Flexplay
| Media type | optical disc |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 4.7 GB (single layer), 8.5 GB (dual layer) |
| Usage | Rental Videos |
Flexplay is a trademark for a DVD-compatible optical video disc format with a time-limited (usually 48-hour) playback time. They are often described as "self-destructing" although the disc merely turns black and does not physically disintegrate. The same technology was used by Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment under the name ez-D. The Flexplay concept was invented by two professors, Yannis Bakos and Erik Brynjolfsson, who founded Flexplay Technologies in 1999. The technology was developed by Flexplay Technologies and General Electric.
The technology was originally intended as an alternative means for the short-term rental of newly released movies. Since the disc is capable of being used in any standard DVD player, the manufacturers hoped it would succeed where other time-limited DVD technologies, such as DIVX, failed. Test marketing of EZ-D discs began on August 2003 but was canceled early when consumers rejected the concept. Owing to fears of cannibalizing DVD sales, movies were made available on eZ-D between 2 months and several years after being released on DVD and were priced at US$6.99, both factors that significantly limited consumer demand.
SpectraDisc was another such technology, and on January 13, 2003 Flexplay Technologies acquired all of the SpectraDisc Corporation assets. SpectraDisc discs worked in a similar way as Flexplay discs, only not starting as red and turning blue instead of black. The addition of the red layer to Flexplay discs may be in order to protect the expired discs from being read in next-generation players using blue lasers, for which the oxidized blue-color layer is essentially transparent.
In 2004 Flexplay was sold to The Convex Group which also owned the Lidrock and HowStuffWorks brands. As of 2008, Flexplay discs were priced at around US$4.99, a price comparable to that of a two-day DVD rental.
Flexplay discs do not bear the DVD logo. When asked whether Flexplay discs do or do not comply with DVD forum standards, a company spokesperson replied that "Flexplay DVDs are produced to be readable in DVD players adhering to DVD Forum specifications."
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