EcoDisc Scores Its First U.S. Replicator, But Studios Keep Their Distance
Half-thickness EcoDiscs soon will be made in the U.S., as their Swiss-based owner, EcoDisc Technology (ET), announced it has landed its first American-based replicator. But our poll of the major studios found Hollywood generally is keeping its distance. Of those studio executives we polled, few had even the faintest knowledge of the EcoDisc, and none of those who did wanted to comment on the record, citing the EcoDisc’s questionable status under DVD Forum rules for “non-standard” discs.
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Replicator U-Tech Media USA, of Milpitas, Calif., signed on to produce EcoDisc, the first U.S.-based replicator to do so, the company said, confirming ET’s account. U-Tech Media will produce them for independent distributor SF Video, of San Francisco, ET, U-Tech and SF all said. “Yes, we have just started production of the EcoDisc in our Milpitas factory,” said Steve Daniel, vice president of U-Tech Media USA. The replicator is a subsidiary of Taiwanese media-maker Ritek. “At this time, the EcoDisc is only being manufactured at that one facility in the U.S.,” Daniel told us. “If all goes well,” U-Tech soon may add “some EcoDisc capacity” at its Dallas factory, he said.
For now, U-Tech plants elsewhere in the world won’t offer the EcoDisc, Daniel told us. “We will see how the market reacts in the U.S.A. to the new product, and make the decision later if we need to add more capacity overseas,” he said. U-Tech will offer its clients more information about the EcoDisc, and make samples “to be mailed out within the next couple of weeks,” Daniel said. “It is all very new and exciting to be on the leading edge of a new and greener optical disc. We are looking forward to the market accepting a new product, and we hope to see promotional EcoDiscs in newspapers and magazines very soon, and in standard DVD products for our more environmentally conscious customers pretty quickly.”
SF Video is optimistic about EcoDisc, an executive there said. It’s an independent producer of DVDs for institutional and other clients. “We are very excited about this amazing product,” said Steven Feinberg, SF Video president. “We are in the process of updating our site to offer the EcoDisc to our clients.”
Though ET lists U-Tech Media USA as its only U.S. replicator, it’s not known if that’s an exclusive arrangement. ET didn’t return our queries on the point. It named some overseas replicators, one per region. They're Global Digital Resources in Australia, JiangSu XinguangLian Technology in China, and VersoFlex Media in South Africa. ET also hasn’t replied to our request to identify replicators in Europe, where EcoDiscs have been distributed free in newspaper and magazine promotions.
ET claims green credentials for its product because it uses half the polycarbonate of standard DVDs, and the thinner, lighter discs result in lower CO2 emission in transportation. The discs also are completely recyclable because they don’t have the adhesives that bind the two 0.6-mm halves of a regular DVD, ET claims. The EcoDisc accommodates the same amount of content as a single-layer DVD-5, about 4.7 GB of data or 90- to 120 minutes of SD video.
But the product is not sanctioned by the DVD Forum, which considers any half-thickness, 0.6-mm-thick discs to be non-standard. The DVD Forum and the DVD Format/Logo Licensing Co. also have warned replicators that they risk losing their DVD licenses if they produce non-standard discs. Last month, ET sued the DVD FLLC against that prohibition on antitrust grounds, and won a preliminary injunction from a German court. ET has attempted to score public relations points on its German court victory, and mentions the injunction in all its promotional materials.
Asked if U-Tech was aware of the DVD Forum’s restrictions on 0.6-mm discs, Daniel said his company indeed was, but with a surprising twist -- a green light from DVD patent administrator Philips. “We have a signed side letter to our Philips DVD contract that covers the non-standard DVD,” he said. “The requirements from Philips are that we not use the DVD Forum’s logo and that we put a warning on the label. Philips believes it is fine to make non-standard discs as long as we do not use the standard logo,” Daniel said. At our deadline, we were awaiting Philips comment on those points. The DVD Forum and DVD FLLC didn’t reply to our queries. Our search of trademarks found two logo applications for the EcoDisc pending at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Neither uses the Forum’s stylized logo, but each simply includes the terms DVD-Video or DVD-ROM under the EcoDisc name.
Hollywood studio executives either sidestepped our queries on EcoDisc or didn’t reply at all when we asked if they're weighing adopting or evaluating the product. Those who did reply wouldn’t comment, presumably because EcoDisc is a touchy legal and political issue. Instead, they referred us to the DVD Forum, which administers the restrictions on non-standard discs.
One studio executive, requesting anonymity, said his company was studying the “green disc” but hadn’t completed tests on its compatibility with legacy DVD players and PC drives. An executive from another studio questioned whether the EcoDisc’s single-layer DVD-5 capacity would be enough for Hollywood titles, which mostly use dual-layer DVD-9s. An executive from a third studio said his company was aware of the EcoDisc, but that patent issues would be foremost in any consideration of the EcoDisc. ET claims pending patents in several countries.