Japanese telecommunications carrier KDDI said Tuesday it will start a new service that allows users to burn commercial DVD titles onto discs in their personal computers via the Internet on Thursday. In the "DVD Burning" service, users can download DVD titles onto DVD-RW discs that support the CPRM content protection technology. The downloadable DVD movies will have the same picture and sound quality met in the commercial DVD releases on the market.

DVD content prices start at 500 yen, and no subscription or annual fees will be charged, the company said. The prices will be lower than retail prices of commercial DVDs because no packaging and other relevant costs are required, it said.

The company will begin with about 1000 movies, TV dramas and anime films, expanding to 5,000 by the end of March 2008.

For additional information visit http://www.kddi.com (Japanese).