Dell releases external burn-on-demand DVD for Qflix
3:10 pm EDT September 16, 2008 - A spokesperson for Sonic Solutions told BetaNews this afternoon that DVD videos burned with Qflix drives, including the one sold by Dell, may very well be readable in other brands of console- and PC-based DVD players, although the one way to know for sure is to check for a Qflix logo.
According to Qflix literature, the presence of the logo on a device means it has been Qflix-certified. A warning posted on Dell's Web site yesterday, on the day its external Qflix DVD burner was released, explicitly says that discs burned on that device may not be viewable through players that don't have the Qflix logo.
"This device can record on discs marked with the Qflix logo," reads Dell's warning to customers. "Such recorded discs are intended for playback in DVD-Video play-only devices and may not play in other DVD devices including recorders and PC drives that are not marked with the Qflix logo."
But "may not play" isn't the same as "won't play." Does this mean there's a good possibility that Qflix-burned videos won't play? And if it means the opposite -- that there's a good chance they will play -- then what's the point of the Qflix certification logo?
BetaNews asked Sonic Solutions spokesperson Chris Taylor. "The Qflix logo does indeed imply Qflix certification," Taylor told us. "The certification program for drives and media is stringent because it is designed to ensure the best possible playback compatibility of Qflix DVDs across the widest range of players in the market, including non-Qflix drives...There is nothing built into Qflix to intentionally limit playback."
In other words, nothing about the Qflix-specific media, produced by Ritek, has been intentionally designed to prevent it from being usable in another brand of player. But what about unintentional prevention?
"Based on third-party testing, for television set-top DVD players, the playback compatibility testing is excellent at 99%," responded Taylor. "For Qflix DVD recorders, the compatibility is 100%. The disclaimer language that you noticed on the Dell site is there to meet DVD Forum requirements to notify customers that the discs may not play in all PC DVD drives. Currently, for non-Qflix PC DVD recorders, the compatibility is around 80%. This compatibility is expected to improve over time since the problems occur mostly with older PC DVD recorders."
4:05 pm EDT September 15, 2008 - While video retailers believe Qflix discs could represent the level of direct-to-the-consumer functionality that Blu-ray has yet to deliver, there's a catch that makes these discs not exactly as versatile as the "V" in "DVD" implies.
Early last year, movie studios gave their support to a burn-on-demand technology being developed by Sonic Solutions that would enable broadband customers to burn copy-protected DVD movies to specially created media. With Qflix console drives now capable of playing movies downloaded from CinemaNow -- a service that began testing legal burns in June 2006 -- Dell is announcing this morning it's the first company to build an external Qflix drive for use with PCs.
The listing for Dell's Qflix DVD burner went live on its Web site this afternoon. Although Dell's marketing told the press today that the drive would be marketed for now as a bundle with Inspiron, Studio, and XPS laptops for $119.99, this listing indicates the drive is equally available separately for the same price.
What makes the service functional -- which, to some extent, also renders it controversial -- is that it does not burn movies to traditional DVDs. Rather, it requires the use of special "Qflix-certified" recordable media, which come pre-encoded with certain features of CSS copy protection. The Qflix drive can only burn movies to these discs, which right now are not exactly available at your local store.
The software you use to burn these discs is called Roxio Venue, which Sonic Solutions announced last month. At the time, Sonic said Venue would let burned DVDs play in PCs, but it would not specify which ones. While Qflix DVDs are said to be "compatible with the billion DVD players deployed worldwide," to quote Qflix marketing literature, they are intentionally designed not to be played back from just any PC. Meaning, you may only be able to play Qflix discs on Dell's Qflix PC player.
This somewhat contradicts CinemaNow's current marketing, which states Qflix discs can "play on any DVD-enabled player or PC."
Dell's statement this afternoon says that Qflix drives will soon be offered as an option for desktop models, though the fact that the external drive uses a standard USB cable indicates that it can effectively function in any PC to which Dell's Qflix burner is attached. Presently, Qflix discs have standard video resolution designed for 480i displays; similar technology for 1080p high-definition displays has yet to be announced.