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Cranberry Offers up DVDs that will Last 1,000 Years

Justin Kerr — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:44:48 -0600

Most people don't really think about it, but optical media, particularly the stuff you burn at home has a limited shelf life. Worse yet, depending on the quality of the disk, its probably a lot less than you might think. This is but one of many reasons why DVDs typically make lousy long term backups, that is of course, unless you have a burner from a new startup company called Cranberry. Its new optical technology called "DiamonDisk" claims to have a useable life of more than 1,000 years, or to put it in layman's terms, about 900 more than any of us would care about.

The durability of the disk is apparently a result of the media itself containing no dye layers, or adhesives / reflective materials that will deteriorate. Data is also said to be etched far more deeply into the disk using its proprietary burner. Currently a drive will set you back about five grand, but just in case you find this a bit extreme, you can also upload your data to the company's website and let them burn it for you.

Anyone considering this for a time capsule might also want to toss in a drive for good measure. 1,000 years from now a DVD is likely to be about as useable as an 8-track. Lets just hope they still use USB!

Best Buy Prepares for the Physical Media Apocalypse

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:25:27 -0600

Technology purists may still swear by the ubiquitous DVD. It is probably a sense of nostalgia that usually deludes them when a much loved technology draws perilously close to the brink. But the writing surely has to be on the wall for the DVD if one of its biggest backers and beneficiaries is busy bracing for its demise.

Best Buy has announced a new deal with Sonic Solutions. It will use the latter's Roxio CinemaNow service to stream DVD titles to a wide range of internet-enabled devices, inlcluding Blu-ray players, TVs, PCs, smartphones, and personal media players. Users will be able to enjoy their favorite movies on a host of devices after they purchase them on DVD: pay once and watch on any device.

“All these guys — Best Buy, Blockbuster and Netflix — realize is that the era of the boxed DVD is about to end,” Creative Stratigies' president Tim Bajarin told the New York Times. The service is set to debut early next year.

How To: Burn Your Student Copy of Windows 7 to DVD

Paul Lilly — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:27:41 -0500

UPDATE - Added instructions for XP users

Last month we reported a killer deal for Windows 7 whereby eligible students could preorder a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for just $30.Talk about a steal! But what Digital River (the company responsible for the promotion) didn't tell you was that instead of a handy ISO image that you could burn to a DVD for safe keeping, you instead would receive a trio of files on you desktop.

Power users that we are, this just didn't sit well with us, so we went in search of a solution. Well guess what? We found one, courtesy of WindowsSevenForums.com forum member SIW2. We verified that his method works, and if you're one of the students who jumped on the promotional pricing, we're going to show you how to quickly convert your copy of Windows 7 into an ISO file.

Before getting started, be sure you've downloaded your copy and clicked the Run button in the download manager. This will extract all the Windows 7 files that we need to a folder on your desktop. When you're all finished, here's what you should have on your desktop:

Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe
setup1.box
setup2.box
expandedSetup (folder with unpacked Windows 7 files inside)

Download oscdimg.zip from here and extract the executable to C:\Windows\System32. This little utility makes it possible to convert a build directory into a bootable CD/DVD, which is just what we need.

Next, open up an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start and type CMD, but don't hit enter. Vista will find the cmd.exe file and list it at top of the Start menu. Right-click and choose Run as administrator.

In the command prompt that pops up, copy and paste oscdimg -bC:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com -h -u2 -m -lWIN_EN_DVD C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\expandedSetup\ C:\7.iso but again, don't press enter. Before doing so, change USERNAME to whatever yours is on your PC. If you want, you can also change the name and location of the finished ISO, otherwise the end result will be C:\7.iso.

XP

If you're running XP, the command line is a little different and you need to enclose the file locations in quotation marks, otherwise the spaces in 'Documents and Settings' throws it off. Instead of the above, copy/paste: oscdimg -u2 -b"C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Desktop\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com" -h "C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Desktop\expandedSetup" C:\7.iso

And that's it! How long it takes to create the ISO will depend on your system, but if you have a relatively recent machine, you can expect it to be finished in just a few minutes. When it does, you're all set to burn your copy of Windows 7 to DVD. If you don't have a program capable of burning ISO images, snag the free CDBurnerXP utility from here.

Postal Worker Pinches 3,000 Netflix DVDs, Pleads Guilty to Federal Theft

Paul Lilly — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:00:28 -0500

Perhaps Myles Weathers' biggest mistake was not calling it quits after stealing 2,000 Netflix DVDs instead of 3,012. Or maybe he should have been more careful about removing the DVDs from Netflix mailers in front of surveillance cameras. Then again, the whole idea is dumb to begin with, and we imagine the 49-year-old former postal worker is kicking himself pretty hard right about now.

Weathers, who worked at a mail processing and distribution center in Springfield, Massachusetts, was picked up by authorities last year after Neflix officials fielded a hunch that perhaps thousands of missing DVDs meant something shady was going on. Surveillance footage confirmed the suspicion when it showed Weathers stuffing the stolen DVDs into his backpack, but not before he managed to lift over 3,000 discs valued at more than $30,000.

Weathers pleaded guilty yesterday to federal theft charges and is scheduled to be sentenced December 23, 2009. His felony plea carries a maximum of 5 years in prison, but will likely receive 1 year, The Smoking Gun reports.

RealNetworks Faces Another Setback in DVD Burning Fight

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:00:12 -0500

RealNetworks continue to fight the good fight for consumers who wish to make legally backed up copies of their DVD collection, but the Seattle-based company has a tough road ahead of it.

The first bump in that road comes from U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel who on Tuesday ruled in favor of the movie studios and granted their request for a preliminary injunction preventing RealNetworks from selling its RealDVD software. The injunction also bars the licensing of RealDVD to set-top box makers.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision," Dan Glickman, chief executive of the MPAA, said in a statement. "This is a victory for the creators and producers of motion pictures and television shows and for the rule of law in our digital economy. Judge Patel's ruling affirms what we have known all along: RealNetworks took a license to build a DVD-player and instead made an illegal DVD-copier."

Not unexpected, the setback doesn't mean the fight is over. RealNetworks has a suit pending against the movie studios accusing them of antitrust practices.

Image Credit: newsday.com

MPAA: Making a Single Backup Copy of a DVD is Illegal

Paul Lilly — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:39:13 -0500

Underscoring just how out of touch the Motion Picture Association of America is with its consumer base, the MPAA has spoken out regarding a buyer's (lack of) rights in making a single backup copy of a DVD. The comment came in response to a question raised bu U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel, who during the RealDVD case, asked the MPAA if whether or not it believes it's legal for consumers to make backup copies of legally purchased DVDs for personal use.

"Not for the purposes under the DMCA," said Bart Williams, an attorney for the MPAA. "One copy is a violation of the DMCA."

And technically, he's right, at least in terms of circumventing copyright mechanisms to make said copy. But what's startling about the comment is that the MPAA has traditionally hid behind the threat of mass software piracy and the resulting lost sales in supporting the DMCA, but apparently you're no better than pirates for profit if you make a single backup copy of a DVD you already paid for.

"We believe the buyer has that right to play a DVD as many times as they want," Don Scott, one of RealDVD's attorneys, told Patel. "We think he also has the right to make a copy, this fair use copy."

So do we, Scott.

Century Announces Netbook Stand with Built-in DVD Drive

Paul Lilly — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:22:06 -0500

Last month, Asus shipped its first ever Eee PC netbook to integrate a Super-Multi optical disc drive, a trend which still hasn't caught on full-force. The Eee PC notwithstanding, if you must have a DVD drive with your optical-less netbook, one solution is to buy an external drive, but Century may have a better idea. The company plans to release a netbook stand with a built-in Panasonic DVD drive.

The stand/DVD drive measures 260 x 190 x 19mm and weighs 52g. It supports DVD±R/+RW (8x), DVD±R DL/-RW (6x), DVD-RAM (5x) and CD-R/-RW (24x), and comes with two USB 2.0 ports for good measure. Also included is a small 4cm cooling fan. And according to a rough translation of Century's product page, the stand also looks to incorporate a 2.5-inch bay for a SATA-based HDD or SDD.

Century's multi-functional stand will be available in Japan starting this Friday for $100, CrunchGear reports.

Image Credit: Century

RealDVD Ripping Software Trial is Underway

Paul Lilly — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:26:20 -0500

Hot on the heels of the Pirate Bay trial, which just recently ended (not without considerable controversy), another trial is just now getting started. This one, however, involves RealNetworks and its RealDVD ripping program, a $30 piece of software that has drawn the ire of the Movie Picture Association of America (MPAA).

At the heart of the issue is RealDVD's ability to make digital copies of DVDs to a user's hard drive while still retaining the DVD-copy protection. The process even adds a further layer of DRM to the files it rips, so as far as RealNetworks is concerned, the program doesn't run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Naturally, the MPAA vehemently disagrees, even going so far as to say the software should be called StealDVD instead of RealDVD. Even more troubling for the MPAA is the RealNetworks' plan to develop DVD-saving software for manufacturers of DVD players. Facet, as it's being called, would allow Toshiba, Sony, and other companies to sell players capable of copying DVDs and save them internally. A prototype capable of storing about 70 movies has already been made, and it's expected that similar devices would sell for around $300 or less.

"The movie industry wants people to buy DVDs an so do we," said Bill Way, VP and general counsel of RealNetworks. "They have a real problem with piracy, and we are not that problem. I don't think our product will make the problem one iota bigger. I think it gives people an opportunity to make digital copies of their movies in a legal way."

Right or wrong, it will now be up to the courts to decide.