Archive for the ‘DVDs’ Category

Any Movie, Any Time, Any Where

May 14th, 2010 2 Comments

For years, consumers have been promised the ability to get any movie on demand. Years ago, Time Warner Cable tested a video on demand (VOD) system in Florida, but that fizzled.

Not just any movie, but any time and anywhere. And of course, on any device. But we’re still a long way away from that goal.

Today, consumers piece together their own solutions. They buy Tivos, iPads, iPhones, Sling boxes, Xbox 360s and many other devices in order to get a full digital media experience.

But it seems that there are always missing links. For example, there’s still no simple way to watch Hulu on your TV screen. Because it uses Flash, Hulu isn’t available on most connected TVs and set-top boxes.

Any Movie, Any Time, Any Where. At your fingertips.

While I was at the IPTV World in London in March 2010, I saw a demo of a yet to be released set-top from Amino that had an Intel chip, a real (not embedded) Linux operating system and full Internet browsing.

Yes, that means you can watch Hulu on your TV. And anything else on the Web. It also comes with HD tuners for over the air broadcasts, which are popular in the UK, and DVR functionality. Additionally, the box came with its own very pretty UI which made it easy to browse through Internet content.

Amino’s Freedom box was really a demo, and not yet available for purchase, but it really showed me that technology isn’t a barrier–it’s legal issues.

And perhaps cost. No doubt the Amino box is more expensive than typical boxes, since Intel chips are usually pricier compared to others that are in existing set-tops. The fact that Intel is pushing its way into the set-top world was pretty significant too. Of course, Google is reportedly launching Google TV sometime later this month, so hopefully they can enable Flash (and Hulu) and full Internet browsing also.

Tivo had a great chance to once again become a major disruptor with its new Tivo Premiere box. But generally speaking Tivo Premiere has had lackluster reviews online. Tivo could have really brought the Internet to early adopters and shown the rest of the industry what could really be done with an innovative interface and a mix of TV and Internet content. But instead, Tivo Premiere just looks like a software update, not an entirely new product.

Last year, I was at a trade show and heard a speaker talking about the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) initiative that Hollywood is pushing. Essentially, DECE is trying to figure out the next digital media format after Blu-ray. Since Blu-ray hasn’t been selling well, the industry needs to think of the future. And the future is digital.

DECE is looking to create an entire ecosystem (via digital rights management, of course) for purchasing, renting and downloading movies. Unfortunately Apple is not included in DECE, although they’ve been invited. Clearly, this looks like an initiative to build an alternative iTunes Store, and take away Apple’s dominance in digital sales. It’s clearly a case of ABA: Anyone But Apple.

Apple probably doesn’t think it needs to join the group, but if it did, there might finally be one universal format for digital music and movies, rather than Apple’s proprietary files. And maybe DECE could be a good alternative to iTunes. So far, DECE has been moving really slow, and I haven’t seen much momentum.

Oh, one other un-popular thing about DECE is that they are focusing primarily on recent Hollywood hits, not the long-tail content. Going after the low-hanging fruit is OK, but I think they would have greater success going with long tail content. In my personal experience, I’ve been happy watching NetFlix’s long tail content for weeks, while waiting for new releases 28 days later.

Tivo Premiere just looks like a software update, not an entirely new product.

VOD via Cable and IPTV Operators still isn’t very popular. But I think consumers are getting used to watching TV shows at anytime, much like they are accustomed to watching movies at any time with VOD and DVDs. In fact, Cable Providers have started a marketing push (called Movies on Demand) to promote VOD among their customers.

I guess we’re still a while away until we see the promise of “any movie, anytime, anywhere, on any device.” But I am enjoying the ride.

Image courtesy of SM3287

Posted in Apple, Blu-Ray, DVDs, Google, Hollywood, TV, Tivo, iPhone Tags:

Internet Users Don’t Like Video Downloads

August 10th, 2007 No Comments

According to a survey by Park Associates, just one in five users (21%) are satisfied with videos they download from the Internet.

The definition of downloaded videos, Parks says, can be anything downloaded from peer-to-peer networks like LimeWire or BitTorrent, which are usually illegal DVD rips of or TV shows. It can also mean legitimate movies or shows like those available for purchase from iTunes.

The data was broken down between “Video Downloaders Not Using P2P Networks” and “All Video Downloaders.” See the chart below:

chart_videodownload.gif

Interestingly, the percent of satisfied users jumps from 12% to 21% when counting all downloaders including those using legitimate services. Users downloading video from peer-to-peer systems are likely to be unsatisfied with the quality of the video, since they are usually lower-quality than legitimate pay services.

Here’s a quote from the Parks’ press release:

“People don’t see a reason to use video downloading services,” said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. “Sure, it saves a trip to the video store, but it takes longer, looks worse, and you end up watching it on a 17” screen. No wonder consumers are dissatisfied with the experience.”

However, that’s not always the case. A growing number of movies available on BitTorrent are DVD quality because they are actually DVD rips, with very little compression. Users can specifically search for DVD-quality files, rather than go for lower-quality Divx encoding, for example.

Searching for something like “Spider-Man ISO” will bring up high-quality DVD rips saved in ISO format, which makes it easy to burn it back into a DVD. Once you burn it into a DVD, it’s practically indistinguishable from the original DVD since it comes with chapters, titles and all the special features. The downside is that a) it’s illegal since DVDs need to be ripped of their copy protection and b) ISO files are huge.

Full-length movies encoded with Divx are usually 650MB, while ISO files are usually 1.2GB. That’s double the size and a big difference in downloading time, but a huge difference in quality.
Anyway, I suspect that many people aren’t using ISO files anyway. Only hard-core users who love quality video would take the time to download an ISO, burn it onto a DVD then watch it (either on a TV or computer).

One more point. Despite what Parks says, I think it’s possible that people taking the survey may not have known the difference between downloaded and streamed video. Lots of people don’t know the technical differences and wouldn’t be able to accurately define what “streaming” is.

I know, because I used to work for a company (and website) called Streaming Media (and wrote a book), and I always had to explain what “streaming” meant.

But perhaps consumers are more savvy about video now that we’re in the age of YouTube. Until I see the entire report this data is based on, I wouldn’t use these numbers anywhere or put much weight to them.

Bonus data:

    16% said the selection of online videos is good
    13% said video downloads are sold at a reasonable price.
    Less than one in five people said they would download videos again in the future.

[tags] online movies, itunes, bittorrent, peer to peer, Internet movies, streaming, streaming media [/tags]

Posted in DVDs, Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies, Streaming media, research

Blockbuster Acquires Movielink

August 9th, 2007 No Comments

Blockbuster announced yesterday that it was acquiring Movielink, an Internet download company. The Wall Street Journal said the price was under $50 million.

blockbuster

Blockbuster is trying to compete with NetFlix a rival online DVD rental company, which also launched an online movie rental service in January 2007.

Although NetFlix’s movie downloads hasn’t received much fanfare, that may be because it got off to a slow start after being offered to just a few NetFlix subscribers. Still, NetFlix at least had an online movie service, while Blockbuster did not. Rather than build, Blockbuster bought into the game.

Another rival in the movie download business is Amazon, which has its Unbox service. Customers can rent or purchase movies and have them delivered to your computer. Amazon also has a deal with Tivo to deliver movies to their subscribers so they can watch on their TV sets.

One blogger says that Blockbuster can pull ahead of NetFlix in movie downloads if it caters to the ignored Mac market, including Apple’s AppleTV system:

“My only request if Blockbuster pulls the trigger: don’t leave Mac users stranded like Netflix has (thus far). If Blockbuster is smart, it will not only support Macs, but also find a way to weave itself into Apple’s movie/living room strategy. To ride the coattails of Apple’s market zeitgeist would be a huge win for whoever figures out how to do it. Blockbuster, I’m looking at you.”

None of the three services (Amazon, Blockbuster or NetFlix) have DVD or HD quality movies, so these are strictly for those who want speedy access to a small number of movies. Most of the movies on these services are for new releases and a select number of classics or older movies. They’ve all been slow in offering a wide selection of back catalogs.

However, CNet said that the acquisition gives Blockbuster an larger online movie presence: “Movielink owns the rights to more than 3,000 titles, making it the Web’s largest digital-movie library.”

The back catalogs from movie studios is really where the money is, according to proponents of the Long Tail. The Long Tail, first proposed by Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson, says that:

“Businesses with distribution power can sell a greater volume of otherwise hard to find items at small volumes than of popular items at large volumes.” (Thanks Wikipedia for the succinctness of that description!)

Movelink was started in 2002 by some of the biggest movie studios in Hollywood including MGM, Sony, Universal and Paramount. But things didn’t go too well. Video wasn’t as popular back then, and neither was broadband. Plus it was spending way too much money for an Internet start-up.

Bonus: Read the original Long Tail article from Wired magazine here.

[Via ZatzNotFunny, WebProNews and Engadget]

[tags] Blockbuster, NetFlix, Amazon, Movielink, Internet video, video on demand [/tags]

Posted in DVDs, Internet Movies, Online movies

Blu-Ray and HD DVD Protection Cracked

February 15th, 2007 No Comments

Well, it was just a matter of time. The AACS digital rights management (DRM) technology from Blu-ray and HD-DVD has been cracked

The hack was posted Doom9.org by someone calling themselves Arnezami. According to Wired news, the AACS is looking into this.

“The AACS is investigating the claims right regarding of the hack,” AACS spokesperson Jacqueline Price told Wired News. “It is going to take a appropriate action if it can be verified.”

In December 2006, another hacker managed to crack Blu-Ray using the BackupHDDVD. It decrypts and dismantles AACS on a Windows PC.

What will the DVD companies do now? Can they go back and re-engineer the DRM? Can they update it so that the crack tool is rendered useless?

For regular DVDs, cracks have existed for some time. There was a cat and mouse game played, where when hackers broke into the DVD DRM, the movie studios released a modified version that couldn’t be cracked. But of course, hackers broke that one too. Will this game ever end?

Posted in DVDs, Uncategorized

Blockbuster vs. NetFlix

January 9th, 2007 No Comments

The battle between online movie rental companies Netflix and Blockbuster continues. It seem that everything I turn on the TV, I’m inundated by ads from both Netflix or Blockbuster. A new service from Blockbuster allows subscribers to receive movies in the mail, yet return them at stores in order rather than waiting days like you would with Netflix.
This week, Blockbuster announced that it now had 2 million online subscribers, adding more than 500,000 subscribers since the end of the third quarter. Netflix has 5.7 million subscribers.

I’m a NetFlix subscriber, and have been for many years. I like the convenience of mail, but having the option to return moves at the store doesn’t appeal to me. Only once in the past year, have I felt the urge to rent a movie at a store, rather than wait to get one from my Queue.

As much as I like NetFlix, I am very sick and tired of having to watch their banner ads when I’m on the Internet. I’m already a subscriber. Isn’t there some sort of technology that can allow me to opt out of ads because I already own it or am a member?

Posted in DVDs, Internet Movies
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