward."

Among the likely first implementations taking advantage of the new rules would be consumer kiosks, where entertainment could be purchased and burned to disc. This type of DVD production could allow for the release of unusual, historical or special content that otherwise would not be available due to limited demand.

The consumer benefit would be services like Movielink and iTunes now being able to allow for the burning of video content to DVD. According to the DVD CCA, "the programs would be recorded on personal computers via the Internet or on special, network-enabled, DVD recorders."

The rule change has already been approved by the DVD CCA itself, and would be available as soon as it is known to be complaint with all applicable specifications, the group said.