New DVD player cuts out the naughty parts

Posted Friday, April 9, 2004 at 10:55 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

Wal-Mart will soon be carrying a new RCA DVD player for $79. It has all the standard features you'd expect from a machine that plays DVD movies. What the player doesn't contain will be its big selling point.

The player will employ technology from Salt Lake City-based Clearplay to skip offensive material from the normal DVD movies you play. It will skip or muted objectionable scenes -- like profanity, graphic violence and nudity -- making PG-13 and R-rated movies more family friendly.

Until now, the Clearplay technology was only available on computer DVD players. You could download and use the software for a monthly fee to turn normal movies into tamer versions. The RCA set-top player will presumably use the Internet or a phone connection to download data on new movies.

After all, this is how Clearplay works. Their staff screens new movies for content and marks them for deletion or muting. The company currently has 500 or so movies on its of filtered movies. Additions are made each week.

Now wait a bleeping minute says Hollywood. A group of Hollywood directors has sued Clearplay for abusing and effectively pirating their intellectual property. The company has responded to the litigation (which is still pending) saying their technology is simply a new way to play existing movies, much like hitting a fast forward button.

We hear that if you play Scarface on this new DVD player, all you get is the end credits.