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Apple Still Dominates U.S. Movie Downloads and Streaming, But Rivals Growing
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All of my TV show and movie viewing is done through iTunes on my MBP. It'e been that way for several years now. I don't mind watching on the laptop because I can get all comfortable and watch with no commercials. I have about 120 movies purchased in iTunes. Most of them are old because I don't keep up on what's playing in theaters or what's on satelite. I don't even pay for premium movie channels on DirecTV.
Good to see Zune growing. Its really an excellent and visually appealing video service from your xbox. Its funny, from the days where you had to download the movie before you played in like 2005/2006 to where they are with it now is miles different.
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Yeah, I'm still a total netflix fan. $16/month and I pretty much can watch anything I want. Doing the same thing through Apple costs way too much, even if it is a bit more convenient. Apple doesn't have everything, either, but Netflix does via DVD...
Oh, and I don't think all of Netflix's stuff comes via Stars, thats only a portion of their catalog, and not even the bulk of it.
This is my setup.
Netflix instant streaming through my xbox360.
Zune Video service because of their higher HD and new releases count when I can't find it on netflix.
Steaming my DVDs from my computer to my TV:
I'd be lying if i said i didn't ever torrent a flim...but the vast majority are theaters/streaming based through legitimate means.
Netflix instant streaming through my xbox360.
Zune Video service because of their higher HD and new releases count when I can't find it on netflix.
Steaming my DVDs from my computer to my TV:
I'd be lying if i said i didn't ever torrent a flim...but the vast majority are theaters/streaming based through legitimate means.
I was wondering this, too. I'm guessing that, because Netflix doesn't separate their revenue from DVD rentals and "Instant View" streaming, an article like this, which is based on revenue, doesn't actually consider Netflix.
If all I was interested in was the streaming, I would probably cancel Netflix, too. But, as a supplement to the DVD rentals, the streaming they offer isn't that bad.
in this case, with exception of the inability to consider services like Netflix, unless you're going to try to argue that one provider somehow got a better deal with the studios and therefore has a better profit margin, considering percentages of consumer spending isn't that bad a measure...
Now someone got their calculations terribly wrong... either iSuppli or Sandvine, the source of this October 2010 report
Netflix Streaming Video Is 20 Percent of Peak US Internet Traffic
http://gizmodo.com/#!5670190/20-of-all-peak-us-internet-traffic-is-netflix-streaming
Netflix Streaming Video Is 20 Percent of Peak US Internet Traffic
http://gizmodo.com/#!5670190/20-of-all-peak-us-internet-traffic-is-netflix-streaming
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
And isn't it funny how they "solved" the great bandwidth problem? You know, the one the Apple (is always right in all things) cheerleaders argue as justification why 720p is THE right choice for everyone. Maybe Vudu found some secret bandwidth through which they push their 1080p content into homes?
And isn't it funny how Vudu appears to have customers that don't care about "the chart"? You know, the chart that is often slung by the cheerleaders to justify why 720p is THE right choice... because "no one can see the difference between about 1 million pixels on screen and about 2 million pixels on screen."
And isn't it funny how Vudu appears to have motivated some studios to distribute 1080p content on something other than BD. I guess those greedy studios will make their highest-quality content available for disc-less digital distribution if a partner will play ball with those that own & create that content. Wouldn't it be nice if Apple would play ball?
And isn't it funny how Vudu 1080p content can be played on hardware that costs $99 and even LESS THAN
TV, proving yet again that building in 1080p hardware would NOT have automatically made the TV cost more than $99 (another very popular cheerleader punch as to why 720p MAX is right for everyone).And isn't it funny how the Vudu customers seemed to have resolved the great storage problem? You know, because 1080p files are so much massively larger than the "ideal" (720p) file sizes, who's going to have the storage for those files? Apparently, some people figured out that the files aren't that much larger (considering the upgrade in picture quality)... and larger and larger hard drives keep getting cheaper and cheaper.
Now, wouldn't it be nice if Apple would decide to serve up a 1080p
TV (gen 3, or "pro" edition) which would serve those that care about 1080p without costing those that think "720p is good enough" anything (better hardware can always handle less demanding software; it just doesn't work the other way). As a big Apple fan myself, I know that competition is good and I hope Vudu and similar keep growing and growing in hopes that it will force Apple to respond with similarly-capable hardware. When Apple gets enough 1080p-capable hardware in homes, the Studios will be quick to want to distribute >720p video (as just ONE OPTION) in the iTunes store. Until then, it makes little to no sense for them to offer anything more than what the
TV can handle. (Thus, it's not a chicken or egg scenario: the hardware must come first).I continue to look forward to that day. This market is Apple's to fully take if they would just get with it.
I just can justify spending $2.99 for an episode I'll never watch again (even if I own it). I've probably spent $30 on rented TV content though but I refuse to flat-out buy digital content. Too many restrictions with no ability to play on the device of my choosing.
I just bought Star Trek IV off iTunes a couple of months ago and that scene with the punk on the bus was there (unless there was more to it). It might have to do with which edition of the movie you buy (e.g.: directors cut or the original theatrical release). I saw a review of Star Trek VI in iTunes which claims the iTunes version is missing scenes; however, the supposed missing scenes are only part of the directors cut version (which is far better and is also available on iTunes).
Anyway, I have been transitioning my movie purchasing habits to iTunes. I must admit though that I would prefer to be able to attach USB hard drives directly to the new Apple TV and store content with it rather than having to make sure iTunes is running AND does not have an open dialog box which reads "There is a new version available" or "Some of your movies were not synced to the iPhone" or some garbage like that. Whenever iTunes has an open modal dialog, then Apple TV cannot stream movies from it -- iTunes is single-threaded (unless they just fixed it).
My wife really misses the extra DVD content, and of all things, previews. I have no idea why she wants to watch the ancient previews on our DVDs, but she just feels that previews are part of the movie-watching experience. So what I want from Apple TV is this:
1) Multi-theaded iTunes (easy to do)
2) Ability to attach hard drives and sync with iTunes (unlikely)
3) Ability to watch iTunes Extras (and more movies with iTunes extras)
4) An _option_ to automatically retrieve and watch NEW previews over the internet before the movie (so I can sell my wife on iTunes over DVD)
For me, I'm tired of managing DVDs and the incredibly slow speed of my DVD jukebox to switch between them. I don't think I will ever go with Blu-Ray now that I can download movies and skip the disc.
Agreed with all your points (though I only quoted the last). Apple should go with 1080p. Hard drives are getting cheap and you might as well offer the best format (if somebody's TV is 720p only then it will usually down-convert it).
But Apple is in a prime position to take over the market for video delivery -- the market is theirs to take or to lose.
My computer has been on since November 5th! But then I have a Mac and it only takes 30 seconds to boot...
CDs really are old fashioned. That's one reason why Blu-ray hasn't really taken off - the concept is outmoded and rapidly becoming redundant.
And isn't it funny how they "solved" the great bandwidth problem? You know, the one the Apple (is always right in all things) cheerleaders argue as justification why 720p is THE right choice for everyone. Maybe Vudu found some secret bandwidth through which they push their 1080p content into homes?
And isn't it funny how Vudu appears to have customers that don't care about "the chart"? You know, the chart that is often slung by the cheerleaders to justify why 720p is THE right choice... because "no one can see the difference between about 1 million pixels on screen and about 2 million pixels on screen."
And isn't it funny how Vudu appears to have motivated some studios to distribute 1080p content on something other than BD. I guess those greedy studios will make their highest-quality content available for disc-less digital distribution if a partner will play ball with those that own & create that content. Wouldn't it be nice if Apple would play ball?
And isn't it funny how Vudu 1080p content can be played on hardware that costs $99 and even LESS THAN
And isn't it funny how the Vudu customers seemed to have resolved the great storage problem? You know, because 1080p files are so much massively larger than the "ideal" (720p) file sizes, who's going to have the storage for those files? Apparently, some people figured out that the files aren't that much larger (considering the upgrade in picture quality)... and larger and larger hard drives keep getting cheaper and cheaper.
Now, wouldn't it be nice if Apple would decide to serve up a 1080p
As a big Apple fan myself, I know that competition is good and I hope Vudu and similar keep growing and growing in hopes that it will force Apple to respond with similarly-capable hardware. When Apple gets enough 1080p-capable hardware in homes, the Studios will be quick to want to distribute >720p video (as just ONE OPTION) in the iTunes store. Until then, it makes little to no sense for them to offer anything more than what the
I continue to look forward to that day. This market is Apple's to fully take if they would just get with it.
I totally and completely agree with all of the above.
I have VUDU on my PS3 and on a Samsung bluray player. I also have an Apple TV and Netflix (again on both the PS3 and bluray player). All of these are hooked up to two different HDTVs... one in a home theater setting and one in a bedroom.
For both of these setups VUDU absolutely _destroys_ Apple TV and Netflix on both video and audio quality. It does it with all the newest films... and it _instantly_ streams (even more instantly than the Apple TV).
The VUDU video encoding is certainly legendary. I honestly don't know how they do it!
If you haven't tried VUDU... you are seriously missing out. Their prices are reasonable, their selection is great and their quality is the best.
My only knock on them? They are now owned by Wal-mart.... ick.
But if you can get over that, it's a great service!
Derek
Do they still make you wait 4 hours before you can start watching an HDX title? From what I remember, they would limit the download rates to 4 Mbps no matter how fast your Internet connection was. I don't think that's called solving the bandwidth problem.
Blu Ray is the best but I like to try all the other options as well. I just got an Apple TV and am impressed so far--Netflix is the best for me on Apple TV--but Netflix needs to add 5.1. I can live with iTunes for stuff I purchase. I don't know who is going to end up on top--lots of choices: DVD/Blu Ray, Netflix, iTunes, Vudu, Amazon On Demand, Hulu, Hulu Plus--probably others as well. A friend mentioned a combination approach--unlimited streaming for a set price, but A La Carte for new releases at an additional cost determined by negotiation between the streaming provider and the studios--time will tell. The future looks bright with lots of competition--but of course it is the studios that control content--so we'll see.
It doesn't really cost that much to leave a modern computer in sleep mode. I often leave several tabs in several pages open for convenience.
i don't like to pay an extra $20 a month for electricity. it's like burning money. i could buy an x-box game for that
i do leave my laptop on sometimes, but since i don't have a desktop anymore like a lot of people playing itunes content will mean booting up a laptop. with 3 iphones and 3 laptops in the house it's a mess to have everything on and out all the time
I have so much crap in various stages of standby scattered about the house I would hate to imagine what it all totals--so for me leaving my iMac on or at sleep is just one more electronic device I leave on.
Currently using:
iTunes via AppleTV (1G)
Amazon On Demand via Panasonic Blu-Ray HTIB
Netflix via Panasonic HTIB & Xbox360
I have purchased over 180 movies from iTunes and rented countless others. Except for the last few months iTunes has had great 99cent rentals, lately they've had huge movie sales for $4.99. There selection is also quite large and varied with content old and new, indie and mainstream. It doesn't surprise me they're on top with how much effort they actually put into it. I just wish the AppleTV (1G) wasn't so damn slow and buggy. Removing the purchase option from the 2G killed any desire to buy it for me.
I've been checking out Amazon lately since they have been giving away $5 discounts with various purchases from the website. So far i've bought 3 movies from them, but have only been using them as an alternate to get movies that are not on iTunes (Amazon at least has some softcore porn). One thing I do not like about them is the lack of local storage. I know I can use the computer app to download the movies, I just wish I could do so directly from the set-top app.
Netflix is my go to service for movies that I want to watch but don't want to spend $10+ to buy. Most of these are old movies that as far as I am concerned shouldn't be sold for more than $4.99. If they were available at that price on iTunes I would buy every last one of them. Netflix has also had some recent movies that I only have watched since I didn't have to pay anything more than the monthly service cost to watch them. The service is more than worth the cost.
I have also purchased a handful of TV shows from the Zune marketplace on Xbox 360 that I bought only because I had some random Live points left over to waste, but since I cannot access that content outside of the Xbox360 and have to use the 360's interface for browsing the content, I have no interest in buying from them further.
iTunes via AppleTV (1G)
Amazon On Demand via Panasonic Blu-Ray HTIB
Netflix via Panasonic HTIB & Xbox360
I have purchased over 180 movies from iTunes and rented countless others. Except for the last few months iTunes has had great 99cent rentals, lately they've had huge movie sales for $4.99. There selection is also quite large and varied with content old and new, indie and mainstream. It doesn't surprise me they're on top with how much effort they actually put into it. I just wish the AppleTV (1G) wasn't so damn slow and buggy. Removing the purchase option from the 2G killed any desire to buy it for me.
I've been checking out Amazon lately since they have been giving away $5 discounts with various purchases from the website. So far i've bought 3 movies from them, but have only been using them as an alternate to get movies that are not on iTunes (Amazon at least has some softcore porn). One thing I do not like about them is the lack of local storage. I know I can use the computer app to download the movies, I just wish I could do so directly from the set-top app.
Netflix is my go to service for movies that I want to watch but don't want to spend $10+ to buy. Most of these are old movies that as far as I am concerned shouldn't be sold for more than $4.99. If they were available at that price on iTunes I would buy every last one of them. Netflix has also had some recent movies that I only have watched since I didn't have to pay anything more than the monthly service cost to watch them. The service is more than worth the cost.
I have also purchased a handful of TV shows from the Zune marketplace on Xbox 360 that I bought only because I had some random Live points left over to waste, but since I cannot access that content outside of the Xbox360 and have to use the 360's interface for browsing the content, I have no interest in buying from them further.
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