I wouldnt be so sure. the video download thing is only months old for the iPod and they have yet to do movies. Steve better have something up his sleeve next week.Lacero said:
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Vongo: Starz and Microsoft $9.95 per Month Unlimited Movies
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The thing that I keep comming back to is that Apple will release something similar when they are good and ready to under the assumption that the service will.
* Work flawlessly with their own ( current gen ) hardware
* Work when connected to SD, ED, or HDTV
* Work with windows ( without seamless output to TV )
* Have a decent, but not necessarly extensive, collection of first run and older films.
* Be simple to operate ( preferably through iTMS/frontrow )
on these point I can say that the intel transition looks to be part of the key since delivering content to current generation hardware can be iffy at best because of the CPU requirements for h.264 playback of all but the most basic content. The other part is they, if they use TCP, can basicly guarntee a level of security that no other platform can touch at this point.
Apple never adds a new feature without long and extensive deliberation because they know that they can never take it away. Vongo will never be able to touch the integration and simplicity that iTMS+Apple hardware can bring to the table. Apple is rarely the first out of the gate on this new technology, but they have been one of the largest and cleanest adoption because of the ease of use.
I am just waiting on the announcement. I want a Apple mini + frontrow + movies to hook up to my HDTV front projector for on demand content! I will buy one as soon as it's all ready to go, but it's gotta support HDTV h.264 unlike the curren generation of hardware.
* Work flawlessly with their own ( current gen ) hardware
* Work when connected to SD, ED, or HDTV
* Work with windows ( without seamless output to TV )
* Have a decent, but not necessarly extensive, collection of first run and older films.
* Be simple to operate ( preferably through iTMS/frontrow )
on these point I can say that the intel transition looks to be part of the key since delivering content to current generation hardware can be iffy at best because of the CPU requirements for h.264 playback of all but the most basic content. The other part is they, if they use TCP, can basicly guarntee a level of security that no other platform can touch at this point.
Apple never adds a new feature without long and extensive deliberation because they know that they can never take it away. Vongo will never be able to touch the integration and simplicity that iTMS+Apple hardware can bring to the table. Apple is rarely the first out of the gate on this new technology, but they have been one of the largest and cleanest adoption because of the ease of use.
I am just waiting on the announcement. I want a Apple mini + frontrow + movies to hook up to my HDTV front projector for on demand content! I will buy one as soon as it's all ready to go, but it's gotta support HDTV h.264 unlike the curren generation of hardware.
freeny said:
People dont buy the service and then go looking for a device that supports it. People buy a thing and go looking for things to do with it. The iPod was successful BEFORE the iTMS, and it was because people liked the device. This new service has little to stand on precisely because it requires people to want the service and find the THING to use it with. In this case one of the things is Windows Media Player, which is strike #1.
snowmoon said:
The main constraint has always been and is still bandwidth. Even with h. 264, HD movies would be monsterous. Until everyone has fiber in their house, dont expect an on-demand HD service. A movie DL service offering SD movies on some combination of .mac and distributed downloading (similar to a torrent) is the most likely shape of any offering coming down the pipe anytime soon from Apple.
Sunrunner said:
Let me just say I don't expect the new service to offer HD content right away, but most of the current generation hardware can't even playback h.264 HD content smoothly. I would be more than happy with the quality of the DVD quality trailers ( 480p ) that quicktime offers played back on a HDTV setup. They seem to have more color detail and sharpness than your average DVD.
Peace said:
Really? Didn't go into help about when I installed it. I'll have to do that when I get home. That is interesting.
SiliconAddict said:
No..It's not in the help>about
It's in all the DLL's and exe's
And there also happens to be a qt-dll file which I'm guessing is a dll for Quicktime..
[edit] Ok I went back into windows and actually the only dll files are the typical C++ runtime dll's however the actual vongo player is " a special implementation of Windows Media Player " [/edit]
Probably the only thing keeping me from just downloading TV shows I want to watch from iTunes is that they use the cropped versions of the shows for the most part. There is no (no) reason they can't put the widescreen versions of the shows on iTunes...even with the cropped ones.
The "Lazy Sunday" SNL skit was uploaded in widescreen (as NBC is one of the more artistic networks out there...they air their shows in letterboxed widescreen on the analogue channels so the digital channel can have the action spaced more cinematically [i.e. taking up the entire 16:9 frame rather than taking up a 4:3 sized portion of the frame with empty room on either side])
The "Lazy Sunday" SNL skit was uploaded in widescreen (as NBC is one of the more artistic networks out there...they air their shows in letterboxed widescreen on the analogue channels so the digital channel can have the action spaced more cinematically [i.e. taking up the entire 16:9 frame rather than taking up a 4:3 sized portion of the frame with empty room on either side])
Sunrunner said:
Umm the iPod didn't really take off until:
-iTunes was on Windows
-iTMS came out.
People buy the iPod because:
1. Its trendy
2. Its tech sexy
3. What it does (Music) it does well.
When it comes to video on the iPod it's about the same as photos. Its a tacked on feature. An afterthought. The iPod wasn't designed from the ground up for video or photos and as such the experience is less then perfect.
There really isn't any happy medium between video\photos and music. Music doesn't need to be seen. Video does. They are too different to fit into one device that is very pocketable while sports a big enough screen to view it for an extended length of time. IMHO a 4" screen is pretty much minimum for video. YMMV on that though. I still want to see another iPod product added to the mix. Apple use to have the iPod Photo, Normal iPods, iPod Mini, and the shuffle. Well they nixed the Photo and brought those features down to the "normal" iPod. There is no reason they couldn't release an iPod Video with a widescreen 4" screen. The only reason they woldn't is if video was always intended to be an afterthought.
ClarkeB said:
Sure there is a reason: The iPod with Video doesn't have a 16:9 screen because they wanted to get as much screen on the dinky system as possible. So they went with a 4:3 screen. If you put widescreen video on the thing it will look smaller. Again this is just another example of Apple shoehorning a feature into a product that it wasn't designed for.
Simple Skinning
They just mean that it is a skinned version of the Windows Media Player.
Peace said:
They just mean that it is a skinned version of the Windows Media Player.
Auto updating
The application does auto-updating. I'm sure bugs like these will get ironed out quickly. Otherwise, people won't buy it.
Sean7512 said:
The application does auto-updating. I'm sure bugs like these will get ironed out quickly. Otherwise, people won't buy it.
snowmoon said:
Have you actually tried it? It couldn't really be any easier to use. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
edgar_is_good said:
That means that those 'exclusive' movies can only be shown as long as Vongo owns the rights to them. If they have exclusive rights to Fantastic Four, then no other download service can offer them.
gauchogolfer said:
It performs a geo-based IP check before you can download the app and on serving app content through the servers.
Not in the US? No Vongo for you...
SiliconAddict said:
They do expire yes, but after a long time. Given that you can re-download it if you want to watch it again, what is the problem? They are clearly aiming this at people who don't care about keeping files, but want to watch whatever movie 'instantly'. Or those who want to load up their handheld with a stack of movies before making a trip.
chicagdan said:
I prefer watching video on my PSP (I have a 60G iPod Photo, but bought a PSP instead of upgrading to an iPod Video). I love the PSP's large 16:9 screen rather than the iPod's much smaller screen. Now if there was only a way to watch TV shows I bought from iTunes on my PSP.
narco said:
1) It has different movies for the equivalent of DVD special features.
2) Predominent market will those who want content to go.
the silver fox said:
Correct.
But it covers not only downloads but on-air/cable broadcasts, too. A good example is that even though Apple and Pixar are joined at the hip, all those Pixar movies were released under the Disney banner, so you wont be seeing any of them anywhere except VONGO or on one of the Starz channels. Not even on the Disney channels. There is a certain amount of time, or "window" that movies stay in before they are available on other channels, so as long as the movie is within that window, it belongs to Starz (or whomever has the rights to it).
And I wouldnt hold my breath for a Mac version of this service, although it would be nice. The previouse service Starz offered through REAL also promised a Mac version eventually and it never materialized.
Mr. Durden said:
You are correct on the first part, but not on the second. They will be offering a Mac version. The reason that the Real Ticket service didn't end up on Mac is because they have obviously been working on this...
the silver fox said:
You sound very sure on that point. You know any inside info you want to share with the rest of us?
You may be right, though, sice Apple and Real were at odds during this same time, it may have made a Mac version of the Real software unlikely.
I still say that until (or IF) this service really takes off, we wont be seeing any Mac version. Hope it happens, though. At least a year away.
the silver fox said:
Just curious. If you are in the UK, how can you use the service? And how do you know so much about it?