Contentless HD discs?

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Postby Willen » Sun Dec 16, 2007 7:54 am

Although it can be done with newer packaged media, I have a feeling that just like DIVX, the customer will avoid it like the plague.

What is currently being done is providing extras via this method where if you have your player connected to the internet, you can access online content like trailers (Freedom HD-DVD), activities (Shrek the Third HD-DVD), and a few others. I'm not really sure if they are actual downloads and not just extras on the disc unlocked by visiting a specific server with the HD-DVD player.

We'd need a big upgrade in the current internet's backbone to support the amount of data needed to be transferred for High Def content delivered this way. At least in a reasonable amount of time or at an acceptable level of quality (i.e. no stuttering or stopping of the video due to connection issues).

Plus, are the movie studios going to keep running the servers needed to deliver the content and are they going to pay for the necessary bandwidth required to stream HD content online?

We've already got access to this technology through our cable companies via video-on-demand. It's been around a while and I don't see Blockbuster's or Netflix's business being affected much by it. And what's better, with VOD you don't have to connect your player to the internet or store content-less discs that only provide access to video from a remote server (I have enough trouble finding places to put all my content-filled CDs and DVDs).
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Re: This is what we live for ... ?

Postby BasharOfTheAges » Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:04 pm

post-it wrote:@BasharOfTheAges .. have they stated a possible implementation starting/testing date yet??
All i know is that it's part of the specs that 3rd parties have to support if they're making players that want to be certified (i.e. to even say on their packaging that their devices can use the trademarked terms HD-DVD and Blue-ray, they need to follow the guidelines).

@Willen: From what i was told, the content would be stored on an internal HDD at least temporarily (however proprietary and unfriendly they want to make that is up to them) So the total bandwidth they'd save is significant - especially if it keeps the last 50 or so movies you've watched internally.

As for consumer avoidance - they just need to take baby steps and the average consumer will not feel it hinders them in the least. The popularity of video on demand services shows the consumers are already somewhat comfortable with accessing their content from an external network - if the features of HDDVDs and Blue-ray discs catch on like they're supposed to, companies will slowly move to having more features available through the internet that they could have just put on the disc in the first place. After a point, this will become the norm - then they switch to having the majority of content accessed online for a lower price than the movies used to cost - people will love that. It's just 1 step away from that to 100% contentless discs.
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Postby post-it » Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:07 pm

.. T_T .. why does this sound like the big corporations are hiding something and we are the Lo-Techs in Johnny Mnemonic T_T
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Postby Willen » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:00 am

The big problem is that the media isn't easily shared between multiple machines. What if I want to play it on my home theater one day, then on my portable player on another occasion? Am I supposed to buy what is essentially a stripped down laptop to playback these content-less discs? Well say goodbye to the $79 Walmart special 7" portable DVD player.

Plus, if watching the movie means sitting around staring at a blank screen or "loading" message for a few minutes to have enough of it buffered, I'm not sure if Joe Customer is willing to put up with it. Some people already take issue with the long disc loading times of current HD players.

According to Michael Bay, this is essentially what Microsoft wants to move the industry to - downloading movies and saying goodbye to packaged media. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=722

The time may come for this kind of delivery system, but it's a while away. There's too many things that aren't ready yet that need to be in place for a smooth customer experience.
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Postby Zero1 » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:00 pm

You would probably need at least 6-8 mbps down speed for decent quality H.264, which is a problem for people such as myself since I have an 8mb service, but my location dictates that I will only ever get 2mbps of that.
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