Engadget HD Podcast 130 - 04.02.2009
By Trent Wolbe 
posted Apr 2nd 2009 4:00PM
posted Apr 2nd 2009 4:00PM
Another day of waiting never killed everyone and a good thing too as we had a few technical difficulties that prevented us from delivering the show on time. Never the less, the big news this week was from Netflix and the fact that evidently Blu-ray has finally grown popular enough that the cost of renting them is impacting the bottom line and thus it gets passed on to the consumer -- surprised, we're not. Of course this spun off a much larger debate of the event's impact on the internet TV ecosystem and where are we headed? Eventually we move on from talking up downloads and talk a little Blu-ray. Like the new Samsung player, another interesting poll and Microsoft's tight ties with HD DVD. Speaking of Microsoft, we talk a little codec mess, but eventually move on to some miscellaneous stories like TBS-HD stretching, DirecTV's iPhone app and a HDTV's energy consumption.Get the podcast
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Steven Kim
Producer: Trent Wolbe
00:00:38 - Comments from Engadget HD Podcast 129 - 03.25.2009
00:19:32 - Netflix raising rates for Blu-ray subscribers by around 20 percent
00:26:11 - Is internet TV the key to à la carte?
00:39:14 - ZillionTV adds The Weinstein Company films to its streaming library
00:42:04 - Blockbuster OnDemand coming to TiVo
00:46:35 - Is Netflix PS3-bound, too?
00:50:32 - Samsung's 2009 Blu-ray player lineup officially priced
00:52:10 - Samsung BD-P1600 hands-on
00:53:33 - Poll: Have you talked anyone into going Blu?
00:54:43 - Microsoft to Toshiba: with HD DVD, we go down together
00:56:50 - Will Windows 7's integrated codec support cut off third party solutions?
01:03:35 - TBS-HD gives the stretching a little break
01:04:28 - DirecTV iPhone app now available
01:08:30 - California TV energy efficiency proposal details revealed
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Finally! I've been waiting hopelessly for the podcast since yesterday.
Here's the thing with Blockbuster: it works better for blu-ray and costs less. I NEVER rented from Blockbuster no matter how desperate I was for a movie, but a couple of months ago, I got so frustrated with long waits for blu-ray at Netflix (one week they sent me nothing even with 8 movies in my queue) that I decided to give Blockbuster a try. Not only was it a dollar cheaper (I subscribe only to the mail service), but I'm getting my blu-ray movies fast. Turn around has been as good as Netflix. Now the price differential is even greater. Obviously if I cared about streaming it would be a different matter.
WTF Ben. Why would you even suggest putting adds in a banner on top of the screen!!! We are screwed now.
Studios already get paid big bucks to insert products into their shows. Transformers was paid by GM to make Bumble bee a freaking Camaro instead of a VW bug! Why couldn't they make the freakin Camaro Hot Rod. Why!!!
Apple inserts macbooks everywhere, Or a scene opens with a can of pepsi. Or a guy gets shot with a smith & wesson.
Chances are those companies paid to put their stuff there.
Ben, man. You gotta break jeans in, but once you do they're >>>>>> khakis
Ben,
I wear khakis or dress pants to work everyday. After getting use to that, I also feel incredibly uncomfortable wearing jeans, unless of course they are an incredibly worn out pair of jeans....
Great show guys I just wanted to comment on the netflix raising rates.I think that the added
cost on blu ray is fine just as long as wait time on disc delivery improves i would pay
extra just for them to buy more discs but everyone is not feeling the same way because
of the economy and the second price hike on Bd discs.Secondly i do hope they make
deals with Hbo and other content providers because there watch now library is horrible
I think the studios are stupid because if they provide netflix with all their library disc would
be harder to pirate and customers are still paying a rental fee for their content i just don't
get it why their taking so long to provide their back catalog.
I just wanted to also comment on dvd why cant studios just sell dvd for a cheaper price
without any extras no commentary nothing just the movie for five bucks or less also
release dvds a month or maybe a week after theatrical release that way they can limit to a
point pirating of films.By the way hulu is great but they need to stop limiting boxee they get
their adds shown on the browser anyway one more thing blockbuster sucks!
Hey guys. under get the podcast it says "[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3)." But below that it says "[RSS - AAC] Enhanced feed, subscribe to this with iTunes."
I am subscribed through iTunes and the podcasts are downloaded as MP3. Am I missing something as far as getting it in Enhanced AAC.
Thanks
Our feed has been in iTunes for years and has always been MP3. We started doing AAC versions of the show a while back, but we feel it isn't right to change the format of our main feed. So if you want the AAC version then you'll need to unsubscribe and manually add the AAC rss feed in iTunes yourself.
Ben,
you couldn't have said it better. "another example of how Netflix gets it, and Blockbuster doesn't"
I was at the 2 at a time Netflix plan for a long time, and then bumped up to 3 since it was only $3 more and that just always gave me a couple titles on the weekend. With the Price Hike, 2 at a time would be $16.99 and 3 at a time would be 20.99. Now I look at Blockbuster, and I can get 3 at a time for $15.99 with blu-ray. I even have a Tivo and have used the streaming service. But there are only a handful of good stuff on there in HD, and its not worth $5 or $1 and the loss of a disc. I don't even care about wait times. I have over 25 blu-rays on my queue and can wait to see a movie. I think it’s a no brainer to at least try blockbuster out.
I dont know where else to talk about this, but did anyone notice that in Family Guys HD broadcast last week, they put black bars into the 16x9 720p feed. If you have a pixel by pixel mode on your TV you can notice about 4 vertical lines of pixels at the top of the screen where the black bars dont reach (unless your using overscan). You can clearly see the show was drawn in 16x9 yet fox isn't showing all of it.
All the Fox animated shows have done this for years. If you look closely you'll notice that that those pixels don't even match up with the rest of the image, everything is shifted over. Not sure why it's there, but one thing is for sure, there's nothing HD or 16x9 about family guy.
I don't know why you guys are so high on Netflix. I'm on the one disc a month plan Netflix primarily for the streaming. But if I was a disc guy like you are I would switch to Blockbuster in a minute. I've been waiting for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Zac & Miri for about a month now. I ended up stripping everything else out of the queue because I was tired of getting things from the bottom of the list-- I'd rather have nothing.
I'm sure it depends on your area. In NYC it seems that Netflix has very low stock. I've had much better luck with Blockbuster. Speaking with others I know who have Netflix it seems that the Blu Ray waits are long for many. I don't think there is a Blockbuster 4 out plan, but the 3 out plan is only $15.99 / month. The equivalent Netflix plan is $20.99.
Have y'all drunk the Kool Aid?
Were you guys recording the podcast at the zoo?!?! What was the yelling in the backround? Wicked annoying! But you guys do rock, love the podcast each week, just tell the monkey to quit sceaming for a banana...