Barry Willis

The holiday season was a big one for the Digital Versatile Disc. VideoScan, which tracks the sales of more than 16,000 video retail businesses, reports that almost three million DVDs were sold in the five weeks leading up to the New Year, accompanied by equally brisk sales of players. The new format entered its second official year as the fastest-growing new medium in history.

Yesterday, Japan; today, America; tomorrow, the world: <A HREF="http://www.disney.com">Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment</A> and <A HREF="http://www.wb.com">Warner Home Video</A> have signed a pact to distribute DVDs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. Distribution of more than 100 titles to more than 30 regional territories will begin this fall. Studios to be represented include Warner, Disney, <A HREF="http://beta.choicemall.com/hollywoodpictures/">Hollywood Pictures</A>, and <A HREF="http://beta.choicemall.com/touchstone/">Touchstone Pictures</A>. Some independent films have also been picked up for distribution.

The DVD format reached a milestone in mid-June, out-renting VHS videocassettes for the first time.

With DVD-based video recorders and disc burners for personal computers now coming on the market, a video industry coalition has announced a comprehensive watermarking technology for digital video that it hopes will prevent a copyright-infringement nightmare like the one now plaguing the music business. The Millennium Group, consisting of <A HREF="http://www.philips.com/">Philips Electronics</A>, <A HREF="http://www.macrovision.com/">Macrovision</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.digimarc.com/">Digimarc</A>, claims that its system will inhibit unauthorized copying of DVDs and will prevent illegal copies from playing.