Downloads do not worry Lovefilm

In the words of the chief executive of Lovefilm Simon Calver the high street film rentals market has "completely imploded" with 50 per cent less stores trading today than a mere two years ago as consumers continue to flock online to hire their movies.

Speaking at the First Tuesday 'Retail Revolution' event in London this week Calver said there are simply more attractive options online for film fans, with the internet now accounting for 45 per cent of the total rentals market, as it provides a platform for more choice, greater convenience and better value-for-money.

But he added that people often forget that the online model also has a number of other desirable attributes that make it particularly attractive to merchants - it has an impressive cash conversion cycle, the subscription model “is a thing of beauty” when done correctly, and the management of inventory can be handled so much more efficiently than within a store estate.

Although questions about the longevity of the business model of companies such as Lovefilm (that mail-out physical DVDs to people's homes) have been raised, as result of downloads now starting to gain traction and garnering much media coverage, Calver remains unworried.

He takes the view that there is still much mileage to be had from the physical DVD market because before downloading becomes a mainstream activity there has to be a shift in what is actually available online to download and for the development of successful business models. And Calver reckons that consumers are likely to be in need of help during the transition - especially as the industry is awash with acronyms for various download services including DTO, DTR, DTB and SVoD.

But he acknowledges that downloading is inevitable: “Most things people watch online are short, viral and free. We are going to overcome these barriers in the next three to 10 years so downloads will happen.”

This is why he suggests it is essential that any company in the “physical space” must future-proof their businesses for when downloading is the prevalent method for acquiring film content. To this end Lovefilm has been dipping its toe in the download pool.

Calver has also been gradually moving the business away from what he describes as a logistics company to more of a media business. This has included not only reinforcing the wide choice of titles available (it stocks 65,000 films compared with an average 1,500 in a rental store and even less in retail outlets) but also crucially complementing this with much more of a “community” aspect to the Lovefilm site. This means film reviews and recommendations from other customers.

Calver suggests this helps consumers make choices and enables Lovefilm to avoid its massive selection putting people off through too much choice. And it appears to be working because 90 per cent of its business is related to films that are more than three years old, which disproves the original argument that Lovefilm would fail because demand was chiefly for only the most recently released films. “The reason that many people join us is for our film recommendations,” he says.

The company's shift to being a media organisation has included the re-launch of its website, which now incorporates a shop, cinema ticket sales, and full UK cinema listings. In addition Calver says: “There is also a big opportunity as a media company to get a greater share of studio marketing spend that can be a hybrid of online and offline marketing such as branded envelopes and inserts promoting new films.” Although he admits that this aspect of the business is still small he expects it to grow significantly.

One of the major challenges for Lovefilm and other merchants in the media space is the downward pressure on pricing. “UK retail prices have fallen like a stone...and price is 62 per cent of the reason why people buy a DVD. And as younger people are so much more price-sensitive there will be increased price pressure.”

To address this issue Calver says the company has also shifted its focus away from its earlier proposition of just offering all-you-can-eat subscriptions to now providing much greater flexibility in how people are able to consume films. Having found that two-thirds of the population rent less than two films per month, a lot more lower-priced entry-points such as 'capped' packages and pay-as-you-go options have been introduced.

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Blockbuster turns to the net to survive

As Blockbuster Inc. continues to slug it out with rival Netflix Inc., it’s staking its claims to differentiation and its future on a bid to be a multi-channel retailer and not just a DVD rental company. And in repositioning to a multi-platform strategy, the Internet and e-commerce figure to play a big role.

A recent overhaul to Blockbuster.com sets the stage for multi-channel offerings, CEO Jim Keyes is telling analysts this spring. For example, Keyes says that customers will be able to purchase movie downloads from Blockbuster.com by the end of the second quarter. The company also plans to experiment with digital downloads at kiosks in stores.

Blockbuster’s $6.6 million acquisition last year of Movielink LLC, which has an inventory of thousands of movies and TV shows, will facilitate the company’s ability to provide digital content to a variety of formats, including personal computers, portable devices, and, eventually, home TV screens.

Blockbuster also is using a marketing deal with Yahoo to generate more sales online and in stores, and it has announced plans to partner with Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks to offer exclusive digital content. Read more about the Blockbuster Yahoo deal.

The company expects to spend some $130 million this year on capital projects including $40 million on information technology and web infrastructure upgrades.

“As new entertainment technologies emerge, consumer options multiply,” Keyes notes. “All of these initiatives underscore our determination to position Blockbuster as the only provider of media content across all platforms—in-store, by mail and by digital download.”

Xbox Live HD movie downloads

Rumours are abound that Virgin Media and Microsoft Xbox Live high definition movie downloads should take between 15 minutes and half an hour to download by the end of the year on some broadband services.

A spokesman for Virgin Media has informed us that the company’s 50MB broadband service will be made available to over nine millions homes by the end of 2008 which is over 70 per cent of Virgin Media’s entire network.

Xbox Live subscribers can download five top blockbuster movies from 100 MS points, which equates to around 85p.

Most of the movies currently available on Xbox Live can be viewed in both standard and high-definition formats.

Illegal downloads in Japan will be punished

Companies in Japan plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy.

Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.

The Internet companies will set up a panel next month involving groups representing copyright holders to draft the new guidelines, the report said.

Company and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report Saturday. The actions would be among the strictest in fighting online piracy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy late last year outlined similar measures to disconnect Internet users who flagrantly violated copyright laws. But for the most part, illegal downloading is being addressed through litigation against individuals.

The music industry won a first-of-a-kind victory in a US court in October when a single mother in Minnesota was ordered to pay more than 220,000 dollars for sharing 24 songs online. The Yomiuri Shimbun estimated that 1.75 million people in Japan use file-sharing software, mostly to swap illegal copies.

One Internet service provider considered two years ago a plan to disconnect people who swap illegal files but dropped the plan after the government said it may violate the right to privacy, the Yomiuri said.

The best-known Japanese file-sharing software is called Winny, which allows users to swap games, movies and music online. It was developed by Isamu Kaneko, a young research assistant at the prestigious University of Tokyo who has become an Internet icon. But in 2006 he was fined 1.5 million yen (15,000 dollars), although he was spared jail.

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The Consumer's Dilemma: Cinema vs. Movie Downloads

In January this year, a book called The Pirate's Dilemma was published, written by Matt Mason. In it, Mason argues that piracy should be regarded as another kind of business model, one that exposes the inefficiencies in the existing market and acts as a catalyst for progress and innovation.

If pirates are prospering, he argues, it is usually because they have responded to changing consumer demands and are offering them services and conveniences that the original copyright holders are not, or will not. If, then, copyright holders want to take back their share of the market, they need to offer the same services and better; they need to give consumers good reason not to turn to piracy. The movie industry, of course, is constantly crying foul of the pirates - so what can it do to protect DVD sales and box-office receipts? What does it have to offer that an illegal movie download doesn't?

Arguably, the movie industry's greatest weapon against the pirate's free movie downloads is the cinema going experience itself - so let's examine the relative merits of going to the cinema versus downloading:

Advantages of going to the cinema

• It's an event. Executing a few mouse-clicks is never going to seem as special as picking something you really want to see and making the effort to go out and see it. Furthermore, spending money to do so has the psychological effect of making it seem more special - if it wasn't special, why would you have spent money on it?
  


• Exclusivity. That might be overstating it, but still if you're seeing something at a cinema, you're one of the first people to see it, and to see it as it was intended to be seen.
  


• Escapism. Sitting in the dark with surround-sound is a world away from that office chair in front of your computer screen; particularly if you work at that computer, too. And when you emerge from the cinema to find that day has turned into night, it really feels like you're returning from somewhere else; any amount of time could have passed; it could even be tomorrow.
  


• The social element. There is something so different about watching a movie in the company of others, even if you don't know them - it's a shared experience. When you're one of a hundred or more people all laughing at the same joke you feel part of something, that you're not alone. In fact, your response is generally heightened by the presence of other people; scary becomes scarier, funny becomes funnier. As for those discussions with friends on the way home, aren't they sometimes more interesting than the movie itself?
  


• State-of-the-art technology. Who has a computer system or home-cinema set-up capable of replicating the full cinema experience? And just say that you do, what resolution is your download? Put it on a screen bigger than the average computer monitor and chances are the picture will leave much to be desired. Assuming you're even techie enough to know how to make it show on anything other than your monitor…
  


• Stalled downloads. They're the equivalent of queuing for an age outside Screen 1, only to find that once you've been told you can go in, no matter how hard you try, the bloody door won't open. Unlike downloading 99% of a film only for it to irretrievably stall, that just never happens. You don't find yourself waiting outside for an utterly unknowable and indeterminate amount of time, either.
  


• You can't download popcorn. Seriously, you just can't.

Advantages of downloading

• Convenience. You don't have to leave the house. You don't have to queue for tickets. You can watch your film whenever you like. Sometimes, you don't even have to wait until a film's been released in your own country.
  


• Choice. That interesting art-house flick that just came out on limited release, won't be coming anywhere near Stafford, say, so how else are you going to see it? And never mind the current releases, you've got practically the whole history of cinema to choose from online.
  


• Cost. At least £5 per ticket, plus the cost of getting to the cinema, and maybe some snacks and drinks. Or, free. No contest, is it?
  


• No waiting. To the consternation of everyone else, films still tend to be released first in America, usually some while before they reach anywhere else. Evidently, some Americans think this is unfair too, judging by the number of new releases available to download even before they've left US cinemas.
  


• An unrestricted view. At home, no-one ludicrously tall, wearing a hat, or with unfeasible hair is ever likely to sit right in front of your monitor (unless you have a very odd cat). Neither will there be any backrest jogglers. Or arm-rest hogs. Or talkers. In fact, there doesn't have to be anyone in the room more likely to annoy you than yourself.
  


• No ads or trailers. Of course, some people like the trailers, but for many it might be considered an advantage.
  


• Try before you buy. Still prefer the cinema experience, but fed up of throwing good money after bad movies? Check one out as a download first, and if it's any good go and see it in its full glory.
  


• The Tom Cruise consideration. (Or insert own source of cinematic irritation). Download for free, and rest easy in the knowledge that you're not financially complicit in the torture of innocent moviegoers.

Looking at that list, it's pretty apparent that while watching pirated downloads in many ways fails to top a visit to the cinema, movie downloads do have their own advantages. It's probably for this reason that the movie industry has started, all too slowly and restrictively, to embrace the technology. Or at least reluctantly hold its arms out with a slightly worried expression on its face.

But if it just had faith in the public's apparently unshakeable love of cinema-going (box office receipts certainly don't appear to have been hit by piracy), perhaps the industry could truly embrace innovations such as simultaneous releases across all territories, Long Tail retailing of its back catalogue and niche products, ad-supported free downloads and streaming, fast and affordable paid-for downloads, releasing the first half hour of movies as tasters for the undecided… well, there are just all sorts of revenue streams open to any studio that dares to be adventurous.

As for downloads versus cinema: there's no reason consumers shouldn't embrace both; once the move industry decides to.

Apple TV (or Vudu, or Xbox Live) vs movies by mail

In this digital age where we download movies more often that we go to the cinema, a question that keeps popping up is which of the new TV set-top boxes is right for you? Well, if you're already a Netflix or Blockbuster subscriber, maybe it's not a question of which box you want, but whether you really need one. Here's how TV set-top boxes stack up to old-school DVD-by-mail services.

Delivery
Here's the most tempting reason to snap up a TV set-top box—instant gratification. With services like Apple TV, the Xbox Video Marketplace, Vudu, and Amazon Unbox via TiVo, you'll typically be able to start watching your movie within minutes—if not seconds—of hitting the "Rent Now" button, while Vudu tees up its movies instantly, provided you've got a decent broadband connection.

By-mail DVDs, as I'm sure you're aware, require a bit more patience. If you live near a distribution center, you can typically count on getting the next movie in your queue within a day after the service receives the last disc you sent back. Those in rural areas may have to wait for days longer. And while Blockbuster offers in-store trade-ins, let's face it—you can't ready argue with "right now." Winner: Set-top box

Note: Netflix offers about 7,000 "watch instantly" titles, but you can only watch them on a PC—not on your TV.

Selection
Set-top boxes might have the edge in terms of delivery, but online services like Netflix and Blockbuster blow away their digital competitors in the selection department. Apple TV and the Xbox Video Marketplace, for example, each offer fewer than 500 movies for rent, while Vudu and Amazon Unbox fare better with several thousand each. Netflix, on the other hand, has a staggering 90,000-plus DVDs in its library—pretty much everything, in other words.
Winner: Movies by mail

Video quality
While most of the set-top box services say their standard definition movies look just as good as DVD, the truth is that downloaded SD movies typically look softer and blockier than their DVD counterparts—indeed, over-the-Net HD movies may look only a little better than DVD quality. Why? Because video files are heavily compressed for faster downloads, and that means video quality suffers.

Of course, I've seen plenty of poorly mastered DVDs, as well, and if you're talking about a drama like, say, "The Hours," then a standard-def download will probably suit you just fine. But if you want to see "Transformers" in all its HD glory, you can't beat the physical HD DVD (or eventually, Blu-ray) version. Winner: Movies by mail

Sound quality
Full 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtracks are somewhat hit-and-miss when it comes to downloadable movies. For example, the HD version of "Transformers" on Apple TV has a 5.1 soundtrack, but not so for 2000's action-fest "X-Men." Meanwhile, most of the SD movies on set-top boxes are relegated to matrixed, two-channel Dolby Surround only.

On disc, however, if a given movie was released with a Dolby Digital and/or DTS surround soundtrack (and most movies made after 1994 were), you'll most like get it on DVD, Blu-ray and/or HD DVD. And if you're into new surround formats like Dolby Surround EX or DTS-HD Master Audio, disc is the only way to go. Winner: Movies by mail

Extra features
Set-top box movies may arrive instantly, but if you want extra features, you'll be pretty much out of luck. A few of the online services are gearing up for basic extras such as, say, commentary tracks, but for the most part, chapter stops are the most you'll get. Cinephiles who want all the deleted scenes, storyboards, and "making of" documentaries will be better off with discs. Winner: Movies by mail

Prices
Let's start with the boxes themselves: Apple TV goes for $229 (40GB) or $329 (160GB), while the 250GB Vudu and the 20GB Xbox 360 go for $299 and $350, respectively. You can get a non-HD TiVo for as little as $99, but you'll also owe $13 a month in service fees. Meanwhile, you can get a decent DVD player for $50 or less, while top-notch upscaling DVD decks go for between $100 and $150.

None of the set-top box services offer subscription plans yet, so you'll have to rent a la carte, and prices are somewhat high: typically $3 for catalog titles, $4 for new releases, and $5 and up for HD movies.

Netflix and Blockbuster, of course, have their various "X number of DVDs at a time" plans, ranging from one at a time for about $9 to about $16-$17 for three at a time. (Blockbuster also has pricier plans that allow for in-store trade-ins.)

For the sake of argument, stacking the $17 three-at-a-times plan against a la carte movie downloads…the $17 subscription equals about four or five movie downloads, depending on your mix of newer and older titles. Rabid by-mail movie watchers, on the other hand, could probably squeeze in, oh...about 20 movies, depending on the reliability of their mail carriers.
Winner: Movies by mail

And the winner is...
As I wrote above, it's hard to argue with set-top boxes when it comes to the instant gratification factor, and hey, they're cool gadgets—I've got both Apple TV and the Xbox 360, and I get a kick out of renting movies on them. And will downloads eventually take over the DVDs-by-mail business? Probably, yeah.

That said, dollar-for-dollar and taking into account selection, overall sound and video quality, plus bonus features. movie-by-mail services—low-tech though they may be—still take the cake. Winner: Movies by mail

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PS3 Movie Download Store coming soon

Having bought my PS3 I did a quick search to find out what they offer in terms of movie downloads. A few days ago it was reported that Sony is very close to launching a Playstation 3 movie download store. No dates were given but it is expected this month.

The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal have reported that a spring update to the Playstation Network (Online part of the Playstation 3) will include a new design and a movie download store.

According to attendees of the "Destination Playstation" show (a retailer and publisher focused event), Sony showed off parts of the store to the crowd.

No doubt Sony will try to gain a market share from XBOX LIVE Marketplace and the iTunes Movie Store in the movie download business. When the dust settles after the Apple TV blitzkrieg, the few competitors likely to be left standing are those riding into the lounge room on the back of existing hardware.

The Amazon/TiVo deal puts them in a strong position, but the big players to watch are the games consoles which - like the TiVo - have already established a presence in the cut throat digital lounge room. If you've already spent good money on one (or more) of these devices and use their video download service you're far less likely to shell out more money on an Apple TV player. Movie download services not affiliated with existing hardware will be swept aside unless they offer playback via a games console, as several do with the Xbox 360.

Now Sony has indicated the introduction of a movie download service for the PlayStation 3, to match the Xbox 360, the console war has moved into new territory - territory Apple has already marked as its own.

I don't think Sony or Microsoft are stupid enough to make an "Apple TV killer" in the same fashion they keep rolling out "iPod killers" which fail miserably. They should realise their games consoles are the best chance they have stealing a small slice of the pie Apple is preparing to devour. Microsoft is delusional if it's pinned its hopes on Vista-powered media centers making much of an impact. The fact is most people don't want a computer in their lounge room, unless it's disguised as a games console or media player.

The reason why Microsoft and Sony MP3 players fail to kill the iPod is because they put copyright paranoia before usability. Apple is as obsessed with digital rights management as anyone, but the iPod/iTunes combination is idiot proof enough to appeal to the masses. Assuming Apple finds that same balance in the Apple TV, few competitors will survive.

If someone is looking for a killer application in the digital lounge room, they need look no further than YouTube. The ability to take Flash-based videos from services such as YouTube and watch them on your television will grab the public's attention and help take media players mainstream. Considering the legal quagmire YouTube is wading through - and its tumultuous relationship with the movie houses that Apple, Microsoft and Sony rely on for their download services - it will be interesting to see if anyone has the guts to offer YouTube playback via their devices. If the games consoles want to be "Apple TV killers" it may be their only hope

People will be able to download "all kinds of digital content to their PlayStation 3 - not just games but movies, music, HD, standard definition TV," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief Phil Harrison told the games website 1UP.

I will keep you posted on Playstation 3 download news as it happens.

Movie downloads threat to Blu-ray

Blu-Ray has won the high-definition format war but internet downloading is looming as the next threat on the horizon. After two years of intense lobbying, fierce competition and widespread consumer confusion, Blu-ray has emerged as the winning high-definition DVD format.

Its rival, HD-DVD, is dead. Toshiba announced it would no longer manufacture HD-DVD players, and would exit the market by the end of March. HD-DVD players and discs are already being pulled from store shelves across Australia, and some consumers who backed the technology are quickly ridding themselves of it on internet auction sites.

So what now for the future of movies? Will sales of Blu-ray players skyrocket? Is the consumer confusion over? Are Blu-ray player owners sitting pretty? Or, as Toshiba predicts, will internet movie downloads usurp the Blu-ray format and climb to the top of the movie ladder?

It's a big call, but media analyst Steve Allen claims it is "inevitable" and will happen within the next five years.

The debate over the future of movies began in 2006 with the start of the high-definition format war. Toshiba released the first HD-DVD players into the market in March and into direct competition with the Sony-backed Blu-ray format.

Both technologies offered significant advantages over regular DVDs, most notably pictures with five times the resolution, making scenes look sharp and faces more detailed.

Both formats also offered better sound, more movie extras and improved in-movie menus, attracting the attention of home cinema buffs.

But there were significant differences between the formats as well. HD-DVDs were free of region coding and the discs were cheaper to produce, while Blu-ray discs had a larger capacity and were more difficult for movie pirates to manufacture.

Ultimately, HD-DVD lost the war when the majority of movie studios backed the Blu-ray format, leaving HD-DVD owners with few movie-buying choices.

But in announcing Toshiba's decision to stop manufacturing HD DVD equipment, Australian general manager Mark Whittard made a bold prediction: the longevity of Blu-ray was limited and would ultimately be overtaken by movie downloads.

"We believe from as early as next year, next-generation DVDs will be leapfrogged by internet movie downloads," he says. "The movie downloading wave is coming a lot sooner than we thought." Mr Whittard says Toshiba will focus on further developing this internet-based movie market rather than supporting the Blu-ray format.

But how far away are we from replacing trips to the video store with clicking and screening our favourite films via the internet? Fusion Strategy media analyst Steve Allen says the market is still in its infancy in Australia, but will soon become part of our everyday lives.

"In five years from now I think it will be a normal part of the market," he says.

"If you make them available at the right speed, quality and price it would be a success and would dramatically cut movie piracy. This, of course, would mean you could play them on a television and that you only had a limited licence (to screen the movie) for X number of days."

Mr Allen says the high rate of illegal movie downloads in Australia demonstrates that internet users understand the technology and are ready to use it – but movie studios and service providers still have to work out the right structure for such a service that would provide convenience while protecting the artists' work.

"It is in the movie houses' interests to find a way of doing this, because that will choke off piracy," he says. "The speed, convenience and quality of movie downloads will outflank the fakes."


Movie downloads in Australia

Australian internet users already have two legal movie download services at their disposal. The largest is BigPond Movies from Telstra, which launched in February 2006.

BigPond Movies also features a DVD rental service that works via post, and Telstra corporate communications manager Craig Middleton says it still has "a much larger audience" and more titles than the download side of the store.

"We have 4000 titles in our online store at the moment and that is a small percentage of what is available in terms of the entire movie catalogue from Hollywood," he says. "We have over 30,000 titles in our DVD store... that's how far we've got to go."

Part of the problem, he says, is working out download rights with the movie studios.

The other problem is the fact that movies must be downloaded to a computer and cannot be burned to DVD or copied to another media and screened on your television. They are automatically deleted from your computer after a specified time period, to prevent the user keeping or copying the film.

While this protects its creators, it also prevents many consumers from watching the film on their preferred screen: the television.

"There are increasingly more and more ways you can wirelessly network it through to a flatscreen or connect your laptop to your flatscreen TV, but we have not reached the super simple method that will find mass adoption," he says.

"We are finding that keen movie watchers will find a way though."

BigPond Movies' main competitor is a company called Reeltime.tv, which counts Sony Home Entertainment as an investor.

Its website has a smaller range of movies to download and rent than BigPond's service, though it also sells movie downloads to own.

These movies cost between $33.95 and $18.95, but once users pay for their preferred movie, they can keep one copy on a PC, one on a portable device and one on a DVD.

However, Mr Allen says both of these services are limited by the available broadband internet speeds in Australia and the download limits of users' internet plans.

Mr Middleton also admits that the quality of these movies is "not quite DVD quality, but very close to it" in order to keep file sizes low.

High-definition movie downloads, he says, would probably only become viable once fibre-to-the-node broadband became available in Australia.

Pay TV provider Foxtel will deliver HD movies later this year, however, via its new HD+ service. The company will "push" eight to 10 high-definition movies to customers' set-top boxes each month, letting users buy access and view the movies as they want.

All of Australia's free-to-air television stations also offer clips from TV shows on the internet, and some offer full episodes online, including free and paid downloads.


The future of Blu-ray

Just because Blu-ray won the format war doesn't mean its supporters will rest on their laurels – or that people who have bought a Blu-ray player can relax.

Makers of Blu-ray players including Sony and Panasonic are preparing to launch more advanced models this year that will include features missing from most current players.

The most notable of these features is internet connectivity, which will let users download extra content such as movie trailers, more movie extras and even simple movie-based games.

Another is a feature called BD-Live that will allow viewers to watch picture-in-picture content. This feature would see a small window appear as the movie played to let an actor explain a scene, for example.

Only Blu-ray fans using the Sony PlayStation 3 have received access to the BD-Live feature so far.

Ironically, both internet connectivity and the picture-in-picture feature were available on HD-DVD players, and waiting for the second generation of Blu-ray players before investing in one could be a smart move.


The future of HD-DVD

Just as Betamax before it, HD-DVD is dead as a format. However, Mr Whittard points out that the high-definition DVD players still have "inherent value". "Viewers can still play their CDs or their DVD library (in a HD-DVD player) and they can upscale their DVDs to near high-definition quality," he says. "In many cases you cannot tell the difference between them."

To upscale or "upconvert" a DVD, the DVD player artificially upgrades the disc's content, which is at a resolution of 480i, to the native resolution of your high-definition TV, be it 720p, 1080i or 1080p. Some DVD players are better at this than others.

Toshiba has also reassured HD-DVD player owners that the company will continue to support and provide service for the equipment for at least the next five years.


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