LG & Netflix Team Up to Offer Downloadable Movies on TV

eldavojohn writes "It might seem like they've come full circle, but the movie injection method has gone from TV to mail to online download to TV on demand. And Netflix & LG are betting it's going to be a hit. They're also betting you will want to buy yet another device for your home theater. A Wall Street Journal article notes: 'The partnership between Netflix, Los Gatos, Calif., and South Korea's LG represents another gamble by technology companies that video from the Internet, which is commonly downloaded to personal computers, will go mainstream when users can easily access it from TV sets. So far, Internet television products such as Apple Inc.'s Apple TV have largely been unsuccessful, stymied by a poor selection of videos, complexity of use and other shortcomings.'"

This is Why blueray vs hddvd is irrelevant

[2.7182]

Because it is going to come down to the difference of just being able to read different FILE formats, like jpg vs. gif.

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[crush]

And LG (along with Nokia and Apple and Samsung) has been one of the major players stymying [rudd-o.com] the adoption of non-patentencumbered video formats as base webstandards

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[Microlith]

Yes, how dare they interfere with the mandatory adoption of an already obsolete video format in a standard that has nothing to do with video.

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[crush]

Yeah. Yeah. And of course there will be no video spec in HTML5, especially not one that depends on a patent-encumbered method. Yeah.

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[seanadams.com]

Because it is going to come down to the difference of just being able to read different FILE formats, like jpg vs. gif.

Wouldn't that be nice...

The problem is DRM. **AA isn't going to let you have it as a bunch of bits that you can store how you want and play on whatever you want. Even if you pay for it. So like it or not Blu-ray, HDDVD, and locked-down special purpose set top boxes are going to be the only sanctioned players for the forseeable future.

Yes, eventually it'll all shake out, all the relevant for

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[misleb]

Maybe in the long term, but in the short term (5 years?) there is plenty of room for 25/50GB optical storage for HD video. I don't mind torrenting and storing some SD TV shows now and then, but I'm certainly not going to want to waste my internet bandwidth (and harddrive storage) downloading high quality feature length HD video from the internet on a regular basis. I don't think the internet (or individual ISPs) could even handle that on a large scale.

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[Microlith]

So I can't have a collection? Just a list of filenames I need to pay for each time I access one of them?

Thanks, but I'd rather have a physical disk with me and not be forced to rely on network transfers and nickel-and-time payment schemes if I decide I want to watch video X.

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[badasscat]

So I can't have a collection? Just a list of filenames I need to pay for each time I access one of them?

New to this whole "video rental" thing, I guess?

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[Microlith]

That's not a collection. That's what we have now and I rarely (if ever) use it.

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[yabos]

Comcrap and many other ISPs are already throttling bittorrent and some other traffic. I can't imagine this will go over well with them if it actually takes off. I agree they should just fix their damn network but they aren't and anything like this service wouldn't work on their network if it gains a large adoption.

colossally stupid

[goombah99]

What's Netflix's bussiness advantage over the cable companies? Simple, it's hard to push 7.6GB of dvd info over the wire. It's faster to mail it. And bule ray/HDDVD would play to netflix advantage.

The only way to beat this effect is to reduce the bandwidth--which the cable companies can do just fine without netflix-- and to distribute the serving (bit torrent versus central caches).

Unless the TV set is going to also do bit torrent style distrubuted serving they won't gain anything on the cable companies.

The real magic is going to happen when apple or microsoft or adobe flips a switch one day that lets everyone opt in as a paid bittorrent node for some movie distribution company. You would get paid in credits for movie rentals based on how much bandwidth you served. then all of a sudden you could have high quality movie distribution.

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[PrescriptionWarning]

Not so, says I...

You can currently watch some netflix movies online and it streams them perfectly fine over my RoadRunner connection.

Let Apple make their locked down AppleTV, these guys can probably make a standalone device which does what the netflix movie stream on demand does... only they had better get more selections.

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[goombah99]

Not so, says I...

You can currently watch some netflix movies online and it streams them perfectly fine over my RoadRunner connection.

Let Apple make their locked down AppleTV, these guys can probably make a standalone device which does what the netflix movie stream on demand does... only they had better get more selections.

You missed the point. Yes you can deliver reduced resolution movies over the web. Who is in a better position to do that, the cable companies or netflix? obviously the cable companies. In fact they already do it by a giant limited kludge on "digital tv". And they have a much faster connection between their caches and your internet connection than netflix can ever have (until they become an ISP. ) So no matter what the method of delivery, if it comes over the internet the cable companies can crush n

Re:

[misleb]

the only escape route is higher resolution which can't be served. Or distributed caching (managed bit torrrent), which beats the cable companies central caching.

Sure, but bit torrent has one huge drawback... it can't stream. That makes it pretty much unusable for ondemand movies. Not to mention that cable companies can and do throttle peer to peer sharing.

One thing the cable companies need to change is the pricing. For someone who watches a lot of movies, $4 per "rental" is pretty steep. Netflix easily b

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[mccabem]

Sure, but bit torrent has one huge drawback... it can't stream.

True, but that really seems like a surmountable technicality. Even with bittorrent clients on the market today, you can prioritize a stream to get the parts in sequence. At least with well-seeded torrents it works OK. Can it be that much of a stretch to imagine those parts being played "on-delivery" much like streaming content?*

-Matt

*IANASG. (I am not a streaming guru.)

Re:colossally stupid

[cashman73]

TVU Networks [tvunetworks.com] has a peer-to-peer streaming application, that works fairly well, too. So technically, it can be done.

Re:colossally stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

And cable companies have been better placed to do this for a long time. But Netflix is the one doing it and winning. The cable companies aren't. I love it when someone tries to argue that something isn't happening because they don't think it could happen. Especially when that thing is staring them in the face. Movie streaming from Netflix is here, it works and it's pretty good. A lot of content, good controls, good pricing. The cable companies are doing nothing in comparison. Netflix is on to a winner here, especially given that they have the content already, and you don't need cable internet (I have DSL) to do it.

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[jandrese]

Interestingly enough, my Cable Company (Verizon FIOS) does that with their Video on Demand service. The surprising thing: The movies from Netflix look better than the VoD movies which seem to suffer from an excessive amount of compression. The only advantage of the cable company is that their movie start streaming right away instead of waiting until it is downloaded. I've also tried Amazon's Tivo integration service and found the quality to be somewhere in the middle, although it too suffers from the ne

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[adminstring]

When I watch movies online from Netflix, the movies start playing after about 10 or 15 seconds. I suspect that you might have worse bandwidth from your ISP than I do, causing the app to want to get the movie downloaded before starting playing, because it doesn't think it can download it fast enough to play it without running out of video, which would be annoying.

FWIW, my ISP is Cox Cable.

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[CharlieHedlin]

The series 3 TiVo will allow starting Unbox movies while they are still downloading.

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[jandrese]

Ironically, I don't think it's the broadband connection but the slow as balls USB 802.11b wireless connection I'm using on my Series 2 Tivo.

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[badasscat]

You missed the point. Yes you can deliver reduced resolution movies over the web. Who is in a better position to do that, the cable companies or netflix? obviously the cable companies.

It doesn't matter who is in the better position to do it. It matters who is actually doing it better. And that's already Netflix.

Some of you guys have obviously never used Netflix and have no idea what they're doing. A couple of points - I feel like I'm stating the obvious, but apparently not:

a) You can still rent pretty mu

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[weirdoactor]

Who is in a better position to do that, the cable companies or netflix?

If the box uses your fast cable connection (as I've read it will), it's win/win. If I can watch HD quality movies from a wider library (e.g., Netflix), and the price I pay is that it takes longer to deliver (minutes/hours instead of days via mail), this is also win/win. I do wish that Netflix had simply made the deal with Comcast, as they already deliver HD on demand, although the selection is poor in comparison with that of Netflix. If Comcast could deliver the Netflix library, as well as films that are n

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[mccabem]

Technically, the biggest difference between Netflix streaming and AppleTV is that Netflix is Windows only and AppleTV is cross-platform with the Mac. (Apple TV can also play other non-DRM content, of course.) Oh, no WGA cert needed for AppleTV either.

Both are DRM laden for their own content.

Enjoy!
-Matt

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[Jeff DeMaagd]

It won't be pushing 7+GB because it most likely won't be coded in MPEG-2 like DVDs are.

Netflix already allows direct watching from a computer, at no extra cost above the membership fee.

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[hkgroove]

If this was Netflix working with LG and / or perhaps a cable/satellite providers to offer more movies on demand through your Netflix account, then maybe they'd have something more realistic at the moment.

Re:colossally stupid

[Tibor the Hun]

Not stupid at all.
I'm a Netflix subscriber, and having a nice organized Que is very convenient. If they found a way to stream that to my TV, I'd have no problems renting/buying another device for my "home theatre".
AppleTV doesn't appeal to me that much, because of it's too-tight integration to iTunes and iTMS, so a nice "open" device tied to my Netflix que would fit the bill perfectly.
And Steve may have been too late on the ball regarding the whole rental and movies deal.
Yes, my iPod touch displays videos beautifully, but guess how many of them I've watched? Maybe 2 hours of NBC's office (thanks trackers). Videos on the go, just aren't something that most people (other than the bus/train riders) would have enough time to do.

It will be a battle of content, and I'd rather rent movies from Netflix than from iTunes, considering Netflix's excellent customer service and ease of use.

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[Moofie]

Integration with iTMS is bad, but integration with Netflix is great? Why? What makes you think this box will be so "open"?

Re:colossally stupid

[jedidiah]

The Netflix advantage is that they have a larger catalog of content and they are actually willing to distribute it.

That's always been their advantage.

The download aspect of this might not make as much sense yet but that won't remain the case forever.

This could also give consumers a cheaper path to HD content that would not require buying into one side of the format war.

Local cable providers are far too drunk on the power they think they have by being a natural monopoly to really listen to the customer.

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[Jeff DeMaagd]

I think Netflix officers said last year that they knew that physical media wasn't going to be around forever, and that they were working on IP-based rentals. A simple box that does that would fit their goals. The only problem is that I don't want to get yet another box. Vudu, AppleTV, a Netflix box, TiVo+Unbox and so on are not all going to have the same selection, and it seems like an unnecessary expense at the moment if I already have a working media player that's as good. If my disc player died, then

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[TooMuchToDo]

Dlink has a really snazzy box (both SD and HD) that lets you stream web content to your TV. I wish Netflix had partnered with them, instead of me needed yet another box just for Netflix.

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[Lurker187]

The Netflix advantage is that they have a larger catalog of content and they are actually willing to distribute it.

That's always been their advantage.

Yes, but the digital distribution rights are completely separate from the rental rights, hence the writers' strike. They're going to run into the same barriers that VUDU is running into, although with their established relationships, they might have an easier time of it. But they can't just rip their whole rental catalog. (At least, not legally.)

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[bcrowell]

The Netflix advantage is that they have a larger catalog of content and they are actually willing to distribute it.
Yep. I was just visiting some relatives in Diamond Springs, Ca. The Diamond Springs post office used to have one slot for local mail, and one for mail that was going outside the local area. Now they've changed the local slot into one that's dedicated solely to Netflix envelopes. In rural areas, watching videos is a big deal, because there's not much else to do, and it doesn't take long to get

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[samkass]

Depending on the device, you don't have to stream it live. Like the Netflix queue, it will be "mailed" to you electronically and may take a day to ship.

I don't understand, though, how this is any more "open" than what Apple has been doing for a year with AppleTV. It's tied to NetFlix's system, DRM, etc., so it's actually a lot more closed/proprietary. It's just that NetFlix will probably be able to line up significantly more studios willing to allow them to do digital distribution. (We'll see in 11 days

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[origin2k]

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a mail truck full of DVDs!

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[AgentPaper]

Do you not have a local station that broadcasts NHL games? If you're in or near a city that has an NHL team, you should be able to pick up at least some games OTA. (Grant you, we live and breathe hockey here in metro Detroit, but even when I lived in Vermont, the local Fox affiliate would simulcast Bruins and Canadiens games on a regular basis.) Alternately, if you don't mind listening rather than watching, XM has the entire NHL package and a bunch of other sports besides for $13 a month (less if you sig

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[Itchyeyes]

Simple, it's hard to push 7.6GB of dvd info over the wire. It's faster to mail it. And bule ray/HDDVD would play to netflix advantage.

Funny, my experience with Netflix's streaming services on the PC says otherwise. Just last night I watched a 2 hour movie with only about 60 seconds of buffering. Oh sure, it might be slightly compressed, but it's close enough for me not to notice and/or care about the difference.

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[91degrees]

The only way to beat this effect is to reduce the bandwidth--which the cable companies can do just fine without netflix-- and to distribute the serving (bit torrent versus central caches).

The other way is to wait for bandwidth to increase. This will happen. In the meantime, Netflix have a capable offering and are in a posityion to exploit better quality when it comes. And remember, not everyone is in a position to get Cable. They may even not like the offering their cable company is providing.

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[assassinator42]

And what happens when ISPs start enforcing the no server clause that most of them have in their terms of service and start demanding recompense from Microsoft/Adobe/etc?

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[Dantu]

What's Netflix's bussiness advantage over the cable companies? Simple, it's hard to push 7.6GB of dvd info over the wire. It's faster to mail it

I have 5Mbps service and from a good server I can get sustained downloads around 4Mbps. By my math I could pull down a 7.6BG video in around 4.5 hours; I could start watching it after about 3 hours for a 2 hour movie... better than my mail service. But that's sticking with MPEG2. I'm fairly sure that if you re-mastered to MPEG4 you could send a substantially small

When push comes to pull...

[cromar]

Yes, it'll be nice to have new, alternative uses for my TV. No, I don't particularly care if it's on my TV or over more conventional appliances used for internet connectivity (tower, laptop, etc). The real revolution will be when all my media appliances work together seamlessly, all accessing my in-home centralized media server or some such.

what about our divx collection?

[chipace]

As long as they keep their existing service, I'm still in. I guess I could use the supermarket kiosks if they ever stopped physical mail service.

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[Jeff DeMaagd]

I doubt the mail service is going away for a good while. It's a transitional time, not an abrupt leap time. It takes a while for media formats to go away.

Wait for Macworld

[qengho]

So far, Internet television products such as Apple Inc.'s Apple TV have largely been unsuccessful, stymied by a poor selection of videos, complexity of use and other shortcomings.

Yeah, but it's clear that Jobs is about to turn the Eye of Sauron on the long-neglected Apple TV segment of the product line. Looks like he'll have some competition right off the bat.

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[ksheff]

Apple TV would have sold better if it had the ability to download content directly from iTMS instead of having to have another computer do that step first.

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[qengho]

Apple TV would have sold better if it had the ability to download content directly from iTMS

Exactly. I wonder if there will be an upgrade announced in a couple of weeks.

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[yabos]

That's exactly what I'm hoping for. If you could do that and rent movies for a reasonable price near that of regular DVD rentals I'm sold(if it's in Canada). It's dumb to have to download it all to your computer first and then stream it to the TV. The Apple TV is much more capable than what Apple has it doing right now.

What, what Apple TV?

[Applekid]

If you're like me and read the story doing a doubletake on:

Apple Inc.'s Apple TV

It is to distinguish that product from this apple TV [newlaunches.com].

On my TiVo please

[MBCook]

Just please let me do this on my TiVo, my Series 3. I don't want to watch movies on my laptop (especially if you make me use Windows to do it, I'm a Mac guy). I don't want to watch them on my iPod (mine can't play movies, but if I want to watch a movie on the go I'll stick a DVD in my MacBook Pro). I don't care about DRM that only lets me have 3 DVD at a time (ala the current subscription model I use on Netflix). It's OK if I can't transfer it between TiVos, or copy it do my computer. I really don't care.

Just let me download and watch movies and TV shows to my TiVo. Like Amazon Unbox, but tied to my Netflix queue and subscription model. Unbox looks nice enough, but I already pay Netflix, so I haven't really used it (my parents like it though).

It doesn't have to be HD. HD would be fantastic, but as long as it's 480p I'll be happy (since that fits with the DVDs I use now). Note that this doesn't mean 480p letter boxed that my TV can zoom, so I lose 150 lines to black bars, the wide screen content should be 480p tall.

Do that, I'll gladly sign up. I'll pay a tiny bit extra, say $1-2 per month on my Netflix account for the privilege. I would find this tremendously useful.

Netflix says they don't want a "Netflix Box", they want 100 of them. Good! Make the TiVo Series 3 one of them. I don't want another box either. I don't want to buy a new TV to get the functionality. I love my TiVo's UI, and I love Netflix's content. Please put them together. Make me a happy consumer.

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[Dynedain]

And make my Media Center or MythTV one of those boxes as well.

Just getting Netflix listings on Media Center requires a 3rd party html app that fakes the http calls made by Netflix' RSS features. Why can't Netflix take a little bit of time and write an installable app to do this that would integrate nicely into existing products?

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[MBCook]

I could do the same thing if I used a Comcast box, but they're crud and I don't want one. But having one of those means you get a selection of what they want. I want a selection of what Netflix has now. I want it integrated with my queue, so I don't lose all the time and planning that went into that. I want it to use the Netflix model so I can watch 12 things in a weekend if I can turn 'em over fast enough, or watch 1 a month, all for the same monthly fee. I don't want to mess with the "this content is free

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[gatzke]

Unbox is not bad on the Tivo. I have had troubles with some low quality encodings (Chuck and Larry) and sometimes it is confusing since their stuff has three different cost levels (rent 24, rent longer, buy). Some things are released rent only, some buy only. Also, they don't always immediately start to download, so you sometimes can't watch for a few minutes at least.

I was hoping the same thing, get netflix involved for the Tivo. I bet Tivo and Amazon are in bed exclusively, so they probably can't brin

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[klausboop]

I second that, and add, make this work on the Wii. Like your Tivo, it's already plugged in to my HDTV and can get on the internet. In fact, make it work on all the game consoles. You always read about the PS2 helping the adoption of DVDs because people evidently said, "Whoa, we already have a DVD player!" Why not do the same thing for the XBox, Playstation 3 and Wii, where suddenly everyone says, "Hey, this works with Netflix!" Sounds like a winner to me.

Note that if Netflix's current streamed movie st

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[Quiet_Desperation]

They are set top boxes. The whole point of the venture is to move them from computer screens to televisions.

I'm just hoping for an analog hole. Maybe a component output?

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[TooMuchToDo]

Netflix tried to work a deal out with Tivo. Tivo wanted too much money. Tivo went to Amazon instead.

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[horatio]

I'm 110% with you. I've been begging for this and have emailed both Netflix and TiVo to that effect, but apparently it ain't [pvrblog.com] gonna happen.

I don't want another box, another input/output to hassle with, more cables behind my tv, another remote, another stupid UI [battellemedia.com] to deal with, etc. I like my TiVo, and I like the UI. I like that Netflix has a huge selection - typical movies to now canceled [netflix.com] shows [netflix.com]. I had a Netflix subscription to catch up on episodes of Farscape when a friend introduced me to the show in

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[rmerry72]

Just let me download and watch movies and TV shows to my TiVo.

You're generous. I want to be able to download and watch movies, TV, music videos and porn on any screen in the house at any time me or anybody else in the house wants to, even if its on a laptop whilst sitting on the trampoline in the back yard.

Oh wait. I can. I do. Carry on without me.

is another box necessary?

[solarlux]

Could the wi-fi/hard-drive capabilities of the PS3 & Xbox360 be utilized to receive/store/play internet video content?

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[Tibor the Hun]

Absolutely,
but unfortunately no one at Sony believes that there is any future to Moving pictures. For something like that to succeed, Sony would need:
-a large catalog of moving pictures,
- some form of a magical network connection for distribution, and lastly
-a device connected to a TV
Sadly, none of those things are yet feasible.

Microsoft, on the other hand doesn't have neither the money or clout to do something like that. Their true strengths are search, web-mail, MP3 players and Live.
The moving pictures -

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[timeOday]

Nailed it. Microsoft, at least, has the excuse of no content. But why isn't Sony all over this? It just seems so obvious.

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[Tibor the Hun]

Not only does it seem obvious, but it seemed obvious 5 years ago!
And in all those years, they could have slaughtered the market, considering their media library.

That they don't have this capability, to at least distribute their own movies, to this day, is way beyond my simple way of thinking...

About bloody time

[SirGarlon]

Programming-on-demand is about the only future I can see for television. The advertising-supported broadcast model falls totally flat for me. I subscribed to Netflix so I can watch movies the few good TV shows when I want, without commercials. If I can do this for a reasonable price with instant gratification (instead of the current Netflix three-day latency), then count me in.

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[billcopc]

If the ISPs ruin the internet, we'll just have to take our business elsewhere.

I'm a firm believer in shaking shit up, whether it's for an ISP/telecom, government outfit, or that little sandwich joint down the street. If you, as a customer, are not happy with their service or product, it is your duty to stop consuming it. Apathy is a dangerous thing!

I've been doing this for 7 years...

[RPI Geek]

... with an s-video cable. The only difference is that now they want me to pay for it.

This will result in blueray and HD DVD both dieing

[Raisey-raison]

As a consequence of a loony civil way between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, Microsoft, apple and now Netflix will kill both formats.

Microsoft has helped keep the civil war alive.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20071205123352_Microsoft_Accused_of_Eventual_Blu_Ray_HD_DVD_Formats_Fiasco.html [xbitlabs.com]

Without a stalemate Christmas 2007 would have seen massive buying of cheap HD players. We would all being watching HD movies and be getting used to them. We would get so spoiled by the superior picture quality that we would not succumb to inferior download quality.

However now that there there is a stalemate going on people are nervous to buy either standard and each standard is still quite expensive. Some people including myself don't want to buy some standard that wont play all movies because some are exclusive to only one format.

Now people will simply say since there is no reliable HD standard why not download a lesser quality version from Netflix or apple or Microsoft. They will do this for both rental purposes and to buy a permanent copy. Then they will get very habituated to it. As time goes watching movies buy obtaining a physical medium will seem less and less attractive. In 2012 there will be enough bandwidth for most high speed internet connections to download HD movies. HD-DVD and blue ray will be both be dead and buried by 2014.

But this requires the stupidity of both Sony and Toshiba to keep their rivalry going and be unwilling to compromise even though it is both of their interests to do so. They seem though to have come through 100% on the doofus front.

Re:This will result in blueray and HD DVD both die

[kannibal_klown]

In my opinion unless you want HD, bandwidth is now second to storage in terms of problems. This is doubly-so if you're talking about replacing Discs (as the parent mentions). So I'll stick with Discs for now (thank you).

I have a 20Mbit Fiber connection for a decent price that I could afford to upgrade even further (but I won't). 20MBit is pretty nice for downloading movies, though I might prefer 50+MBit for true HD downloads.

Anyhow, the problem with purchasing online is now leaning towards storage. Let'

mythTV / IE Content and 8 year-old t.v.s

[zyzzx0]

I ditched my MythTV box over a year ago. I'm sad to say it, but plugging a Windows box into the t.v. has been more than awesome... I still wonder why someone hasn't made a simple set-top box that can access all the video content that is only available through IE providers (abc, cbs, nbc, netflix, movielink, cinemanow, etc.)

Also, why the hell haven't the same providers made separate web pages (similar to the old m. sub-domains) for television content... I still have an old crappy big screen t.v. and can't

XBOX 360

[tyrantking31]

If I could stream the TV on my PC to my TV through my XBOX then it would be a huge success at my house. Of course Microsoft will wait until someone else does this before they invent it.

Re:

[Osty]

If I could stream the TV on my PC to my TV through my XBOX then it would be a huge success at my house. Of course Microsoft will wait until someone else does this before they invent it.

Huh? The Xbox 360 already does that. The only "problem" is that Netflix doesn't actually have downloadable movies. They stream, and you can't stream a stream from your PC to your 360. This would be a perfect opportunity for Microsoft to partner with Netflix and give access to Netflix streaming videos based on your Netfli

Re:

[DarthJohn]

umm... that's exactly what I've been doing since the Fall update. They added MPEG4 (and some others) support. A little while later, uShare [geexbox.org] has been patched to serve these. Ever since I've been ripping my DVD collection with mencoder [mplayerhq.hu] and have nearly filled up my shiny new Christmas present [buy.com]

Thank God

[elrous0]

As of right now, I can only do this on my Xbox 360, my PS3, my Tivo, and my computer. Just the other day I was thinking "Man, I just wish I had yet ANOTHER way to do the same damn thing!"

Re:

[rpillala]

this one is too easy:

how about a bigass table [youtube.com]?

Re:

[elrous0]

Please Microsoft, tell me it comes with GPS.

I called this one nearly a month ago

[rbgrn]

I submitted to Slashdot but apparently you guys weren't interested yet :)

From my article:

After having read the article about a new USPS surcharge that could cut into Netflix's profits I got to thinking about the future of movie rentals. If you're a Netflix customer and haven't tried their streaming video service, I recommend you give it a shot. I've noticed the weak selection of titles available on it and can only imagine that it must be a licensing issue with the MPAA or specific rights-holder. Whil

Tragedy of the Commons

[Aging_Newbie]

So - we have lots of people going out to buy boxen that display movies over the Internet. Wonderful. Now, let's have lots of people in my neighborhood download a movie tonite. Do you really think I will be able to read Slashdot or find Google with 1 Gb/s of movies going through my lan segment?

It is a wonderful idea if somebody can build out the bandwidth in cable Internet but somehow I suspect that increasing bandwidth so that people have an alternative to cable movies on demand is not one of the brighte

Re:

[crunzh]

Maybe you should buy a decent internet connection insted of a shared (cable?). My ADSL gives me the speed I pay for all the time, no matter what other people download.

What will Roadrunner charge me?

[gelfling]

To download and buffer an 8.4GB DVD? And how long does that take?