News New self-destructing DVD launched

In the words of a certain bowl of petunias, "Oh no, not again". This from elReg:

A French company has developed a disposable DVD or DVD-D, that self destructs after a few hours. Like the classic DVD, DVD-D is made of polycarbonate, but it contains an extra layer of coating that reacts to an oxidisation process which begins as soon as the disc is exposed to air. The self-destruct process can be pre-set to occur between eight and 24 hours.

It is not the world's first suicidal DVD. Last year, Flexplay Technologies, based in New York, announced a DVD with a 48-hour viewing window. Like the DVD-D a Flexplay enabled DVD works in all players, DVD drives and gaming systems designed to accept a standard DVD, but the makers of the DVD-D claim their product is much cheaper to produce. The company also says there are no ways to repair the disc after the weathering process has made it unreadable. Solutions to repair the disc would be extremely complex.

More here

 

Notice how they say extreamly complex and not impossible, which shows that if sum1 really really wanted 2 they could recover the data

Death

 

Don't PS2s die because they aren't meant to read DVDs? Any chance the same could happen to DVD players trying to read these disks that are in the oxidation process? (IE: what if the disk is 3/4 of the way through its life)
And what keeps someone from ripping the DVD as soon as they get it out of the package and burning their own disk or just watching it on their computer/htpc?

 

As well as the thinking that since you don't give the disc back you technically "own" it, so why not have the legal right to copy it or do whatever you want with it.

 

Nothing, probably what most people will do if they want to use it again after 24 hours.

 

Another example of how wasteful society is. I bet they're not biodegradable or recyclable.

*sigh*

 

I bet you can just do the same as on the last version and read the disc through the polythene wrapper! What a crap idea, do these companies have money to throw away or something? Who in their right mind would actually use something like that? Takes the **** to be honest.

 

*cough* AOL's advertising campaign *cough*

 

Just use a vacuum pump, or burn up all the oxygen in a sealed chamber and put your dvd player in it

I agree that this kind of thing is totally wasteful, and I bet they'll still charge OTT prices for buying these self destructing DVD's.

 

he, another adequatele crazy solution would be to create a duo hotplate-dvd player, that way oxygen is burned as it plays! :S

I fi wanted to keep the DVD, id simply use some kind of software to back it up, then watch it later (as i have payed to view it once, i shall view it once, whenever!). This all sound very undramatic. I hope they have a little thing in which says "this dvd will self destruct in 5 seconds". But i bet they wont blow up

 

The last ones were recyclable... but only by the company that produced it, so you would have to find their super-duper-handy-dandy-on-every-street-corner-except-yours recycle bins to recycle the disk...

 

I knew that was coming somehow

 

lol...so true !

 

what if you sprayed the disk with a clear coat spray paint, or varnish immediately after opening? or would it still oxydise even after being exposed to air only for a few minutes?

 

still begs the question: whats the point?

Wouldn't the cost of producing these self-destructive dvds wipe away any supposed saving from piracy?

PLUS there's always gonna be someone out to try and beat the system

 

I wonder if they still crackle in the microwave after they have been "destroyed"?

I do not find this to be that amazing and realy would like to see someone create a disk that doesn't degrade untill it is under the eye of the DVD reader... Then if they could put some kind of holagram on the disk to verify that is the origional (like Mic' does) then you could be sure that the special secret information you are watching has not been compromised.

 

The cost of pressing the DVD is not what makes it expensive, it's the movie studios, Motion Picture Association, lawyers, etc. Besides most DVD are less than $20.00, it's not worth it.

Do the box and graphics decompose too? It would be nice if they provide a fancy case and graphics for the copy that most would make. Dual layer DVD burners (Sony $199.99) advertised at Best Buy and Circuit City over the long weekend. I think NetFlix is going to be VERY busy soon.