Online Movies - Are we there yet?
The recent surrender of HD-DVD in the latest format war has got us thinking about online video rentals - so we thought we’d review the options available today.
Streaming or downloading full movies instead of renting or buying physical media is nothing new. As happens time after time in the world of technology the real first adopters are the adult industry and the hackers/pirates. The adult movie folks have been providing video content only for years now. And we all know well that hacker-kids have distributed full dvds in online format for some time as well. If both these groups can handle it successfully why not the movie studios?
With the rise in popularity of Youtube consumers have grown familiar with online videos and the entire medium has gained market acceptance. Fears that studios once had over the customer acceptance of less-then-highest quality video have disappeared. Consumers bandwidth will only increase in the future allowing for higher quality.
Netflix: As part of the base netflix subscription all customers can watch unlimited movies online - free. Tough to argue with that deal. The biggest downside is the selection, of course the online library of movies are limited. Quality is above average and the program is very easy to use. As netflix offers more movies into this category it will have an even bigger market impact. We have to wonder when/if they will start charging for the service. Another challenge for Netflix is getting onto the TV and into the living room - not everyone is willing to watch movies on the PC or laptop. Watch for a partnership with Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony in the future. But right now it is the market leader for cost and ease of use.
Amazon Unbox: Amazon has been at this market for quite some time (opened in 2006). Unbox offers a wide selection of newly released and classics at near DVD prices ($14.99 for most movies) and rentals for lower cost (4.99 in most cases). Although the service received mixed reviews when it was released it has improved over time.
The videos can be played on about 20 handheld devices (again - big drawback if you can’t connect the PC to the TV). They’ve since partnered with Tivo to allow purchase of videos which can be sent directly to your living room Tivo system for review. Of course Tv shows are also available for those into that type of thing (who really buys and watches old tv episodes?!)
Apple - iTunes: When it comes to online media - iTunes is still the name we all think of first. Apple has made available movies for download since 2006. Of course they use the itunes market place and application to support the download service. The move catalog matches the size of Amazon’s and most physical rental stores. Pricing is equivalent to Amazon (about $14 a pop) with the edge going to Apple for ease of use. Naturally the advantage is apple’s in the device category as legions of iPod Video’s and Nano’s can show movies and tv shows purchased through itunes. Recently Apple released the AppleTV device (getting into your living room.. sound like a familiar theme?). It allows for move rentals (HD content too) as well as the rest of the itunes HTPC functionality - plugged into your TV of course. So far its received a bit of a lackluster response (for an Apple product that is) and we’ll hold our breath before we tell anyone to run out and buy one.
Comcast (ondemand): The biggest name in the video on demand cable industry - comcast leads the pack. One of the first cable companies to roll out on demand video (which comes free with their digital cable package). This competes with downloadable purchases and rentals head to head. Comcast has the advantage in many areas since they are already entrenched in the consumers living room, have market share and control much of the delivery. The ease-of-use factor cannot be dismissed either. Consumers have embraced the video on demand service in a surprising fashion and other cable vendors have been struggling to catch up.
Directv on demand: Directv is fighting to catch up to Comcast on the movie delivery/video on demand front. Their vod service is still in beta. The distinct disadvantage for Directv is not controlling the consumers broadband as Comcast does, meaning Directv VOD users must rely on their existing dsl/broadband to download video content to their DVR system.
Slingbox & Orb: Both worth a mention here as similar software packages and devices which allow for ‘place-shifting’ of video content. You can pull your recorded TV episodes from the living room and watch them on the cell phone, in the hotel room, or at work. Not mounting any big-time competition with the video rental/download services yet - but keep an eye on them. Either could provide a medium or means of easy distribution in the future.
None of these are set to overtake Blu-ray or DVD sales in 2008 - but with the delay in adoption of hidef movies caused by the format wars you can bet that they’ve gained traction.
You can bet your gold-plated dvd’s that downloads will overtake physical disc purchases by 2011.
Any comments or additions are welcome. We’ll be glad to update this as they come in.
Top Home Theater PC (HTPC) Options in 2008
For years now I’ve run a home theater system of my own to comfortable serve up movies, tv and music in the living room. I thought it would be a good idea to round-up of options for those of us looking to upgrade in 2008.
Note that I’m going to focus on the software solutions in this piece mainly - hardware can vary widely for each.
Let’s start with the basics - what is an htpc (home theater pc)? Basically any box that you can connect to a monitor/tv and use to listen to music, watch movies and tv shows. HTPC’s can be simple off the shelf units or highly customized systems. Most all htpc systems can be controlled via remote (who wants to get the keyboard out in the middle of the living room) and are powerful enough to play today’s mp3’s and compressed video.
The requirements for an htpc system can vary widely based on the users requirements. Personally mine is primarily used for movies and music. Many use the PVR functionality. Anything beyond those 3 focals is gravy. Many systems allow for checking weather, stocks, email, for showing movie listings, previews, etc.
But at the core if they can’t watch movies, play music and PVR .. they aren’t worth the time.
All of that needs to be simple enough to be controlled by a non-technical person and a remote control.
The litmus test for me is to have a group of non techie friends over - toss the remote to one and see how easy it is for them to flip thru my music collection or queue up a movie.
- Xbox (XBMC): The Microsoft Xbox is one of the most prevalent and common home theater systems. Openly developed software (XBMC) can be installed on the game system to transform it into a powerful htpc. Features include support for all major audio and video codecs, remote control, highly customizable, very easy to use. The biggest beneft to the Xbox Htpc is the prevelance of the Xbox system itself and the low cost. Very affordable and easy to find! PVR functions are a bit lacking.
- Vista/XP Media Center: The most common software package - especially on newer high end laptops (vista ultimate includes Vista Media Center). Many hardware vendors sell pre-installed systems that run XP or Vista Media Center OS. MCE can handle about any file type you throw at it. Windows Media player hanldes the audio and video library. Photo slides are a breeze to show in MCE as well. A pretty healthy community exists where you can find plenty of plugins and advice. Major drawbacks include no support for ogg vorbis, awkward musc interface and very little in the way of updates/changes (always waiting for Microsoft to update).
- Myth : Myth is an open source Linux package most often prebuilt with an OS customized to be used exclusively for htpc. Myth’s strength was originally PVR functionality but has grown over the years into a full fledged htpc system. The open source community is very active and it is easy to find support and asssistance when using. Since the active user base is so large there are plenty of customizations to be found as well. Negatives include some knowledge of linux, hardware support isn’t quite as easy to come by as some of the other systems.
- MediaPortal: The small guy in the group. Media Portal is a windows based Open Source htpc engine. The effort started out rather small with limited support and has picked up momentum in the last year. A moderately active community help in setup and plugin/customizations. New Media Portal II version should be released later in 2008. Main advantage Media Portal has over the others - free and easy to use.
- Meedio/Meedios: Meedio was the engine for my personal htpc system before Yahoo acquired them. It was similar to Media Portal above - with plenty of plugins and helpful users. After the yahoo purchase the product was killed off. A small community began talk of launching a replacement - Meedios - it seems yet to be released.
- Others: Xlobby, Freevo, SageTV, BeyondTV, GB-PVR. All range from non-free products to dedicated pvr systems. Worth a look if you don’t mind spending some time tweaking and customizing.
| System |
Cost |
OS |
PVR |
Notes |
| Xbox (XBMC) |
Free |
Xbox |
NO |
|
| Vista/MCE |
99.00+ |
Windows |
YES |
|
| Media-Portal |
Free |
Windows |
YES |
|
| Meedio |
69.00 |
Windows |
YES |
Off the market |
| Xlobby |
Free |
Windows |
YES |
|
| Freevo |
Free |
Linux |
YES |
|
| SageTV |
79.95 |
Linux/Windows |
YES |
|
| BeyondTV |
69.99 |
Windows |
YES |
|
| GB-PVR |
Free |
Windows | YES |
|
-
Recent Posts
- And pigs flew too: DRM-free songs from iTunes soon?
- Yahoo! CEO to step down, and leave a big mess behind
- Black Friday is coming, but are the deals what people are hoping for?
- Seven years for a patch? Say it isn’t so, Microsoft
- PC Makers, the Economy, and who will survive (and thrive)
- “Vista Capable”? Well, not quite…
- Reports: Windows 7 may not improve performance much
- iPhone 2.2 Firmware Update may be out on the 21st of November?
- Circuit City files for bankruptcy: And so the wheel turns
- MGM first to post feature-length films to YouTube
-
-
-