For those that think movie downloads are the future

[GlocksRock]

I think the lack of proper infrastructure and corporate greed are the two main reasons why HD movie downloads will not overtake physical media, at least not for a long time. Take this article for instance
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080117/media_nm/timewarner_internet_dc

If they are having a hard time right now supplying enough bandwidth to the current amount of users streaming the content that's available now, how could they possibly cope with the demand that will be present if the masses want downloadable/streaming HD movies/tv shows as the norm.?

 

[GlocksRock]

And you know it's gotta only be a small percentage of users that are using a large amounts of bandwidth on a regular basis. So either they really are having issues in supplying enough bandwidth for everyone without congestion, or they are just greedy and are wanting to use this as an excuse to charge more for their service. Either reason would support my argument that lack of infrastructure and/or greed will be the reason why this won't take off any time soon. It will cost a whole lot of money to upgrade our infrastructure to where it needs to be to supply the bandwidth needed, and we all know that the corporations aren't going to stop being greedy any time soon.

I am a Time Warner customer that uses their Road Runner service, and I can tell that my internet seems slower in the evenings, most likely due to the higher usage when the kids are home from shool and are online doing schoolwork, playing video games, on youtube, myspace, whatever. Now imagine what will happen when all the kids are online, and the parents and many other people are trying to stream/download movies or shows in the evening. There would be way too much congestion, and everyone would be complaining about slow service. I have the highest plan, turbocharged internet and it is slow at times, so I don't see how people upgrading their service plan would help either.

 

[ivseenbetter]

It's an unfortunate truth...

 

[stratman]

I know that CD technology is light years ahead of vinyl in all respects, fidelity and size, but you must admit those old album covers were neat, you could frame them and use them as art. The only thing I dislike about the CD is the size of the "covers," well I guess portability is better.

There's nothing like physical media to do with as you please, VOD is vaporware, it'll always belong to the corporations.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... but you must admit those old album covers were neat, you could frame them and use them as art. The only thing I dislike about the CD is the size of the "covers," well I guess portability is better.

There's nothing like physical media to do with as you please, VOD is vaporware, it'll always belong to the corporations.

Yes, the vinyl covers were nice and large but you could get more of the CD cover art into the same size frames and save wall space.

Yes, having possession is a great benefit. No junk will be stored in the same space belonging to others

 

[agabriel]

Moore's law... Bandwidth will increase in a manor that is affordable for companies. HD will be a standard that could be left alone for awhile, look at the previous standard.

Who would have thought cat 5 cable could do gigabit back in the ten megabit days.

Here is an article to contrary:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/01/08/ces.comcast.ap/index.html
HD movie downloads in 4 minutes sounds better than great to me

 

[Soundman]

And you know it's gotta only be a small percentage of users that are using a large amounts of bandwidth on a regular basis. So either they really are having issues in supplying enough bandwidth for everyone without congestion, or they are just greedy and are wanting to use this as an excuse to charge more for their service. Either reason would support my argument that lack of infrastructure and/or greed will be the reason why this won't take off any time soon. It will cost a whole lot of money to upgrade our infrastructure to where it needs to be to supply the bandwidth needed, and we all know that the corporations aren't going to stop being greedy any time soon.

I am a Time Warner customer that uses their Road Runner service, and I can tell that my internet seems slower in the evenings, most likely due to the higher usage when the kids are home from shool and are online doing schoolwork, playing video games, on youtube, myspace, whatever. Now imagine what will happen when all the kids are online, and the parents and many other people are trying to stream/download movies or shows in the evening. There would be way too much congestion, and everyone would be complaining about slow service. I have the highest plan, turbocharged internet and it is slow at times, so I don't see how people upgrading their service plan would help either.

I couldn't agree more! Excellent point!

 

[Polygon]

I'd still rather have the actual disk.

 

[MUDSHARK]

I know that CD technology is light years ahead of vinyl in all respects, fidelity and size, but you must admit those old album covers were neat, you could frame them and use them as art. The only thing I dislike about the CD is the size of the "covers," well I guess portability is better.

There's nothing like physical media to do with as you please, VOD is vaporware, it'll always belong to the corporations.

There are two kind of people in the world, my friend.
Those that can balance tonearms and those that buy cd players.

Back on topic: Wouldn't HD movies be set to download late at night or while at work?

 

[GlocksRock]

I'd still rather have the actual disk.

Me too, and I think so would the majority. It's so much easier to take a disc with you wherever you go, than to worry about DRM and greedy companies trying to control content.

 

[stratman]

There are two kind of people in the world, my friend.
Those that can balance tonearms and those that buy cd players.

Back on topic: Wouldn't HD movies be set to download late at night or while at work?

Some folks balance their CD players!

You can set to download anytime.

 

[mudrummer99]

I replaced a laser in a CD walkman once, does that count?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I replaced a laser in a CD walkman once, does that count?

Yes, of course. That was a balancing act, wasn't it?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Back on topic: Wouldn't HD movies be set to download late at night or while at work?

Because people want EVERYTHING right now on the internet. Nobody wants to wait.

I also like the DVD/Blu ray Disk.

 

[Alamar]

I'm not a big believer in digital downloads myself. My primary concerns are:

1. Getting products at full bitrate with all extras I've gotten used to.
2. I don't want to worry about a HDD crash making me lose my investment OR have to redownload.
3. Being able to download quicker than real-time.
4. Having DRM that is reasonable ... not what's likely to be foisted upon us.

 

[majorloser]

I would still like to see the industry move away from mechanically driven media. Hard drives and discs all have mechanical drives. Some form of flash drive or similar media storage would be great. There are alternatives out there. It's just a matter of making it cheap enough for mass usage.

 

[stratman]

I would still like to see the industry move away from mechanically driven media. Hard drives and discs all have mechanical drives. Some form of flash drive or similar media storage would be great. There are alternatives out there. It's just a matter of making it cheap enough for mass usage.

At CES 2008 Panny announced a 32 Gig SD chip by summer's end and a 64 Gig chip by winter, of course it could be just vaporware, but if Panny is being upfront I'd rather have an SD chip than a disk. Theoretically you wouldn't need a stand alone player, just pop in the chip into your receiver or your TV.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Movie downloads were never going to be part of my future. If I can't get a movie (or music) in physical form, I won't buy it at all.

 

[fmw]

I would still like to see the industry move away from mechanically driven media. Hard drives and discs all have mechanical drives. Some form of flash drive or similar media storage would be great. There are alternatives out there. It's just a matter of making it cheap enough for mass usage.

Are flash cards actually more reliable? I know I've lost data on them before.