POWEREDCOM Inc., Toshiba Corporation and Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. (TEPCO) today announced that they will start trial operation of a new DVD content distribution service, "Hikari de DVD," that delivers video to DVD recorders in the home via a high capacity fiber-optic broadband network. The trial will start on 1 December 2004 in Tokyo and its vicinity with a 1,000 monitors. Viewers interested in becoming monitors can sign up for the trial at the [Japanese language only!!] "Hikari de DVD" website from 2 November.

"Hikari de DVD" is the first video content distribution system to combine the capabilities of a high speed Fiber to the Home (FTTH) broadband network, with the versatility of a DVD recorder able to support downloads of movies and music to a DVD-RAM disc. The service adopts DVD-VR (video recording), the standard format for DVD recorders, allowing it to achieve a high level of usability. The service uses Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), a standard content protection technology for DVD recorders, in a digital rights management (DRM) system that supports a high level security for content distribution. The system supports both rental and sales of content.