Whenever Apple releases a new product, you can almost feel the wave of amnesia spread over the tech universe. Like the new Apple TV, which hooks directly up to the new iTunes video rental service. This isn't the first, or even the second, product to allow you to "rent" self-destructing downloadable movies—Movielink and Vudu tried before with dedicated set-top boxes—but now that Apple's done it, those services might as well cease to exist.
To be sure, the movie rental update is a welcome one. After all, there are only so many times you'll want to watch Wild Hogs. The real killer app, however, is the promise of no-CPU-necessary, high-definition downloading. Ever since Blu-ray and HD-DVD first began slugging it out (and even after combo players, test drives and the big Warner Bros. big HD-DVD dropout), the techocracy has been forecasting a future of over-the-air HD downloads as the silver bullet to put this wretched war to an end.
To be sure, the movie rental update is a welcome one. After all, there are only so many times you'll want to watch Wild Hogs. The real killer app, however, is the promise of no-CPU-necessary, high-definition downloading. Ever since Blu-ray and HD-DVD first began slugging it out (and even after combo players, test drives and the big Warner Bros. big HD-DVD dropout), the techocracy has been forecasting a future of over-the-air HD downloads as the silver bullet to put this wretched war to an end.
Apple's high-definition movie rentals could be just that: the final nail in the coffin in a format war few care about and nobody wants. Now that most major studios are on their side, Blu-ray may have "won" the last several rounds, but players are still expensive (the cheapest stand-alone one announced so far is still $350), and discs are both pricey and limited (if you aren't into the latest big-budget new releases, good luck.) At $229, the Apple TV is reasonably priced, and it pulls in new and old releases from every major studio. And because it's a lot easier (and a lot less risky) to throw a film on a server than to mass-market it in a brick-and-mortar store, we can expect the available library to dwarf anything available on Blu-ray.
And did we mention that Apple TV does a whole lot more than just let you rent movies? Because it does, from surfing the Web to streaming music and movies from your purchased-for-keeps iTunes library.
So Blu-ray, you may win the war over HD-DVD, but gloating time is over. Just like the iPod essentially knocked Sony's Walkman line out of the mobile music business, the updated Apple TV could be Blu-ray's worst nightmare. At Steve Jobs' MacWorld 2008 introduction of the new Apple TV, Fox bigwig Jim Gianopulos had some telling words: "People still want to buy hard media." That one word—"still—seemed to forebode doom for the plastic disc, as if to suggest that it won't be long until people don't, in fact, want to buy them at all. —Seth Porges
News source: Popular Mechanics
its not actualy that bad downloading 1080p movies , with adecent connection you could have one in a few hours lol
If they made this a subscription service (say, $4.99/month to keep one movie, to start), then even Netflix and the mighty Blockbuster will be done for.
Last edited by Orlando Rays on 16 Jan 2008 - 12:12
If they made this a subscription service (say, $4.99/month to keep one movie, to start), then even Netflix and the mighty Blockbuster will be done for.
agree, subscription to watch unlimited movies
Perhaps I can't detect the sarcasm, but are you kidding me? A few hours with a decent connection? Not with a standard cable or DSL connection as of now. When I pay the extra $10/month for the supposed Comcast Elite and maxed out it won't come close. Either speeds have to increase drastically or they'll have to compress it drastically, which defeats the purpose of HD imho.
its not actualy that bad downloading 1080p movies , with adecent connection you could have one in a few hours lol
i hope your lol refered to downloading in a few hours, considering HD movies will be rather big files, even compressed your looking at about 7 gig, but then your loosing quality, full uncompressed HD will be in the tens of gigs. now on my 512k connection, whchi s about average for australia.. let me see, umm LOTS more than 2 hours, oh yeah and with my 10 gig limit/month, that one movie just used up almost all my bandwidth, and i am cut down to 64k once that happens... now once that happens its goign to take a long time to get anymore movies...
We don't know how much they are going to be in the UK yet?
We don't know how much they are going to be in the UK yet?
I have a cineworld card - costs me �11.99 a month
for that I can go to the movies, when ever I want, no limits.
Renting at a couple of quid isn't worth it. IMO
Last edited by evo_spook on 16 Jan 2008 - 12:08
We don't know how much they are going to be in the UK yet?
They wont be 99p thats for sure. I predict 2.99 for SD Libary Movies, 3.99 for SD New Releases. 4.99 for HD Libary Content and 5.99 for HD New Releases.
Thats GBP. The price for the Apple TV is silly, 199.99p, when in the US its the equivilent of 117.50p GBP at todays exchange rate. Yes I know direct price comparisons dont mean all that much, but it just shows how badly the UK consumer gets shafted.
* grumble grumble grumble *
We don't know how much they are going to be in the UK yet?
They wont be 99p thats for sure. I predict 2.99 for SD Libary Movies, 3.99 for SD New Releases. 4.99 for HD Libary Content and 5.99 for HD New Releases.
Thats GBP. The price for the Apple TV is silly, 199.99p, when in the US its the equivilent of 117.50p GBP at todays exchange rate. Yes I know direct price comparisons dont mean all that much, but it just shows how badly the UK consumer gets shafted.
* grumble grumble grumble *
Remember that in the UK that includes an ad valorem of 17.5% The actual pre-tax price is £164.99, or around US$320.
Still a bit hefty, but it's not exactly abnormal considering the price of other imported things in the UK. Can't blame Apple for that one.
We don't know how much they are going to be in the UK yet?
They wont be 99p thats for sure. I predict 2.99 for SD Libary Movies, 3.99 for SD New Releases. 4.99 for HD Libary Content and 5.99 for HD New Releases.
Thats GBP. The price for the Apple TV is silly, 199.99p, when in the US its the equivilent of 117.50p GBP at todays exchange rate. Yes I know direct price comparisons dont mean all that much, but it just shows how badly the UK consumer gets shafted.
* grumble grumble grumble *
Remember that in the UK that includes an ad valorem of 17.5% The actual pre-tax price is £164.99, or around US$320.
Still a bit hefty, but it's not exactly abnormal considering the price of other imported things in the UK. Can't blame Apple for that one.
Yeah true, I wasn't really trying to blame Apple, just a bit of a rant at different prices for identical products etc.
Not sure where he get's his thinking that saying "still" is a doom warning for discs......
This guy needs to do his homework, the appletv has an intel chip and runs a stripped down version of OSX. It's basically a cheap computer that you hook up to your tv.
The only time i use a floppy drive is to install my 3rd party RAID drivers. (even then I check that no-ones looking 'cause I feel ridiculous!
the departure of physical media is almost certainly inevitable with increased connection speeds and hard drive capabilities.
hmm.
I'm sure it is inevitable....just not in 2008
it's a consumer thing though, In Norway the biggest ISP tried to add BW caps. they did it for a year and lost so many customers they had to fall back on non capped BW.
This can not and will not work in most countries. America can not even handle unlimited p2p and LARGE companies like Comcast have been forced to criple it. Could you imagine if everyone was "renting" hi-def movies. You have got to be joking, the jaws off ISP's CEO's would drop, and their "unlimited" plans would be dropped even faster. This is not viable basically anywhere. The speeds do not exist nor do the links to sustain such wide spread services. On demand videos via the internet is a pipe dream most seem not to have realized is purely a pipe dream.
Plus lets not forget the Apple TV 1.0 was a limited useless device, a doubt 2.0 will offer anything better.
Sensationalist journalism, useless tools.
Last edited by bits on 16 Jan 2008 - 13:19
Last edited by rusmo on 16 Jan 2008 - 14:29
And then another two weeks after that, the average person will have finished their first download.
Last edited by MioTheGreat on 16 Jan 2008 - 14:43
I just don't see how adding the ability to click a RENT button in iTunes warrants a whole version jump...
I just don't see how adding the ability to click a RENT button in iTunes warrants a whole version jump...
In addition, it adds the ability to download directly to Apple TV. You no longer need to use iTunes and sync from your PC.
wait, only 100 HD movies so far.. all 1280x720, and only handful at 5.1. bitrate and other numbers not known regarding video quality... yes, this will definitely put an end to BD / HDDVD
If Apple are anything to go by on past experiences, you'll get 720p Xvid (1GB for a typical episode of a TV series).
Apple are the same company who call a 192kbps "CD Quality", and 720p is still defined as "HD", so Apple would easily get away with it.
I'm pretty sure we'll have a few generations of online movie services in between before this will get common enough to stop people from renting physical movies.
Last edited by Jugalator on 16 Jan 2008 - 15:03
My thought exactly.
Where does it mention exact cost?
Huh? You mean you rent a movie from iTunes and it's yours permanently? How is that a rental?
Huh? You mean you rent a movie from iTunes and it's yours permanently? How is that a rental?
You pay a monthly fee for your cable service and your cable box in addition to each VOD request. For iTunes, you only pay for the rentals.
Huh? You mean you rent a movie from iTunes and it's yours permanently? How is that a rental?
You pay a monthly fee for your cable service and your cable box in addition to each VOD request. For iTunes, you only pay for the rentals.
You have to pay for broadband internet as well, and the Apple TV, and you only get what you download. My cable also has many free on-demand movies, and 50-plus free streaming music channels in addition to all the TV channels.
Last edited by Deron Dantzler on 16 Jan 2008 - 19:42
oh then you have the people that wont buy it becasue it is Apple..
OK I got your attention. I love it how Apple does something others did a long time ago then bash them (and indirectly, themselves) in the process. For example, XBL was offering this forever. I don't think I need to say more.
My 2 cents...
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