Movielink announced on Monday it has licensedburning technology from Sonic Solutions.BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Online movie download service Movielink announced on Monday it has licensed burning technology from Sonic Solutions, taking one step closer to offering download-to-own movies that can be played on DVD players, according to media reports.

The technology offers consumers the ability to browse and purchase titles from the Movielink library and transfer those films to DVD format. The protected content is then formatted and burned onto DVDs for playback on any standard DVD player.

The deal clears a technological hurdle for Santa Monica-based Movielink, but the download-to-burn service will not be available until the company obtains a license for DVD encrypting technology later this year.

"We are hopeful this gets into the market in a big way in the next six months or so," Jim Ramo, MovieLink chief executive said on Monday.

Movielink is the first major download service to offer download-to-burn DVD for use in personal computers, and many consumers have been waiting until those DVDs could also be played on standard DVD players linked to television sets.

The move marks a major advancement for Hollywood because until now. Major movie studios worry that faster broadband connections will lead more consumers to download movies and take away from physical disc sales, in turn angering major retailers. At the same time, the industry is fearful that by not facilitating the process, users will turn to illegal downloading as they did for music.

Since it is a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios, Movielink may have the best chance of breaking new ground when it comes to movie downloads. Enditem

(Agencies)