A recent announcement on September 19, 2007 by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA), gives the final approval of a copy-protection specification for on-demand disc burning. Consumers can now legally record content in their own homes including movies offered by the content owners and they can obtain special content that is now unavailable on DVDs.



Final approval of the copy-protection specification, which is called Content Scramble System (CSS), was authorized by DVD CCA members. The DVD CCA is an industry copy protection organization who has authorized companies to sell digital downloads for on demand viewing.

The ruling also allows consumers to download the content and burn it to a physical DVD -- a move that could dramatically change the way movies are sold. This way, movies bought over the Internet can now be burned onto a DVD that can play on any machine, anytime, anywhere.

The Content Scramble System (CSS) is a copy protection used on most commercially produced DVDs, vendors can now create protected DVDs in custom runs.

There are companies now offering On Demand Production enabling customers to create, publish and deliver custom content for DVD and CD distribution worldwide.

said President and Chief Executive Officer Raj Barman of Acutrack, Inc. said, "Interestingly, nobody thought about the fact that some day there would be something called the Internet where people could download content back when DVDs were invented twenty years ago.".

The problem is that consumers still need a fast Internet connection, a DVD burner and DVD discs, plus they would have to hand write the title onto the disk.

New On Demand engines are able to download content from a distributor's site and produce a physical DVD with professional retail printing and packaging, then mail it on demand as consumesr make a DVD request. This gives customers the ability to produce and ship custom packaged CDs or DVDs one at a time. On Demand Production allows manufacturing of CDs and DVDs on an as needed basis, eliminating the up-front costs of producing multiple titles normally associated with CD/DVD production.

Standard DVD players are hardwired with the keys to unlock the digital security system built into pre-recorded DVDs, but DVD burners on computers and writeable DVD discs don't contain the locks.

CSS was devised for this purpose to make copyright infringement difficult. This special process uses special blank DVDs with CSS encryption. Copies are compatible with DVD players in businesses and homes today.

Rresponsible for making sure that all parties have agreed, the DVD CCA's standards allowed the digital locks to be included in a downloaded movie file and then transferred to a protected DVD to work on current players.