Blu-ray, Say Hello to iMovies, in HD

[admin]

After just finishing at CES with the apparent win over rival physical format HD DVD, Blu-ray will again be challenged for title home video successor to the DVD. The latest threat is from Apple's iTunes. Steve Jobs has opened Macworld 2008 with an announcement that iTunes has deals in place to rent movies from every major Hollywood studio and that rentals will be available in HD. Currently, iTunes already claims more than 7 million movie download sales, a number that exceeds sales of both physical HD formats.


Discuss "Blu-ray, Say Hello to iMovies, in HD" here. Read the article.

[BMXTRIX]

Downloads have always been the future, but the question is whether or not 'the future' is now, or still - the future.

Last time I checked, about 25% of the US population had broadband internet. This number is not even close to satisfying the general needs of the consumer. Throw in the fact that the US is the number one user of broadband Internet and it becomes clear that while AppleTV can hit a whole heck of a lot of people, it is still falling incredibly short of the potential market.

Then you throw in the basics: "You've got that movie! Great, bring it on over to my house..."

Oh wait - haven't figured that one out yet.

Hey! How about owning 50 movies! Doh! Hard drive full, no networkability, if you want more, you'll have to buy some more hardware... then configure it. Hard drive crash? No biggie - you're just out the hundreds, if not thousands, you may have spent on movies.

Wait - you can't own any of these already... they're just rentals.

Huh? Isn't this more like something to compete with Blockbuster and Netflix?

The technology may be here now, but it is most definitely limited and still has years to go before it will be mainstream.

[GlocksRock]

I wonder if those HD downloads will contain a stereo audio track, or will it have some type of surround sound, either dolby 5.1 or some flavor of lossless.

You can rent movies in HD on xbox live, just buy points and redeem them for whatever movie or shows they have... I wonder how it compares to that? Those movies are in 5.1, but I don't think they offer lossless audio on those, but I've never downloaded one either.

Another downside to downloadable HD movies is that a full uncompressed HD movie will be close to 20 gigs or more, when people start downloading several of them, they will fill their drives up quick, unless we start seeing multple terrabyte drives real soon, and I don't see that becoming affordable right away.

[fmw]

I for one have zero interest in a $3.99 24 hour rental that would take me ages to download because broadband isn't available out here in the hinterlands. Too expensive. Too slow. No thanks. I agree that the future of video rentals is part of the future, not the present.

[patnshan]

I think download HD is not ready for prime time. I think all the issues BMX listed are valid. I am into renting movies, so it does sound like a good deal for me if it doesn't take an hour to download. I do have a 7 MB/s cable, so it may work. I am likely to try one to see what they are able to do already.

I have VGA + digital coax from my HTPC to my projector. I only have the built in Nvidia 6150 video card. I am wondering if one will need a new video card and such to handle this????

Pat

[j_garcia]

Even Jobs admits that the public has demonstrated that they still aren't ready for downloadable movies, HD or not. The technology is here, but will people go for it? If not, then it doesn't matter if they can DO it. All who have tried it thus far, including Apple, have failed, but times are changing...

[AdrianMills]

No disrespect but dissing physical HD formats is getting old and this smacks of trying a little too hard to do just that.

Physical media will be around for a long time yet and don't forget, the US is, relatively speaking, a pretty small potential market compared to the rest of the world; unless things have changed, the last time I tried to buy a BSG episode off of iTunes it barfed at copyright issues because I was in Europe.

This will be just another way to get hold movies, not the only way, and not even the major way for a while yet.

[Soundman]

Originally Posted by BMXTRIX

Downloads have always been the future, but the question is whether or not 'the future' is now, or still - the future.

Last time I checked, about 25% of the US population had broadband internet. This number is not even close to satisfying the general needs of the consumer. Throw in the fact that the US is the number one user of broadband Internet and it becomes clear that while AppleTV can hit a whole heck of a lot of people, it is still falling incredibly short of the potential market.

Then you throw in the basics: "You've got that movie! Great, bring it on over to my house..."

Oh wait - haven't figured that one out yet.

Hey! How about owning 50 movies! Doh! Hard drive full, no networkability, if you want more, you'll have to buy some more hardware... then configure it. Hard drive crash? No biggie - you're just out the hundreds, if not thousands, you may have spent on movies.

Wait - you can't own any of these already... they're just rentals.

Huh? Isn't this more like something to compete with Blockbuster and Netflix?

The technology may be here now, but it is most definitely limited and still has years to go before it will be mainstream.

My Friend, I believe you've hit the nail right on the head! I agree 100%!

[Guiria]

Not to mention new rental services like Redbox DVD rentals. With Wal-mart and Walgreens doing some tests on select markets Redbox has some serious distribution potential.

There are 3 redboxes within 2 sq miles of my home, and one near my work and I love the ease of use and the price.

Hopefully the company becomes profitable and will be around for a while because I'm a fan of the service.

Now if they would start renting Blu-ray for $1.00 that would be sweet.

Hard drive crashes and lack of mobility are two big red flags that sway me from wanting to download movies.

[Soundman]

Originally Posted by admin

After just finishing at CES with the apparent win over rival physical format HD DVD, Blu-ray will again be challenged for title home video successor to the DVD. The latest threat is from Apple's iTunes. Steve Jobs has opened Macworld 2008 with an announcement that iTunes has deals in place to rent movies from every major Hollywood studio and that rentals will be available in HD. Currently, iTunes already claims more than 7 million movie download sales, a number that exceeds sales of both physical HD formats.


Discuss "Blu-ray, Say Hello to iMovies, in HD" here. Read the article.

This is not even a fair comparison. iMovies is a rental service, not a buy to own. The article is comparing Apples numbers to physical media sales. What they need to do is compare their numbers to the number of all DVD's, Blu-Ray discs, and HD-DVD's rented world wide. This would include all rentals from places such as Blockbuster, Netflix, etc. I beilieve the numbers would look alot different then. So, come on lets compare "apples to apples". Pardon the pun.