Family Guy Digital Copy courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment
A few months ago we took a
hands-on look at Digital Copy with
Family Guy - Blue Harvest. The show's
Star Wars parody came to DVD with an extra disc containing a digital file version of the feature which easily copied to a Video iPod, a PC, or a PC-file compatible device (like an Archos media player). It's a handy way to get a "portable" copy of the DVD you've bought, so you don't have to buy it all over again via download to the hard drive of your laptop or a portable video device. But what else is on the way for Digital Copy?
· Fox has the biggest support for on-disc Digital Copy so far, but
Family Guy was actually their second. Last November's 2-DVD version of
Live Free or Die Hard was first. The Blu-ray version didn't have it, though, and it didn't support iPod copies yet either (leaving iPod users AND Macintosh users out in the cold). But this would quickly and easily transfer a nice-looking copy of the film's unrated cut to a PC or compatible device.
· Fox then expanded to include iPod/Mac support with
Family Guy - Blue Harvest. With their next title,
Hitman, Fox not only included a Digital Copy on a DVD-ROM disc with the Special Edition (SE) DVD release, but with the Blu-ray release, too. And earlier this month, Fox continued with two more:
Juno and
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Each had a Digital Copy version included with their SE DVDs and their Blu-ray releases. Fox's next Digital Copy is going to be on the
Jumper SE DVD and Blu-ray, due June 10th.
· If any studio has been supporting the idea longer than Fox, it's Warner, but in a limited fashion, getting there a different way. Warner started about a year earlier, but by requiring you to download an "e-copy" of the film. Even ickier, you could only qualify for that by purchasing the DVD at a participating retailer (Wal-mart for some titles, Target for others). Participating movies were
Superman Returns, Blood Diamond, 300, Ocean's Thirteen and, earlier this year, the direct-to-video animated
Justice League: The New Frontier. Customers didn't care much for this method.
· Last December, Warner switched gears and started including Digital Copy versions on selected titles. The first was
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and a little over a month ago they bowed their second Digital Copy title with Will Smith's
I Am Legend. No word yet on what's next. Note that these were only made available with certain DVD versions; if you bought those films on Blu-ray Disc (like myself) you didn't get the Digital Copy. And Warner only has PC file support.
· Sony debuts their first titles today that support Digital Copy, with a pair of straight-to-DVD offerings:
Hero Wanted with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ray Liotta, and Dolph Lundgren's
Diamond Dogs. Sony's Digital Copy doesn't support iPod/Mac, but it does support Sony's PSP videogame unit as well as PCs. Sony has big plans for more PC-&-PSP Digital Copies, with upcoming titles including May releases of the Andy Serkis thriller
The Cottage and Samuel L. Jackson in
Cleaner, June's release of Jason Behr in
The Tattooist, and a ton of July titles: the 2-DVD SE version of Sony's recent hit
Vantage Point, the Brian Austin Green thriller
Impact Point, the Jesse Metcalf starrer
Insanitarium and both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder.
· Universal recently jumped into the party with this past February's release of
American Gangster. Their Digital Copy provided an unrated edit of the film, but in PC file only, and only if you purchased the "3-Disc Collector's Edition" DVD. Last week Universal announced the next two titles will be the July releases of Brendan Fraser's
The Mummy and
The Mummy Returns, both coming July 8th on 2-DVD SE's. Universal recently announced Blu-ray versions of
The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and spin-off film
The Scorpian King for July 22nd; will the Digital Copies be included with the Blu-ray Disc format releases? I hope so, but the studio hasn't given any word on that just yet!
· The most recent studio to announce Digital Copy support is Lionsgate. Their first title will be the May 27th release of the fourth
Rambo film: a Digital Copy will be included with the Blu-ray as well as the 2-DVD SE. The same is true for their June 3rd debut of
The Eye, starring Jessica Alba and Goran Visnjic. Like Fox, Lionsgate is supporting Video iPod and Macintosh users, along with PCs and compatible devices.
By my count that's 22 titles which support Digital Copy so far (plus Warner's 5 "e-copy" titles), either already out or on the way. As the owner of an Archos 605 WiFi media player, I have several of these loaded up right now, and plan to at least double it from the announced upcoming releases. Digital Copy is, in my experience, a great way to get the portable version of the movie! It's very quick and painless to install: I got
Juno and
AvP:R home, and had both loaded up within 10 minutes of breaking the plastic on the first title.
When it's that easy, it's a guaranteed consumer sell. And the best part? That you still get your own packaged media version of the film, on a disc back in your house. Hard drives crash, and portable devices get lost or stolen, and digital data can get corrupted or erased for various reasons. But with Digital Copy, you've always got your shiny optical disc waiting for you when you get home...just in case. What's not to love? —
David Lambert
