Well maybe for you and me but 95% of consumers it's still the present. By the time anything Blu-ray goes mainstream on a larger level, VOD will go day and date in HD as well.
This is what everyone is talking about. People are switching to VOD because it's cheaper and more convenient. People really don't need super high quality HD as some of us do and industry will follow as we can see.
And it's not wonder, at Fox digital distribution and VOD grew from 25% to 50%
'Despite seeing DVD revenues drop 11% in the 2nd half of 2008, VOD and digital distribution are seeing solid growth at Fox Home Entertainment. He (News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin) said VOD and digital revenue grew 25% and 50%, respectively, but paled in comparison to DVD. He said the studio was focused on producing quality content and maximizing revenue through multiple distribution channels, including Hulu.com."
I do rent HD from my PS3 or DirecTV but I will still not rent any SD versions. VOD is fine in HD for rentals that I do not want to own or haven't seen yet to even know if I want to own it. But for movies I want to own, download doesn't cut it and won't in the near future either. Only way I would accept download is if it matches current Blu-ray specs and can be burnt to a transportable media (i.e. Blu-ray or other medium). Until then, downloads are for rentals only...
I don't disagree. VOD, digital downloads in general will replace anything but purchases fairly soon IMO. Maybe 2-3 years. It will be a longer time before we actually have a viable purchasing system because obviously DRM stuff is all over the place.
I can't recommend anyone at this point to purchase stuff to own. I'm very hesitant with iTunes too as it's not so much the quality that bothers me as it is tying myself to one platform. Rentals are fine as everyone agrees, purchases less so.
I am really optimistic that DECE was formed to actaully fix this issue but I'm not seeing any aggresive approaches yet. Maybe the point for them is exactly that. To push rentals and TV show purchases with VOD and purchases to still keep as long as they can on discs.
The only thing I see with that approach is IMO that there's a lot more people actually realizing they don't need discs and they just want to rent, and having big catalogs at your disposal is seemingly better choice for one time viewing then purchasing the disc. I guess it's still early to tell.
In the meantime, WB head of home entertainment says that VOD is not eating into DVD sales, so it's a good thing because it will allow them to grow it in parallel with discs until the time is ripe and conditions are met to switch fully to digital.
My source: "Although some content producers worry that day-and-date releases will hurt DVD sales, Bewkes says trials Warner Bros. has conducted since 2007 have proved otherwise.
"So far the results of moving to day-and-date have not cannibalized sell-through of physical DVDs," Bewkes said Wednesday.
Warner Bros. began testing day-and-date releases for movies in 2007, and in the first quarter of last year, it released six movies for DVD and VoD distribution on the same day, including The Brave One and Michael Clayton.
Most of the movies Warner Bros. releases on DVD in 2009 will be released on the same day for video-on-demand (VoD) distribution, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes said today.
"I think most of the studio titles will be released day-and-date in the U.S. this year," Bewkes told analysts this morning on Time Warner’s fourth-quarter earnings call."
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Are these in HD? I won't even consider a SD rental or purchase. SD is the past...HD is the only thing I can stand to watch...
Well maybe for you and me but 95% of consumers it's still the present. By the time anything Blu-ray goes mainstream on a larger level, VOD will go day and date in HD as well.
This is what everyone is talking about. People are switching to VOD because it's cheaper and more convenient. People really don't need super high quality HD as some of us do and industry will follow as we can see.
And it's not wonder, at Fox digital distribution and VOD grew from 25% to 50%
'Despite seeing DVD revenues drop 11% in the 2nd half of 2008, VOD and digital distribution are seeing solid growth at Fox Home Entertainment. He (News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin) said VOD and digital revenue grew 25% and 50%, respectively, but paled in comparison to DVD. He said the studio was focused on producing quality content and maximizing revenue through multiple distribution channels, including Hulu.com."
and CNN just had an report too:
More US Consumers Drop Cable, DVDs As Content Moves Online:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200902090815DOWJONESDJONLINE000231_FORTUNE5.htm
It's really not hard to see where everything is going.
I feel your pain.........
Boz,
I do rent HD from my PS3 or DirecTV but I will still not rent any SD versions. VOD is fine in HD for rentals that I do not want to own or haven't seen yet to even know if I want to own it. But for movies I want to own, download doesn't cut it and won't in the near future either. Only way I would accept download is if it matches current Blu-ray specs and can be burnt to a transportable media (i.e. Blu-ray or other medium). Until then, downloads are for rentals only...
Jim,
I don't disagree. VOD, digital downloads in general will replace anything but purchases fairly soon IMO. Maybe 2-3 years. It will be a longer time before we actually have a viable purchasing system because obviously DRM stuff is all over the place.
I can't recommend anyone at this point to purchase stuff to own. I'm very hesitant with iTunes too as it's not so much the quality that bothers me as it is tying myself to one platform. Rentals are fine as everyone agrees, purchases less so.
I am really optimistic that DECE was formed to actaully fix this issue but I'm not seeing any aggresive approaches yet. Maybe the point for them is exactly that. To push rentals and TV show purchases with VOD and purchases to still keep as long as they can on discs.
The only thing I see with that approach is IMO that there's a lot more people actually realizing they don't need discs and they just want to rent, and having big catalogs at your disposal is seemingly better choice for one time viewing then purchasing the disc. I guess it's still early to tell.
In the meantime, WB head of home entertainment says that VOD is not eating into DVD sales, so it's a good thing because it will allow them to grow it in parallel with discs until the time is ripe and conditions are met to switch fully to digital.
My source:
"Although some content producers worry that day-and-date releases will hurt DVD sales, Bewkes says trials Warner Bros. has conducted since 2007 have proved otherwise.
"So far the results of moving to day-and-date have not cannibalized sell-through of physical DVDs," Bewkes said Wednesday.
Warner Bros. began testing day-and-date releases for movies in 2007, and in the first quarter of last year, it released six movies for DVD and VoD distribution on the same day, including The Brave One and Michael Clayton.
Most of the movies Warner Bros. releases on DVD in 2009 will be released on the same day for video-on-demand (VoD) distribution, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes said today.
"I think most of the studio titles will be released day-and-date in the U.S. this year," Bewkes told analysts this morning on Time Warner’s fourth-quarter earnings call."