Learned about the discontinued DIVX disc format recently. Not to be confused with the video CODEC.
Major selling points were being able to “purchase” a movie/disc, take it home and watch it like a rental (watch it multiple times within 48hrs), never have to return it, have the ability to rent it again or buy it (pay to play model) or just throw away the disc.
What a stupid idea that was.
Sometimes I think about the alternative timeline where the HD DVD private key was not exfiltrated and so movie piracy never took off and then streaming never became a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy
Curious indeed!
I actually leaned into HD DVD early on thinking that the power of Microsoft/Xbox and Toshiba as well as the fact it was a obvious transition in the naming convention of DVD to HD DVD and thought Blu-ray was way outta left field and didn’t make sense to the consumer… but oh boy I was wrong 😂
I sold my HD DVD player and movies on eBay not that long ago, so obviously someone is invested in them at least for collecting purposes.
