No-return DVD rentals are taking off in the US and it’s only a matter of time until they find a place in Australia. Flexplay offers a technology that means you never have to deal with poor DVD quality again.

The video rental industry is huge – the Australian Bureau of Statistics has the industry turning a profit of close to half a billion dollars a year.

Almost 150 million annual rentals may be great for hire companies but disc quality often suffers and is frequently sub-par, thanks to scratching and fingerprints.

Now Flexcopy Technologies – based in Atlanta, Georgia – has started to distribute an alternative to these much-handled discs.

The Flexplay disc is a time-limited DVD similar to a conventional disc, except that it has a set viewing period that begins when the disc is removed from its packaging.

During the viewing period the Flexplay disc plays like a normal DVD, offering the great picture and sound that viewers expect. When the viewing period expires, the disc is no longer readable by the DVD player.

Like regular DVDs, Flexplay discs are made from two pieces of plastic glued together, one or both with a reflective coating.

Information – a digitally encoded movie, for example – is transferred onto the reflective surface, where it can be read by a laser beam focused on that surface. The reflected laser beam is then read by the player’s optical sensor.

Time-sensitive discs use a proprietary patented adhesive to glue the two halves together.

Removing the Flexplay disc from its sealed package exposes it to oxygen, triggering a controlled chemical reaction with the special Flexplay adhesive.

After 48 hours the adhesive begins to interfere with the laser beam’s ability to read the disc. This all happens inside the disc, with no exposed chemicals or coatings.

The discs are designed to ensure perfect playback during the two–day viewing period, so you won’t have to worry about the picture and sound fading just as you get to the best part of the movie.

And because they are real DVDs, Flexplay discs work in all players, drives and gaming systems designed to accept a standard DVD.

There is no restriction on how many times the Flexplay DVD can be played during the viewing period.

The company’s goal is to expand the overall home entertainment market by appealing to consumers whose rental consumption has diminished due to the perceived inconvenience of the rental process.

Flexplay will give such consumers easy access to recently released titles where they already shop – and the chance to view at their convenience without worrying about returns, late fees or scratched discs.

Flexplay discs are fully recyclable and conform to all applicable environmental requirements. The company has partnered with international environmental organisations to develop recycling programs for consumers.

Polycarbonate, which all discs are made from, is a fully recyclable plastic. The proprietary chemical and technology used in the limited-play DVDs conform to applicable regulations for health and environmental protection.

GE Plastics, a division of General Electric, has been a strategic collaborator in the advancement of Flexplay’s proprietary technologies, developing a new resin co-polymer essential to the design.

Recycled polycarbonate is used in several industries, including automotive, computer, consumer electronics and telecommunications. Flexplay is working with its plastics suppliers to use recycled polycarbonate plastic (known as ‘re-grind’) to make its DVDs.

If successful, Flexplay will be the first manufacturer to use re-grind in optical discs. It will create a true closed-loop recycling program.