businessweek.com— Apple's expected announcement of a movie-download service has many wondering what the DVD-by-mail provider has planned.
Sep 12, 2006View in Crawl 4
apple is only offering disney movies a this time. also that time constraint for digital rentals i'm not too happy about. besides, there isn't even a price point savings. i'll stick with actual dvd rentals, thank you.
It's a great idea and all, but after using iTunes on Windows, I don't think I could ever have faith in downloading an entire DVD through their application.
Unless Movie Downloads are a decent file size, the quailty is DVD or HD, and has 5.1 - DTS, then I really won't bother. Also what are we going to use to put our downloads from the computer to the HDTV? I am not going to be lugging my computer to my HDTV, and people that don't have media center PCs, what are they going to use? Netflix will have to make a Stand alone box, that connects to Netflix has menu etc to download movies to the box, and theres another cost so they are going to have to add that to you monthly bill.
Here are the reasons downloaded movies will not immediately affect DVD's.Watching the movie. Movie viewers are simply not accustomed to watching the movie on their PC. Most viewers want to be able to relax and share the experience with a few friends. Seating? Sound? Overall comfort, I don't see this happening on a PC.Audio/Video quality suffers. In contrast to the home theater, the PC multimedia experience can't compare. Any recently modern home theater setup will be vastly superior to anything from the PC to TV setup.Physical storage and price. Typically any kind of DRM software will prevent the typical user from creating copies of the movie. And price? If it's $9.99 it's tempting, but at what quality? Anything above that I can't see a reason to purchase when you can get ahold of a physical DVD for a few dollars more and a little price shopping.So right now I don't see it catching on, but that doesn't mean I disagree with the move. Through innovation comes competition and likely new standards. My only fear is that this might negatiively affect the quality as it did with the music industry. iTunes mass introduced the low-quality compressed audio format, will we see a similar trend towards lower quality video and the neglect of quality home theater? Youtube and the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars certainly don't seem to be helping things.I love Netflix and I love movies. But then again I love my home theater, not my computer chair.
Blockbuster's fate is on the wall, they are done. I was in their corner but they are an old dying breed.Netflix FTW - I don't think the Apple store will be the same or compete with them too much. A DVD in hand is valuable, and who wants to store movies from Apple on their computer and watch it from where, their computer?The only thing that will take me away from Netflix would be a DVR that downloads the movie in full definition and I can play it on my home theater.Hmm, I think they had something like this back in the day - that's how DIVX started, it was before its time.
"I suspect NetFlix would be happy, too, since I'd pay for my bandwidth through my ISP, vs. them having to pay for the postage."You would only be paying for bandwidth for your download. It would still cost them to upload.
Define "good."I've built a few HTPC's and in my experience there is no comparison in the audio/video quality department. In my comment I refer to the "typical" movie watcher. A user with a 32"(+) tv, DVD player, receiver, and 5.1 surround. Trying to duplicate this with an HTPC setup is cumbersome and expensive, not to mention I have yet to see an HTPC take advantage of HDMI.The iPod + iTunes made things simple for anyone to obtain music legally and transfer it to their listening device. My point is, I don't see the same compatibility between the home theater and its media. Until that hurdle is overcome, this isn't going to work.
timmaykSep 12, 2006
apple is only offering disney movies a this time. also that time constraint for digital rentals i'm not too happy about. besides, there isn't even a price point savings. i'll stick with actual dvd rentals, thank you.
Closed AccountSep 12, 2006
It's a great idea and all, but after using iTunes on Windows, I don't think I could ever have faith in downloading an entire DVD through their application.
xellossSep 12, 2006
Unless Movie Downloads are a decent file size, the quailty is DVD or HD, and has 5.1 - DTS, then I really won't bother. Also what are we going to use to put our downloads from the computer to the HDTV? I am not going to be lugging my computer to my HDTV, and people that don't have media center PCs, what are they going to use? Netflix will have to make a Stand alone box, that connects to Netflix has menu etc to download movies to the box, and theres another cost so they are going to have to add that to you monthly bill.
gmillerdSep 12, 2006
They have access to the NWI network.
mrgreen4242Sep 12, 2006
"It's a great idea and all, but after using ... Windows"Well, there's your problem!
shostermanSep 12, 2006
Here are the reasons downloaded movies will not immediately affect DVD's.Watching the movie. Movie viewers are simply not accustomed to watching the movie on their PC. Most viewers want to be able to relax and share the experience with a few friends. Seating? Sound? Overall comfort, I don't see this happening on a PC.Audio/Video quality suffers. In contrast to the home theater, the PC multimedia experience can't compare. Any recently modern home theater setup will be vastly superior to anything from the PC to TV setup.Physical storage and price. Typically any kind of DRM software will prevent the typical user from creating copies of the movie. And price? If it's $9.99 it's tempting, but at what quality? Anything above that I can't see a reason to purchase when you can get ahold of a physical DVD for a few dollars more and a little price shopping.So right now I don't see it catching on, but that doesn't mean I disagree with the move. Through innovation comes competition and likely new standards. My only fear is that this might negatiively affect the quality as it did with the music industry. iTunes mass introduced the low-quality compressed audio format, will we see a similar trend towards lower quality video and the neglect of quality home theater? Youtube and the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars certainly don't seem to be helping things.I love Netflix and I love movies. But then again I love my home theater, not my computer chair.
osbjmgSep 12, 2006
Blockbuster's fate is on the wall, they are done. I was in their corner but they are an old dying breed.Netflix FTW - I don't think the Apple store will be the same or compete with them too much. A DVD in hand is valuable, and who wants to store movies from Apple on their computer and watch it from where, their computer?The only thing that will take me away from Netflix would be a DVR that downloads the movie in full definition and I can play it on my home theater.Hmm, I think they had something like this back in the day - that's how DIVX started, it was before its time.
foamweaponsSep 12, 2006
oops, did i say "recording", i meant "watching"
kcmedicSep 12, 2006
"I suspect NetFlix would be happy, too, since I'd pay for my bandwidth through my ISP, vs. them having to pay for the postage."You would only be paying for bandwidth for your download. It would still cost them to upload.
shostermanSep 13, 2006
Define "good."I've built a few HTPC's and in my experience there is no comparison in the audio/video quality department. In my comment I refer to the "typical" movie watcher. A user with a 32"(+) tv, DVD player, receiver, and 5.1 surround. Trying to duplicate this with an HTPC setup is cumbersome and expensive, not to mention I have yet to see an HTPC take advantage of HDMI.The iPod + iTunes made things simple for anyone to obtain music legally and transfer it to their listening device. My point is, I don't see the same compatibility between the home theater and its media. Until that hurdle is overcome, this isn't going to work.