June 26 , 2003  Copyright Mediaware Infotech Pvt Ltd

A few months ago, Walt Disney Co. announced its 'self-destructing' DVD technology. This technology de-activates content based on a pre-determined time span. (Disney's DVD technology relies on a chemical process, which creates a layer that cannot be penetrated by any DVD player's laser.)

And recently, a subsidiary of electronics giant Sony Corp announced its DRM technology for 'self destructing' downloadable movies. (Sony's DRM technology* actually allows users to download un-encrypted movies. The downwloaded content is split into many parts and saved in diferent locations on the viewer's hard-drive(s). And the viewer needs special software to play back the content as a continuous movie. While some additional information embedded in the content triggers it to expire after the pre-set period.)

While it is more than likely that film producers & distributors will adopt technology like Disney's DVD to fight 'piracy' in the near future, it is Sony's DRM technology that may be the harbinger of future digital television technology like video on demand and Pay-per-Use television.

Limitations of Current Technology
Most Video-on-Demand (VOW) systems work on encrypted streaming. That effectively means transmission via the Internet. The viewer's experience can be only as good as his ability to meet bandwidth demands. To ensure 'minimum response' effectively means to control bandwidth demands - and the only way is to reduce the size of content. Unfortunately, this has an adverse effect on video quality, with the viewer being forced to live with poor resolution (or restrict his view to a very small screen).

Add the considerable increase in content size due to encryption, and you have a situation which is 'tailor made' for poor viewing!

Sony's DRM technology will actually allow the viewer to download un-encrypted movies which can be played back locally. Since there is no streaming, bandwidth does not directly affect the picture quality. The viewer plays back the movie using Sony's special software until the content 'expires'.

Digital Set-top Boxes & the Future Pay TV
With the implementation of digital CAS (Conditional Access System), digital set-top-boxes are becoming more sophisticated each day. High-end models already support hard drives for recording content. Along with software for a number of tasks.

In the coming years, the concept of pay TV as we know it will morph into (an advanced version of) Pay-per-Use TV or Video-on-Demand !
Where implementing Video-on-Demand & Pay-per-Use will effectively mean permitting the viewer to download content on his digital set-top box for a fee. Which can be played back later on freely available software (using the same digital set-top box or another device).

New technology (like Sony's DRM) will provide the necessary software for time-barring content, downloading content as well as local play back of downloaded content. At the same time, ensuring that it will be extremely difficult to make illegal copies of downloaded content. And impossible to play back after the expiry date.

All with minimum demands on the viewer's bandwidth.

* Sony Corp's DRM technology is slated to be tested by a Japanese ISP for its video-on-demand (VOW) movie service.