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SAN FRANCICSO(AP) - One minute you're watching Mel Gibson battle the English in "Braveheart" and the next minute - poof! - it's all gone.
That could be the future of home movies if a couple of companies perfecting self-destructing DVDs have anything to do with it.
The technology now exists to produce DVDs containing a special coating so that discs can be set to expire anywhere from hours to weeks after they are removed from their sealed packaging. Late fees for rental DVDs could be a thing of the past, as customers could rent a movie and throw the disc away when they're done.
One company, Providence, R.I.-based SpectraDisc, has spent the last year nailing down patents for its special DVD coating that makes the disks unplayable after a certain period of time designated by the content owner.
SpectraDisc chief executive Nabil Lawandy said the technology is ready to go, but Hollywood is still deciding whether to issue such discs.
"It's all in the hands of the content providers. They have the leverage along with distribution and whether this makes sense for them," Lawandy said. He said his company had been in discussions with most of the major motion picture studios, though the Motion Picture Association of America that represents them had no comment on the technology.
The DVDs containing SpectraDisc technology could be set to expire at any point from two hours to a week after the disc is removed from its sealed packaging, Lawandy said. The DVDs would be compatible with DVD players in homes and stores now and would not damage those machines, Lawandy said.
SpectraDisc's technology provides for the duration of play for a DVD to be controlled by modifying the composition of the coating.
"There's a chemical process that begins once you remove it. I's an evaporative process," said Scott Tillotson, SpectraDisc's vice president of new product development. "When it expires it essentially turns dark blue."
The discs could be returned and a new coating of the material reapplied to start the process over again, or the discs could be discarded.
If such technology were to reach the market, it could force movie rental houses to rethink their pricing structures since it would eliminate the necessity to charge late fees.
"From the consumers point of view it's a wonderful product," Lawandy said. "Pick it up anywhere. No late charges, no return trip."
Imagine picking up a DVD copy of "Gladiator" at Blockbuster, taking it home, viewing it once - twice or more if you really like it - and throwing it away when you're done. Or pasting some cork on one side and adding to your coaster collection.
Another company, New York-based Flexplay, has developed a similar technology. Suzanne Gibbons-Neff, a spokeswoman for Flexplay, said the private company had thus far only issued some promotional DVDs containing the expiration technology.
Most recently, Flexplay technology was included on an MGM Studios DVD containing music videos and trailers from the new James Bond movie "Die Another Day." It was sent to selected members of the press with a letter announcing that the DVD would self-destruct in 36 hours - a nod to 007's gadget-providing character Q.
There are environmental benefits to the notion of disposable DVDs, some have concluded.
Two years ago, a preliminary analysis of environmental impacts of DVD movie rentals was conducted for Flexplay by Jonathan Koomey, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Koomey found that if Flexplay DVDs made up 10 percent of all U.S. video rentals, it would save 47 million gallons of gas each year in the U.S. and eliminate 110,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.
Koomey also found that a 10 percent adoption rate for Flexplay discs would result in an additional 5,600 metric tons of solid waste each year in the United States as the discs were discarded. Koomey said it would also mean that 350 million additional DVDs would be manufactured and thrown away each year, though he said recycling efforts could mitigate the solid waste totals produced.
Lee Black, a senior analyst for Jupiter Research, said self-destructing discs could be an interesting proposition for movie studios and record companies as well. Record labels are currently exploring ways to keep promotional copies of music off Internet file-sharing sites before they get to store shelves.
But Black had concerns about how such DVDs might affect the way movie rental houses operate.
"It might affect inventory. If I have more discs in the store because I rent hundreds of discs to hundreds of people, am I going to lose a couple?" Black said.
The current video rental market is set up so owners buy a disc or tape once, and rent it many times to recoup the purchase cost, Black said. Such a business model would have to change if the DVDs never had to be returned.
So far Netflix has been one of the more viable solutions toward eliminating late movie return charges. For $19.95 per month, Netflix subscribers can order three DVDs online, receive them in the mail and order a new round of flicks after they return the first trio, without ever paying late fees.
The self-destructing DVD idea brings back the ghost of Divx, the Circuit City-promoted effort where special players were sold to play so-called Divx discs that expired after 48 hours. Adoption of that technology flopped and is no longer sold or supported.
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