Real's Glaser: Some studio chiefs 'scared' of tech

"Hollywood should be embracing us," said Real CEO Rob Glaser.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET Networks)

SAN FRANCISCO--Hollywood is missing out on a marvelous opportunity, says RealNetworks' CEO Rob Glaser.

Real has presented the film industry with a means to inject renewed interest in DVDs, which is waning, Glaser said minutes after testifying at a hearing in federal court on Wednesday. Real has developed two different kinds of software, RealDVD and Facet, that it says streamlines the movie-viewing experience by enabling owners to duplicate DVDs and store the copies on hard drives.

But the studios, much like they've done since the Sony Betamax case, are resisting technological advancement and have rejected the opportunity Real offers, Glaser said. He thinks he knows why.

"Some of the studios are very progressive," said Glaser, who founded the public company in 1994. "Some of them are scared. It's been my experience that often the scared voices overwhelm the progressive voices."

Glaser's assessment of film industry CEOs couldn't be further from the truth, said Elizabeth Kaltman, a spokeswoman from the Motion Picture Association of America, the lobbying group of the six largest movie studios.

"These (film) companies have embraced innovation and collaborate with the technology community to deliver content in a myriad of ways," Kaltman said. "The studios are working daily to license movies and TV shows for online distribution to give consumers the flexibility they desire."

Fear of technology is only one of the reasons that Real says it has come under fire from the MPAA. The film industry filed a lawsuit last September that accused Real of violating copyright and breach of contract. The studios claim that RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing the copy protections on DVDs. Real's software also doesn't comply with the license granted by the DVD Copy Control Association, the group formed to protect DVDs, according to lawyers representing the studios.

In an interview with CNET, Glaser denied the charges.

At Glaser's side, Bill Way, RealNetworks' deputy general counsel, called the allegations that Real breached its contract flat wrong.

"The notion that we are guilty of circumvention when we have a license is crazy," Way said. "There is no cases that show that if you have a license you can be found guilty of circumventing encryption."

On Tuesday, Glaser demonstrated for the court a prototype of Real's new DVD player called Facet. The software within not only copies and stores DVDs but allows users to hop around instantly between movies or TV episodes. The device has been called a Tivo for DVDs. Glaser said the machine offers the kind of convenience that consumers demand but Hollywood refuses to listen.

"They should be embracing us," Glaser said. "If all you do is fight your customer, you drive the mainstream market underground. This is a huge strategy mistake...The big picture view is that they can make a lot more money with us than fighting against us."

[Altotus]

Fair use.

[contentcreator--2008]

... does not include rent rip and return.

[d3vildog69]

Nobody says thats what Fair Use is. People want to be able to back up copies of their purchased items. We wouldn't have huge issues with the three R's if they would let us back up our movies. Thats all most anyone wants.

People who Rent/Rip deserve what they get. Thats not what we are fighting for.

[unknown unknown]

@contentcreator--2008 No one said it did. Even if consumers wanted to, there are much cheaper ways of accomplishing it than buying RealDVD. Consumers have had the ability to rip rentals (finding the software is a Google search away) for several years now. If they don't want to rip it themselves they can almost certainly manager to download it. I seriously doubt Real's product is going start a flood of people ripping rentals. The people who would rip rentals are probably already doing it.

[d3vildog69]

The MPAA have lost, Legally or no. Its downhill from here, rejection of innovation that benefits the consumer will always result in the death of that entity. This is what happens when your iris shines with the $

[Lerianis3]

Bingo. As i have said before, with the high rental price.... if I find a DVD that I like, I am going to 'rip and return'. If they lower the rental price to 3 dollars or less (like it should be!), I won't feel that I have 'paid my tithe' for the few DVD's that I like that I rent and would consider ripping, and might buy a new copy.... as long as it didn't cost more than 5 dollars!

[jtjt145]

One might argue that computers singular purpose is to reproduce and copy digital items effortlessly. It was one of the biggest successes of mankind! But the drooling daddy-long legs from the American *AA organizations find it impossible to get it into their heads.

They have been clogging the progress of mankind for more than a decade now, with DRM (digital rights management), myriads of encryption schemes and un-enforceable copyright protection.
Without those belligerent imbeciles, yes, Mr Murdoch, you too, we would have had radio and tv, practically the whole hogwash of entertainment and information on the same network a long time ago.

Of course, its all coming anyway, because in the long run you cant really hold up progress, truly thank you to the legions of backyard shops in China, India, and increasingly the rest of the world.

Consolation for the young generation: you will have in the end what you always wanted and nobody will remember the tottering, dithering idiots from the RIAA, MAFIAA, and whatever else they call themselves, while their remains will quietly rot in their graves.

Arthur

[Lerianis3]

Hit the nail right on the head. The end of the MPAA, RIAA and their 'digital protection schemes' (Digital rights management) are coming. They can either get out of the way of the looming planetoid..... or get run over! Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) they have decided to get in the way and are going to get run over very soon.... the clock is ticking.

[jmans1212]

The RealDVD technology isn't trying to make piriting easier it is just more for allowig people who have DVD'S to put a copy on a hard drive. One that you can take with you on your laptop or one that you can view on your desktop or your media pc hooked up to the TV without figuring out where the DVD is located.

They keep saying they don't want people to rent and rip. However isn't that what people do when they purchase an on demand movie and record it with a DVR?

The Piriting laws should be more on proving the intent to distribute on multiple qualities coppywrited marerial. This way you can copy your DVD'S with software and no issues unless you try and distribute more copies of it.

RealDVD should win so that other companies can also produce the same software. You don't think that Microsoft and Apple arn't watching this and if RealDVD wins ave plans to include DVD ripping in their software.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

What I don't get is the LaserDisc and VCD formats had no copy protection and Hollywood didn't complain. Hell, I have many DVDs from 1996 'til 1999 that are commercial releases without any copy protection activated, either. If they didn't want people to copy or extract data from DVDs, then they should've either made it difficult to just go a copy (Xbox, GameCube, Wii games with the "outside-in" method) or made an analog format that's just as good as digital, but protected up the yazoo. Anyways, and I know I might get in trouble for this, but MPAA stands for Movie People Are ********!

[lenkiatleong]

Glaser is right. MPAA is still sleeping. One could still "rent, rip and return" into NAS and then use HTPC to play those vob files. If those PC has HDMI that could transmit video and sound to the TV or AV, we don't even need RealDVD!!
In sum, its a waste of taxpayers money to even hear this lawsuit. RealDVD should be allowed on the market to rejuvenate DVD sales and movie content owners should not be so greedy to charge high price for their stale movies. Their greediness breeds pirates.

[t8]

The MPAA is out of touch.
First off I hate zoning. I can't buy DVD from Amazon because the zones are wrong. Secondly, I own lots of DVDs that I purchased in my home country that my kid watches a lot, and I hate all the nag screens I have to click out of in order to actually play the movie. When I put in a DiVX CD my DVD player shows me the file and I click play. Simple. DVDs require me to stand there for a couple of minutes pushing the next button and pausing.
The conclusion is that the MPAA or movie studious penalize customers for doing the right thing because they are paranoid of those that do the wrong thing. The result is that I prefer to play DiVX than DVD.
If the MPAA wire everything around paranoia of abuse, then even their good customers will use more convenient formats that they do not control.

[Lerianis3]

I have to agree with you about zoning. That was the WORST thing that the world allowed the MPAA and RIAA to get away with. They should have required that ALL DVD's had to be 'region-free', even if they are a foreign language version.

[unknown unknown]

"These (film) companies have embraced innovation and collaborate with the technology community to deliver content in a myriad of ways," Kaltman said. "The studios are working daily to license movies and TV shows for online distribution to give consumers the flexibility they desire."

Only after being dragged kicking and screaming.

[maeckg]

Real has an interesting product with the Facet device; it could be an advantage for the content providers if they would realize it. MPAA would be better off making a special case with Real demanding some restrictions so the huge percentage of consumers, who just want movies at a fair price do not look to illegitimate means. The basic issue of backup copy may not yet be resolved. Consumers will find the technology for their convenience one way or another.
Personally, I have a tool to manage my 100,000 DVDs, with12,000 stored for instant viewing: Netflix. Downloading or ripping much less buying pirated copies becomes uninteresting because I can spend my time enjoying movies and TV shows instead of fooling with uncertain software, viruses or dubious people.

[Sausagebiscuit]

I agree, Netflix is a pretty good anti-piracy tool :) Only takes a day to get movies, rarely have issues, saves my bandwidth for other things (WoW!) and less worries and hassle. All for a pretty fair price that includes streaming and letting me keep the discs without late fee hassles.

[SactoGuy018]

I think this is a case that will eventually end up in the Supreme Court, where they will have the Universal City Studios, Inc. et al. v. Sony Corporation of America Inc. et al. case from 1984 to use as a precedent. Will we finally get a case where "fair use" is defined once and for all?

Interestingly, this whole case may be rendered moot, especially in regards to region coding. The reason why region coding was put in was because up until now, movie companies staggered their theatrical movie releases worldwide, so it could sometimes take as much as six months from the first release in a certain country to the last release in small countries. But with digital distribution of movies either in downloaded form on a local hard drive at the local digital movie projector, the hard drive(s) loaded with the movie sent to the theater to be installed in the projector, or eventually by holographic storage optical discs, this means we could send theatrical-quality digital copies of a movie worldwide very quickly--a lot cheaper than sending six 35-pound reels of 35 mm per print of a single two-hour movie! That could allow for a worldwide simultaneous release of a movie within 1-2 days in every location.

[Lerianis3]

"Fair Use" will never be defined 'once and for all'. It is like other things in that the view of 'fair use' is always changing depending on how the technology changes.

[Bytrat]

According to the Movie Studios there is no such thing as "FAIR USE". The only fair use is as defined by them after you have payed thier tithe and that is only for the single format purchased. There is no converting to any other format unless you pay again and again and again ......... on and on.

[thelemurking]

Sucks for them because any movie that I BUY and like... I will rip and convert it to iPod or DIVX it so I can keep it on my laptop for trips. Why would I want to cart around 5 or 10 DVDs when I can easily rip them right on my laptop? I'm probably reaching 1000 DVDs so they have received enough of my money. I should not have to buy a movie twice just to get a digital copy. Once should be enough!

[ralfthedog]

Have any of you heard about the new memory erase field the MPAA plans to start putting in theaters? Movie viewers are copying movies they have just watched and storing them in their own brains. By selectively erasing those brains they can prevent moviegoers from distributing parts of movies by word of mouth.

Last night I went to one of the first tests of this technology. I watched that movie (You know, the one with that actor). I think it might have been good, I will need to see it again to make sure.

PS. This technology could have positive uses. I would love to see the Matrix for the first time again. I would also like to forget the existence of the second and third films.

[Sausagebiscuit]

"These (film) companies have embraced innovation and collaborate with the technology community to deliver content in a myriad of ways," Kaltman said. "The studios are working daily to license movies and TV shows for online distribution to give consumers the flexibility they desire."

Sure, for an additional fee.

I don't know about everyone else, but I love paying as many times as possible for the same thing in a different format. VHS -> DVD -> Blu-ray & HD-DVD .. there are four times. iTunes, Amazon and/or others make it a 5th time.

Basic assumptions here: VHS = $9.99, DVD=$14.99, BLU & HD = $20.99 (2x if you had an HD-DVD release before it died), and about $9.99 from iTunes or Amazon.

$9.99+$14.99+$20.99+$20.99+$9.99 = $76.95 to see a movie over the years, and that doesn't include if you see it in theater also. Another ~$10. Now sure, not everyone has multiple formats, but i'm just pointing out the extreme.

[AaronMK]

For VHS -> DVD -> Blu-ray, I have sympathy and share that frustration myself, but I don't think a studio is obligated to continually upgrade the audio/video quality of a film purchase or provide it to you in new formats.

But I strongly agree that they have no right to intentionally limit the flexibility I have with that purchase, then charge me for that flexibility. That is like a ransom demand.

Quite simply, if they are going to intentionally prevent me from making a non-infringing (in non-DMCA terms) use of my purchase in service of their interests, then they had better find a way to facilitate some equivalent of that non-infringing use free of charge.

Examples:
- Provide mechanisms for first-sale transactions of DRMed iTunes downloads.
- Transcoding services that let me specify the quality and space trade-offs for viewing on my portable devices, as opposed to some SD Digital Copy that is supposed to magically take full advantage of my HD laptop display.
- Provide me with a copy stripped of forced trailers.
- etc.

It is even more frustrating since Managed Copy on Blu-Ray was supposed to facilitate great flexibility for copying, yet tracking to make copyright law enforceable. I guess this hasn't been enabled since they would rather provide that flexibility by licensing the material for online distribution and purchasing.

[Sausagebiscuit]

One thing I can understand is the VHS -> DVD was such a big jump in both quality and convience that many did not feel as if they were rebuying the same old movie they already had. DVDs (supposedly) offer much longer storage life and didn't need rewinding. They also, of course, were much better in quality.

Well said post AaronMK. I honestly had expected a flame war :)

[riodejaneiro2007]

They're not scared of tech. It has to do with money.

As a consumer, I like iTunes because it allows me to purchase one file that I can watch on my computer, TV via Apple TV or iPhone. I know those greedy bastards hate that because they would rather I purchase a movie for each of those devices.

Instead of spending their money suing everyone, they need to spend their money trying to determine a way they can take the money with them when they die.

[d3vildog69]

W/ itunes you're paying apple money for a locked movie, now not only do you have to pay for the movie, but you pay for the apple t.v, the computer (doesn't have to be a mac, i knooowww) and for an iphone. Not the same

[ofmyony]

This would have been great 10 years ago. Now, I don't care! I will soon be able to stream any movie or show in HD online.

I will probably never spend another dollar on dvd or bluray. I am and early adopter and I moved on years ago. The losses the studios are feeling today are from consumers like me who drop a technology because of it's lack of openness.