Service selling downloads to transfer to DVD

For the first time, an online movie service has started selling mainstream movies for download that can be transferred to DVD and watched on standalone players.

CinemaNow’s “Burn to DVD” service debuted Wednesday with more than 100 movies available, including “Scent of a Woman,” “About a Boy,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Barbershop.”

Previously, Hollywood movies purchased through CinemaNow could be watched on a PC – or even a TV hooked up to a computer – but not transferred to a DVD.

Studios have been reluctant to offer movies for at-home DVD copying because of piracy concerns. But the development of more secure technology has eased those fears.

“The studios were pretty rigorous in their need to have very strong encryption,” said Curt Marvis, CinemaNow’s chief executive, adding that studios have initially licensed only a limited number of films.

“It’s a test of the distribution and the security architecture,” said Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony’s home entertainment division.

Feingold expects more films to be offered if customers find the system easy to use and if the copy-protection is successful at thwarting pirates.

CinemaNow will sell the mainstream films starting at $8.99. The offerings will contain all the features of its store-bought counterpart, including boosted sound settings, interactive menus, deleted scenes, commentaries and other extras, Marvis said.

Consumers can transfer only one copy of the movie to a DVD, which will be near the quality of retail DVDs. The service will also allow consumers to view the movies on their computer with video software like Windows Media Player.

Initially, the DVD service will not offer any first-run movies for purchase, which is likely to dull its prospects in the near term, said Josh Bernoff, digital video analyst for Forrester Research.

“The choice of movies here is, shall we say, underwhelming,” he said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think it’s a fair test because you’d have to have a whole lot more selection, even of library movies.”

Marvis expects first-run movies to be added later.