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New Movie Download Pay Service
SailorBob writes " After nearly two years in production, Hollywood-backed Movielink is giving the green light to its online movie rental service.
The Web site, a joint project of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros., will debut Monday with a limited selection of first-run and classic films from the five major motion pictures studios, in a test of the technology to select U.S. residents. Though the film studios have licensed content to other video-on-demand sites, it is the first time they've introduced a service of their own.
Of course, just like the new music services, this is also only available to US residents. "
And those residing in the US who are using Internet Explorer 5 or later.
Hmmm.
;)
When I first saw the headline I assumed it was going to a great step towards truly using the power of the internet and online sales.
However, this is nothing more than glorified movie rental with the user paying well over the odds.
I've been using something called DVDSONTAP for a while now, pay £9.99 a month and rent as many dvds as I like and send them back when I like. $4.99 AND the "pleasure" of downloading AND having to install their DRM crap? No thanks. I'll stick to regular DVD and of course, leeching from usenet
It's early on for Movielink, but in its initial incarnation, its strictly Windows & Strictly IE. If you try anything else, you'll get:
Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:
*
You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
Running Netscape, even on Windows will get you:
Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:
You need Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher - Upgrade Now
Spoofing your browser & javascript settings will just hang your machine.
(and before you say "it's not a test without platform X", I'm sure if they can get it to work on Windows, they can get it working on your platform).
Read reviews of shopping cart software
Dont they want money from outside the US?
The difference is that in the United States, the studios own the movies' copyrights because of the "work made for hire" rule. Elsewhere, the "work made for hire" rule applies less or not at all, and the studios do not own the movies; the director, screenwriter, and score composer do. The studios may have to negotiate a separate contract for each country where the service is offered.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Until it gets slashdotted, and until MovieLink ban the proxy IP:
Non US people turn off JavaScript, and go here.
But why would you want to?
I'll stick with my Charter on Demand movies. My TV has a bigger screen, the prices are just as good and the selections are better.
It doesn't require my to go by a specific TV from a specific vender either! I can use an old B&W tv with vacuum tubes or a new shiney one. It can be a large screen, or HDTV or just a regular TV.
Life is good when you don't have to buy even more stuff you don't want (like a WindozeXX computer) just to see a stupid movie!
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
Actually, I believe Mozilla for Windows has some kind of ActiveX wrapper so it works...
Luke-Jr
I tried it last night. Rented and downloaded an older classic for $1.99 (took 1.08 hours on my DSL). It seems their codec could have been much better. I have seen DivX movies the same size (628MB) and same length movie that were higher quality. I would say the quality was similar to VHS. I don't know what codec they are using, but it doesn't seem like MPEG4, which is what I would like to see them use to make maximum use of bandwidth. :-)
This service would actually be useful for us, because we live so far away from any rental store... and sometimes have problems getting the movies back on time.
We usually watch DVDs on the computer anyway.
If a service opens up that uses MPEG4 (or DivX) and has good prices, then we will be using it quite frequently.
This sort of service has some potential. There are several issues - i think I can live with DRM for this, provided that whatever system they have is self-contained. Also their download system must work, and work well. It must be convenient or why bother?
But perhaps the biggest issue here may be bandwidth - even with 1.5 Mbps DSL at home it'll take awhile to download a movie. (I wonder how the quality is at that...) If I'm going to rent a movie, it is rare that I'm thinking ahead as to what I'd like to watch. So once I decide "hey let's rent a movie", the download process begins and a few hours later I can actually watch the movie. As opposed to running to the video store for about the same price in half an hour.
An even bigger threat may be Video on Demand (VOD) services slowly being introduced by cable companies. They are basically offering the same service, but you don't have to wait for it, and it works with your TV equipment, not your PC.
Even with all of these problems, there may be a niche market here - such as going on a flight - just DL a movie ahead of time. Of course DVDs are readily available - but at least in this case you can do it a week ahead of time and not worry about returns - hey here's a thought maybe they can offer LAN services from stores a local airports? Download over your ethernet from airport store servers?
I hope they have a business plan though!
while forcing the rest of the world to download the warez version,
I don't see how this forces the rest of the world to download the illegal version...you don't have a "right" to the movie or a "right" to watch it. You aren't being "forced" to illegally download it. No one is holding a gun to your head...if you download it illegally, you've downloaded it illegally. You can't use "the legal download service wasn't available for me so I was forced into a life of crime" excuse..that is just plain ridiculous. Stop whining and get on with life.
The anti-salmon
They aren't streaming. The site is way sparse on details but from what I can see, you download their "Movielink Manager". The MM handles your movie downloads (resumes, etc). You download the full movie in whatever format they send it in and you have 3 days to watch it. Once you start it you have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you like. I don't know the quality but it will be much better than streaming.
The MM also "convieniently" removes movies files when your rental expires.
Your math is wrong because you're not factoring in overlap... by which i mean, users who fall into more than one category. These characteristics you list are not strictly independent. I'd guess that damn near everyone still running win95 lacks broadband, for example, so if you've already limited your market to "broadband subscribers" you probly don't have to care about too many people with win95.
I won't bother getting into the discussion of whether your numbers are accurate, but if we assume they are, i'd figure that the best guess for the actual market is much closer to being exactly the same as the percentage of users with broadband, due to overlap. In your estimation, that's 20%, which is still a fairly decent chunk of the user base, assuming they're able to effectively advertise to that demographic. I don't think they will, mind you, but it's still a potentially lucrative market.
-k
Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:
*
You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
Netflix advertises via spam - as such I would avoid doing business with them.
Google'd evidence
www.eFax.com are spammers
From the website:
"Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:
*
You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP"
Guess no movies for me.
"Smokey, this isn't Nam, there are rules." -Walter
I have a Netflix subscription and LOVE it.
I'd say they have an excellent selection of non-mainstream films. Last year I shared the account with my apartmentmate Kate. She definately had non-mainstream taste in movies. I don't think there was a single movie she wanted that she couldn't find on NF.
Cheaper than this new service and higher-quality too. Also more flexible and available to those who don't have broadband.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
For all us suckers out there that aren't privelaged enough to use such spectacular software as IE and Windows, they left an outlet for us to express our grief. While the main site is protected from malicious non-IE browsers, the "tell us what you think" for is not. Post away here:
http://4.42.225.135/kbase.asp?articleid=8
"You have a rental period of 30 days to play the movie. Once started, watch the movie as many times as you'd like within 24-hours."
Also, it looks like it is offered in Real or Windows Media Player formats.
- You need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
There's spyware.You need Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher>
You need RealPlayer 8.0 or higher or Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher.
You need a Connection Speed of 128 kbps or higher. Scripting must be enabled.
Cookies must be enabled.
-
a. Downloads. You acknowledge that Movielink and/or its authorized third party providers and affiliates may issue upgraded versions of the Services and Movielink Manager Software required to be downloaded by you from time to time, and may automatically electronically upgrade the version of the Movielink Manager Software that you are using on your computer. You consent to such automatic upgrading, and agree that these Terms of Use (as amended from time to time) along with the Software License Agreement and any amendments thereto will govern all such upgraded versions.
There's an arbitration clause like the one just struck down by the courts regarding PayPal.b. Modification of Services. Movielink reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to update, change, modify, add or remove any portion of the Services or these Terms of Use, in whole or in part, at any time. Changes to these Terms of Use will be effective when posted. You agree to review these Terms of Use periodically to be aware of any changes. By continuing to use the Services after any changes, you agree to be bound by subsequent revisions to these Terms of Use.
I'm a Californian, just like them, and I still get this. I used whois for their phone number ((310)264-4500) and called them and they stuck me on hold. Fuck that, I'm paying by the minute for that call (Santa Monica is not a local call here). I hung up on them. I've toyed with those "geo-locator" services before, and they all seem to pick up that I'm somewhere in the Golden State. Whatever they're using, they must be smoking.
They're always whining and moaning and bitching about "letting the free market decide", and you know what? They're absolutely right in that regard. The decision has been made crystal-clear. You can log onto Kazaa or the like of it and deal with the headache of "remotely queued" or "need more sources", or you can deal with the headache of "not availible outside the usa" "use windows only" "fuck mozilla" from these clowns. This site seems to just scream "we don't get it". They don't. They take what they think cheapens their expenditure and add everything that makes money then take out everything consumers like and after falling flat on their face, like a whiny kid who fell in the mud during a race, they point at the winners and scream and yell "he cheated!" and then scream at the judges to declare them the winner and jail everyone else. That's the kind of scum we're dealing with. They tied their shoes in knots and wonder why they can't even crawl.