Movie download options

[Ghoulish Delight]

BluRay may have won the war of the HD hard media, but I'm still of the opinion that it won't be long before hard media is a thing of the past.

Last year we spent several months beta testing a set top box (called "Vudu") that delivers streaming movies to rent and purchase instantly. Two clicks of the spiffy scroll wheel on the RF remote and you are watching a movie with no waiting.

Since then, both Apple and Microsoft have entered the fray with the latest update to AppleTV and XBox360 respectively.

Here's a decent comparison of the 3 services.

http://gizmodo.com/363600/apple-tv-vs-vudu-vs-xbox-360-video-download-battlemodo

They aren't kidding when they say that the Vudu user interface is great. By far the best thing about it. It should also be noted that while Vudu doesn't officially support it, I was able to use a wireless network game controller to connect to my WiFi network with no issue at all and no noticeable effect on content delivery.

It's still definitely too early for any of these to be DVD/BluRay killers. The cost is too high, the content is too limited, HD is JUST starting to be feasible (some of Vudu's HD comment streams instantly, some needs time to buffer), and people are still attached to physical media. But in testing the Vudu, I was REALLY impressed for being a first generation product.

I hope in the long run that it catches on. Perhaps someone will start offering a subscription-based service a-la netflix. But even if they remain pay-for-play, if the selection grows and hardware costs drop, I'd consider dumping netflix in favor of instant delivery. Between the Netlix streaming content and Amazon Unbox through the TiVo, it's getting pretty easy to not have to bother sending discs back and forth already.

[Kevy Baby]

I've actually put some thought into this. While iTunes et.al. pretty much put the physical delivery of music out of business (yes, there are still a lot of CD's sold, but it won't be long), I believe that it is still a while before you will see movies being delivered in this fashion because of 1) the requisite size of the movie files, and 2) ownability (I love making up words).

The second issue is going to be a tough sell. When you buy a song from iTunes, you own it (yes, there are services where you only rent your music). People want to own things. We have, for the most part, become accustomed to how to burn the downloaded music to a CD. But right now, the movie studios are being MUCH more restrictive on what can be done with their intellectual data and are not as free with the content as the music biz was.

I would say that Blue-Ray still has a 3-5 year life cycle.

[Chernabog]

I would say that Blue-Ray still has a 3-5 year life cycle.

And I wonder how the video streaming will emulate things like the menu systems of the blu-ray, or picture-in-picture commentaries that go off and on with the press of a button, etc. One thing I hate about streaming video in HD is that network speeds can be spotty so often times, even with some buffer time, you get stops and starts, where you finally have to put your viewing on hold for a while until it gets enough of a buffer going.

Personally I like the boxes and the packaging of my favorite artists. It was really fun to collect those limited edition import Bjork single releases. Now, they only come in one version for the entire North America on Itunes (whee, a picture of box art) and we don't get some of what other countries get unless you just do an illegal download. When I get a broadway show, I like the fact that it comes with liner notes and the libretto. Perhaps the younger generation who grows up with no physical media won't care one way or the other, I don't know.

[Alex]

It has been quite a while since I watched an extra on a DVD I wasn't reviewing so losing those with online streaming is fine by me, especially if it brings down the price.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yeah, extras are occasionally nice, but they are not high on my priority list.

As for owning, we'll see where that goes. Right now, I can log in to Netflix from anyone's computer and access content for no additional cost. That's a billion times easier, imo, than owning a digital file and burning a DVD. There's also the benefit that if we move from an ownership model to an access model (i.e., instead of buying a disc or a digital file, I'm buying the right to access data over a network), then storage is no longer an issue, nor is worrying about things like lost, stolen, scratched, burned, etc. media. As long as I can log in, I have my content.

[RStar]

Yeah, extras are occasionally nice, but they are not high on my priority list.

It's pretty high on mine.

Also, if I had one box with a hard drive storing all of my media, I would be real nervous unless there was some way to back up all the files. I'd hate to have a roach crawl up in there, short it out, and loose $$$ of music and movies! Sure a DVD can go bad, but short of the house burning down or a robery I'm pretty sure I won't be loosing my collection of hundreds of movies all at once.

[Ghoulish Delight]

And yet downloadable music is huge business.

Face it, media and permanence are things of the past. The future of the market has been clear about the fact that they're okay with their data being volatile and with being responsible for securing their own data. I don't think that's going to be a hinderance, as long as the movie industry isn't dumb enough to make it a pain for people to back up their data in the future (which is admittedly a current obstacle).

[mousepod]

If you look at the music model, iTunes is currently the #2 largest music retailer in the US, between Walmart and Best Buy. The subscription models have all failed or are in the process of failing. There's still a thriving market, however, for tangible goods, albeit a more specialized one. There are thousands of recordings that are not currently available on iTunes (for various reasons), and there are absolutely no CD-quality tracks, either.

Since the 1970s, the portability and accessibility of music has become easier, while sacrificing the quality of the product in each step.

Home video, on the other hand, has seen a parallel growth in accessibility and quality... until now.

For many years, the only home video market was videotape, and almost every movie program was presented with no extras and "modified to fit your tv". Widescreen laserdiscs with lots of extras changed the market by giving consumers added value, and anamorphic DVDs and now hi-def Blu-Rays have now made it possible for people to view movies under better conditions than their local multiplex.

I'm not saying that VOD won't work - it probably is the next "thing". However, given the fact that many studios consider a DRM-protected digital download sans extras to be as valuable to the consumer as an extras-laden disc, I think it's going to be a long way off.

[flippyshark]

For now, I love flipping through DVD cases on my library shelf. It makes movies seem more like books to me. And I love having the "value-added content," which often enough delivers some really amazing stuff. On the other hand, I have pretty well fallen all the way overboard as far as ditching physical media for my music. I feel a bit wistful about it, but it's a bridge I've crossed all the same. (I have a random and eclectic selection of physical CDs and LPs, and I'll hang on to those.) As I usually live in apartments, and don't feel I can play music good and loud, I lack any impressive stereo equipment, and thus, I'm (more or less) content with the lossy files of this current age. I dream sometimes of living in an audiophile home, with no shared walls to disturb others.

I've rented two movies through iTunes, but as I haven't got an HDTV (or the little AppleTV box) I had to watch it on my computer monitor, instead of in my living room theater. That wasn't very satisfying, but eventually, I'll have an actual HDTV and whatever boxes or converter thingies I need. I'm WAY behind on AV tech. (I have a standard def widescreen projection system, which I love, but no cable. Just rabbit ears and my trusty DVD library.)