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View Full Version : good bye blu ray and hd-dvd - you had yer chance and ya blew it !



flappo
01-01-2008, 05:47 AM
http://www.variety.com/VR1117978183.html

Fox, Apple to sign iTunes deal
Service will make movies available for rent
By DADE HAYES, BEN FRITZ
Apple is set to break new ground with iTunes, offering movie rentals in a bid to rejuvenate that sluggish part of the otherwise boffo service.
Fox and Disney will be announced as partners in a major unveiling by Apple chief Steve Jobs at the annual MacWorld confab on Jan. 14, according to studio sources.

Move has long been expected by Apple watchers (Daily Variety, Sept. 5) and, in some respects, merely catches the company up with video-on-demand offerings from Movielink, CinemaNow, Xbox Live and others. But the imminent prospect of movie rentals on an iPod proved tasty food for thought during the holiday week, with observers immediately handicapping what the move portends for rivals like Blockbuster, Netflix and Amazon.

More than one option
(Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
(Co) Daily Variety
Apple's two major studio partners could be joined by other distribs, perhaps Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM, which already make library titles available for purchase on iTunes. Rentals are expected to cost between $2 and $5 for a 24-hour period, with the price point ideally motivating consumers in the manner of 99¢ music downloads.

The Financial Times first revealed Thursday morning that Fox was entering into the rental initiative but did not say that other studios would join in. Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. are unlikely to participate for various competitive reasons.

Apple has been looking for ways to invigorate iTunes' video business, which has been a far more modest performer than the music downloading segment. NBC U execs, before pulling the conglom's programming off of iTunes recently, grumbled about the meager returns on their iTunes offerings.

Apple itself last disclosed video sales figures several months ago. At that time, it had registered 100 million TV downloads (at $1.99 a pop) and 2 million movies (for $9.99 and up). Those numbers are hardly insignificant but do not signal the paradigm shift that has hit the music biz.

A Forrester Research report issued Nov. 30 argued that Apple's "appetite for a slice of the video pie has proven bigger than its reach," indicating that only 19% of regular iTunes customers buy video, or just 4% of the total online population. The performance of Apple TV, the device that delivers online video to the living room, has been surprisingly flat given the must-have status of the company's iPhone and iPod. The company hopes movie rentals will boost Apple TV's fortunes.

One intriguing aspect of the rental deal, the Financial Times reported, is that studio partners will also start releasing DVDs using Apple's FairPlay digital rights management software. That will make them easier to legally copy and play on computers or iPods, potentially making video a more central part of the iPod experience.

On a turbulent day on Wall Street, as traders grappled with unrest in Pakistan and gloomy consumer sales forecasts, Apple stock was down just a fraction to $198.57. Media congloms all shed about 1%-2% in value, tracking losses in the Dow.

i really think this IS the future , the advantages of all your movies on one easily accessible media centre ( mac mini / apple tv etc ) are too great to miss

personally i'm sick to death of rummaging about in the dark trying to find the disc access tray and swapping films , reminds me of laserdiscs !!!

the disc format is SO last century !

with 720p podcasts already available from itms , there's now no reason not to have 720p / 1080i movies easily download-able ( unless you're on dialup - of course ! :) )

Vinnie Velvet
01-02-2008, 03:12 PM
Interesting.

I haven't invested in anything HD yet, waiting on the winner between HD and Blu Ray, but it looks like BOTH may be the losers in this whole thing.

I agree that the wave of the future is not in the disc format (which has been around since 1982 when CD audio was released).

Redballjets88
01-02-2008, 03:22 PM
this itunes thing wont work very well. People dont want to sit in front of a computer screen to watch a movie. I know I don't. This also wont hurt dvd/hddvd/and bluray sales too bad. As the prices for HD movies drop more people will buy, and for people who buy a lot of movies itunes isn't going to be enough. I collect movies and having a movie saved on a computer is not legit at all.

VAN HLN CA
01-05-2008, 02:52 PM
Only two left before it's a Blu-Ray empire, Paramount & Universal.

Douglas T.
01-05-2008, 03:01 PM
My Sony HD Camcorder kicks ass!

ULTRAMAN VH
01-06-2008, 09:23 AM
This tech war for convenience and easy access to music and movies has been going on for decades. Waayyy back in the 1940's a crooner names Bing Crosby pushed the invention of magnetic tape via the open reel tape recorder. This machine which produced great warmth in sound became a major inconvenience due to the energy it took to thread a full reel of tape on the machine to the other reel. Hence the invention of the 8 track tape cartridge and later the cassette tape. These two inventions didn't hold a candle to the rich warm sound an open reel player could produce but society loved the portability and ease in which the latter formats worked. Move ahead and we have the cd which again in the beginning lost alot of tone that record albums had, yet the new format was real convenient and produced digital sound as opposed to analog.
Now here we are in the 21 century and digital downloads are all the rage and whether you like it or not the cd/dvd format will be a thing of the past. I personally do not like watching movies on an I-POD or a computer moniter but the future tech will allow downoads on home theater systems and HD tvs. Whoops I forgot to mention the great VHS V. BETA wars which VHS got the victory, but later succumbed to the again more convenient and easy to use dvd format.

Redballjets88
01-09-2008, 02:57 AM
i just hope dvd doesnt die too soon. im growing a decent collection and pretty soon i'll just have a pile of obsolete crap

Dan
01-09-2008, 03:21 AM
Originally posted by Redballjets88
i just hope dvd doesnt die too soon. im growing a decent collection and pretty soon i'll just have a pile of obsolete crap

DVD?Still Waiting For Cd's To Come Out.