News

Fox DVD Tips iTunes Movie Plans

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 1:00 PM - by

Rumors began surfacing late in December that Apple and 20th Century Fox signed a deal to include iPod-compatible movies on the studio's latest DVD releases. That rumor seems even more plausible now that a Family Guy DVD due for release on January 15 has made it into the wild: The disc appears to include an iTunes and iPod-compatible version of the movie that requires iTunes 7.6, according to TUAW.

In addition to the expected content, the DVD also includes a "Fox Digital Copy" file and a special code -- presumably to unlock the file for playback. Since the file required iTunes 7.6, which isn't available yet, the lucky recipient couldn't watch the file or try to load it on an iPod.

Since Apple hasn't officially announced a deal with Fox yet, this may be a tip off to one of the surprises Steve Jobs has in store for his Macworld Expo keynote presentation next Tuesday.

9 comments from the community.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:44 pm

Lame solution. Keep your privacy AND your fair-use rights by ripping the DVD using Handbrake instead of trying to use this DRM-crippled file that you need to ask for permission to use.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 787 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:03 pm

I could care less about Family Guy, but The Simpsons is different story (pun intended.)

A few weeks ago I replaced my cranky 3rd generation iPod with one of the new Nanos. I was surprised at how well the videos it plays looks from an arm's length. Because you have to hold the Nano it is not as comfortable as sitting in a chair and watching a TV, or computer monitor.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:16 pm

Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
I could care less about Family Guy, but The Simpsons is different story (pun intended.)

The expression is "couldn't care less", as in "I care so little about Family Guy that it is impossible for me to care less than I already do."

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deasys said:

member since 08 Apr 2003 with 294 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:15 pm

Guest wrote:
Lame solution. Keep your privacy AND your fair-use rights by ripping the DVD using Handbrake instead of trying to use this DRM-crippled file that you need to ask for permission to use.

Handbrake is great but if I can just copy the file rather than going through the time-consuming Handbrake transoding process, I'm all for this new development.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 787 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:51 pm

Anonymous wrote:
Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
I could care less about Family Guy, but The Simpsons is different story (pun intended.)

The expression is "couldn't care less", as in "I care so little about Family Guy that it is impossible for me to care less than I already do."

Thanks for correcting my careless posting. Either way I don't care for Family Guy, when my son turns it on I head out to Moe's

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DaiMac said:

member since 29 Jun 2001 with 952 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:22 pm

Sorry you don't care for FG Harry...the point is though I and all the other people who made Family Guy Season 1+2 one of the best selling TV DVDs in history are quite excited that we now can just pop in new DVDs and put them on our iPods/AppleTVs. Handbrake is fine and all, but unless you have the new Mac Pro full spec I doubt it converts the DVD faster than I can copy an MP4 file. Its not like this will affect your ability to handbrake the DVD if you just can't stand it.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 787 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:35 pm

DaiMac wrote:
Sorry you don't care for FG Harry...the point is though I and all the other people who made Family Guy Season 1+2 one of the best selling DVDs in history are quite excited that we now can just pop in new DVDs and put them on our iPods/AppleTVs

It's cool. My son enjoys Family Guy, I don't, but both of us enjoy the Simpsons. What matters is that we may soon be able to get more video on our iPods.

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DaiMac said:

member since 29 Jun 2001 with 952 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:43 pm

Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
It's cool. My son enjoys Family Guy, I don't, but both of us enjoy the Simpsons. What matters is that we may soon be able to get more video on our iPods.

Interesting, I guess its a bit of a generational gap? I mean, I love the simpsons, I've watched it from the first airing of the X-mas special and own every season they've put out so far (and look forward to the next box set having this iTunes feature), but I also love Family Guy. I especially love the "rivalry" between them, Stewie mowing down Homer in the Griffin's garage (the way Marge always comes close to doing in the intro) with his tricycle in the episode that opened with him going Frank Drebbin all over Osama's ass. Then on the simpsons (the episode a season or two ago where they find sideshow bob hiding out as the mayor of an italian village), there was a shot of Peter in an italian law book above the heading "plagarism" (I think, it might have been another similar word).

Although I have to say, the best animated show of the last few years IMO, episode for episode (because there aren't a ton) is Venture Brothers. That show is too funny, I highly recommend it to anyone. Season 3 is coming out in HD! I shiver at the thought. I guess I'll need a darn Blu-Ray player at some point (probably just buy a PS3, that will be my excuse so I can be Darth Vader in SoulCalibur IV) to watch that when they put it out in that format.

Also, wonder if you watched any of the recent "episode" of FG where Seth Macfarlane showed both some clips of the show, some clips of him cracking wise, and then clips of focus testing interviews with people who hated Family Guy. Even if you don't like the show, you might find it interesting, I of course laughed so hard my sides hurt.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 787 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:01 am

Yes, I am getting be a bit of Grandpa Simpson. However, I am in Principal Skinner's generation, both of us being Vietnam War vets. Anyway I enjoyed the Simpsons episode when they went to Italy, but I missed the connection with Peter because I didn't know the character, I will watch for it.

I enjoy comedy, it helps me relax.

You all have a good night

DaiMac wrote:
Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
It's cool. My son enjoys Family Guy, I don't, but both of us enjoy the Simpsons. What matters is that we may soon be able to get more video on our iPods.

Interesting, I guess its a bit of a generational gap? I mean, I love the simpsons, I've watched it from the first airing of the X-mas special and own every season they've put out so far (and look forward to the next box set having this iTunes feature), but I also love Family Guy. I especially love the "rivalry" between them, Stewie mowing down Homer in the Griffin's garage (the way Marge always comes close to doing in the intro) with his tricycle in the episode that opened with him going Frank Drebbin all over Osama's ass. Then on the simpsons (the episode a season or two ago where they find sideshow bob hiding out as the mayor of an italian village), there was a shot of Peter in an italian law book above the heading "plagarism" (I think, it might have been another similar word).

Although I have to say, the best animated show of the last few years IMO, episode for episode (because there aren't a ton) is Venture Brothers. That show is too funny, I highly recommend it to anyone. Season 3 is coming out in HD! I shiver at the thought. I guess I'll need a darn Blu-Ray player at some point (probably just buy a PS3, that will be my excuse so I can be Darth Vader in SoulCalibur IV) to watch that when they put it out in that format.

Also, wonder if you watched any of the recent "episode" of FG where Seth Macfarlane showed both some clips of the show, some clips of him cracking wise, and then clips of focus testing interviews with people who hated Family Guy. Even if you don't like the show, you might find it interesting, I of course laughed so hard my sides hurt.

Quote this post ↓

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