DVD burning kiosks on the way?

According to this story on Yahoo! News, it looks as if some of the major studios have agreed on a technology for letting users download video content to burn to DVD. While the story mostly covers the consumer-oriented aspects of such a deal (namely, the ability to download, burn and play any available movie title), the idea of burning kiosks does get mentioned:

The [kiosks] could hold hundreds of thousands of older films and TV shows for which studios don't see a huge market. Customers could pick a film, TV episode or an entire season's worth of shows and have them transferred to DVD on the spot.

Burning a DVD will take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes using Sonic's technology, the company said....

The initial companies participating in Qflix include Verbatim Corp., which makes blank discs, the movie download service Movielink, video-on-demand provider Akimbo Systems Inc. and the Walgreen Co. chain of drug stores.

Studios must still figure out pricing schemes that appeal to consumers and protect its lucrative retail business. Some retailers, such as Wal-Mart, have talked about starting their own online downloading services or installing kiosks to burn DVDs in the stores.

While it looks like there are still some remaining hurdles to clear, I think this idea has some merit. And the option of DVD-burning kiosks is even better than that of music-burning kiosks, since with Sonic's new technology, a computer user could download the content, but would need a new DVD burner and special DVDs to be able to record, which could make a kiosk a compelling alternative to home burning.

Tags: DVD burning kiosk, CD burning kiosk, product line extension