Those using the Netflix downloading love it. I'm not sure that it won't take over once they announce a better delivery method to the TVs.

Yeah, but I won't be around in the year 2156.

I'm somewhat serious. You'd have to reach a point where broadband access is reliable...and very cheap. Won't have that happen with the current cable company dominations. Comcast will scratch their nails across a chalkboard if you mention affordable broadband for most consumers.

I liken downloads to rental DVDs. Netflix was able to undercut the rental industry by provding their movies at unthinkable rental rates. If we can get high-speed internet access down to pennies on the dollar, then ok, downloadable movies might work.

Of course, here's a twist. Maybe an entirely new codec will be invented...

fidodido,

A typical HD movie would be around 18-20GB. If you go to the Blu-ray forum site or whatever, they have all the Blu-ray releases and their relative size.

Not saying it wouldn't happen, but I'm not holding my breath that a new video codec will come out that provides the same level of video quality of VC-1/H.264/AVC, but with a compression rate 40X better.

As for a new audio codec? We just got high-res unlossy multi-channel sound. I'd hate to lose it.

I assume you meant In The Line Of Fire.

I saw my friend had that on his Comcast HD listing. I got all excited, started it up.....cropped.

Is that the future for VOD?

I have no idea, but I enjoyed it. Call me a Joe Six Pack heathen all you want, but I wasn't really annoyed with the cropping done..it sure didn't seem like fully 4:3 crop..it was free and didn't require me paying $400 for hardware either. I watched Apocalypto for free on HD VOD, it didn't appear to be cropped..so who knows. Plus there are a few movies on there right now..like Fright Night HD VOD that I bet will take a long time to get released. Was the quality super-duper fantastic? No, it was pretty bad "HD" but so is, according to most reviews, Wall Street Blu Ray.

My point is that people dismissing all non-media delivery as downloading are wrong. If anything VOD will be more prevalent than downloading entire movies, and I'm sure not all the movies will be cropped.

Apocalypto's OAR is around 1.85:1 so that would be fine.

My point is, VOD, and to a greater extent, HD movie channels in general, are home to a vast majority of non-OAR material. It's a slippery slope to say a MAR'd presentation on film X doesn't bother you, because inevitably, it'll happen to a film you do care to see in OAR.

I am lucky enough to have HDnet, which shows 100% OAR HD films. I can't tell you how many times I've recorded something from HBO HD or Starz HD to find it's not the proper ratio. It sucks to get all excited to see American Beauty or Fight Club in HD only to find the ratio f'ed up.

Personally, I'll take SD OAR over MAR'd HD any day of the week.

Also, my guess is you're at least leasing the box so there is a hardware cost associated with the service.

The majority of people who used to rent VHS and consequently drove the DVD market boom were also largely unaware about cropping, OAR, anamorphic enhancement, and progressive machines. Yet, the market evolved to a mass level where these now appear mandatory in 98% of the time.

My point is that people who continuously dismiss the notion that hard HD media is capable of reaching a mass status are without a doubt misinformed about the manner in which the industry is capable of exploiting the market.

With this in mind and with recent numbers revealing robust increase of sales (see VideoBusiness article posted by Matome) in HD hardware I am certain HD has a much more viable future than VOD. At least as far as my lifetime is concerned.

Pro-B

VOD is the wildcard. On the other hand it's pretty expensive, you don't get to keep the movie, and if something screws up, you get to deal with your service provider. Fantastic.

Yes, but most of your examples aren't analagous to this kind of format war. For screwdrivers, you might need a screwdriver of a certain size, but it doesn't matter who makes them. Company A's screwdriver of the right size will work just as well as Company B's. A Toyota Corolla will get you to Poughkeepsie just as well as a Honda Civic. You don't need a Corolla to get to one part of town and a Civic to get to another. You did, however, need Company A's player to watch The Bourne Ultimatum and Company B's player to watch Spider-Man 3. And when those players are in the hundreds of dollars, I can see why people weren't crazy about the two format system, especially when many are wondering why it's better than DVD at all. For the studios, the format war was strangling the long term viability of either format.

Yeah I'm leasing a box, but that cost was something I had to sign up for to watch/DVR cable channels. I don't consider it an extra hardware cost in my book.

Totally off topic, but it's funny you mention cars and screwdrivers. GM actually introduced the torx screw head because they didn't want people messing around with their cars.

Huh, that is funny. I actually only used those two examples because those were the examples the previous poster used.

I'm personally very happy about this bit of news. Blu-Ray should be the only HD dvd ever available. There needs to be 1 format for HD and thats Blu-Ray. I am a standard DVD person but whenever and if Standard DVD's die then I will be switching to Blu-Ray.

While I'm glad that it's finally "over" ... there are a couple things about this thread that bothers me:

When Korea and Japan already have 40mbps connections that are reliable, the U.S. will never have connection speeds that reliable? Forget about VOD for now and just think about the internet connections. I can't imagine not having that kind of speed within 10 years. C'mon, we can't be more than 10 years behind those countries.

I thought everyone knew by now that the format war was only a small factor for the poor adoption rate.


Anyway, I'm all for new technology. I wish that VOD in HD will become a reality in the near future, and I wish that Blu-ray will takeover DVD in the near future, and I wish that all broadcasts will be in HD in the near future. 96% of everything I watch on my TV is in HD (thanks Directv!). I'd rather read a book than watch something in SD.

I remember reading that the reason these countries have these kinds of speeds is because they are relatively small areas with dense populations, and their existing telephone infrastructure was so poor that it was easier to replace with future-proof technologies than repair everything.

The US, on the other hand, has vast swathes of nothing across our country, coupled with a serviceable communications grid (and antiquated telephone companies as well) so our transition to new technology will continue to be extremely slow.

However, I've said it before - if Netflix continues to charge me $20-ish bucks a month and allows me to download HD movies to a box at my leisure, even if it takes a few days, I would gladly pay it and only purchase the few movies I enjoy enough to own.

Would this be related to I Heart Huckabees?

At any rate, I think the man just was very vocal about his preference, not that I like any of his movies!

On topic, I am so looking forward to owning Pride & Prejudice on BD as well as Batman Begins !

Good news all around today for the BD camp, but more importantly for the future of HD....uptake in the near term is hopefully in reach.

No news from Paramount today?

You're only thinking about one half of the bandwidth problem. You need big bandwidth at your end. The provider also needs bandwidth. Gobs and gobs of bandwidth. Even an OC-3 would be completely saturated. I'm not even sure switching technology exists that would be able to handle the amount of traffic needed.

So...what, exactly, is Paramount waiting for?

Waiting for Fox to go HD. HD DVD making a comeback! Paramount and Fox vs all.

Funny, Paramount announces There Will Be Blood HD-DVD on the same day the format dies.

I like to think Paramount is just weighing its options and hopefully won't recall There Will Be Blood and Sweeney Todd.

Why yes, that was one prime example, wasn't it!

Back on the subject of VOD, I don't think anyone questions whether it will one day be successful, probably even with quality that rivals Blu-ray in some respects, but I don't believe for a New York minute that it will replace physical media. The rental model and the sell-through model have peacefully co-existed for a very long time, and I see no reason why they won't continue to do so when the dominant rental medium is a fiber optic cable running into your home.

But we're not just talking about bandwidth, either. You're talking about cooperation of companies across the US, guaranteeing a reliable super-high speed connection, available 24/7, for anyone who wants to watch an HD movie.

I could see this picking up in larger cities, but even then, it's back to how many portals the data goes through, and making sure each portal is up to standards. Maintenance of those standards, being on stand-by in case a line is down due to weather, accidents, etc. The US. Standards. Right now I'm thinking about beef. And Chinese imports.

Japan is more dedicated to perfect technology, and their dedication does have a societal consequence of itself. The US is more interested in fucking around, and making the appearance of something it's not. It's great at doing this. However, it's been spinning its wheels for the last decade. Great gadgets, but they become extinct sooner rather than later, and replaced by more slightly-modified gadgets. That's all our homes are full of. Gadgets and devices which were expensive to buy, and are built overseas.

Now, I'm sure HD downloads will attract a small consumer base, and will be able to be delivered to them in a reasonable way, but it will never grow to the point of even making disc media blink. Unfortunately, the US has to evolve in so many areas of the technology sector, it just makes me laugh at the moment. When the US, or more specifically, tech companies get together and actually cooperate with each other to better society, instead of feed off of it, then ok, we're talkin' some serious melioration, and fuck yeah, get ready for some awesome revolutionary moments. Including HD downloads.

LG is continuing to support Hd-dvd for current owners in combo players


http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/ne...-players.phtml

Well, HD-DVD might be officially dead for the market, but not for my house. I'm keeping the titles I have and hopefully picking up more as the days go by (and for cheap). I did recently pick up a PS3 though, so I'll still be able to get Blu-Ray discs...I just have to wait for deals.

= J