I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who remembers that time when the high-def disc war was heating up and both sides were teasing us with the possibility of "Managed Copy." With so much available disc space, why not include the same movie in compressed file form on the disc -- a so-called "digital copy" -- one we could transfer to a handheld device to watch wherever and whenever we want. I mean, we've already bought the movie, right? A couple of years have passed, Blu-ray has won the bloody cage match, so like, whatever happened to that?
Easy access to compact video files of movies we already own would address one of the fundamental differences between CDs; which we can legally rip to MP3 and take anywhere; and DVD or Blu-ray, which forbid any sort of duplication. At the same time that the entertainment technorati are moving toward a high-definition world, we are also truly, madly, deeply in love with shifting our content to different locations. Who wouldn't want to leave a copy behind on a go-anywhere portable like the ubiquitous iPod, a clever set-top box like the Apple TV, or even the PC itself, where we already spend countless hours? Is it any wonder that the media hungry and morally bereft have resorted to piracy?
The demand has not fallen on deaf Hollywood ears, however. Each of the home video labels is are putting its own secret sauce into the practice of transferable video, or digital copy distribution, also known as "digital rights management" (DRM), with the purchase of a movie on optical disc. Here's where we're at, studio by studio.
Fox
Kudos to Fox for leading the studios into the digital copy arena. They debuted a bonus digital copy of Live Free or Die Hard last year, albeit on a deluxe DVD version of that title (not on the standard release, and not on Blu-ray).
Fox titles require us to install their own simple Digital Copy Manager on the target computer. Inside the DVD case is a piece of paper with a unique code printed on it, the key to unlocking the Digital Rights Management-protected content stored on Disc Two. From there, a Windows Media Video file can be copied from the DVD to a hard drive, while a second, smaller WMV file can be copied from the DVD straight to a Microsoft PlaysForSure-certified portable device by way of the computer, without ever parking the smaller copy there. I used my trusty Creative Zen portable media player for my tests, taking advantage of its 32 gigabytes of total storage space.
Starting with their second Digital Copy title, the animated Star Wars parody Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest, Fox also included an iPod-compatible MPEG-4 video file, a wise move considering the market penetration of Apple's hardware. The M4V file was located on DVD Disc Two, alongside the large and small WMV files. This is a pretty good deal when you consider that Blue Harvest originally sold on iTunes for $11.99, later dropped to $8.99, its price at press time. (Many fans have expressed outrage even at this price, as every other episode of Family Guy on iTunes sells for a mere $1.99.)
Hitman was Fox's first Blu-ray title to include a digital copy, requiring a second disc, a DVD in fact. So far, digital copies have never been delivered on a Blu-ray disc because a computer is required for transfer and virtually no one has a PC/Mac Blu-ray drive. Yet. Internet access is also a must, to authenticate the authorization code - to verify that you have the right to view the content.
I was able to grab the movies in both formats, to feed my Zen and my iPod. Either version is fine for watching on my PC screen. Jumper is the most recent Fox Blu-ray to include a digital copy.
Sony
Take a step back and you realize that Sony is the only movie studio that also offers consumers its own home theater-ready high-definition movie player with built-in hard disk drive, the PlayStation 3, plus an absolutely stunning handheld device with expandable data storage, the PlayStation Portable. That being the case, how cool would it be to pop a DVD or Blu-ray into the PS3, copy a portable file to the hard drive and later use the console as a USB-connected filling station for its miniature cousin, the PSP?
Alas, the mechanics of the process are not quite as slick, but still generously compatible with a PC (Sony makes those, too), PSP and PS3. Touted as a "special gift," a reasonably sized WMV file is included right on the DVD itself: In some cases, the Sony package contains just a single disc, with the digital copy alongside the regular version. Using another unique code number, we transfer it to the computer hard drive--after downloading and installing the two-megabyte "MP4-based_Video_Downloader_Installer.exe" application--to watch as much as we like although it could not be uploaded to any portable I tried.
A separate, slightly larger 700MB ".MGV" file is here too, a PSP-friendly, DRM-protected H.264-encoded MPEG-4 video at 480×270 resolution, which dubs from the DVD directly to the Memory Stick PRO Duo inside the connected PSP. Should we wish to watch in the living room, we remove the memory card from the PSP, insert into the appropriate slot on the PS3, and navigate to the movie file.
Following a Wal-Mart-exclusive promotion for the title Resident Evil: Extinction, nine Sony titles have been released or announced on DVD with the Digital Copy feature: Diamond Dogs, Hero Wanted (both 4/29), The Cottage (5/13), Cleaner (5/27), The Tattooist (6/24), and Vantage Point (7/1).
Coming soon will be Impact Point (7/8), Insanitarium (7/15), and 21 (7/22). I've actually heard of a couple of those!
Lionsgate
Rambo was their first Digital Copy title, available on both the Blu-ray and the two-disc special edition DVD. Lionsgate is the only studio to have supported iTunes from its very first digital copy-enabled title, and with a tradition of embracing new video technologies (WMV HD on DVD, UMD, etc.), they would surprise me if they didn't release many more such titles moving forward.
Inserting the second disc gives us a pop-up window asking us if we prefer iTunes or Windows Media (again, we can keep both), and then it can open iTunes for us and we enter the code from the insert, appearing as if we were redeeming a certificate for a prepaid download. In truth, the 1.1-gigabyte M4V file, the 1.8-gigabyte WMV and 435-megabyte "portable" WMV files are the only real contents of Disc Two, and transferring from optical disc to hard drive is much quicker than an internet download. The purchase of Rambo (or The Eye, Lionsgate's subsequent Digital Copy release a week later) is ordinarily valued at $14.99. I point that out less to make the disc seem like a bargain than to wonder aloud how Steve Jobs gets away with charging that.
Universal Studios
Universal's first; and for five months, only; "Bonus Digital Copy" title was Ridley Scott's American Gangster, as part of the pricey 3-Disc Collector's Edition DVD. The third disc contains exclusive content such as music videos and TV specials in addition to the digital copy, a two-gigabyte-plus WMV file. For some reason, this was the quickest, easiest to transfer, via Universal's pop-up interface, although it arrives with the ugly file name "AG_1500_V4.wmv." The back of the package clearly stipulates that this laptop/PC copy will not work on a Zune, or an iPod, or a PSP.
The new Mummy and The Mummy Returns 2-Disc Deluxe Edition reissues are Universal's next DVDs with digital copy, and also the first two "catalog" titles, although they tie in to this summer's release of the second sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Despite the long gap between these and American Gangster, just the single circa-two-gigabyte WMV file for each--no M4V--transfers to the PC, while the trailer for the upcoming Doomsday plays (over and over) in the little interface window while we wait. At least now these files are called a more readily identifiable "TheMummy_PC_EN"(glish, I assume) or "TheMummyReturns_PC_EN." These copies too show no love for a portable device.
Warner
Off to a relatively late start, Warner released I Am Legend with a digital copy on DVD on March 18, but they have already shown signs of considerable evolution. With an interface virtually identical to Universal's, I transferred 1.17-gigabyte and 424-megabyte WMV files of Will Smith's hit mutant opus to my PC, and transferred the portable file to the Zen without incident.
Everything changed with the studio's next Digital Copy release, the recent 10,000 BC. It offers Blu-ray-exclusive bonus digital files of the prehistoric saga, but instead of packing in a second disc, there is a code (two, actually) which we take to the Warner Bros. Digital Copy website, we choose a format and we are then redirected to iTunes and/or CinemaNow for redemption. It's just a slip of paper, and the files themselves are off on a server somewhere, not actually present anywhere in the slipcase.
I had to install and run the CinemaNow Media Manager to download both the "Premium" 1,200Kbps and "Portable" 800Kpbs WMV versions, the lower bitrate denoting lesser video quality on the smaller file. Strangely, I was unable to transfer the portable file to the Zen, after repeated attempts with the appropriate Creative, Microsoft Windows Media, and CinemaNow applications. Sweet, sweet iTunes didn't let me down, though.
A Few Parting Tips
Those versions of a disc with an included digital copy are clearly marked with a sticker, or in some cases are called "Digital Copy Edition" or something similar. Never attempt to eject the disc while the digital copy is transferring, but that's just common sense,. If downloading from internet, consider suspending all other download/upload traffic, even if you have a broadband connection. Ensure you have sufficient available storage space on your PC or portable before you begin, and for the quickest, lowest-stress experience, don't ask the computer to do too much else during the transfer. Lastly, some of these digital copy offers come with an expiration date, so if you plan to redeem, decide upon a destination and take advantage quickly.
Let Me Explain... No, It'll Take Too Long. Let Me Sum Up
The convenience and respectability of these official digital copies must be weighed against the incompatibility between the different studios, formats, and devices, the restrictions that come with DRM, and the additional expense of many Digital Copy-equipped discs. You'll also notice a limited title selection at the present time, but if consumer response is strong, one of these might just become the DRM distribution model of the future, with a managed digital copy on every disc.
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