THE FUNNY thing about the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war is that, 1. most people would still rather buy a DVD because many of us are perfectly happy with its quality, and that’s probably gonna be true for a few more years, and 2. pretty soon, it will make more sense for a growing number of people to just download high-definition content to their hard drives or stream it rather than buy a disc.
OK, personally I was rooting for HD DVD but it looks like I might have picked the wrong format after Warner Bros. drove a stake into Toshiba’s heart and decided to go exclusively Blu-ray. Toshiba has responded (well, after first canceling their Consumer Electronics Show press conference) by slashing the prices of its HD DVD players. By the way, as my fellow tech journalists and I have discussed time and again, another major factor that would determine the outcome of this latest format war would be: which one will the porn industry support? And according to this article, the adult film industry is still backing HD DVD. (But shouldn’t a blue movie be on Blu-ray? Heh, just kidding.)
Anyway, now that Apple also wants to corner the movie rental business with iTunes, expect movie downloads to become even more mainstream. (Now, if only Apple could make the iTunes store available in the Philippines and the rest of Asia…)
Check out this Reuters video report on Apple’s movie rental service.
I’m a big believer in watching video online (obviously, since I handle our online video service) and an avid fan of services like Joost. Just imagine how far we’ve come — a few years ago, broadcast-quality online video was a pipe dream.
Oh, and speaking of Apple, for the record, I’m drooling over the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook. Yes, I love Mikaela my (well, until the office changes its mind, heh) MacBook Pro, but damn, just look at the MacBook Air!
January 20th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Before criticising the journalist people really should read what’s been written.
The iTunes HD download service is a RENTAL service, they’re not keepers, no ‘hard-copies’ are required. While bigger TVs (90% of sales are 720p capable only) will demand higher quality content the lack of exodus from DVD and acceptance of ’sub-standard’ HD from satellite & cable services show that public don’t need uncompressed video or even the level of quality offered by HD-DVD or Blu-ray. iTunes will be fine.
Most things we watch don’t need to be broadcast or streamed, downloading is fine and yes the current ISP services allow this - the flourishing torrent community proves this (hence we already know 720p quality is fine) no scratches, no broadcast-glitches (as with DVR). And my AppleTV was far easier to set up than my first VCR - Apple are masters of HOW to do technology right before criticising how a technology works you might want to actually use it.
As for waiting BD or HD-DVD on your Mac - it ain’t gonna happen. This years Macworld shows Apple’s true stance on optical disks - they’re dead.
McD
January 19th, 2008 at 8:25 am
who cares? pardon me but your ignorance is showing. please do some research before posing as a tech columnist. do you even know what the hi-def formats has to offer? download my ass. that’s only practical if and when a connection faster than current technology is in place. sure, the hi-def format doesn’t matter if you watch your videos on your tiny screen. oh, i forgot you might be watching pirated DVDs from china you might not be even aware homes now have HOME THEATERS!
January 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
“As for those who doubt digital distribution…note its already happening in the country but illegally. Simply go to torrent sites and you can download HD TV shows in an instant. And people doubt digital distribution?”
LOL, since when has torrent been considered digital distribution for the masses? The geeks who download pirated movies and pr0n from those sites aren’t the average consumer that these HD downloads supposedly target.
Considering that TimeWarner Cable is testing usage-based pricing for their Internet service, it seems to me that current bandwidth availability is already taxed by a small percentage of users who do download a lot more content than the average consumer. Expecting that everything will be able to work just fine if all of a sudden everyone starts downloading HD content is ridiculous.
Massive changes in bandwidth size, availability, reliability, and cost will need to be made before HD downloads become mainstream. Not to mention the need for simpler technology that the average consumer can use (without needing to be an IT person to set up a home network), the need to significanly lower storage costs (where is everyone going to store these movies?), and other ancilliary technologies (are you going to back up those Terabytes of movies?).
No, HD Downloads is a pipe dream right now. And the argument that HD Downloads have made the Blu-Ray victory over HD-DVD meaningless is simply bitterness from HD-DVD fanboys.
January 19th, 2008 at 7:22 am
“I have a 32 Inch Samsung LCD TV and I can say that my DVD is still good enough. I have a simple DVD player that upscales the video and DVD quality is still stunning. Now I have seen Blu-Ry and HD-DVD playback on stores on similar HDTV resolutions and frankly I’m not impressed.”
Sorry, but you must have bad eyesight. My wife, who is no audio or videophile, can instantly tell the difference between the two. And when we play the same exact movie on our 47″ 1080p LCD on SD DVD and BD, there’s no contest what is better to watch.
January 19th, 2008 at 6:40 am
I cannot buy a mac until they start using blu-ray drives. I love macbook pro but until apple puts HD drive in their line i cannot purchase, i have to play the waiting game. With HD media or editing you cant always stream and you cannot always store because in my line of work i cannot afford any mistakes and a hard copy of my work is necessary. I think its a great concept that everyone wants to push a virtual storage/streaming etc etc but I always rather have a hard copy on a disk for protection and ownership purposes. Having HD media on a HD disk is a must from this point on and I’m stuck with sub par pc laptops now. The added space of 50gb on 1 disk is worth its weight. I currently have a pc lapop that i would gladly trade in for a macbook pro but what em i gonna do. As soon as apple puts blu disc drives in macbook line Im all over it. Until then I will be watching from the side line.