iPod Amazon.com starts video download service

[balamw]

I like how the minimum requirements state you need at least "200 MB of hard disk space". In regards to the Matrix it's either 2.2GB or 520MB depending which version you get. Surely customers will be pissed when in the middle of downloading they get a hard drive full message.

I'd hope it would check before starting the D/L.

B

 

[Play Ultimate]

it's a start

In any case, this service might help Microsoft with Zune.

And despite the negatives about this product, this is probably the best that Amazon could negotiate with the studios. Like in music, the studios prefer to sell DVDs with a least rudimentary copy protection etc. Digital movies is likely a little too scary for the studios at this point.

Which leads us to Apple, Apple is in a position of strength and everybody knows it. The studios similarly do not want to get locked into a single format, like the fairplay on the iPod currently is, with Apple as the gatekeeper.

Apple knows what it wants to offer and is busily negotiating that. If Disney is on board initiallly with the pricing close to what Apple wanted, then the rest of the studios should come on board eventually.

Tuesday will be quite exciting.

 

[Bibulous]

The Bitrate seems a little high. Is WMV format that inefficient or did they have a 5 year old encoding the movies? H.264 could do DVD quality at less than half that size.

Lets hope so


30-minute TV episode/600MB
750 kbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 55 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 27 minutes

1-hour TV episode/1.2GB
750 kbps DSL/cable 3 hours, 40 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 55 minutes

2-hour movie/2.4GB
750 kbps DSL/cable 7 hours, 20 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 3 hours, 40 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes


I'll need a 15-20 mbps connection to DL a movie in under 20 min!

 

[Grokgod]

So, they're selling and renting movies for roughly the same price as the physical DVDs, only you're completely restricted to playback on a computer for the full quality version (I hate watching movies on the computer), and not even on a Mac. Plus, do you get any of the extras? Multiple audio tracks?? Subtitles??? Just what is the appeal in this?!

Yea what is the appeal of that?

For the same price only I have to go to the video store where they often have a physical DVD that plays in FULL resolution on my new giant LCD tv.

Often these are on sale lately 3 movies for 20 bucks.

Wh wants to DL a movie that isnt full quality?

Especially since the new DVD's are going to HD!

You cant DL a HD version, can you? Not yet.

AND I want to watch it on my giant new TV, Not my ACD!

AND......

The Amazon unbox <snicker! > interface is completely BORING!

Ridiculous, where is the design or style, what is supposed to make you want to buy these from Amazon?

It looks like your buying out of someones car truck in a bright dirty alley!

snicker,, they need mental help!

 

[jericho878]

At first I thought $35 for Do the Right Thing? But I checked and Amazon has priced the download at the same level as the Collector's Edition DVD. Amazon Marketplace has non-Collector's Edition for 20% less without any of the restrictions. Personally, I don't think the novelty of downloading a movie that I can only watch on one computer warrants that big of a difference.

 

[Object-X]

No support for OS X notwithstanding, I like the rental model. I'm sure Apple will have a better all round end-to-end solution for us Tuesday. I really like the idea of downloading movies on a rental basis from my computer and streaming them to my HDTV. I think Blockbuster and Netflix are pretty much toast. I might even cancel my cable tv service if there is enough content.

How long before we start seeing HD quality? It's one thing to be able to store about 100 movies on a 250GB hard drive, but what will the storage requirements be for HD? I'm surprised that Apple didn't add a second hard drive internally with the new 24" iMac. I think hard drive suppliers and dancing a jig right about now. We need our home RAID solution for all of our downloaded media.

 

[Grokgod]

"We need our home RAID solution for all of our downloaded media."

Ha ha , that is So true!

Good one

 

[frlane]

UnBox

Well,

isn't it interesting that Amazon would create a service that is incompatible with their best selling computers, and bestselling players.

Sounds like a recipe for success to me.

 

[spicyapple]

Why do I get the feeling Amazon is trying to steal the thunder from under Apple's planned announcement of their own video/movie download service?

 

[virduk]

Well, i hope Apple follows the same buy or rent model.

And it better offer a DVD quality version, otherwise I won't be using it when it reaches Australia in 2052.

 

[mowogg]

DAP Format

Supported Devices
The devices in the list below have been tested with the Unbox Video Player. If your device is Plays for Sure compliant it may work, but we cannot guarantee performance on untested devices.
Creative Zen Vision: M
Creative Zen Vision
Toshiba Gigabeat S
Archos AV 500
Archos AV 700
iRiver PMC (Portable Media Center)

What the heck kind of statement is "Plays for Sure MAY work?" Isn't that what Plays for Sure was supposed to do?

It doesn't sound like Amazon has it all figured out yet. I sure hope that Apple has a better paradigm than this.

 

[slffl]

Well so far I like the selection, especially for a launch. I also like that all the movies I've looked at so far are available for rent or to buy.

Unfortunately it's not mac compatible. I watch movies in bed on my powerbook all the time. I could see myself renting a digital movie for $2.

Edit: Oh ya, I hate the interface. Much prefer iTMS over this.

 

[psxndc]

Hmmm... Office Space as a download for $13.45 or Office Space on DVD for $9.99 at Circuit City. Really hard decision, especially since I watch that DVD over and over again.

Feh.

-p-

 

[chuckles:)]

Why do I get the feeling Amazon is trying to steal the thunder from under Apple's planned announcement of their own video/movie download service?

Probably just a coincidence.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Not impressed, even if it has more studio support.

I smell a Betamax in the works here.

I'll be sticking to Mactheripper thankyouverymuch.

 

[chabig]

The studios similarly do not want to get locked into a single format, like the fairplay on the iPod currently is, with Apple as the gatekeeper.

But they're willing to get locked into a single format with Microsoft as the gatekeeper? This makes no sense.

 

[jettredmont]

What I want is a duplicate of the DVD experience... I want to hit play and see the DVD menu, scene selections, extras... unfortunately I doubt even Apple is going to give us that. But without it... I'll probably just stick to DVDs.

As a parent, I have to say that the DVD menu model is a pain in the rear. What I want is to be able to tell the device to play a movie (either by inserting a disk or by double-clicking a file, whatever), and just have the movie play, perhaps then with an option of tweaking the specifics.

When I put a DVD in, 9/10 times it is to watch the movie. Out of those 9 times, 1-2 times I will then want to look at the special features (does anyone, ever, want to watch the special features before the movie itself?), about 6 times it's a kid movie and I just want to leave the room before being attacked by the Kid Movie Cooties, and the other 2-3 times the movie wasn't good enough to want to hear more about it in the special features. The other 1 of ten times, it's a DVD I've already put in and watched before, and I either want to watch it again or look at the special features or jump to that one scene.

Instead of meeting my needs 90% of the time and causing an extra button push 10% of the time, I get stuck watching FBI warnings and previews, then some goofy menu animation for 25 seconds, then have to hit 'play' or 'enter' again or it just sits there staring at the kids like a retarded monkey.

To me, the DVD "experience" is far from ideal. But, that having been said, I'd love to see the extras kept!

 

[68164]

remote download

One of the features that did catch my eye was the remote download option - with an appropriate set-up, you can login to amazon account, purchase and then have the file downloaded to another computer - so you could be at work see something you'd like to watch that night and it would have finished downloading to your home computer by the time you got home.

I can't wait to see what Apple will do - I just hope they go for international now rather than later on - movies are effectively released at the same time around the globe so timing shouldn't be an issue.

And it was good to see BBC TV shows on the US site - this would seem to indicate that BBC is ready for TV downloads...and on iTMS once Steve pushes the go button. The timing seems right for this - the US store is stacked pretty well with TV Networks and the model would seem to have been proven - and a great way to stay ahead of Amazon and Zune would be to get the international TV shows rolling.

Finally - I vote for a continued one stop shop for iTunes - I like how everything is there in the one place and you don't need to be app switching - sure there could be improvements through a re-org but no need for more than one stand alone app.

 

[jettredmont]

In most cases, connecting your computer to your television is as simple as using an s-video connection. S-video is a standard 4-pin video connection available on most televisions and video cards. S-video only transfers the video image, so you will also need to connect the audio out port on your computer to external speakers or to a home stereo system. Some video cards also come with standard RCA adapters for video and audio and will allow you to connect your computer in the same way you would connect a VCR or video camera.

Really? That's the "most cases" situation? Aside from my Powerbook, I rarely, if ever, see an S-Video connector on a PC.

IMHO, that's the real problem with Amazon's offering here: it's PC-centric. I don't want my PC in my living room, and I don't want to give up the ability to actually use my PC every time anyone in the family wants to watch a movie, and I damned well am not keen on the idea of buying a $1000 PC which sits in the living room acting as a substandard and loud DVD player full time.

 

[shelterpaw]

Amazon is one of many. Nothing too spectacular IMO. It would be nice if they offered the service to Macintosh users, but since they don't, I wont be using it.

I hope Apple's service trumps it with some key features, like burning the friggin DVD that you bought. I certainly don't want to fill up my laptop with movies and I sure like to bring movies to my cabin in Tahoe or to one of my sisters houses or my girlfriends house etc etc etc.

With digital distribution, they should sell the movies for $4.99. They'll sell a lot more and it's not costing them any more to produce. No way would I pay 14.99 or higher for a digital copy when I can pretty much get the same deal with a hard copy.

But I'll wait and see. This whole move download thing is just starting-up. In the meantime, I'll stick with the video store until I see something that works for me.

 

[Fukui]

So whats the resolution of the downloads? 480p? 720p? If its WM9 it should be able to get a decent resolution with 2.4 GB...

I don't wanna pay 9.99+ for something with no extras if its not got 720p at least... and DVD burning.

 

[p0intblank]

Wow, great pricing for great quality! I really didn't expect movies to sell/rent for that cheap.

But it's Windows only? Ah, that's okay. We know Apple is next.

I still rated this Positive, only because the pricing is surprisingly good.

 

[jettredmont]

Lets hope so


30-minute TV episode/600MB
750 kbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 55 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 27 minutes

1-hour TV episode/1.2GB
750 kbps DSL/cable 3 hours, 40 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 55 minutes

2-hour movie/2.4GB
750 kbps DSL/cable 7 hours, 20 minutes
1.5 mbps DSL/cable 3 hours, 40 minutes
3.0 mbps DSL/cable 1 hour, 50 minutes


I'll need a 15-20 mbps connection to DL a movie in under 20 min!

Its worse, much worse, than that.

First, have you ever tried downloading a 1GB file over your consumer-grade DSL/Cable connection? Good luck, and I can assure you you will not likely see 3.0 Mbps throughput throughout the download!

Second, as access companies are allowed to throttle your connection speed down based on content, and they're likely to notice 2.4 GB of data sucking their trunk bandwidth away and infer that it's media which competes with their own broadcasting ambitions, you might well see your speed throttle down to, say, 512Kbps after the first gigabyte.

Of course, the same issues will also plague the Apple version when (fingers crossed) it debuts next week.

 

[ddrueckhammer]

I'll need a 15-20 mbps connection to DL a movie in under 20 min!

In my area, Brighthouse (a cable company) is offering 10Mbps connections and Verizon is offering up to 15Mbps connections. In the next five years our connections will be fast enough for HD downloads. That is, unless you live in a rural area. Also, I don't understand why they don't use streaming technology or implement queues to auto-download to cut down times. Finally, they should use bit torrent technology to cut their bandwidth costs.

Since it is "DVD" quality, I guess it is 480i?

As Mac users this sucks that it doesn't have a Mac version but you can still boot into windows if you have to for this, assuming you have an Intel Mac. The reason why their isn't any Mac support most likely has more to do with Microsoft than Amazon. Hopefully, Apple will start selling a wireless streaming device on Tuesday so that I don't have to plug in my laptop or run a cable from my PC to watch these. I guess it may be time to buy a Mac Mini soon...

 

[camomac]

The pricing is way off. None of the movies I've seen are really new. There are a large number of movies that are $19.99. "Walk the Line" is just one of those movies at $19.99.

It appears Amazon allowed movie studios to make up their own prices. For some reason, "Do the Right Thing" is $35.99! Why would anyone pay that price.

With those prices, I'll stay with DVD's.

that is SO F'n stupid.

the UNBOX RENTAL: $35.99

do the right thing DVD: $21.45