iTunes Movies to be sold for $9.99?

[bloogersnigen]

Pay Per View

With music I will listen to the same album or song 20 times but I'll only watch a movie once or twice. If they have a pay-per-view service like every time you watch it it costs $2/view or you can unlimited views (buying it) it for $10 that would be awesome.

 

[ChrisA]

$10 for such poor quality?

For $10 if it's not DVD quality you have to be an idiot to buy it. They had better seriously upgrade the quality or they will get a reputation for a crappy product.

That Disney Channel stuff airs something like 17 times a day I can just set the VCR and get 4X better quality for free. Let's hope this experiment flops.

 

[boncellis]

Score one for the posters at MacRumors! I remember reading $9.99 as the price point in numerous different threads. My impression is that this could be geared more to the iMac/Mac Mini than the iPod--at least in the future when the resolution is boosted to (at a minimum) 640x480.

What is the process of improving TV shows to higher resolution when they are released on DVD? Is it possible to improve the resolution of iTMS videos in a similar manner?

 

[Porchland]

Boo. For movies -- and TV for that matter -- I would MUCH prefer the subscription model. I'm watching a movie or a TV episode once -- maybe twice. I don't need to own it forever.

 

[Oblix]

Sorry, 9.99 is a little to high for a Disney TV Movie to go, for that matter any TV movie to go! I could more appreciate 5.99 considering that I have to download it then burn it (otherwise I wont have any more room on the Hard drive).

If this is Apple's direction, I hope we wont start seeing movies from Hollywood come in above 9.99. Right now I'll wait a couple of months to by the DVD (I dont have time to go to cinemas anylonger) and I always wait till I can buy at Blockbuster when they are second hand for 12.00. For that 12.00 they are high quality and with additional Info / packaging etc. and better value.

Anything above 9.99 will also really be a drain on my wallet for what quality!

 

[Kyle Nerder]

10 bones for a movie isn't bad. It cost close to $7 (Canadian) to rent a new release from BlockBuster and I have to drive into town and waste fuel and time. AND I CAN'T EVEN KEEP IT WHEN I'M DONE.

I'd do it if the resolution was good and my ISP didn't limit my downloading.

 

[ChrisA]

Apple nees to at least double the bit rate

I don't think I would watch a 320x240 90 minute movie if you paid me $10. My time is worth more than that.

I'm pretty sure that when people buy a movie they expect it to be t leat as good as a rented VHS tape, this is not even close to half that.

I have experimented with 254 encoding. I've found that a 1GB file looks real good. People can't tell it from the wide screen edition DVD.

 

[p0intblank]

I kind of thought $1.99 was ridiculously too good to be true! $9.99 isn't that bad at all... considering the resolution is bumped up when the movies service eventually rolls out. I trust Apple will handle this service very well, especially if the true iPod video is released around April 1st.

King Kong just happens to come out March 28th, so I definitely see this being one of the first full "movies" to be available on iTunes. It'll be widely advertised on iTunes' front page and people will definitely fold and purchase it on the spot. It sounds perfect if you ask me!

 

[Phat_Pat]

cool.... a new way to remind me when DVD's are available

 

[ChrisA]

What is the process of improving TV shows to higher resolution when they are released on DVD? Is it possible to improve the resolution of iTMS videos in a similar manner?

The "process" is simple. The shows are record at much higher quality then can be broadcast The DVD simply captures more (but not all) of the quality the camera captured.

Many profesionals now routinly use HD cameras and down sample for TV and DVD.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I know it requires substantially more bandwidth to transfer a full movie, but 10 bucks for a soft copy of a movie at a low resolution? Unlike a TV show, I think most people will at least want the option of watching the movie on TV at home. At 2/3rd the price of many DVDs and a substantially lower resolution with no menu system for skipping chapters, etc. who wants this?

I'm with you on this one for sure.
Low quality, $10 and a soft copy...no way.

 

[Surreal]

so, when they announce this in 2 weeks they should just go ahead and announce that 17" macbook pro

 

[boncellis]

I don't think I would watch a 320x240 90 minute movie if you paid me $10. My time is worth more than that.

I'm pretty sure that when people buy a movie they expect it to be t leat as good as a rented VHS tape, this is not even close to half that.

I have experimented with 254 encoding. I've found that a 1GB file looks real good. People can't tell it from the wide screen edition DVD.

Can you elaborate on that? First, was that H.264? Second, what was the length of video that ended up at 1 GB? Thanks in advance--and thanks for answering my other question.

Let me be the first to admit that my time is definitely not worth more than $10. It was hard, but I've come to grips with it.

 

[Aarow]

I won't buy any movies from iTunes because just the TV shows take for ever to download!

 

[081440]

The price was bound to go up. I wish you could fast foward faster on the iPod, if I accidentaly push the << button once on a TV show it takes forever to get back to where I was. Mabye they'll fix this for full length movies!

I'll buy, once a good movie is unveiled.

 

[beatle888]

I suppose it wasn't realistic to think we would be buying movies for $1.99. Sure woulda sold a lot of them though... $9.99 still isn't bad.

nine bucks isnt high? your high just kidding.

but dang nine bucks is outrageous, the quality is horrible at any decent screen size and with no case or printed liner notes? this is a rip off. i wont be buying many thats for sure. i would rather rent them. if im going to spend that much on a movie its going to be one i would want to watch all the time on a BIG screen and would much rather the movie company burn the dvd and print out the liner notes thank you very much. their trying to rip us off, im not bending over, the price is too big.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

I agree with this guy 100%

320 x 240 is not worth $10 a movie.

Even though I have APPL shares I will say that's a rip off at this resolution.

I rephrase that, because I've apple shares I will say that's a rip off!


I want my APPL shares to go up, and not many people will pay $9.99 for 320X240 resolution on the 5G iPod.


I have my 5G iPod since they were released and I still didn't manage to get through a full movie yet, and there's no way I would watch that res. on a TV screen.

@ that res $4.99 is the max I would pay.

And at DVD quality $9.99 is the Max I would pay!
Remember songs are diff. you can listen to songs everywhere and you get more value out of them because of that! (and songs in iTunes are cheaper to buy than CDs, so the same should apply to Movies, that's why songs were successful through iTunes).

 

[bluedevil14]

With music I will listen to the same album or song 20 times but I'll only watch a movie once or twice. If they have a pay-per-view service like every time you watch it it costs $2/view or you can unlimited views (buying it) it for $10 that would be awesome.

i think steve jobs something about that. I belive (i could be completely wrong but a pretty sure, it might have been some1 else @ disney tho) that he said, "A child will watch their favorite animation/cartoons dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, while an adult will only watch their favorite feature length film two or three times." Could that be a hint to your proposed $2 a view thing. I personally would really like that. When I have friends over, instead of going to my local video store i would just charge $2 to the old credit card and start watching.

 

[beatle888]

How about $9.99 for the first one and you get all of the terrible Disney Channel sequels for free?

no doubt. this isnt even a real movie. its a freaken tv special.

 

[Yvan256]

10 bones for a movie isn't bad. It cost close to $7 (Canadian) to rent a new release from BlockBuster and I have to drive into town and waste fuel and time. AND I CAN'T EVEN KEEP IT WHEN I'M DONE.

I'd do it if the resolution was good and my ISP didn't limit my downloading.

Hint: don't go to Blockbuster... they're incredibly expensive. And 7$ CAN = 6.10$ US, which is a bit far from 10$ US IMHO.

 

[Brad Raple]

Too much money: DVD's aren't much more.

Too low quality: If paying DVD prices, I expect DVD quality, but even with the low quality they currently offer....

Too much data: Bandwidth isn't free, and neither is storage, on my computer OR my iPod.

Too inflexible: I want to be able to burn the file to my own media, and enjoy it on another device, as I can with songs I purchase from iTunes. I'm sure the labels won't go for it, but I don't have to either.

It's a nice idea, but unless something changes to fix the problems we've pointed out, it's not going to get very far, even with the amazing free PR Apple is getting from the media.

 

[081440]

Price...

$1.99 was to cheap (TV shows were that price), but what about $4.99.

Around the same price per minute as a TV show.

 

[inkswamp]

320 x 240 is not worth $10 a movie.

Is it confirmed that this is the size? If so, I agree that $10 is a tad high for that. Has anyone actually downloaded it to see what the real resolution is?

 

[shelterpaw]

Too bad Apple can't offer them at various qualities at various prices. It would be great if you could get them at HDTV, EDTV, and ipod format or whatever they distribute for the ipod. HD could be priced at $9.99 and they could offer a way to play or stream it to your TV with full quality and surround sound. EDTV could have the same features, but come in at $4.99 and the ipod version should come in at $1.99 with no surround sound.

However, they're still going to be large files and I wouldn't want them on my laptop. I'd want to put them in some type of media center. hint hint.

 

[beatle888]

Too much data: Bandwidth isn't free, and neither is storage, on my computer OR my iPod.It's a nice idea, but unless something changes to fix the problems we've pointed out, it's not going to get very far, even with the amazing free PR Apple is getting from the media.

no doubt, their trying to stick us with too much cost. we have to back this stuff up yet they want us to pay freaken top dollar for a soft copy? this is screwy. maybe greed will bring iTunes down in the end...and its probably the movie companies to blame. come on steve get us a better deal and you'll get more of my money.