Paramount movies on Live

[Paranoimia]

Just read this article on the VM website.

I know Sony are planning a similar service on PS3, and it is something I generally would be in favour of. I belong to Amazon's DVD/Blu-ray rental scheme, and if there's one thing I dislike, it's putting some of their frankly filthy discs into my DVD player or PS3 - so a download would be ideal.

However, if I'm honest, I don't think the world is ready for downloadable movie rentals, whether they be standard or high definition. The UK certainly isn't. When you think of the multi-gigabyte size of a hi-def film, and then take into account (a) the relatively low general speed of UK broadband and (b) the relatively low bandwidth caps that most ISP's impose, you'd have to be pretty daft to use your internet connection for HD movie downloads. And it's a situation I don't see changing for quite some time, particularly here in the UK, and maybe in the rest of Europe too.

Interested in hearing the views of others on this.

[Matt D]

I think I'm with you on this, on the readiness at least.

Speed, usage caps, shaping... not particularly friendly to movie downloads I think.

Plus also the HD ones simply are not as good quality as actual Blu-ray Discs or HD DVDs.




Also, for me, I prefer physical ownership... I like buying movies, I like having actual discs. I like to be able to buy something & watch it however many times I want, on whichever (compatible) player I want.

And I do not like the idea of paying MS (or Sony eventually too) for some overcompressed DRM-laden watch-once-only rental movie download, which self-destructs after you've watched it or the time-limit is up.

[Stuart C]

Despite what Apple, Microsoft et. al are saying, I don't think online downloads for movies will ever attain mass market penetration. Massive network upgrades would be needed all over the internet. The ISPs won't want to push the services, as for these services to work, they will need to upgrade their network at great cost and for little or no return.

Logically, if they want users to have these services, the online providers should pay money to the ISPs, to pay for any upgrades needed. Off line companies have distribution costs, why shouldn't online companies pay a little for the distribution of their products? Sadly, it would put on-line prices up for us.

As for hd downloads? I downloaded 300 from XBox Live a few weeks ago, and, TBH, the fact it took over 40 minutes to download a good portion of the movie so I could ensure smooth playback (XBox Live does download the video, but will stream it when it runs out of downloaded data). I am in the fortunate position that I live around 10 minutes walk away from a Blockbuster video store with a good range of DVDs and Games, so in that 40 minutes (usually a lot less) I can walk to the store, pick a DVD or a few DVDs and return home, with the discs in my grubby mitts ready to play with no streaming delays, and no delays due to a slow network.

[Paranoimia]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Also, for me, I prefer physical ownership... I like buying movies, I like having actual discs. I like to be able to buy something & watch it however many times I want, on whichever (compatible) player I want.

I'm exactly the same! I rent movies from Amazon, and if I like them, I buy my own copy.

The other issue with downloads, of course, is that you can lose them far easier, through no fault of your own. Although it's rare, a simple HDD error can render one or more movies unwatchable - but a well looked after disc should last forever.