DISQUS

Sly Bald Guy · 1 year ago

Wait until the same happens for regular TV...

The Trousered Ape · 1 year ago

Good thoughts and article. I'll weigh in with my thoughts. I think that it is an inevitable move of streaming more and more content via the internet. My concern is that while it might be billed as "HD" content, that it will be HD of a less quality. What I mean by that is that the file size and bandwidth to support a 1080p movie along with 7.1 surround sound is HUGE and I do not see any way that the current high-speed internet setups can handle that type of data without the HD being stepped down.

Now, what I did not realize until I read this article is that NetFlix would require a TV-set box that would allow you to download the movie and then watch it. A question now is how can they market it as streaming when in fact they are just downloading it and then playing it later on. I do not see how that is any different that a service like iTunes with music - I would still prefer to go and buy the movie and watch it whenever I choose as often as I wish. However, the upside is that with the downloading to a storage receptor at least they can overcome the HD issues I pointed out above and send you something that is truly 1080p - but the question then is - how long will the download take? If you are talking about a fully loaded Blu-ray disc, you are looking at 50GB of uncompressed data - yikes! You might be able to go to the store, buy the movie and watch it before it was ever done downloading.

I think it is a great idea and I think sometime in the future that is where we will end up - streaming or downloading content from the internet. But in the short-term, I do not see it as being very feasible or viable due to the technological shortcomings. I hope NetFlix does not put all their eggs in one basket on this endeavor - I love renting from them and I would hate it if they got too ambitious and sunk their own ship.

Mike · 1 year ago

Yeah, all good points. The bandwidth issue in indeed an issue. I think if this was Japan or one of those Asian countries out there, things would be different. Don't they supposedly have like WAY faster internet than we do here?

Anyways, the set-top box doesn't mean that it can't stream, it just means you use the Laptop to set up your queue to start downloading the movies (I guess) and then you can probably watch them while they are downloading.

My DTV On Demand is like that now...I find a show, choose to download it and it starts being sent to my DVR. I can immediately start watching too.

Of course, if I do it TOO quickly, I could end up catching up with the download.

It's all interesting to me, but I do agree people like to have their movies in hand, especially with the extras.

Scott · 1 year ago

Scott's last blog post..Assigned Reading; Esquire

The Trousered Ape · 1 year ago

Theaters are going to have to step up there game in order to draw people back. I don't think people are leaving in droves, but from a person who loves going to the theater, the experience has been all but lost for me. The rude patrons, the bad picture quality (yeah, my tv looks way better than those theater screens), etc. - they are going to have to do something special in order to get people to experience movies in a way that they currently cannot at home.

They had to do that in the 50's with tv's becoming a big seller - which is why movie theaters switched to anamorphic (widescreen) format in order to bring people back. They were able to offer something that the average person could not get at home. Those times are a changin'...

Mike · 1 year ago

They definitely need to get some high definition digital projectors in there so that we can watch the movies in amazing quality on a larger screen than we can even get at home.