# Self Destructing DVDs. WTF?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 31, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232 "2008-05-31T03:35:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/1 "2008-05-31T03:35:07Z")
[http://www.twice.com/article/CA6565113.html](http://www.twice.com/article/CA6565113.html)
Didn’t they try this already with Divx? I mean this EXACT same thing and it failed? I guess the only difference was that you needed a special DVD player with a phone line attached to view those movies but otherwise it’s the same idea.
How many options do we need to watch the latest Saw? Store rental. Pay per view. Online stream. Itunes. Mail based DVD.
Who the hell is paying $5 for a rental movie anyway? It’s not even that much at BBuster.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/2 "2008-05-31T04:03:10Z")
This Flexplay technology is at least five years old. I recall when _Die Another Day_ was released in theaters, clips from the film were sent out to the press on Flexplay discs- supposedly Q’s newest invention which would “self-destruct” 48 hours after they were played. Landfill problems aside (a big criticism of the discs), this is the only practical purpose I could see for this type of disc- promo material and screener copies of films. If you could make a screener or promo disc that couldn’t be played after a shorter period of time- like maybe a couple hours- you could have an effective promo tool with its own anti-bootlegging feature built in. As a rental, I don’t see it.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/3 "2008-05-31T04:07:55Z")
I’m going to head down to Staples in my Hummer to pick up a disposable DVD, then get a coffee in a styrofoam cup while I go baby seal clubbing.
Seriously, what’s the point? You pay more than blockbuster for less rental time.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/4 "2008-05-31T04:47:07Z")
[QUOTE=thelurkinghorror]
Seriously, what’s the point? You pay more than blockbuster for less rental time.
[/QUOTE]
You make the mistake of assuming that the benefits of this technology are supposed to accrue to the consumer…
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/5 "2008-05-31T05:02:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cubsfan]
> **[Consumer Electronic News | Blogs | Retailing | Appliances | CES | Twice](https://www.twice.com/)**
Didn’t they try this already with Divx? I mean this EXACT same thing and it failed?
[/QUOTE]
I remember when they first came out back in 2004. A total waste of space (literally).
[Here we go](http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2004/01/62083)
> [@](#):
>
> A Texas grocery chain has decided to stop selling disposable DVDs, a product that outraged environmentalists and apparently didn’t sell too well, either. About 20 H-E-B grocery stores in the Austin area sold the EZ-Ds, vacuum-sealed movies that, once opened, play for 48 hours before a chemical reaction on the surface of the discs renders them unplayable. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, a division of Disney, has been test marketing the product since September. More than 30 movies are now available in the disposable format, including Chicago, Freaky Friday and The Waterboy. The discs sell for about $7.
>
> H-E-B stores will stop selling the EZ-Ds in the next two or three weeks, according to Susan Ghertner, environmental affairs manager for the grocery chain. Ghertner said the decision was not made for environmental reasons; rather, company officials “made the decision strictly on sales.” “It just wasn’t a good fit for us,” she said. “It didn’t turn out to be an item that our customers were looking for.”
Hint to the knobs who run Flexplay - folks who shop in Staples aren’t looking for DVDs .
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### Author:  [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/6 "2008-05-31T05:35:42Z")
I remember reading many years ago that this was going to be THE big way to rent movies- this was just after movies started being made on DVD.
Now there’s yet another way to get movies- just today I noticed a self-serve DVD rental machine outside the Circle K (convenience store). I’ll stick with my Netflix.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/7 "2008-05-31T13:34:13Z")
Exactly. I can go to a DVD Play machine and rent a movie for one night for $1.50 or I can go to a Redbox and rent a movie for $1. (The extra 50 cents isn’t a big deal to me, but the gas it’d take to go out of my way is.) Sure, the selection is often poor, but it can be a nice way to get something while waiting on Netflix. And even with a self-destructing DVD, I could still easily copy it one way or another (especially if they are single-layer DVDs.)
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/8 "2008-05-31T22:06:42Z")
[QUOTE=asterion]
And even with a self-destructing DVD, I could still easily copy it one way or another (especially if they are single-layer DVDs.)
[/QUOTE]
Did its proponents not remember how easy it was to tape a CD or copy one on their PC? 😕
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### Author:  [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/9 "2008-06-01T00:41:43Z")
Just got two comments on this:
#1 who wants to bet that every single release is going to pan&scan, dolby digital 2.0 and NO special features?
#2 during that 48 hour period, is it still possible to copy the DVD to your computer, to make a backup, just incase the original DVD stops working 😉 ?
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### Author:  [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/10 "2008-06-01T08:53:46Z")
Maybe if the disc was edible, so you could eat the DVD after you watched it!
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/11 "2008-06-01T10:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85]
If you could make a screener or promo disc that couldn’t be played after a shorter period of time- like maybe a couple hours- you could have an effective promo tool with its own anti-bootlegging feature built in.
[/QUOTE]
That’s not much of an anti-piracy feature when it only takes five or ten minutes to rip a DVD. Even if it didn’t - imagine watching half a movie, making something to eat for dinner, then trying to resume it only to find a ruined disc.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-destructing-dvds-wtf/451232/12 "2008-06-01T11:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=CoG888]
Maybe if the disc was edible, so you could eat the DVD after you watched it!
[/QUOTE]
Hmmm…
Hmmmmm…
“It was nightmare itself, and to see it was to die. But it made men dream…”