Panasonic Introduces The DVD-Net Web System For Using DVD With The Internet

Up to now a simple DVD/Web system, called Spinware, which was developed by a company called AIX, has been the standard application to interface a DVD containing hidden or encrypted material with a PC DVD-ROM player onto a Web site that unlocks the hidden content.Panasonic has introduced a system, called DVD-Net, which is based on the open standard Burst Cutting Area (BCA). Under this scheme, discs are mass-produced in the usual way and then scanned by a powerful laser, which burns a bar code into the aluminum reflective layer round the center hole. Each disc has a different, unique code, and once written the code cannot be modified. Future DVD-Video and DVD-Audio players, including DVD-ROM drives, will be able to read the bar code as well as the program material.When a DVD player connects to a site on the Internet it sends the BCA code and in return for payment, or as a supplemental feature, receives a software key, which unlocks the encrypted data. Unlike other systems that cannot tie a key to a disc, DVD-Net logs each transaction so that it can be repeated if the owner changes player or computer. Panasonic suggests that with DVD-Net, disc content can be programmed to allow buyers with a computer DVD-ROM drive to watch the sequel or prequel of a movie without having to purchase other discs. Instead, the player owner is charged a fee for a pay-per-viewing period. Another scenario suggests unlocking the disc to play a computer game with extra fees charged to progress to higher levels. In education, Panasonic suggests using DVD-Net to set educational stages with the student charged per each course stage completed before moving on to the next. Divx uses BCA to control pay-per-viewing period DVDs, but Divxís system is non-standard. Panasonic says its DVD-Net system will work with all DVD players that follow the DVD standard and any Web site. While Divx holds patents on the idea, Panasonic says that BCA is in the public domain for anyone to use.Panasonic believes DVD-Net will be the new model for doing business over the Internet. As a system designed to foster one-to-one relationships, the technology allows commerce to bypass the traditional brick-and-mortar and catalog distribution system and forge direct customer relationships for customized mail order. Panasonicís Torrance, California disc pressing facility is now producing the first sample discs.