Downloads haven't arrived at a theater near you yet
By Steven Kim 
posted Mar 5th 2008 10:58AM
posted Mar 5th 2008 10:58AM
Hey, don't say we didn't tell you so, but according to The Diffusion Group, the great masses aren't ready to get their full-length movie content via download just yet. Here's the blow-by-blow findings from the study: more than half polled didn't even know movie downloads exist; more than a third know about but have never tried them; and less than 10-percent regularly download movies. And what, pray tell, is the biggest feature consumers are looking for? A little something called "quality of content," a.k.a. "more titles, please." Shocker, right? Don't get us wrong, we're all for downloadable content. But beyond the chicken-and-egg problem of getting studio support to attract more customers to get studio support, there are other outstanding issues as well. Until bandwidth is a non-issue and crazy DRM restrictions are gone, physical media makes good sense to consumers and businesses alike. Of course, if you've made the switch to all direct download movies, let us know about it below!
First of all, lets make this clear. In order for these digital downloads to compete with netflix and blockbuster online, they need to lover the price. What idiot would pay $4 for a movie they have for 24 hours. I pay $25 a month and get 2 movies at a time with blockbuster online and unlimited trade-ins. If I was downloading, I would get 5 movies a month. Come on people, do we look stupid. Give us a monthly plan with unlimited downloads or like 20 movies a month and let us keep them until we finish watching them. Life is full of surprises, and the last thing we think about when life interferes is finishing the movie because we have 24 hours to watch it. It's that simple. They did not do enough primary research to find out true customer's need but yet they are shocked it's not taking off. By the way, My download speed is 6mb. I can download movies all the time if the price was right. But I never did, ever.
Yes, here is the pricing model I would suggest for movie downloads:
24 Hr rental - $2.50
7 day rental $5
1 year - $10
Unlimited $12.99
Come on, there is NO physical media to produce and it is basically pure profit minus the service fee.
I am definitely on the physical media side of the fence. However, I have experimented with downloads on my Xbox 360. I have discovered the following pros and cons:
Pros
- It is very convenient to have it available quickly (relative to my download speed) and conveniently (from my couch).
- There is some content that is not available at my local Blockbuster (ex..Afro Samurai).
- The quality (when available in HD) is much better than standard DVD.
Cons
- Download times for full length HD movies is still to long (i have on average 2mps speeds).
- The 24 hr viewing period has already become an issue (I have two little girls and sometimes everything has to stop not always getting back to it until the next evening).
- The quality still does not compare to the current state of the art (Blu-ray or HD DVD).
Bottom line, IMO, is that as of now I like having both (although I look forward to the download service improving). I like to have choices.
Wow, I think that's the first three-line hyperlink I've ever seen!
No movie downloads for me. I'm sticking with physical media (Blu-ray), probably for life (or as long as they're available).
Ack! Thanks for pointing that out, Mr. E. Fixed it up so the actual link is more clearly visible.
well netflix currently has the best plan available
1-3 movies out at a time on dvd/blu ray and unlimited downloads (currently standard def only for pc, but soon set top bluray players from lg/samsung and ps3 and xbox30(maybe 360 if ms plays nice)
starts at $8.99-16.99 a month
eant to say soon in HD as well for downloads, granted t wont be near blu ray quality, but should be better than MS or equal to it. apple tv is one of the worst for hd right now, its lower than upconverted dvd :( .
@gamedude420
You are dead wrong. As noted from various reviews, HD downloads from AppleTV are very good. Not Bluray, but sure as hell better than an "upconverted" DVD.
I have a big fear about download only media. What's to stop a studio from making it so that the movies we download are unusable for certain periods of time. Like say for example, when it gets re-released in theaters? All they'd have to do is add a small line in the EULA that no one reads and it would be perfectly legal.
Or say a certain scene offends some loudmouth parent group/racial special interest/what have you, and your download is deleted and replaced with a censored version.
How about Disney, with their shitty Vault? You could only own it until they decide to lock it away for a few years, at which point you can pay to own it for their limited time again.
I know we'll always have ways to strip such stupid DRM from the files but I'd rather not have to.
I just started to use Xbox Marketplace this month. So far its been great. Only downside is that its a rental, but since I don't have a hi-def player yet, it's a decent way to get HD (720p) movies.
To anyone else that uses Xbox Marketplace: Has any of you downloaded a movie and watched it as soon it was available? Was the movie Dolby Digital or Stereo? From what I have gathered, when I start a movie as soon as its ready, the sound is stereo. But when I let the entire movie download, the sound is Dolby Digital. I know this isn't a support forum or anything, but does anyone have any insight.
Because Toshiba just let HD-DVD die given the fact that it was the most mature format; I have stopped buying movies altogether. The only way I will subscribe to downloads is if they are of the same quality as the HD-DVD media and has menus navigation like their disc media counterparts.
Anyone pondering the inevitable advance of download media without wanting to vomit should read this VERY IMPORTANT article:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/15/amazon-unbox-to-cust.html
The agreement you sign to use the Amazon unbox service is truly unbelievable! Talk about getting completely screwed! You DO NOT EVEN OWN "purchased" media. You are only purchasing an "unlimited rental". Therefore, they can REVOKE YOUR ABILITY TO WATCH SAID "PURCHASED" MEDIA AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON. Also, if you lose the file due to harddrive crash, you CANNOT re-download the "owned" content, unlike ITunes and other download services. That is just the start of the nightmare.. read on for more...
That's exactly what I was afraid would happen. This leaves us open to everything I said could happen and none of it would surprise me.
I actually almost bought a few old Dr. Who Episodes from them last night but decided to use Bit Torrent instead after reading some of what using Unbox entailed. Now I have 5 episodes that I can play on ANY device I own or will own. I sure dodged a bullet there. I just hope enough people feel the same way.