Movie rental downloads are the wave of the future. It's not rocket science.
People want convenience and hate to waste time and gas driving to their local
video store. From the movie studio's perspective, the shift to downloadable
content can't come soon enough. The switch to downloadable movies will free them
from all the costs associated with the production, storage, distribution and
packaging of physical media. They can still sell the movies for a healthy
amount, but show increased profits.
The capability to rent downloadable movies has been with us for a few years now.
The problem for many people has been twofold; the lack of widespread broadband
Internet access, and the requirement to use a computer to view the movies. Even
if the computer was successfully hooked to a TV (sometimes no mean feat in
itself) for a larger picture, there were all sorts of other issues associated
with computer use that made this a less than satisfactory solution for the
majority of movie renters.
The passage of time has largely solved the broadband issue. An April, 2008
report from research firm Scarborough Research revealed broadband penetration is
up over 300% since 2002. Nationally, 49% of households have broadband Internet
access, and that number continues to increase with the continued rollout of
services such as Verizon's FIOS. As more households get broadband the demand for
renting movies via Internet download will increase even further.
The greater gains however, will come from the introduction of alternative
methods of downloading movie rentals. To this end, a plethora of products and
services have been introduced or are planned for market introduction. Most cable
companies offer some sort of video on demand rental service. The quality and
selection of these offerings vary, but they are available to many people.
For people that don't have cable or for various reasons want a different
service, there are other options available. TiVO has partnered with Amazon.com
to offer the ability to rent movies from the Amazon Unboxed service. That
collaboration has a lot going for it. TiVO has a universally praised user
interface, offers HD capability from off air or cable services, and integrates
the Amazon Unboxed service seamlessly into their interface to make things
extremely easy for consumers.
AppleTV is a piece of hardware that allows people to download movies from the
Apple iTunes Store for viewing on their TV. It's a small, set top box like unit
that connects to the Internet, and retrieves movies from the iTUNEs library. As
with most things from Apple Inc. it is well designed and has an easy to use
interface. It doesn't stop at movies either. You can watch TV shows, music
videos, and YouTube videos as well. It also allows A/V content from your
computer to be viewed on your TV. There is a 24hr window from the time for movie
rentals, after which the movies vanish, along with your rental fee. It's like
video on demand, but with a much larger library.
HD video for the Apple TV is delivered in 720p (You can watch them in 720p or
1080i). With Apple TV 2, the bitrate is about 1/8th that of Blu-Ray, so the
video obviously isn't as good, but it's not bad either, and you don't have to
get off your couch. A problem for some is that there is no form of video below
component 480i. If you have an older TV that doesn't have component inputs,
you're out of luck. Another issue is the FF and rewind performance. The movie
must be rebuffered to do this so it doesn't work like your regular DVD player or
cable company's video on demand.
Something else that has been making inroads lately is the movie download box
from Vudu, in California. In concept and form factor it's much like AppleTV.
This slick piece of hardware allows movies to be downloaded from the giant Vudu
movie, concert, and TV show archive. They have a huge library, with over 10,000
titles, comprising movies, TV shows and concert videos. It offers the largest
selection of all the services at this time.
The Vudu's ace in the hole is its' interface and its' incredible ease of use.
5-year old children and 90 year old technophobes alike will have no problems
with this thing, it's really that easy. The RF remote only has 5 buttons and a
scroll wheel. The interface is very much like the extremely expensive home movie
servers from the likes of Kaleidescape, AMX and Axonix. No question those
devices are cool as it gets, but at upwards of $30,000, they're relegated to the
homes of the very wealthy. The Vudu, on the other hand, is only $299, before any
promotions. Vudu has no monthly service fees.
The Vudu team has done a great job on the interface, but that doesn't matter if
it doesn't work, but it does, and very well too. Once a movie is selected, it
plays instantly, with no lag, just like a DVD would. You can use the composite
video output for older TVs, but most people will use either the component video
or HDMI outputs, both of which now offer HD output. The HDMI will go up to
1080p/24 with their latest upgrade. The audio is in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 at up
to 40% higher bit rate than a standard DVD.
The Vudu comes in 2 flavors, a 250GB standard unit, or a 1TB, expandable unit
that's targeted more toward the custom installation community. You can rent the
movies, with a 24 hour time limit to complete the viewing from the time "play"
is pressed. Some title are rental only, while others must be bought, and some
allow both.
The future of movie rental downloads is brighter than ever if these new
offerings from TiVO, Apple and Vudu are any indication. The video store, and
possibly the disk itself will be going the way of the Dodo.
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