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Windows Media 9 in Digital Theaters

Posted by michael on from the popup-ads-for-popcorn dept.

SpamJunkie writes "Feel like watching new releases in 7.1 surround sound with full digital video? It's coming, not with MPEG 4 but with Windows Media 9. Microsoft announced it is bringing Windows Media 9 to 177 screens in Landmark Theaters."

6 of 597 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Movie goers don't care... by Hard_Code · · Score: 4, Interesting

    MS is trying to grab the theater so that when on-demand online movie broadcasting (I forget if there is a more specific term...the theaters will just not have to keep the data, it will be pumped to them on demand) comes to theaters, they are all in place to charge fees and licenses and have lock-in.

    Hey, isn't it ironic how hollywood sponsored DRM could cut their own throats?

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  2. Independent film distribution by Lechter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This could be a great boon to the independent film "industry!" As they mention in the article, the costs of getting your movie out to distributers would be much much lower...no more copying and mailing huge film reels to each theater (but no more spliced-in single frames of porn either :-( ). Of course, this would only be the case if the encoding software were similarly inexpensive, and with MS cuddling up to Hollywood for DRM, I don't see this happening.

    Perhaps, this will provide the impetus to upgrade to digital projection equipment on which someone will implement an open codec...

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    credo quia absurdum
  3. Re:Piracy? by UpLateDrinkingCoffee · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm sure Windows Media 9 has all sorts of DRM protections build in... This is their foot in the door, movie studios want to use it for distrubuting in digital because they dont have to worry about the files getting propagated all over the internet. After their used to that, it won't be long before this is the only format you can get your DVD's in...

  4. Re:Piracy? by deanpole · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Do the theatre operators realize that this strong DRM will cause the movies not to play when they loose network connectivity even though the movie is stored locally on hard disc?

  5. Monopoly aids branding by Logic+Bomb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think this a great example of MS using its monopoly leverage to extend its brand (sorry for the buzzwords). They've implemented technology which probably has no real relation to what people do on their home computers -- i.e. it uses special software and hardware -- but are including it under the Windows Media brand to further entrech it in the tech-ignorant public's minds. Unless the theaters are able to go out and buy an off-the-shelf Dell, hook it up to their projection systems and use this content, MS has no business pretending this is just another great use for the same software people already have at home.

  6. Re:Argh. by tuffy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    It does not matter that M$ doesn't own a market, the minute they set their eyes on one, the current market leader (weither (sp?) it is a company or an {open} technology) is toast. Think about the state of the OA software market 10+ years ago, web browsers 5 years ago, server market, etc. M$ has the will and the means to conquer any market they want to own. Remember that.

    Bullshit. Really. Apache is still beating IIS in market share and always has. The PS2 is still clobbering the X-Box. The PalmOS is still demolishing the PocketPC. WebTV has been toast for some time. Heck, the only places Microsoft *have* been successful are Windows (due to a desktop monopoly), Explorer (due to leveraging the previous monopoly to squash Netscape) and Office (due mostly to locked-in data formats). Outside of the narrowly-defined desktop realm, Microsoft is one vast litany of failures.

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    Ita erat quando hic adveni.