James Delahunty
31 Aug 2009 0:01
Film Fresh has partnered with DivX Inc. and major movie studios to offer a download-to-own service that sells downloads in the DivX format. Users will be able to download content provided by Warner, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures and Paramount from the street release date and play them on any DivX-enabled devices.
This is the first DivX service of its kind to be available to users in the United States. DivX Inc. already has a download-to-own store in France with Warner Bros. and expects to open a store in other European countries. The new U.S. service is advertised as allowing users to download movies directly from the web, transfer them to USB or to DVD.
The DVD Player option does not appear to be what it seems however. On the Film Fresh website, it gives an option for playback on a "DVD Player", but further reading shows that it requires a "DivX-Certified" device - a conversion from DivX to DVD-Video for these downloads is not likely to be allowed, rather you likely need a DVD player that can play DMF content.
"We're in a different category than some of the streaming or rental services," Film Fresh Founder and CEO Rick Bolton said while commenting on the easy negotiations with movie studios. "That's why there are no release windows." The main difference between the new store and other services that Hollywood has shunned, is that only an option to buy the movie outright is available, which is seen as less of a piracy risk than rental services by the movie studios.