Novato, Calif. – Sonic Solutions and Widevine announced
they have teamed up to introduce movies on USB flash drives.
The self-contained CinemaNow USB Movie
Drives will come with an integrated media player as well as the necessary video
codecs to enable instant high-quality PC playback of movie content offline, the
companies said in a joint release. Upon connecting to the Internet, users can
add the title to a Roxio CinemaNow Digital Locker to access it on other “ecosystem
devices.”
Ecosystem devices are said to include PCs,
connected TVs, set-top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc players, and mobile media players
from such manufacturers such as Archos, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, LG, Microsoft,
Nintendo, Pioneer, Samsung and TiVo.
“The flash drives will work in any PC,
laptop or netbook,” a Sonic spokesman told TWICE.
Sonic said it expects the first drives to
begin appearing at retail in the fourth quarter, with pricing and movie titles
to be announced closer to launch.
In order to ensure secure multi-platform
playback, Widevine said it is providing Hollywood-approved digital rights
management technologies, and the two companies are reportedly collaborating on
device-optimized content preparation and delivery.
“Our technologies are helping to ensure
consumers get the Hollywood new releases they
want along with the playback flexibility they crave,” said Brian Baker,
Widevine CEO, in the release. “The CinemaNow USB Movie Drives will be an ideal
solution for netbook and mobile phone manufacturers that want to enhance and
differentiate their product offerings with premium entertainment.”
After the movies are added to the Roxio CinemaNow Digital Locker, they can be viewed
on up to four additional CinemaNow-compatible devices. Instead of delivering
the same file used for USB playback, a unique file is delivered that has been
optimized for the capabilities and display characteristics of the selected
device, the companies said.
Sonic said in the release that it has
relationships with more than 250 content providers and a content portfolio that
includes entertainment from all major Hollywood
studios and independent distributors.
