YouTube has always been a great source of videos, be they commercially made or from individuals around the community. Occasionally, you get a person uploading full movies illegally, which of course get shot down soon after, providing not much benefit to anybody. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the company in charge of YouTube, Google, is currently in discussions that could lead to it providing online movie rentals which will help it compete against the likes of Apple's iTunes Store, plus providing better content for its users.The Wall Street Journal said that, "YouTube is talking to Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Sony Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. about charging for new titles on the existing YouTube site. In some cases, these titles might be available on the site on the same day that they come out on DVD." MacRumors stated that the rentals would be priced around $3.99, and that the agreements would differ between each studio; some are reported to be allowing free rentals, with advertisements included, which will probably prove very popular.
There hasn't been a time frame given regarding when the service would be available, but it's said that soon a three month testing period will begin, involving about 10,000 employees of Google. It was initially meant to begin early this month, though complications with the movie studios are holding it back. If this is to be reality, there will hopefully be some type of formal announcement by the end of this year.
Yeah, I agree. I think at the end of the day the only way to win that market is in some sort of set top box... Although some tv's are now coming with YouTube browsing built in, so maybe it would work then?
that implies I have a tv in the same room as my desktop computer. that you have a proper setup from the computer to send out surround sound as well. and unless theirr resolution is HD it's going to look like junk on your tv.
2. A lot of TVs now have a built in YouTube player
3. A number of people HTPCs
4. Consoles such as PS3 and Wii can compete with a similar service offered by the XBox.
Why would it not be HD? Isn't the current HD service of youtube 720p?
(we're finally getting a pair of Tivos next month)
Especially some rentals being free.
Firefox Video Download Helper 4.6.2 lists the sites, and they don't seem to be shutting them down. Sadly I'm not interested in the latest movies, so don't tend to bother much! I won't post my favourite site at the risk of a rude PM from a NeoWin enforcer!
Even Youtube HD sucks ass.
Even Youtube HD sucks ass.
What?
You're clearly watching the wrong videos. Even HD videos I've uploaded look absolutely amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOczmVcWvAc
Check out that one from above. There's no possible way you can say that sucks ass, unless you're running it full screen on something crazy big like a 30" monitor, then yeah, of course it won't look great. But would any 720p video look that great?
Even Youtube HD sucks ass.
YouTube "HD" isn't HD (read: 720p and up).
Personally I don't watch anything less than true 720p (1080p preferred), and YouTube's qualiy is only good enough for short amusing clips (even in their HD mode).
I prefer to rent from Netflix and Blockbuster with Blu-ray discs. The qualiy is just so much better.
By the way, I recently signed up for a Free SIX-WEEK trial of Blockbuster. That's just so much better than the usual short 2-week trial.
In case anyone is interested, you can find the details here: http://www.uberi.com
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