As the adult industry moves closer to providing instantaneous downloads of movies directly to set-top boxes, some companies are offering “interim services” to tide us over. With its recently launched download-to-DVD software, ObjectCube has inched us one step closer to our goal.
The software will be offered to studios and video-on-demand providers that are looking to move into the direct-download space, says ObjectCube Chief Executive Officer Jay Janarthanan. “All they have to do is take a DVD from the shelf, use our software to create an image, and from that image they create a downloadable format. You get all the menus and chapters and everything you would on a regular DVD, but without all the re-encoding,” he says. “It’s the next step in technological evolution.”
Certain restrictions may apply. In some cases, end users will only be able to burn single copies of movies, or they will not be allowed to download to DVD if it’s been 30 days since a title was purchased. According to Janarthanan, it will be up to each studio or VOD provider to determine which restrictions may apply.
“The best thing about this technology is that it moves [the adult Internet industry] from being a computer-based visual industry into the television strand,” says Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network founder Scott Coffman, whose company is one of the first to use the software. “What we’re most excited about is taking our customers who watch our product on the Internet and moving them into the TV market.”
As Janarthanan acknowledges, however, this new software is just a temporary fix. “The whole DVD download-and-burn [movement] is basically a temporary thing until the real video-on-demand technology comes through. Right now, there’s no way to download an entire movie onto your television,” he says. “There are a lot of things happening in the next few years: You’re going to have set-top box players with Internet connections, and you’ll be able to download movies onto your hard drives. But, until that happens in the U.S., this is a great substitute for the next two or three years.”
