Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Smut DVD Player - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Jenya · 04-14-2004, 11:34 AM

Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Smut DVD Player

By Chris Marlowe
REUTERS

Tuesday April 13, 2004

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Wal-Mart is selling the world's first DVD player that can seamlessly skip over violence, swearing, nudity and other potentially offensive movie content. The $79 unit features technology by ClearPlay and is manufactured by Thomson Inc. under its RCA brand.

The product comes in the wake of the Super Bowl halftime controversy as well as the FCC fining Clear Channel for indecent content on "The Howard Stern Show." But ClearPlay CEO Bill Aho said the timing is coincidental.

"It's just fortunate," he said. "There is a lot of interest and sensitivity around the topic of potentially offensive media content."

RCA's player is the latest development in a legal battle between the Salt Lake City-based software company and Hollywood. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh and other members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) filed suit against ClearPlay in September 2002, when the filtering product was available as a computer program.

Those legal proceedings are still under way in Colorado's 10th District Court. Both sides currently are waiting for a ruling on a summary judgment filed by ClearPlay.

The DGA, for its part, is sticking to its guns.

"ClearPlay software edits movies to conform to ClearPlay's vision of a movie instead of letting audiences see, and judge for themselves, what writers wrote, what actors said and what directors envisioned," a DGA spokesman said in a statement Monday. "Ultimately, it is a violation of law and just wrong to profit from selling software that changes the intent of movies you didn't create and don't own."

The Motion Picture Assn. of America, which lobbies on behalf of most of Hollywood's major studios, declined to comment directly regarding Wal-Mart's decision to sell the players but spokesman Matt Grossman did say, "our position is that we are wholeheartedly against any individual or enterprise that alters our studios' copyrighted material."

Consumers can play any DVD in these units in the usual manner. In addition, however, they can activate a variety of different filtering levels that work according to ClearPlay's preprograming. The player filtering works only on selected titles; it has no effect on movies that it has not been preprogramed to handle, but for those it doesn't recognize, it has the capability to completely block movies based on their rating.

The sophisticated process is rather like very smoothly fast-forwarding and muting the original movie as it plays back. The DVD remains unchanged and unharmed. Aho said that is an essential distinction between ClearPlay and fellow defendants named in the pending suit, because others provide consumers with a copy of a physically edited DVD or VHS movie.

According to Aho, the studios' allegations imply that consumers "are violating copyright law when they use ClearPlay to mute and skip the playback of movies on DVDs that they have lawfully bought or rented."

He believes the industry's objections are lessening now that Hollywood has had a chance to evaluate what ClearPlay actually does.

"There is a natural reaction when faced with a new technology to make sure that it's managed, that your industry is protected and that the application is good for both consumers and the industry," Aho said. "It's clear that there is a much better understanding of ClearPlay as opposed to companies that make copies of the movies. I think the industry is more aware of the distinction now, and there's a search for how to make it work for them."

ClearPlay offers several settings in four categories of filtering -- violence, language, sex/nudity and explicit drug use -- with the user able to choose any combination. For example, the language setting can range from irreligious exclamations to ethnic slurs to graphic phrases used as profanity.

Aho said the product is important, because standards differ from one person to another. Some people have no objection to innuendo, he said, but shield their children from seeing violence. He added that it's consumer choice, not censorship.

Demonstrating a low violence setting, Aho showed a scene from "The Patriot." The viewer sees a soldier firing a rifle at an enemy followed by Mel Gibson's character turning away in dismay: ClearPlay eliminates the close-up of the bullet's impact and blood spurting from the wound.

Aho said ClearPlay tries to program popular movies that contain elements people might be uncomfortable seeing or allowing their children to see. "About a Boy," "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "When Harry Met Sally," "Zoolander," "As Good as It Gets" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" are among the movies with available filters.

He added that ClearPlay will not offer titles that cannot be edited in a way that retains their sensibility, such as "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List" or "The Passion of the Christ."

Thomson did not return calls by press time. But Aho said none of ClearPlay's partners were worried about the pending lawsuit. "We have had so many big public companies look at it and decide to proceed," he said. "Some have decided to wait it out, but none of them have declined to work with us because of the legal risk."

Each RCA unit comes with 100 filters. Additional filters can be purchased from ClearPlay's Web site for $4.95 per month or $49 per year. Movies more than 90 days old are less expensive at $20 for as many filters as the customer wants during a three-year period. Once a filter is installed it is permanently in the player.

AllIWantIsYourClutch · 04-14-2004, 11:46 AM

That is so stupid...If you don't want to see the stuff in the movies, don't watch them.

Kazza · 04-14-2004, 11:57 AM

That doesn't make any sense!! Why watch a movie then?? Since I have children and have to 'filter' what we watch; I would enjoy this movies when they are sleeping and I don't have to worry about a thing

Jenya · 04-14-2004, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by I'maDESIlover
That doesn't make any sense!! Why watch a movie then?? Since I have children and have to 'filter' what we watch; I would enjoy this movies when they are sleeping and I don't have to worry about a thing

I always though DVD players were capible of offering an edit option based on the film's ratings- so you can cut out any obscene material on the discs. My assumption (when these players were first introduced on the market) was that you would have to manually change the parental guidence rating option in the DVD player's main menu.

Silver Bullet · 04-14-2004, 02:11 PM

Do they sell dvd players that allow smut to be played?

Note to self: don't buy a dvd player from Wal-Mart.
It's bad enough that they censor albums, now this.

Kazza · 04-14-2004, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jenya
I always though DVD players were capible of offering an edit option based on the film's ratings- so you can cut out any obscene material on the discs. My assumption (when these players were first introduced on the market) was that you would have to manually change the parental guidence rating option in the DVD player's main menu.

I think it has something like that; it's just that I'm still trying to figure out what half the buttons in the remote control are for

Jenya · 04-14-2004, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by I'maDESIlover
I think it has something like that; it's just that I'm still trying to figure out what half the buttons in the remote control are for

I just remember that- that was one of the advertising pitches for DVD a few years ago when they were first introduced to the public. That your DVD player can automatically edit any movies that contained inappropriate material on them to view. So I can't really understand what all the fuss is about.

Rockapella722 · 04-14-2004, 03:29 PM

Stick the 8 Mile dvd in there. You'd see approximately 4 minutes of the whole movie.

SBTB Geek · 04-14-2004, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rockapella722
Stick the 8 Mile dvd in there. You'd see approximately 4 minutes of the whole movie.

Imagine watching "American Psycho," "Casino," "Scarface," or "Showgirls" on that DVD player!

FamilyTiesGOP · 04-14-2004, 03:45 PM

It isn't a big deal. Some people probably will enjoy this, so let them have it. If you don't want to buy it, then don't. But let people who still want to view descent movies without explicit material have what they want. I for one do not believe that explicit language and violence enhance movies anyway, so I wouldn't have a problem with this.

AKA · 04-14-2004, 04:16 PM

That's ****ing disturbing. Censorship is icky.

Quote:

Originally posted by Jenya
I always though DVD players were capible of offering an edit option based on the film's ratings- so you can cut out any obscene material on the discs. My assumption (when these players were first introduced on the market) was that you would have to manually change the parental guidence rating option in the DVD player's main menu.

Me too, actually. I remember reading something about that in an article back in '97.

TJL · 04-14-2004, 04:32 PM

What a timesaver!

I can watch my entire DVD collection in five minutes!

Kay Scarpetta · 04-14-2004, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SBTB Geek
Imagine watching "American Psycho," "Casino," "Scarface," or "Showgirls" on that DVD player!

'Casino'

that would have about a minute and a half of the whole film

Penny Lane · 04-14-2004, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TJL
What a timesaver!

I can watch my entire DVD collection in five minutes!

No kidding!

AKA · 04-14-2004, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TJL
What a timesaver!

I can watch my entire DVD collection in five minutes!

I can just imagine watching Pulp Fiction on one of those things:

PUMPKIN: No, forget it, it's too risky. through doin' that... Garcon! Coffee!

WAITRESS: "Garcon" means boy.

[Cut to opening credits, then:]

VINCENT: Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

JULES: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

VINCENT: No, they got the metric system there...

JULES: What do they call it?

VINCENT: Royale with Cheese.

JULES: Royale with Cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?

VINCENT: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.

JULES: What do they call a Whopper?

VINCENT: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King. But you know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?

JULES: What?

VINCENT: Mayonnaise.

cut to...

VINCENT: I think we oughta leave now.

JULES: That's probably a good idea.

The End

04-14-2004, 11:34 AM	#1
Jenya Supervisor Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 20, 2003 Location: Canmore, Alberta Posts: 3,359	Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Smut DVD Player Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Smut DVD Player By Chris Marlowe REUTERS Tuesday April 13, 2004 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Wal-Mart is selling the world's first DVD player that can seamlessly skip over violence, swearing, nudity and other potentially offensive movie content. The $79 unit features technology by ClearPlay and is manufactured by Thomson Inc. under its RCA brand. The product comes in the wake of the Super Bowl halftime controversy as well as the FCC fining Clear Channel for indecent content on "The Howard Stern Show." But ClearPlay CEO Bill Aho said the timing is coincidental. "It's just fortunate," he said. "There is a lot of interest and sensitivity around the topic of potentially offensive media content." RCA's player is the latest development in a legal battle between the Salt Lake City-based software company and Hollywood. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh and other members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) filed suit against ClearPlay in September 2002, when the filtering product was available as a computer program. Those legal proceedings are still under way in Colorado's 10th District Court. Both sides currently are waiting for a ruling on a summary judgment filed by ClearPlay. The DGA, for its part, is sticking to its guns. "ClearPlay software edits movies to conform to ClearPlay's vision of a movie instead of letting audiences see, and judge for themselves, what writers wrote, what actors said and what directors envisioned," a DGA spokesman said in a statement Monday. "Ultimately, it is a violation of law and just wrong to profit from selling software that changes the intent of movies you didn't create and don't own." The Motion Picture Assn. of America, which lobbies on behalf of most of Hollywood's major studios, declined to comment directly regarding Wal-Mart's decision to sell the players but spokesman Matt Grossman did say, "our position is that we are wholeheartedly against any individual or enterprise that alters our studios' copyrighted material." Consumers can play any DVD in these units in the usual manner. In addition, however, they can activate a variety of different filtering levels that work according to ClearPlay's preprograming. The player filtering works only on selected titles; it has no effect on movies that it has not been preprogramed to handle, but for those it doesn't recognize, it has the capability to completely block movies based on their rating. The sophisticated process is rather like very smoothly fast-forwarding and muting the original movie as it plays back. The DVD remains unchanged and unharmed. Aho said that is an essential distinction between ClearPlay and fellow defendants named in the pending suit, because others provide consumers with a copy of a physically edited DVD or VHS movie. According to Aho, the studios' allegations imply that consumers "are violating copyright law when they use ClearPlay to mute and skip the playback of movies on DVDs that they have lawfully bought or rented." He believes the industry's objections are lessening now that Hollywood has had a chance to evaluate what ClearPlay actually does. "There is a natural reaction when faced with a new technology to make sure that it's managed, that your industry is protected and that the application is good for both consumers and the industry," Aho said. "It's clear that there is a much better understanding of ClearPlay as opposed to companies that make copies of the movies. I think the industry is more aware of the distinction now, and there's a search for how to make it work for them." ClearPlay offers several settings in four categories of filtering -- violence, language, sex/nudity and explicit drug use -- with the user able to choose any combination. For example, the language setting can range from irreligious exclamations to ethnic slurs to graphic phrases used as profanity. Aho said the product is important, because standards differ from one person to another. Some people have no objection to innuendo, he said, but shield their children from seeing violence. He added that it's consumer choice, not censorship. Demonstrating a low violence setting, Aho showed a scene from "The Patriot." The viewer sees a soldier firing a rifle at an enemy followed by Mel Gibson's character turning away in dismay: ClearPlay eliminates the close-up of the bullet's impact and blood spurting from the wound. Aho said ClearPlay tries to program popular movies that contain elements people might be uncomfortable seeing or allowing their children to see. "About a Boy," "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "When Harry Met Sally," "Zoolander," "As Good as It Gets" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" are among the movies with available filters. He added that ClearPlay will not offer titles that cannot be edited in a way that retains their sensibility, such as "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List" or "The Passion of the Christ." Thomson did not return calls by press time. But Aho said none of ClearPlay's partners were worried about the pending lawsuit. "We have had so many big public companies look at it and decide to proceed," he said. "Some have decided to wait it out, but none of them have declined to work with us because of the legal risk." Each RCA unit comes with 100 filters. Additional filters can be purchased from ClearPlay's Web site for $4.95 per month or $49 per year. Movies more than 90 days old are less expensive at $20 for as many filters as the customer wants during a three-year period. Once a filter is installed it is permanently in the player.
	__________________ Head-On...Apply directly to the Forehead! Head-On...Apply directly to the Forehead! Head-On...Apply directly to the Forehead! *Head-ON is available without a Prescription

04-14-2004, 02:11 PM	#5
Silver Bullet RIP Johnny Ramone Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 06, 2004 Location: A Violent World Posts: 66	Do they sell dvd players that allow smut to be played? Note to self: don't buy a dvd player from Wal-Mart. It's bad enough that they censor albums, now this.
	__________________ Unpleasant Street

04-14-2004, 03:29 PM	#8
Rockapella722 .B.A.D.G.E.R. .G.I.R.L. Senior Member Join Date: Oct 28, 2001 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 1,489	Stick the 8 Mile dvd in there. You'd see approximately 4 minutes of the whole movie.
	__________________ ...Queer Eye For The Straight Guy... "You guys, look. This is my pile of stuff I don't like..... is it getting too big?" -Thom Filicia \| livejournal \| email \|

04-14-2004, 04:32 PM	#12
TJL Suburbanite Extrordinaire Forum Star Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: New Jersey - the cradle of civilization Posts: 16,588	What a timesaver! I can watch my entire DVD collection in five minutes!
	__________________ "I think I'll stroll up to the front to see how the shooting's going..." - Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce Read my blogs! http://centralparkamisguide.com/ http://dvdcriticscorner.com Visit me on Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=641138880 Hey, I do the tweet thing too! http://twitter.com/TomLevier My shop of handmade items! http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColdGarageCreations

04-14-2004, 11:46 AM	#2
AllIWantIsYourClutch peaceout. Forum Icon Join Date: Aug 02, 2001 Location: Illinois. Posts: 53,424	That is so stupid...If you don't want to see the stuff in the movies, don't watch them.

04-14-2004, 11:57 AM	#3
Kazza Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 17, 2003 Posts: 3,244	That doesn't make any sense!! Why watch a movie then?? Since I have children and have to 'filter' what we watch; I would enjoy this movies when they are sleeping and I don't have to worry about a thing

04-14-2004, 03:45 PM	#10
FamilyTiesGOP _ Senior Member Join Date: Oct 28, 2003 Posts: 1,631	It isn't a big deal. Some people probably will enjoy this, so let them have it. If you don't want to buy it, then don't. But let people who still want to view descent movies without explicit material have what they want. I for one do not believe that explicit language and violence enhance movies anyway, so I wouldn't have a problem with this.