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Fox and Disney iTunes Movie Rentals, 24 Hours Only?
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Of course Apple could always ]stream content to your Mac, PC, apple-TV, as well. If y'all remember, The keynote addresses have lately been streamed over the internet, and not as a viable download as it had been in the past.
That's the way ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX does it... mind you, for consumers, it's for free, i.e. advertisers have commercial spots and that's who pays for them....
IMHO, 1-day rentals are totally unreal expectations. That's why I have never thought of using Redbox. I do use Blockbuster Online and I find that conducive to the way I view movies. I once had 3 movies for 2 months
before I could effectively watch them... of course I paid for that with my monthly charges... but I did finally watch them.
That's the way ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX does it... mind you, for consumers, it's for free, i.e. advertisers have commercial spots and that's who pays for them....
IMHO, 1-day rentals are totally unreal expectations. That's why I have never thought of using Redbox. I do use Blockbuster Online and I find that conducive to the way I view movies. I once had 3 movies for 2 months
before I could effectively watch them... of course I paid for that with my monthly charges... but I did finally watch them.
we've become spoiled, haven't we?
back in my day, i would go to my corner video store, pay a buck to rent a movie for a day. i'd go home and watch it that night or the next morning, and return it.
movies are roughly 2 hrs, right? a 24 hour period seems okay, depending on how many flicks you rent in a given day. wanna watch it again, go buy it.
back in my day, i would go to my corner video store, pay a buck to rent a movie for a day. i'd go home and watch it that night or the next morning, and return it.
movies are roughly 2 hrs, right? a 24 hour period seems okay, depending on how many flicks you rent in a given day. wanna watch it again, go buy it.
I'd rather have a rental solution where I pay monthly and have a list built up. Then on down times when the computer is resting at night it downloads 3 of the newest ones. Once I remove them from my computer or return them to iTunes the next three begin.
Well, to be completely fair, sometimes you're watching a movie and you can't complete it. Perhaps the baby starts crying and won't go back to sleep and you've got a couple long days at work ahead, so it ends up being the weekend before you can finish the flick.
Or, if you're like my wife, you go to sleep in the middle of the flick and have to finish it at a later time.
One size doesn't fit all with rental schemes. Netflix is a dramatically different model from video on demand, for example. And they're both a bit different from a trip to the neighborhood blockbuster.
I tend to think a simple model like 99 cents per day would please the most people. 4.95 for 5 days, or a cheapy 99 cents for a single day. Or pick anywhere in between.
Half HD? Nah, AppleTV does 720p. And remember that it's also possible to watch movies on a computer display.
They could offer a choice for downloading a portable version or a full version. Or maybe a portable version will be downloaded along with a full version.
Thus might be a quicker way to get your favourite movies [torrents can be slow, not that I use them].
Would be great but unlikely.
Apple has been pushing content in iTunes largely for use on iPods. Those who watch on a computer or via 
TV have been in the minority in the past. That being the case, any rentals must take into consideration that they are likely to be used on a portable device. If I want to buy some movies to watch on an iPod before a trip I will likely want to have them available for the entire length of the trip, including the return trip. That means a 30 day from purchase usage limitation is probably the best fit for the way the hardware is likely to be used. A limitation of 24 hours from first time played could be inconvenient for families but is understandable from the studios point of view. If the consumer intends to watch the video many times they might consider buying instead of renting. Still, whatever terms Apple provides must be very favorable in order to lure customers away from other distribution methods both legal and illegal.
TV have been in the minority in the past. That being the case, any rentals must take into consideration that they are likely to be used on a portable device. If I want to buy some movies to watch on an iPod before a trip I will likely want to have them available for the entire length of the trip, including the return trip. That means a 30 day from purchase usage limitation is probably the best fit for the way the hardware is likely to be used. A limitation of 24 hours from first time played could be inconvenient for families but is understandable from the studios point of view. If the consumer intends to watch the video many times they might consider buying instead of renting. Still, whatever terms Apple provides must be very favorable in order to lure customers away from other distribution methods both legal and illegal.Apple has been pushing content in iTunes largely for use on iPods. Those who watch on a computer or via
They could set it up like they did originally with iTunes Plus...allow those who want the HD download to get it, or they could give the option to buy both at a slightly higher price.
Then again, maybe they can up the specs for what the iPods and iPhone will playback.
Something has to give: At some point, they're going to have higher-resolution videos for AppleTV, but they'll also want compatibility with the iPod. The most reasonable way to do that is to have multiple files. If it doesn't happen now, it will happen soon.
Maybe, but then you run into the problem of the files taking up so much room.
i know, the files would take up almost 4 gigs, but they would work
I think Apple will allow people to buy both for a higher cost personally. The HD has to be on the horizon.
I think this is great! 24 hours or more, doesn't matter to me. I live in a small hick town with 1 video store that sucks. I tried Netflix, but didn't like it because the DVD would come in and sit on the counter for weeks, then when I finally found time to watch, I send it back and wait on the next one.
I think being able to dowload a rental and watch it on my Macbook is awesome, so long as you can watch it without being tied to the internet.
I will gladly fork over my money for rentals, whereas I have yet to buy a movie from iTunes because it is tied to my Mac, can't be easily transferred (or transferred at all as far as I know) to a DVD, and I can buy the same movie for half the price at my local WalMart on DVD, use handbrake to rip it if I so desire.
But rentals are a different story (as long as the price is reasonable). My local store chargers about $5 for a 2 day DVD rental on new releases, so this would be great for me, as long as it is under the $5. I hope the service is available the same day it is announced!
I think being able to dowload a rental and watch it on my Macbook is awesome, so long as you can watch it without being tied to the internet.
I will gladly fork over my money for rentals, whereas I have yet to buy a movie from iTunes because it is tied to my Mac, can't be easily transferred (or transferred at all as far as I know) to a DVD, and I can buy the same movie for half the price at my local WalMart on DVD, use handbrake to rip it if I so desire.
But rentals are a different story (as long as the price is reasonable). My local store chargers about $5 for a 2 day DVD rental on new releases, so this would be great for me, as long as it is under the $5. I hope the service is available the same day it is announced!
The AppleTV only does 720p @24fps. So either it needs to do 3:2 pulldown or the TV has to do it. Very few 720p TVs support 24fps natively. That also mean no home HD content will play as it is usually 1080i @30 or 60fps.
stop whining!
Let's wait and see before panicking.
I hope they create a:
25 cents for 2 hours offer
Let's wait and see before panicking.
I hope they create a:
25 cents for 2 hours offer
*Sigh* of course the pricing is not yet announced - thus the discussion of the rumor. I was noting with the pricing noted in the posted rumor ($2 to $5), but you may have skimmed over that info. The cost that I noted - as I said in my post - was the cost of digital over regular extended ("but if I rent three or four movies a month, that's the price of digital cable (over non-digital) with the hundreds of included on demand choices and all the extra channels") -- for me that is $10 a month more to get digital cable, which is what comes with all of the on demand programming. Did you really think I was suggesting one could subscribe to digital cable for a total price of $10 a month?
So here it is again. I subscribe to cable anyway. I subscribe to digital cable anyway because it gives you a lot of additional channels [while it gives you lots of included HD channels (including HD movies on those channels) as well, we have yet to go HD]. But one of the nice features of that extra $10 are all of the TV shows and movies that are available at no additional cost. Given all of that included content on demand that comes to all the TVs in the house, we're not wanting for more. We've also found that paying for a premium package like HBO/Starz/Encore which puts all of that content on demand is a better economic deal than what we did before because we used to buy DVDs and one $16.99 is more than the package that gives us a fairly good number of recent releases.
I must disagree with your statement that 'half HD -- just somewhat better than a good quality, standard definition DVD' . By 'half HD' I would assume you mean 720x1280 if so it is actually slightly larger as it is 1920 x 1080/1.5.
Viewed on a nice large HD screen 720p blows away the NTSC 480x 640 (interlaced or not) picture (unless you are watching on a small enough screen so as not to be able to see this). Remember the square-law, double the pixel density and you have 4 times the area covered. You can place 9 NTSC standard video pictures in the HD format 1920 x 1080.
I am sticking my neck out and will eat humble pie if I am wrong but ...
With the end of standard TV transmissions just a short time away and many people becoming accustomed to the higher definitions and higher internet speeds common, I suspect strongly that Apple and the studios are not going to be holding back on pushing the higher definitions sooner rather than later. Apple especially has always pushed the envelope.
I get it, you don't want to be wrong. No problem. My original message just said that you should NOT call "Included" services on your cable "free" if you wanted to make a fair comparison. That's all. You wrote a very looooooong response. It's clear you have a legal background.
You were still inaccurate, and I think you agreed... you just like the relative feeling that its "free to me", regardless of how incompatible the statement is to the value proposition represented to others. --Everything else is completely irrelevant, but possibly fun to explore and discuss I 'spose, we shouldn't digress into it though and lose the original point being made.
~ CB
the bittorrent protocol is not illegal...that's like saying that http is illegal. people routinely break copyright law using bittorrent clients...i will leave the discussion as to whether those copyrights laws in their current form are reasonable for another time.
just because you find its use distasteful doesn't mean that you should ignore its impact on the online rental market. if apple puts on the blinders in this regard this rumored rental service is in big trouble.
Come on now, if Apple sells/rents HD content through the iTunes store, it will certainly be in a format compatible with the AppleTV.
