Amazon Unbox

[Darklord Dave]

Tivo is the greatest invention ever! I was moving so my tivo was disconnected Monday night. I thought Heroes would be repeated Saturday, but that wasn't the case. But go on Amazon Unbox and download Heroes straight to your Tivo! It says it's 1.99, but when I got the receipt it had credited the full amount so it cost nothing!

And it had no commercials and looked as good as HD, although it was letterboxed for some reason.

This is the future of movie rental and home theater. Got to see what else is available!

 

[RoboDad]

The future of video rentals? Sure, I could see that. I would even welcome it (assuming that we don't get locked into Tivo as the storage device). But the future of home theater? Not for me. If the day comes that I can no longer hold some kind of physical media in my hands that no one can take away from me, then I'll be out for good.

I know how Hollywood thinks, and there's no way I'm ever going to let my ability to "own" a movie be that much at their mercy. They are far too fickle, and too full of themselves. Just imagine if this type of technology had been the first to be used for home video. Once George Lucas decided he didn't want anyone to ever see the original versions of Star Wars again, he would have easily been able to make that happen. Or how about the Disney "moratorium" policy on their classic titles. You want to watch Snow White? Sorry, you'll have to wait a few years until the demand is high enough.

And while I can understand your enthusiasm, let's just say I'm a wee bit skeptical about it looking as good as HD. I'd have to see it on my 73" to believe that. I'm sure it looks way better than broadcast SD, but HD quality?

 

[Darklord Dave]

You can store it on your harddrive, so you do in fact 'own' it. I definitely see DVDs or any type of individual physical storage disappearing. Maybe not in 5 years, but perhaps in 10.

As for the quality - not only does it look like HD, but it lacks the pixelation that I refrequently get with HD over Time Warner cable. I don't like the letter boxing, but otherwise it's better than getting it off the regular stations.

 

[The ill Jedi]

Don't have a Tivo/DvR yet, but I got the premiers for Chuck and Bionic Woman for free from Unbox. I think you can also put the episodes on iPods!

 

[El Roranous]

I have to side with RoboDad on this one- I too prefer to have a tangible copy in my hand rather than a download. It all comes down to the consumer having control over their purchases, whether it be real control or just a feeling of control. Sadly, I can see the industry pushing consumers down the download path and consumers losing a lot of privileges and advantages that hard copies afford.

 

[BadMoon]

I have to side with RoboDad on this one- I too prefer to have a tangible copy in my hand rather than a download. It all comes down to the consumer having control over their purchases, whether it be real control or just a feeling of control. Sadly, I can see the industry pushing consumers down the download path and consumers losing a lot of privileges and advantages that hard copies afford.

I agree as well. Also what would happen if you lose your hard drive. Sure you can probably go in and re-download but who wants to do that. I like the idea but I am not entirely sold on it yet. I like my box sets and stuff. You can't get that with a download.

 

[The ill Jedi]

I have to side with RoboDad on this one- I too prefer to have a tangible copy in my hand rather than a download. It all comes down to the consumer having control over their purchases, whether it be real control or just a feeling of control. Sadly, I can see the industry pushing consumers down the download path and consumers losing a lot of privileges and advantages that hard copies afford.

I have a friend who downloads EVERYTHING. Movies, TV shows, music, you name it, but I am in the camp that likes to have the discs and packaging, I'm weird that way.

Like badmoon said about the hard drive, a few months ago that very same friend had his computer crash and he lost everything. I was laughing 'cause he called me a loser for buying DVD's.

 

[occulum]

its going to happen .... as soon as iTunes exploded it seemed obvious to me that movies would eventually follow suit.


.... just burn a backup copy of your files.

 

[BadMoon]

its going to happen .... as soon as iTunes exploded it seemed obvious to me that movies would eventually follow suit.


.... just burn a backup copy of your files.

I am much to busy playing Halo 3 to have to create backups!

 

[The ill Jedi]

I am much to busy playing Halo 3 to have to create backups!

Too true!!

 

[RoboDad]

You can store it on your harddrive, so you do in fact 'own' it. I definitely see DVDs or any type of individual physical storage disappearing. Maybe not in 5 years, but perhaps in 10.

As for the quality - not only does it look like HD, but it lacks the pixelation that I refrequently get with HD over Time Warner cable. I don't like the letter boxing, but otherwise it's better than getting it off the regular stations.

As far as "owning" it when it's on your hard drive, I'm afraid I disagree pretty strongly. As long as the hard drive is accessible by the "content owner" (and any hard drive based system for video downloads will be accessible), and as long as they are capable of preventing you from backing it up to a DVD, they still "own" it, and you are just "renting" it from them. You will be at their mercy should they decide to void your license for whatever reason they choose.

My position has not, and WILL NOT, change. Hollywood can continue to give me physical, tangible media for the movies they want to "sell" me, or they can kiss my money goodbye, permanently.

About the HD quality issue, I also still stand by my skepticism. Only when I can see it on my set will I be convinced that downloaded Unbox programs are HD quality. But, since my DVR comes from Dish Network, not Tivo, I suspect that it will be a long time (if ever) before I have the opportunity to decide for myself.

 

[p!tu]

I LOVE BOX SETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dont take them away!!!!!

 

[Darklord Dave]

I'm in that mode where I want fewer physical items in my environment, to the point where I'm loading all my CDs onto my hard drive and preparing to sell them.

Eventually downloads will have all the features of DVDs except you won't have to get up and change the disc - I can't really see any drawback to that method of accessing media of any type.

 

[Natrix]

I'm in that mode where I want fewer physical items in my environment, to the point where I'm loading all my CDs onto my hard drive and preparing to sell them.

Eventually downloads will have all the features of DVDs except you won't have to get up and change the disc - I can't really see any drawback to that method of accessing media of any type.

Your either going to need to buy a big expensive media server or have a ton of hard drives laying around then...

 

[occulum]

I'm in that mode where I want fewer physical items in my environment, to the point where I'm loading all my CDs onto my hard drive and preparing to sell them.

same here.

Only my all time favorite bands and movies do I care to have the physical form of.
Ive noticed I rarely even watch the extras on DVDs anymore. Only interested in specific ones.

Ive grown seriously tired of my boxes upon boxes of CD/DVD cases in my garage.
I could easily do without about 90% of them.
Personally Id be happy if they did away completely with cases for basic releases and only produced nice collectors editions in physical form.
(as long as there is a dependable, long-lasting form of back-up for all other digital media in place)

 

[BadMoon]

I'm in that mode where I want fewer physical items in my environment, to the point where I'm loading all my CDs onto my hard drive and preparing to sell them.

That is illegal sir. You may get caught by the internet police if you do that. You still have to own the CD in order to have a copy backed up.

 

[RoboDad]

same here.

Only my all time favorite bands and movies do I care to have the physical form of.
Ive noticed I rarely even watch the extras on DVDs anymore. Only interested in specific ones.

Ive grown seriously tired of my boxes upon boxes of CD/DVD cases in my garage.
I could easily do without about 90% of them.
Personally Id be happy if they did away completely with cases for basic releases and only produced nice collectors editions in physical form.
(as long as there is a dependable, long-lasting form of back-up for all other digital media in place)

Note that none of your willingness to abandon physical media is absolute. But what happens when your favorite bands and films are not produced in ANY physical form?

We all share, to one degree or another, the desire to disencumber ourselves from physical clutter. But the answer to that, for me at least, is to buy less. In the case of movies, that means renting more (or watching fewer movies - nahhh, THAT's not gonna happen! ).

I am not opposed to a media-less download system for rentals at all. I actually see that as a substantial improvement over any of the current rental models. No disappointments because all of the copies are already rented out, no scratched discs, no schedule juggling, and the list goes on.

IF (and it is a very big IF) a model was developed where "bare bones" editions of movies were made available electronically, but deluxe editions were still available on disc, I'd have nothing to complain about - as long as the movies that I want to collect get the SE disc treatment. But as much as some others might like it, the notion of ALL movies being made available ONLY as downloads is one that I will never embrace.

 

[occulum]

true.

I'll just say, the more options the better. Then we can each choose and embrace our format of choice.

Kind of like some bands still put out vinyl too. Its a cool novelty in some cases

 

[Fritz]

I'm not ready to abadon physical media yet. I still like to have all my favorite movies with case and cover. Any DVR'd sports events and shows that I want to keep I transfer to DVD and put it in a binder. I don't keep it on the Hard Drive. Now I'm totally opposite when it comes to music. I have my entire collection on Hard Drive and on my iPod. All the physical CDs are thrown in the closet in a box.

 

[nash]

That is illegal sir. You may get caught by the internet police if you do that. You still have to own the CD in order to have a copy backed up.

No No, recasting is the ONLY "illegal" activity.....anything else like burning copyrighted media, downloading from the internet, etc is all LEGAL and will not gain you an infraction.