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Disney to Make Movies Available Online

musiholic writes "Disney has cut a deal with Movielink to make various Disney (and Disney subsidary) films available for 30-day paid downloads. Users can watch the film an unlimited amount of times before the movie expires. The movies requre Real Player or WMP."

355 comments

  1. a new hell by gokubi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, a new hell for us parents:

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "No, 63% to go."

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "No, 62% to go."

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "No, 61% to go."

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "sigh"

    --
    I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
    1. Re:a new hell by crazysim · · Score: 0

      In the end, it expired before he could download it. :P

    2. Re:a new hell by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      {After waiting two hours for the movie to download}

      OK kids! {hits play}
      "Now available from Disney on DVD..."
      {FastForward}
      "Coming soon from Disney Home Theater..."
      {FastForward}
      "Now playing in theaters from the creators of..."
      {FastForward}
      "Walt Disney World presents..."
      "Coming..."{FastForward}"From..."{FastForward}"Now available..."{FastForward}"Kids..."{FastForward}"M aw..."{FastForward}"Angels..."{FastForward}"After. .."{FastForward}
      "Now the Feature Presentation... please wait while your movie downloads..."

      99.99% to go...

      --
      -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
    3. Re:a new hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One hundred minutes of download to go,
      One hundred minutes to go...

    4. Re:a new hell by Microlith · · Score: 1

      Who are you kidding. You won't be able to fast forward through those previews!

    5. Re:a new hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

      "Yes! Finally"

      Press Play
      Title Screen

      "Sorry your 30 days has expired"
      Movie Closes

  2. Good by digital+bath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now if only the RIAA could follow this lead. I don't seen anyone hating disney - oh wait, they're not suing the youth of America.

    --
    find / -name "*.sig" | xargs rm
    1. Re:Good by azzy · · Score: 1

      I thought we were supposed to hate disney?

    2. Re:Good by d3faultus3r · · Score: 1

      Umm...yes they are. MPAA lawsuit, remember? As to your assertion that no one hates Disney. Well, I'll laugh at your naivete: Hah-ha

      --
      read my blog
      musings on politics and technol
    3. Re:Good by grennis · · Score: 4, Funny
      I don't seen anyone hating disney

      I guess you are new here?

    4. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The music industry set the lead that Disney is following. Its called iTunes, and has been very successful. The copyright owners grant iTunes rights to distribute their works. iTunes is inexpensive, so customers are happy. Everyone wins.

    5. Re:Good by David+Hume · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now if only the RIAA could follow this lead. I don't seen anyone hating disney - oh wait, they're not suing the youth of America.


      I suspect it will not be enough for the majority on Slashdot. Why? Because the movies expire within 30 days, and many may find that to be unacceptable. I mean, why should Disney be allowed to offer its movies only on terms it deems to be acceptable?

    6. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On saturday mornings, but today is thursday!

    7. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I don't seen anyone hating disney
      I guess you are new here?

      The quality of his grammar suggests otherwise...
    8. Re:Good by Lord+Kestrel · · Score: 1

      I think the issue will be that you can only visit the site with IE5+, and can only watch the movies with Windows98+.

    9. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm...yes they are. MPAA lawsuit, remember?

      MPAA lawsuit against whom?

    10. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which MPAA lawsuit would that be, exactly?

      Slashdot: where making stuff up is an acceptable rhetorical tactic.

    11. Re:Good by dangerweasel · · Score: 1

      They are hated by the Southern Baptist's for (gasp) employing homosexuals, and allowing them to be (another gasp) OPEN.

    12. Re:Good by joFFeman · · Score: 1

      disney owns at least one record company that is PART of the RIAA if i remember correctly..

      --
      "Life is great; without it, you'd be dead." -Harmony Korine
    13. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    14. Re:Good by David+Hume · · Score: 1

      I think the issue will be that you can only visit the site with IE5+, and can only watch the movies with Windows98+.


      Isn't it really the same issue? That is, "should Disney be allowed to offer its movies only on terms it deems to be acceptable?" Apparently, those terms will include the requirements that customers use IE5+ and Windows98+. This will presumably be because other browswers and operating systems don't support the DRM necessary to enforce the 30 day use rule.

    15. Re:Good by Natasha · · Score: 1

      Isn't that sort of like complaining that they're only releasing movies on DVD or VHS and you can't watch them on your Betamax or Laserdisc system. They're targeting the largest market out there and that's where the money is.

    16. Re:Good by Trelane · · Score: 1

      Actually, given that they claim to support Real 8--for which there are players on those Other OSes and thus should play on other platforms--your analogy falls apart.

      The Windows + IE requirement is artificial, since the movies would stream onto a Mac, Linux, Solaris, or other box.

      Furthermore, even if your argument were valid, we are still free to complain, since a business is not supporting our chosen platform. This is how free markets are supposed to work. If we just shut up, they never hear from us. If we ask them (kindly) to please support our platform, they know that there is a market out there which they're not tapped into.

      --

      --
      Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
    17. Re:Good by stevejsmith · · Score: 1

      Quite the contrary. Ever see The 700 Club on ABC Family, a subsidiary of Disney? They go on and on about how homosexuality is evil. It's a Christian convertion show.

    18. Re:Good by RdsArts · · Score: 2, Informative

      The record company your looking for is Hollywood Records, who had ICP and Danzig on their lable for a whole week.

    19. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And all we need to do is break RealPlayer and be able to capture the movies to MPG or AVI.

      Disney, you're SO fucked and you don't even know it yet.

    20. Re:Good by great+om · · Score: 1

      As part of their deal with FOX (who they bought the network from), they have to honor FOX's deal with PAt Robertson, who used to own the network back when it was the Family Channel and showed nothing but Waltons reruns. The deak says that they have to continue broadcasting the 700 Club. Disney may be evil, but they ain't rightwing christian

      -om

      --
      ------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
    21. Re:Good by dangerweasel · · Score: 1

      I found a link to the text of the resolution passed by Southern Baptists about their boycott of all things Disney. I think they are still boycotting.

  3. Wow! by WuWarrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't believe Disney actually came up with this. But what prevents the people who pay for the movie to share it?

    1. Re:Wow! by Uart · · Score: 1

      I assume that the same DRM that will cause it to time out will prevent the file from working for anybody else. Just my guess though.

      What ever happened to Movie88.com/Film88.com, that site was great, even from Taiwan/Iran I was still able to get a pretty decent stream going on.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    2. Re:Wow! by RatBastard · · Score: 4, Informative

      DRM. You did notice that the files are available in RM and WMV formats only, right? I'm not positive abiout Real files, but I know that WMV files (especially Media Player 9, which I'm sure you will need) can phone home to get permission to actually play.

      --
      Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
    3. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that it's a fucking crap format and you can easily find a better pirate version to download?

    4. Re:Wow! by MikeXpop · · Score: 1

      The fact that it's a disney movie?

      --
      Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
    5. Re:Wow! by tarquin_fim_bim · · Score: 1

      Doesn't mplayer do RM and WMV?

    6. Re:Wow! by Talinom · · Score: 1

      I can't believe Disney actually came up with this. But what prevents the people who pay for the movie to share it?

      What is to prevent you from setting your computer clock forward to 2025 then downloading the movie to extend the 30 day period? Ethics.

      DMCA (Legislated ethics). RIAA (Ethic enforcement group). Your God(tm) (Ethical being personified). Your conscious.

      --
      "Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
    7. Re:Wow! by imaro · · Score: 1

      The movies can only be watched repeatedly within a 24 hour period, after that it locks you out.

      Behold the power of Disney, once again, innovating before the rest of corporate america. If they didn't own my soul already, I think I'd love them.

      --

      Burninating the villagers, burninating the country side. TROGDOR!
    8. Re:Wow! by El+Cubano · · Score: 1

      What is to prevent you from setting your computer clock forward to 2025 then downloading the movie to extend the 30 day period? Ethics.

      Not ethics. Technology. The time stamp probably comes from the download server, and each time you open the file it checks with the download server (I would imagine) or another server of Disney's choosing.

    9. Re:Wow! by aligma · · Score: 1

      I'm a streaming media developer who has worked with Windows Media DRM, and I can tell you, the timestamp DOES come from the server, so yes El Cubano, you're on the money.

    10. Re:Wow! by vidnet · · Score: 1
      Actually I think you got a decent stream from the Netherlands, since Iran didn't have the connections. Working out of the Netherlands was also what enabled the industry to shut it down.

      IIRC, that is.

    11. Re:Wow! by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Which is funny because with a dialup a movie could take more than 24 hours to download in the first place. So by the time you have the whole movie, you can't watch it because your time is up.

    12. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MPlayer and Xine do WMV just fine, although I don't know about the newer (9) WMV. They don't support RM out of the box though, I'm not sure if they have plugins available. Even if they did though, nobody wants to watch a movie in RM. It's the worst fucking format ever invented, it's like watching a slideshow.

      Hrm... Well, of course there was Vivo. That one sucked pretty hard too.

    13. Re:Wow! by aking137 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      At the moment, only if you use (closed source) codecs imported from the commercial versions of those programs, which are closed source (AFAIK). The status page for the various formats is here. I don't know if this closed source component will therefore still prevent you from getting around the restrictive DRM measures in place.

    14. Re:Wow! by El+Cubano · · Score: 1

      I'm a streaming media developer who has worked with Windows Media DRM...

      What would be interesting to know is if the files are in someway crippled so that they won't play under Linux with something like Xine or MPlayer using the native win32 codecs. Not that I particularly care about the movies themselves (I have boycotted Disney for most of my life), it is more technical curiousity.

    15. Re:Wow! by mrpuffypants · · Score: 1

      They actually make you use their proprietary WMV player. It doesn't have to phone home, but you have to use the player. That way you could watch the movies on a plane sans 'net connection

    16. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTFA. After downloading, you have 30 days to start watching it. Once you start to watch it, then you have 24 hours before it gets deleted.

    17. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Behold the power of Disney, once again, innovating before the rest of corporate america.

      If you would bother to RTFA, you would see that Disney is actually one of the last major studios (behind Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony, etc) to join Movielink.

    18. Re:Wow! by imaro · · Score: 1

      Close, but no cigar. You have 30 days to begin the 24 hour period. Even still the article does speak of broad band access... could it be required?

      --

      Burninating the villagers, burninating the country side. TROGDOR!
    19. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Idiot. RTFA. You have thirty days to watch it, but once you start watching it, it expires in thirty minutes.

      ---Stupidity should hurt

    20. Re:Wow! by cubicledrone · · Score: 1

      What's to prevent people from PAYING FOR THE FUCKING MOVIE?

      The whole "reform copyright" argument is about three inches from losing every last shred of integrity. Looks like it was always about nothing except "I want it, therefore I don't have to pay for it."

      --
      Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
    21. Re:Wow! by vigilology · · Score: 1

      Isn't there a program that will record a copy of whatever is displayed on the screen? And a virtual loopback program for the audio? This would bypass any DRM-like restriction.

    22. Re:Wow! by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

      If not you could always just use the TV-out ony many cards and record on another computer or VCR.

      DRM is a joke propagated by stupid people that use media money on stupid research put forth by stupid companies [cloakware]. Instead they could just pay people to invent better tech, pay the artists [equally well] and shock! lower prices.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    23. Re:Wow! by axxackall · · Score: 1

      Yep! You just run the player in Mac OS (9 or X) inside MOL (Mac-On-Linux) inside X11 window on you Linux/PPC box. Then you can interspt everything. But that won't make it any more legal.

      --

      Less is more !
    24. Re:Wow! by rinoid · · Score: 1

      All I want are open formats. I am willing to bet a locked and proprietary format will encourage more theft than an open one...

      Why not something better? Oh, that MSFT discount... o.k. now I understand.

      Sigh.

    25. Re:Wow! by rasteri · · Score: 1

      Well surely if mplayer can play it, then mencoder can, too? Presumably, you could just re-encode it to DivX or whatever your favourite codec is.

      Although, to be honest, I doubt mplayer could play DRM'd files...

    26. Re:Wow! by 13Echo · · Score: 1

      Well, to be fair, they are slightly modified (hacked) codecs. But it does require proprietary software to play the files. Is there any alternative at this time with these closed source formats? Unless we all lucked out and everyone started using MPEG, DIVX, or (in the future) Ogg Tarkin, we're stuck in this rut. I don't think that things will change though.

      In the case of some codecs, like those that handle the recent QuickTime files, they actually use Winelib due to their DirectX dependance.

    27. Re:Wow! by Pippity · · Score: 1

      Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking too. Anything that gets sent to the screen has to be totally free of any encryption mechanism. Plus, if you're using a DVI output, everything is completely digital!

      Then nothing currently prevents you from using something like this DVI-Ramp to grab the video and have it sent off to disk or something.

      So until the DRM mechanisms extends all the way to... Humm... Maybe I should get a patent on a DRM-enabled screen now.

  4. They Don't Get It! by blackmonday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't watch movies on my computer screen. I watch them on my TV.

    1. Re:They Don't Get It! by dytin · · Score: 1

      I don't watch movies on my computer screen either, but I have a video card with TV-out, so I just hook up my computer to the TV, and watch away. Most laptops these days have an S-Video jack.

    2. Re:They Don't Get It! by interiot · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yup. Laptop + svideo out + wifi + bittorrent = instant set-top box with free movies.

    3. Re:They Don't Get It! by mblase · · Score: 1

      I don't watch movies on my computer screen. I watch them on my TV.

      Then don't get them via internet download, get them at your local video rental store. Disney's gotten that distribution medium for a few decades now.

    4. Re:They Don't Get It! by Kludge · · Score: 1

      Get a TV output for your computer. That's how I watch DVDs, home movies, etc.

    5. Re:They Don't Get It! by moncyb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are you saying you don't want to watch movies on your computer screen? Don't you realize just about any computer's display is far better than analog TV? According to my communications book, NTSC analog TV is 428x339 60 Hz interlaced. Unless you're using an Atari 130XE, that's quite bad.

      As to "they don't get it", they don't. I'm not paying money to a company who wants to take control of my computer. I don't want to pay money to a company who is trying to extend their copyrights forever, yet they will wait until the copyrights of others expire so they don't have to pay royalties. There are plenty of other nasty things they do.

    6. Re:They Don't Get It! by fendel · · Score: 1

      Are you saying you don't want to watch movies on your computer screen? Don't you realize just about any computer's display is far better than analog TV?

      My TV has a comfy couch in front of it. It seats two people and one big cat.

      My computer screen has one of those quasi-ergonomic kneeling chairs; it seats precisely one person, and not in a way that you'd want to sit for two hours straight.

      And I'm not going to get a TV-out card; no way am I unhooking this tangled mess of cables and moving the box to the living room to watch a movie...

    7. Re:They Don't Get It! by Captain+Large+Face · · Score: 1

      The display may be much better on a monitor, but the price to dimension ratio is also a lot greater for a monitor.

      I have a 17" monitor at home, and occasionally use it to view DVDs (thanks MPlayer), but I'd much rather watch a DVD using a larger (e.g. 24") television screen, despite the obvious quality different. Is it just me that does that?

  5. Screen captures? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Users can watch the film an unlimited amount of times before the movie expires.

    What's to stop me from using a screen capture program while I'm playing it to make an unexpiring copy for myself?

    GMD

    1. Re:Screen captures? by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 2, Funny

      Guilt? :P

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    2. Re:Screen captures? by nlvp · · Score: 1
      Honesty, integrity, and the law.

      Why is it that the second a company tries to release it's hold over it's own copyright content, the first thought that crosses your mind is how to rip it off?

      Your message is like a poster-advert for end-to-end DRM.

    3. Re:Screen captures? by FauxPasIII · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      >> What's to stop me

      Palladium.

      --
      25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
    4. Re:Screen captures? by jared_hanson · · Score: 4, Funny

      I made a LEGO MindStorms robot that would hit "Print Screen" at exactly 29.97 frames per second to do just this. A small utility program I wrote then writes a bitmap of a screen out to a file on disc. A little splicing and encoding, and *ta-da*, a never expiring movie.

      I nearly shot myself when I found out I could pipe the screen to my VCR through S-Video.

      --
      -- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
    5. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Guilt? You mean the same thing that stopped Eisner and his (thankfully) dead crony Sonny Boner from robbing the public domain? And that stopped seven corrupt or misguided Supreme Court judges from upholding this bought and paid for law?

      ~~~

    6. Re:Screen captures? by rgoer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's to stop me from using a screen capture program...

      Nothing, probably.

      But, assuming they are going to treat this like a thirty day "rental," my guess would be that copyright law would be applicable and such a screen-capture duplication would be illegal--since you don't own the thing you rent, it is not yours to duplicate.

      Then again, I could be wrong about this (among other things).

    7. Re:Screen captures? by winse · · Score: 1

      actually it is much easier to just get a capture card or just plug your s video out into your vcr (not as high quality as a dvd, but very good for vhs)

      --
      this sig is deprecated
    8. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Easy. You may only play these movies on an approved platform--anything else will be considered piracy under the 2004 second revised DMCA. Approved platforms will be in collusion with hardware and software manufacturers to ensure that designated video streams cannot be displayed on an unapproved device or re-recorded. People who hang on to noncompliant hardware and software are not contributing to the economy and are therefore terrorists.

      Hope that helps.

    9. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are completely wrong. Show me the law which says I may not rent a videotape and make a personal use copy of it.

      PS - there isn't one. There never has been. Please stop falling for propaganda that this is legally impermissible.

    10. Re:Screen captures? by El · · Score: 1

      What's to stop you from training a video camera at your tv screen? (Ok, so it probably requires a GenLock to sync the camera to the tv to get a decent picture.)

      --

      "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    11. Re:Screen captures? by Alton_Brown · · Score: 4, Funny

      Um, you're not a parent are you? ;) Not being able to watch the movie after 30 days is a GOOD thing! Trust me! Added bonus - kids won't be tying up the home theater either! I think *I* know all the lines to Monster's Inc. now :)

    12. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      I nearly shot myself when I found out I could pipe the screen to my VCR through S-Video.


      I know that the parent was kidding, but don't all video out cards have macrovision?

    13. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      for end-to-end DRM.

      That's impossible unless you're talking about a brain implant. If the content is only ever available in a DRM locked format, I can do without it. Forever.

    14. Re:Screen captures? by afidel · · Score: 2, Informative

      Macrovision on the tv-out and overlay mode for VGA that makes it near impossible to get a screen capture of the actual movie (you just get a grey box that is underneath the overlay). So other than defeating Macrovision (easy), or hacking the video driver to record the overlay (almost as easy), there isn't currently a lot to stop you if you REALLY want to, in the future they will have Palladium and encrypted HDTV firewire tunnels.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    15. Re:Screen captures? by sacherjj · · Score: 1

      The fact that is much easier to just use SmartRipper or similar to copy the DVD to your hard drive and convert that to whatever format you want?

    16. Re:Screen captures? by rgoer · · Score: 2, Informative
      Sorry, but I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase "all rights reserved," aren't you? That phrase, combined with the © copyright symbol, generally stands for section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act:
      106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works

      Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

      (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

      (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

      (3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

      (4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

      (5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

      (6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

      Source: copyright.gov
      So yeah... I mean, I love fair use as much as the next guy, but I'm pretty sure that the whole "the owner of the copyright reserving the right to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords" means that you can't duplicate a rental.

      Like I said before, though: I could be wrong... I just don't think you have yet demonstrated me to be so.
    17. Re:Screen captures? by FueledByRamen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think so. I've used an SIS315 (think onboard shitty AGP graphics, except on a card) and a Radeon AIW 8500 - neither of them had problems recording to video tapes, even when playing movies (I used the SIS315 to dump video edits to tape).

      --
      Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
    18. Re:Screen captures? by bloo9298 · · Score: 1

      That's the more memorable NGSCB to you buddy!

    19. Re:Screen captures? by BigBir3d · · Score: 1
      b. Premium Content License. Upon payment of the License Fee, Movielink will grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right and license to download, use and privately display in your Residence or for Permitted Non-Residential Use, the Premium Content purchased by you, by way of one (1) computer connected to the Services over the Internet, provided that you comply fully with this Agreement. Movielink will save the Premium Content to your hard drive. You shall not be permitted to copy or move the Premium Content from its originally stored location on your hard drive. THIS LICENSE TO THE PREMIUM CONTENT IS LIMITED IN ITS TERM AND DURATION TO THIRTY (30) DAYS FROM ITS ORIGINAL DATE AND TIME OF DOWNLOAD OR TWENTY-FOUR (24) HOURS FROM THE START OF ITS INITIAL DISPLAY AND VIEWING, WHICHEVER OCCURS FIRST, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED AS BEING LIMITED TO A SHORTER TERM AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE MOVIELINK MANAGER SOFTWARE WILL AUTOMATICALLY DELETE EXPIRED PREMIUM CONTENT FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE TO YOU AND THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS AND VIEW SUCH PREMIUM CONTENT UPON EXPIRATION OF THE LICENSE TERM. For purposes of this Section 4(b) the following definitions apply, (i) "Residence" shall mean a private, residential dwelling unit or a private individual office unit, but excluding hotel rooms, motel rooms, hospital patient rooms, restaurants, bars, prisons, barracks, drilling rigs and all other structures, institutions or places of transient or work-related residence as well as places, areas, structures, rooms or offices which are common areas or open to the public or to occupiers of separate Residences or for which an admission fee is charged; (ii) "Permitted Non-Residential Use" shall mean the private viewing by one or more persons on a video monitor (desktop, television monitor, laptop, hand-held device or otherwise) in a Non-Residential Venue; provided, however, that any such viewing for which an access fee or other admission charge (except a per viewing charge) is imposed (other than any fee related only to access such Non-Residential Venue for other general purposes) or any such viewing that is on a monitor provided by such Non-Residential Venue (or by a third party under any agreement or arrangement with such Non-Residential Venue) for display of programming in a common area shall not constitute a "Permitted Non-Residential Use"; and (iii) "Non-Residential Venue" shall mean any place, area, structure or room other than a Residence.

      You missed something. This is section 4 sub section b of their Terms of Use.

      30 days or 24 hrs from start of first viewing, whichever happens first.
    20. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's to stop me from using a screen capture program while I'm playing it to make an unexpiring copy for myself?

      Your inability to capture from the screen at 24 fps.

      Try it. It won't work. You'll get about 12 fps tops, often dropping far lower than that. It's an I/O bandwidth thing.

    21. Re:Screen captures? by acceleriter · · Score: 1

      Wow! Way to treat our troops. Viewing of their "premium content" in a barracks is prohibited.

      --

      CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    22. Re:Screen captures? by AVee · · Score: 1

      Honesty,

      I will tell em that i made a copy!

      integrity,

      Twice, when needed.

      and the law.

      But i just won't go and live in the USA ;-)

    23. Re:Screen captures? by Xoid629 · · Score: 1

      From what I've heard, putting the "all rights reserved" bit is meaningless these days. It used to be necessary in some countries (it seems to me that there was some European country in particular), but now all the rights you mention are automatic. For that matter, you shouldn't even need to include a copyright symbol. (Of course, I could be wrong about that).

    24. Re:Screen captures? by DrCode · · Score: 1

      There's the fact that you can buy a DVD of the movie for around $15.

    25. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Whats to stop me from stealing candy from the grocery store?
      Whats to stop me from speeding in my car on the way home?
      Whats to stop me from trading stocks based on inside information?
      Whats to stop me from beating up homeless people?
      Whats to stop me from hotwiring my neighbors car and taking it on a joyride?
      Whats to stop me from spitting lugies on people at Disneyland?
      Whats to stop me from being a complete moron?

    26. Re:Screen captures? by Brad+Mace · · Score: 1

      Shut up you fool! Do you WANT them to find out?

    27. Re:Screen captures? by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 1
      such a screen-capture duplication would be illegal--since you don't own the thing you rent, it is not yours to duplicate.

      And that matters to us how....oh wait, you're new here, my mistake. Welcome.

    28. Re:Screen captures? by rat7307 · · Score: 1

      I think *I* know all the lines to Monster's Inc. now :)

      As I was reading your comment, my 2 year old is in the next room watching MI.. freaky..

      Like you, I think I can recite the whole dialog without hesitating...

      MIKE WOZOWSKI!!!!

      Cheers

      --
      Burma?
    29. Re:Screen captures? by NEOtaku17 · · Score: 1

      A screen capture program? Of course there no way to prevent that. What prevents people from renting the VHS from the store and copying it when they get home? Nothing, but they still rent VHS out don't they?

    30. Re:Screen captures? by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      What's to stop me from being a dickhead troll?

      Obviously nothing. Carry on.

    31. Re:Screen captures? by terkozer · · Score: 1
      True... also worth noting though, is that you have the movie for a month, but once you view it, you've only got unlimited viewing for 24 hours.

      To quote that CBS article..
      "Customers will be able to store movies for up to 30 days. Over that span, they can watch a movie as many times as they wish in a 24-hour period."

      At least that's my interpretation.

    32. Re:Screen captures? by Adam9 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait.. you used LEGOs to do this? I think you need to put the 50mb movies on your cable/DSL server and then submit it as a story to Slashdot. That would be in the true Slashdot spirit.

    33. Re:Screen captures? by Cato+the+Elder · · Score: 1

      No. Charging admission to a viewing in a barracks is prohibited. Displaying it via a projector in a barracks might be prohibited. Viewing it on a computer monitor by one or more persons is explicitly permitted.

    34. Re:Screen captures? by cubicledrone · · Score: 1

      At the retail value of the movie, you'd be making about $8.50 an hour. Have yerself a ball.

      --
      Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
    35. Re:Screen captures? by 222 · · Score: 2, Informative

      even if it did, a wonderfull little program known as tvtool (http://www.tvtool.de) takes care of that, and offers *alot* of other very handy features for the small price of 15 dollars US.

    36. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You still can't watch the movie as many times as you wish within 24 hours. Suppose I rent a movie with a play length of 2 hours. The most times I can watch it in a day, with the sound on, and at the rate of speed that the Director Intended, is 12 times. That's far from Unlimited or As Many Times as I Wish.

    37. Re:Screen captures? by fermion · · Score: 1
      Why do a screen capture. Why not just feed it out the s-video port to a VCR, or, better yet, another computer so it can then be written to a DVD?

      I of course am not suggesting that anyone do this, and would never do it myself, and can not imagine why anyone might want to do this, as I know we all live to respectfully pay whatever the content providers dictate as our dueful tribute.

      In any case, i can't imagine anyone renting a Disney movie(with the exception of mirimax) as most of their crap goes on sale for $5 six months after release.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    38. Re:Screen captures? by JVert · · Score: 1

      Convenience.
      %1 will always break the law no matter how hard it is. They'll do it just for fun!

      And %1 is just fine by disney.

    39. Re:Screen captures? by EpochVII · · Score: 1

      No! No they do not!

      Just thought you should know. :)

    40. Re:Screen captures? by miyako · · Score: 1

      I'm confused, what do children have to do with anything? I'm 19 and have no kids and I can recite all the words to MI :-P

      --
      Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    41. Re:Screen captures? by AlexMax2742 · · Score: 1
      Maybe, but in the true geek spirit you used LEGO's. My hat is off to you sir.

      By the way, do you have any more info on this...creation?

      --
      I'm the guy with the unpopular opinion
    42. Re:Screen captures? by fendel · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that'll be real popular on the movie rip scene: cams of RealPlayer!

    43. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      A screen capture program? Of course there no way to prevent that.

      Actually, Microsoft Palladium does exactly that. It allows a programmer to protect all memory, video memory, and input/output for an application. The other processes would not be able to grab a screen capture because that memory is protected by hardware (not even the OS kernel can get it actually). I know it is unpopular here, but it is pretty cool technology.

      Of course this doesn't address the so-called "analog hole". You can still put a camcorder on a tripod in front of your monitor and record it that way...

    44. Re:Screen captures? by Hi_2k · · Score: 1

      Macrovision ahs been a major problem for me when veiwing commercial dvd's, because it doesnt recognise my graphic card's video out as being certified (despite the video out and drivers are the same ones used on EVERY frigging NVidia graphics card). I'm sure Microsoft could write code that could detect a tv out and disable it or playback. However, I'm equaly sure that I could buy a converter from the monitor signal to tv-out or svideo that Microsoft could not detect.

      --
      When life gives you crap, Make Crapade.
      Sluggy Freelance.
    45. Re:Screen captures? by JW+Troll · · Score: 1

      If you download it, and it's on your hard disk with the copyright owner's consent, then it becomes your private personal property. It's like buying a book - you can re-read it after 30 days no matter WHAT the author says.

      --
      just like the humble blood clot... turboporsche@telus.net
    46. Re:Screen captures? by BuilderBob · · Score: 1

      Users can watch the film an unlimited amount of times before the movie expires.

      That's not what the BBC article says, it says they can watch the film once, then they have 24 hours to watch it as many times as they want

      That means they can (if it's watched continuousely) watch it 24/length_in_hours times, unless length is zero that's no unlimited.

    47. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems that the moderators don't know what Palladium is.

    48. Re:Screen captures? by rhadamanthus · · Score: 1
      Which brings up the bad thing. Soon you won't own any media. Everything is rented. Like LOTR? Be prepared to pay for it every time you want to see it. Watch it once a month? That's gonna add up quick...

      ---rhad

      --
      Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
    49. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many people have actually used deCSS to make a copy of a film??
      I'd guess its not far off 1%, but the film industry seems really pissed off about it for some reason.

    50. Re:Screen captures? by acceleriter · · Score: 1

      Ah. I skimmed quickly enough that I thought it prohibited all "non-residential use."

      --

      CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    51. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You proved your own thesis. Cockmonkey.

      ~~~

    52. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He nearly shot himself... than stopped and thought:

      Hey, I better make another LEGO MindStorms robot to shoot me.

    53. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I TOTALLY HATE YOU you stupid FESTERING PIECE OF SHIT. Nothing you ever say is EVER OF ANY VALUE and you are just taking up SPACE that a worthwhile person like CHARLIE MANSON could be consuming. I would rather have FIVE HUNDRED MANSONS than the ONE of YOU THAT EXISTS you fucking MORON.

    54. Re:Screen captures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Been there, broken that, spent the cheque. :)

    55. Re:Screen captures? by FueledByRamen · · Score: 1

      Sure. It's called a scan converter. The high end scan converters are basically framebuffer devices; PC VGA signal goes in one end, is written to VRAM, while on the other end a TV output device simultaneously reads in the framebuffer contents and puts out an SVideo or HDTV (or Composite, if you get a crappy one) signal. Expensive, but they work really well. They're completely independent (to a point; high resolutions depend on how much framebuffer RAM is installed) of the PC's resolution, color depth, and refresh rate (although 60hz or 120hz is suggested [for NTSC], you can run other frequencies, but image tearing may occur).

      Lower end ones, however, consist only of software to put your monitor into 352x288 interlaced 60hz, and an RGBHV to Composite signal converter. Avoid those at all cost.

      --
      Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
  6. So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    . . . How much less is this going to cost than a brick and mortar rental, because of the reduced expenses involved and the use of the customer's bandwidth for transfer?

    Or is this going to be just as expensive, but require the introduction of DRM crap into the holy of holies that is my machine. (Which implies that it's DOA, as far as I'm concerned.)

    That, and I wouldn't give the jackbooted DMCA-wielding, CTEA bribing thugs at Disney a cent, anyway. Mickey Mouse can suck my cock.

    ~~~

    1. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or is this going to be just as expensive, but require the introduction of DRM crap into the holy of holies that is my machine.

      If you have RealPlayer or WMP then you ALREADY have DRM on your machine.

      Plus I thought the holiest of holies was your girlfriends, er, oh yeah, this is /., you probably don't have a girlfriend. Never mind.

    2. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What a coincidence! I run Linux and don't use RealPlayer. Girlfriend?

      ~~~

    3. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      oh yeah, this is /., you probably don't have a girlfriend.

      Oh, yeah. This is /. You probably don't have anything but that same tired, lame-assed old joke. Ever notice that the people that talk the most about girlfriends seem to be the guys that don't have any?

    4. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Mickey Mouse can suck my cock.

      Ummm... have you ever seen the incisors on a mouse? I think that would be a really bad idea.

    5. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So knock the bastard's teeth out first. Problem solved.

    6. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i wish mini would...

    7. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ever notice that the people that talk the most about girlfriends seem to be the guys that don't have any?

      You got me there. I don't have a girlfriend. My wife would kill me if I did.

    8. Re:So . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So congratulations. In typical geek fashion, you no doubt married the first woman who put out for you.

  7. Here we go again: by oscast · · Score: 4, Informative

    "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"

    1. Re:Here we go again: by Trelane · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What's really dumb is that (so far as I can tell), there isn't anything that is Internet Explorer-, let alone Windows-specific there. If they do both Windows Media Format and Real Player 8, it should work on most all desktop OSes, since there is a Real Player 8 client for most desktop OSes (either through Real or through one of their "community" versions).

      Quite assinine requirements, imho.

      --

      --
      Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
    2. Re:Here we go again: by Uart · · Score: 1

      I got that too. Its a shame when people forget that the Internet isn't a Windows application.

      If it doesn't work on my OS of choice, then it probably isn't worth checking out anyway.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    3. Re:Here we go again: by baximus · · Score: 1

      Here's an even better one...

      "Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States."

      So much for the World-Wide Web.

    4. Re:Here we go again: by swtaarrs · · Score: 1

      If it doesn't work on my OS of choice, then it probably isn't worth checking out anyway.

      I have this attitude about browsers. I switched from IE to Mozilla early this year and I haven't looked back since. If a site says it requires IE, I just ignore it an go on doing more useful/fun things.

    5. Re:Here we go again: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the problem is that the site minimum requirements are lower than my minimum requirements. Most of us here do not run outdated insecure operating systems like Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP. When they start supporting more secure platforms like Linux, OS X, and BSD then we'll talk.

    6. Re:Here we go again: by chmilar · · Score: 1

      How hard is it to spoof the Movielink requirements? Just have your browser identify itself as IE running on Windoze.

      Chances are that the RealMedia format will run on other platforms that support RealPlayer. Does RealPlayer identify your platform?

      Of course, if the pricing model stinks, then you won't want to use this service anyhow, in which case the tech requirements don't matter.

      --
      Reading Slashdot is ruining my spelling and grammar.
    7. Re:Here we go again: by zurab · · Score: 1

      I remember reading an article on news.com.com.com.com few days ago about how movielink locked out everyone but Windows/IE users. It was written in a pretty tough stance towards such practices and nailed the point in the head.

      Strangely enough, I can't seem to find the article anymore, rather if I search news.com.com on movielink, I get only positive news (read PR and ads) and a sponsored link to the movielink website.

      Good job selling out guys! I'll adjust my "trust level" accordingly.

    8. Re:Here we go again: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You apparent definition of the WORLD WIDE web never existed.

      Just in case you were born yesterday and didn't realize that...

    9. Re:Here we go again: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that Linux is a hackers dream platform and if they allowed you to play the movie on Linux you could rip it and have it on the net in minutes.

    10. Re:Here we go again: by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      Whats so wrong with requiring windows? Oh, thats right, this is Slashdot. As long as its not offered on every operating system imaginable its not acceptable. Mod me down if you must, but it takes money to develop for other systems. And to hire the support people to handle it. Like it or not, Windows has some 90% marketshare, so business-wise, this is the best move for them. Bravo Disney, at least they're not trying to sue people and are making progress.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    11. Re:Here we go again: by zurab · · Score: 1

      Ughh... My bad, that article (Buy.com's music store: For your IEs only) was about buymusic.com, not movielink.com... My bad.

    12. Re:Here we go again: by fermion · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I mentioned this earlier, but I think it bears repeating.

      MS is working closely with the content providers. The content providers are going to reward MS but insuring that IE and Windows is the only platform that is supported for content distribution. MS guarantees total copyright owner control and will happily implement arbitrary restrictions.

      Furthermore the content providers are going to run away from anything remotely open source. OSS, in their minds, are synonymous to pirates. It would be easy to write code that intercept the data stream and copy it with perfect quality.

      Finally, IE is not a web browser. It can be used as a browser, but it is really an application front end, a fancy terminal if you wish. Most web designers, especially those who come from traditional media, don't understand what web publishing is. They want to control precisely how the content is presented, exactly what ads the user will see, exactly how the user works with the content. IE provides that level of control. Sites like /. that are web publication don't need it. Other sites that can't think into the abstraction of the WWW can do nothing more that duplicate traditional media.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    13. Re:Here we go again: by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1

      As I understand it, only the Windows versions of WMP and Real Player support true DRM controls(such as what BuyMusic.com is using). If this is the case, then that would be why it's Windows specific, since other platforms wouldn't support the DRM used.

    14. Re:Here we go again: by Durandal64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's why you code to standards, genius. You would spend the same amount of time developing a site and product that was standards-compliant as you would locking non-Winblows users out, and it'd be open to everyone. If a browser doesn't do it correctly, then it's not standards-compliant, and the developers need to fucking fix the thing. Imagine a TV that didn't follow NTSC in North America. Web browsers are one of the only products whose main features include performing their basic tasks correctly. Do TV's advertise "Can display any NTSC video stream correctly!"? No, they talk about features.

    15. Re:Here we go again: by broken.data · · Score: 1

      "Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States."

  8. Blockbuster++; by TheOnyx · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I like this idea. It's pretty much a lazy-man's Blockbuster. If the price is right, I see this idea taking off and spreading to all film-makers.

    --
    "Do not hold strong opinions about things you do not understand."
  9. These are the same guys by TerryAtWork · · Score: 1

    who swore they'd never let their IP be put on the new fangled VCR.

    On the other hand you can bet your ass there will be DRM out the wazoo on these files. It will be interesting seeing how quickly they can be removed.

    I bet the FIRST trick is make it too big to be burned to a CDR.

    --
    It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
    1. Re:These are the same guys by twitter · · Score: 1
      I bet the FIRST trick is make it too big to be burned to a CDR.

      Nah, they are going to put it into M$ Word format. Let's see anyone figure that one out.

      --

      Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

    2. Re:These are the same guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...you can bet your ass there will be DRM out the wazoo on these files. It will be interesting seeing how quickly they can be removed."

      Why remove it when you can ignore it? On my Vaio (fxa47 laptop) it's as easy as plugging video out -> video in (on my desktop with hardware mpeg encoder) along with speaker out -> audio in (hardware mpeg encoder). Realtime encoding without much fuss. Wonder how long it'll be before the MPAA is breaking down my door claiming my laptop, and desktop violate of the DMCA.

    3. Re:These are the same guys by shamino0 · · Score: 2, Funny
      On the other hand you can bet your ass there will be DRM out the wazoo on these files.

      And let me tell you, when you've got DRM coming out your wazoo, it doesn't do a thing for your complexion.

    4. Re:These are the same guys by ncc74656 · · Score: 2, Informative
      I bet the FIRST trick is make it too big to be burned to a CDR.

      Put it on DVD-R, then...they're getting cheap enough now.

      On the other hand you can bet your ass there will be DRM out the wazoo on these files. It will be interesting seeing how quickly they can be removed.

      Having never run across a DRM'd file, it's hard to say...maybe it'd be possible to cobble something together between GraphEdit and the Windows Media Format SDK that would at least strip out the DRM. As for converting to other formats, mplayer seems to do a better job than anything else. (WMV allows for either variable framerate or frame skipping...not sure which, but I know you don't get frames from the decoder at a constant rate. mplayer converts WMV to AVI by writing a 1000-fps AVI with the source frames put in wherever they need to go. You can then use an Avisynth script to convert the framerate to something more normal (like 29.97 fps) before reencoding with whatever you want.)

      I don't know about Real, but then I don't have any of their stuff on any of my computers.

      Nah, they are going to put it into M$ Word format. Let's see anyone figure that one out.

      <rolleyes>
      Score: -1, Unimaginative, Repetitive Microsoft-Bashing.
      </rolleyes>

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
    5. Re:These are the same guys by afidel · · Score: 1

      DVD-R drives are about as cheap as cdrw drives were about 2 years ago so that isn't much of a barrier.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    6. Re:These are the same guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft-Bashing.

      Chill Dude, it's only Twitter. He's like the club mascot/waterboy hereabouts. His anti-MS zeal has long passed the comical and entered the realm of the pathological, but I think it's been concluded that he's harmless to most everyone but himself.

    7. Re:These are the same guys by Comsn · · Score: 1

      www.divx.com has some movies online, check out the free samples at one of thier partner sites to see a drm'd .divx file. .wma has a very weak encryption scheme, there are programs that can strip a file quickly, either unfuck or freeme (one removes the copywrite, the other waveouts>another wma)

      i'm sure people are working on .wmv and .divx and whatever realplayer/faac/quicktime drms exist.

      and if it is uncrackable (hah) there is always line-out, s-video out, wave-out, and screen capture.

  10. Linux version of Real support? by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was trying to find out if the Linux version of Real player was supported, but it blocks anyone not in the US.

    Guess they haven't quite got the hang of the fact that the biggest advantage of the internet is it's worldwide reach yet.

    --
    Beep beep.
    1. Re:Linux version of Real support? by friendofafriend · · Score: 1
      Guess not

      ... 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

    2. Re:Linux version of Real support? by elysian1 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nope. I'm using OS X and it requires IE 5.0+ and Windows just to enter their site!

    3. Re:Linux version of Real support? by powerlord · · Score: 1

      Also would be nice if they supported Mozilla ... or anything besides just IE5.0 or higher (Gee... and I thought Mozilla 1.4.1 WAS higher :) )

      --
      This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
    4. Re:Linux version of Real support? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1
      " Also would be nice if they supported Mozilla ... or anything besides just IE5.0 or higher "

      Try the Useragent Toolbar from http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  11. should be fun... by BFedRec · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should be fun, but I don't think the disney rental world is the best for downloaded time stamped movies. I know as a parent, the KID movies are the ones you end up BUYING, as they are most likely to be watched over and over and over again for the next several years... and disney is the most common of that genre. Though if it's not TOO expensive I would probably try it... and if they tied it into a discount if you purchase the DVD... hmmmmmm

    1. Re:should be fun... by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 1
      I know as a parent, the KID movies are the ones you end up BUYING, as they are most likely to be watched over and over and over again for the next several years... and disney is the most common of that genre.

      I really pity parents. Everytime I go visit my buddy anymore the only thing we end up watching is some idiotic Disney cartoon with his kid plastered 18" from the front of his television staring like it's some kind of God. If I ever have kids I'm not going to let them watch TV at all. Yea, yea, I know, that'll last ten minutes.

    2. Re:should be fun... by BFedRec · · Score: 1

      yeah... we swore up and down we wouldn't either... it lasted a year or so actually. We put in place a thing with our 6 year old where he reads for TV time... minute for minute, we give him a couple hours of TV allowance every week and then he has to "earn" extra by reading. Works out well and when he gets a good book he'll end up earning more TV time than he uses (he just finished Charlotte's Web and Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe).

    3. Re:should be fun... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      goddamn hippies piss me off

    4. Re:should be fun... by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      the KID movies are the ones you end up BUYING, as they are most likely to be watched over and over and over again

      As a grandparent, I'll second that. I don't like the idea of kids watching movies for hours at a time, but try to keep a 4 yr old entertained for a while and you'll love those Disney movies.

      "Watch this movie, sweetie, Grandpaw's gotta rest for a bit."

      Damn this getting old stuff!

    5. Re:should be fun... by Kadagan+AU · · Score: 1

      and if they tied it into a discount if you purchase the DVD...

      You just gave me an idea I think I really like. The main reason that no one I know buys movies online is because you can find the same thing in a store at a similar price and watch it right away. What if you coupled this service with a dvd/vhs sales service.... you buy the movie and can watch it right away, while they ship you a copy of it. Instant gratification, and you get the hard copy that lasts as well!

      --
      This space for rent, inquire within.
  12. sweet by netsavior · · Score: 1

    no more waiting for movies on DVD to rip em and put em on p2p now those "REAL SCREENER" files will be replaced with "REAL MOVIELINK RIP"

    1. Re:sweet by vikool · · Score: 1

      i dont see any movies on there that have not already been on dvd for a while

  13. Not unlimited viewings for 30 days, but 24 hours by Cancel · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is closer to renting a movie than anything else, aside from the 30-day storage option. From the story: Customers will be able to store movies for up to 30 days. Over that span, they can watch a movie as many times as they wish in a 24-hour period.

    Another article is more detailed: The movie files can be viewed on a PC or on a television connected to a computer, but customers have a maximum of 30 days to begin watching their downloaded movie. Once they begin to do so, the movie can be viewed only over the next 24 hours.
  14. Yes, they get it... by heironymouscoward · · Score: 1

    This is exactly I want and therefore I assume arrogantly that it's what everyone else wants. 30 days is enough to get bored of a movie, and downloading is so much easier than going to the DVD store.
    Now, perhaps a collaboration with some P2P distribution system so that I can actually profit from that fat line I have.
    Excellent work, oh Disney. Now perhaps you can go and review that thing about stealing the world's folk histories but trying to copyright Mickey Mouse for infinity. Share and share, it's good for your cultural soul.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
    1. Re:Yes, they get it... by nlvp · · Score: 1
      You don't get to watch the movie for 30 days - you get to watch the movie for 24 hours at any point during 30 days from the day you started the download.

      If this catches on, it's going to kick an awful lot of small DVD/Video rental stores out of business.

  15. Why RM or WMA? by dethl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this is going to be targeting the broadband users, then why don't they use a better codec? I know I'm burning karma here, but I'd rather see the movies in mpeg4 or divx form.

    --
    "Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
    1. Re:Why RM or WMA? by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 1

      Do mpeg4 and divx have easily-enforced DRM?

    2. Re:Why RM or WMA? by elysian1 · · Score: 1

      Probably because they got a really good deal licensing with MS and Real. Hey, that rhymes!

    3. Re:Why RM or WMA? by vikool · · Score: 1

      WMA9 is apprently superior or Mpeg4 ..

    4. Re:Why RM or WMA? by Uart · · Score: 1

      I agree. Hell, they even encode porn in DIVX nowadays...

      I think, however that the format in question has nothing to do with the quality of the video and everything to do with the DRM implied in the format.

      Also, do we know if these movies are going to be streamed over the net or downloaded to a user's computer. If they are streamed, then that might explain it.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    5. Re:Why RM or WMA? by Ezubaric · · Score: 1

      This might be a sarcastic comment, but it's actually pretty much true. WMA embraced and extended mpeg4 for WM9; it scales very well, and the high end stuff looks really good.

      Wavelet encoding (what Real uses) usually doesn't hold up so well at the high end.

      --

      ----------
      I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
    6. Re:Why RM or WMA? by XSforMe · · Score: 2, Informative

      ... why don't they use a better codec?
      wmv9 is up there along with divx4/mpeg4. Take a look here

      But I doubt that is the reason why they are using wmv, more probably it is due to its DRM capabilities more than anything and its ability to self destroy past its expiration date.

      Still, it would be interesting to see if you can still convert it using TMPGEnc to any of your preferred DRM free formats.

      --
      My other OS is the MCP!
    7. Re:Why RM or WMA? by MrScience · · Score: 1

      DRM

      --

      You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco

    8. Re:Why RM or WMA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Actually it's WMV Windows Media Video and it is actiually the best codec in existance for quality. and it IS MPEG-4. (Weather they will USE any of the quality settings is another thing).

      But as has been pointed out many times, WMV and RM have DRM which allows for things like this to even happen.

      DivX is for pirating, WMV is for legal watching.

      Got it?

    9. Re:Why RM or WMA? by vikool · · Score: 2, Informative

      it wasnt sarcastic, but given the original post, i can see why you though so. WM9 is really good format and in fact they are using it show movies in theatres since it can be shown on a 60ft screen and still be clear enough.

    10. Re:Why RM or WMA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could live with all of those restrictions if they would just get friendlier about non-Intel-hardware / non-Bill-Gates-OS systems. I prefer Macintosh for my home computers and I work on Linux machines, neither of which will be able to access this stuff.

      Screw it. I will keep my Netflix subscription.

  16. whats the picture quality like ? by zymano · · Score: 0

    It's not as good as DVD i bet.

    1. Re:whats the picture quality like ? by Exiler · · Score: 1

      Lets look at this closely, multiple gigabyte disk, bandwidth, massive fucking CD, phone line...

      See where I'm going here?

      --
      Banaaaana!
    2. Re:whats the picture quality like ? by chmilar · · Score: 1

      People will trade convenience for quality. Up to a point, anyway.

      After all, MP3 (or other lossy, high-compression music format) is lower quality than CD, but its small file size makes it more convenient.

      Same is true for DivX.

      --
      Reading Slashdot is ruining my spelling and grammar.
  17. How is the expiration solved? by errl · · Score: 1

    How do they make the movie "expire" so you can't watch it after a certain amount of days? Sounds to me like some problems could arise, with cracks etc? I can't look at Movielink's page since I'm outside the US, it just shows me the message that it's only available to US citizens :/. So I can't find the information there.

  18. A step by BelugaParty · · Score: 1

    I think disney sees two things: 1) downloaders of their movies are not part of the demographic who would by the movies, therefore, the d/l'ers would never buy the video in the first place. 2) They produce a lot of terrible movies (sequels mainly) that are probably more expensive to put onto store shelves than the make.

    So that's all I have to say.

  19. Think: Business Traveler, Movie on Demand by kremvax · · Score: 1

    It's more convenient for a home-user to go and rent a dvd for that price, sure. But think about the tech-consultancy-slaves stuck in podunk, ID, with hotel broadband, a laptop, and nothing in the world to do between 9pm and dawn...

    Marketed right, there's crazy big money to be made.

    Kremvax

    --
    --- Little Atomo - The Amazing Thinking Robot from Atomocom! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIP9KisHi4k
  20. Mmmm.. minimum requirements.. by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 4, Informative

    Movielink Minimum Requirements

    You need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
    You need Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher - Upgrade Now
    You need RealPlayer 8.0 or higher - Upgrade Now OR
    Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher - Upgrade Now
    You need a Connection Speed of 128 kbps or higher - Retake Connection Speed
    Scripting must be enabled

    To enable jscript, follow these steps:
    Internet Explorer 5
    1. Select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu on your browser
    2. Click on the "Security" tab
    3. Set the security to Medium on "Trusted Sites" and click "Apply"
    If jscript still doesn't function:
    1. Highlight the "Internet" icon and click "Custom Level..."
    2. Select "Enable" on all 3 radio buttons under "Scripting"
    3. Click "OK"
    Internet Explorer 6
    1. Select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu on your browser
    2. Click on the "Security" tab
    3. Highlight the "Internet" icon and click "Custom Level..."
    4. Select "Enable" on all 3 radio buttons under "Scripting"
    Cookies must be enabled

    To enable cookies, follow these steps:
    Internet Explorer 5
    1. Select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu on your browser
    2. Click on the "Security" tab
    3. Highlight the "Internet" icon and click "Custom Level..."
    4. Select "Enable" on all radio buttons under "Cookies"
    5. Click "OK"
    Internet Explorer 6
    1. Select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu on your browser
    2. Click on the "Privacy" tab and press "Advanced..."
    3. Check "Override automatic cookie handling"
    4. Accept both cookie options and check "Always allow session cookies"
    5. Click "OK"

    1. Re:Mmmm.. minimum requirements.. by chmilar · · Score: 2, Funny

      So, how many security holes have you opened up?

      --
      Reading Slashdot is ruining my spelling and grammar.
    2. Re:Mmmm.. minimum requirements.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The words "fuck that" come immediately to mind.

  21. Not a bad idea, but for kids? by delphin42 · · Score: 1

    I would think that this sort of thing would work out as well or better for mainstream films than for kids movies.

    Pros:
    Same price as a VHS/DVD rental
    Don't have to leave the house
    Don't have to be worried about availability
    Unlimited viewings for 30 days
    Nothing to return

    Cons:
    Requires a computer
    Requires a reasonable internet connection
    Have to have the proper software installed
    Have to have a credit card
    Have to watch on computer monitor
    Have to wait for download

    --
    -- Adam
    1. Re:Not a bad idea, but for kids? by A+Commentor · · Score: 1
      Pros:

      Unlimited viewings for 30 days


      No, you have 30 days to start watching it, but once you do, only 24 hours to watch it.

      --

      Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com

    2. Re:Not a bad idea, but for kids? by zurab · · Score: 1
      No, you have 30 days to start watching it, but once you do, only 24 hours to watch it.


      I am just curious, what would it take to give it the wrong time?

      Does it check for a system time? That would be pretty easy, you could even have a daemon/service running that would set the system time accrodingly, depending on what movie you'd like to watch and tracking when you downloaded it.

      Does it access some server on the Internet to get time? As long as the protocol is not encrypted, you could re-route those requests to a local service/daemon as well.

      Would this be illegal under DMCA? I wouldn't think so since checking for time to be able to *watch* a movie is not dealing with copyrights. Any ideas? Experiences?

      Disclaimer to the DoJ lawyers and prosecutors: This post is simply asking about technology and experience of users for informational purposes. This discussion is not intended to manufacture, distribute, or in any way encourage use of copy-protection circumvention devices or any related technology.
    3. Re:Not a bad idea, but for kids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why can't you make two copies of the file, one watch now, and one a week later? (30 copies?)

  22. Still not the service I want. by Cothol · · Score: 1

    I must say I'm happy that these kind of services is coming out, but 30 days? No that's not good enough. I want to be able to download the movie in SVCD or DVD format to burn so I can watch it on my standalone.
    I would gladly pay 5-10 dollars for one movie with no restrictions, no ads and no extras (could pay more if I wanted the extras).

    Guess it's going to be a while before that happens.

  23. Mathemagic Land? by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they will have the 1959 animated short Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land?

  24. VLC, anyone? by koi88 · · Score: 1

    I wonder if I can watch these movies with VLC (Videolan Player, www.videolan.org), which is my preferred movie player on my Mac OS X machine.
    It seems they're adding new codecs on a weekly basis, and when I'm lucky they left out the DRM-thing.

    --

    I don't need a signature.
    1. Re:VLC, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MPlayer plays a ton of stuff if you download and use the win32 codec packs.

    2. Re:VLC, anyone? by PhoenixFlare · · Score: 1

      Did you miss the 4 or 5 people complaining about the Windows requirement above, or what? Read previous comments before you post.

  25. They should release non-expiring versions by GuyMannDude · · Score: 1

    Why is it that the second a company tries to release it's hold over it's own copyright content, the first thought that crosses your mind is how to rip it off?

    I thought that the motivation behind my question was obvious enough but apparently not...

    I was pointing out that it was kind of silly for Disney to be selling these expiring movie files when it would be easy for anyone to get around it. I have no plans to "rip off" Disney because I simply cannot stand the rediculous crap they put out (and, fortunately, I don't have kids that insist I sit through it with them). I'm just pointing out that since it's so easy to circumvent their "expiration" approach, why don't they just let consumers download non-expiring versions and charge a few extra bucks?

    GMD

    1. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by Anonym1ty · · Score: 3, Informative
      Why is it....

      Because the copyright they hold on Steam Boat Willie should have ended when the law originally said it should have expired, not 80 or 100 Years Later

      For the good of man copyrighted material was Supposed to end up in the Public Domain at some point

    2. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beware the words of a fool or a liar: "for the good of man."

    3. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your point is of course valid, and to be honest I'm sure it crossed through most of our heads...

      But the fact is, it's not going to pass through the head of the average non-tech parent or kid who wouldn't know the first thing about screen capturing... and I think they are the key audience in this deal...

      After all, they know they techy's will just get it through other means anyway.

    4. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      why don't they just let consumers download non-expiring versions and charge a few extra bucks?

      they do its called buy the thing on vhs or dvd!!!

      doh!

    5. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by cubicledrone · · Score: 1

      I was pointing out that it was kind of silly for Disney to be selling these expiring movie files when it would be easy for anyone to get around it.

      Maybe some people would rather just pay their five bucks or whatever instead of spending hours building some Byzantine device to get it for free.

      I'm just pointing out that since it's so easy to circumvent their "expiration" approach, why don't they just let consumers download non-expiring versions and charge a few extra bucks?

      Because they know that if people are ethically ambivalent enough to expend such effort to infringe on a five-dollar movie, they wouldn't care if it expires or not, and they don't.

      --
      Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
    6. Re:They should release non-expiring versions by lokedhs · · Score: 1
      5 USD?

      What?

      Here in sweden I rent DVD's at the local video store for between 1 and 2 USD.

      And no, these are not pirated copies. Sweden is actually civilised.

  26. Disney and risks by thule · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Disney seems to get a lot of grief, but it does seem that they are able to take some risks every once in a while. Disney said they'd never release their animated classics on DVD, but they did (and they've made a lot of money on them). Disney feared VHS/DVD, now they embrace it. Disney fears the Internet, but now it seems they are trying to embrace it.

    Do a search on "Moviebeam" and check out what else they're up to. Moviebeam is a TiVo like service that beams digital movies over the broadcast airwaves (encyrpted of course) to a set to box. The box stores something like 100 movies that a person can purchase for viewing on demand.

    Disney gets a lot of flack, but at least they experiment.

  27. Don't buy movies - rent and copy instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never buy. I never will buy. I RENT videotapes and, if it's worth keeping, I make a copy of it for myself. Renting serves as a screening function, and because I screen a lot, they make a lot more money off of me this way on rentals than they ever would if DRM made purchasing the only option. DRM is bad for the economy.

    Rentals were/are/have always been a viable business model for videotapes. When are they gonna learn it would also work for digital?

  28. SPECTRAVISION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


  29. While in the real world.... by darth_silliarse · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear Disney, I have two children. They are demanding. What the hell makes you think they are going to wait for a goddamn movie to download? My two year old son throws a fit if I can't put the Ice Age DVD in quick enough!

    --
    I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born - Ronald Reagan
    1. Re:While in the real world.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you can't teach your son how to not throw a fit, please do what you can to make sure he never enters society, and that you stop having children. THANK YOU!

      sincerely, the other people who have to deal with your problem

    2. Re:While in the real world.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dear Asshat,

      Thank you for taking the time to write to Disney and for considering our new download service. We regret that you are unhappy with this service.

      However, if your children are such impatient little monsters, then you can go out and buy the DVD of the movie you want or rent it from the local video store.

      You may direct any questions you may have to that brick wall over there.

      Disney

      Dear Disney, I have two children. They are demanding. What the hell makes you think they are going to wait for a goddamn movie to download? My two year old son throws a fit if I can't put the Ice Age DVD in quick enough!

    3. Re:While in the real world.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My two year old son throws a fit if I can't put the Ice Age DVD in quick enough!

      In the real world, that earns a beating.

    4. Re:While in the real world.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, like you didn't pitch fits when you were that age. Liar. I knew you then, and you were one obnoxious little bastard.

  30. Not fair use? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 1
    I agree with the poster, this isn't a troll (I own very few movies and feel no compulsion to have copies of movies I don't own. Blockbuster can store them for me.)

    My (non-troll) question - how is illegally duplicating a copyrighted tape or disc different than "fair use" of recording off-air broadcasts?

    Seems to me if you had an analog copy of something that had ever been broadcast, you could claim fair use.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:Not fair use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Home recording isn't fair use. It's expressly permitted by a different piece of legislation.

    2. Re:Not fair use? by nlvp · · Score: 1
      Fair use isn't a right granted to you in the same way as your right to free speech. It's an exemption to copyright law that states that people should be able to use certain materials in certain ways - they should be able to make copies of items to which they already own the license, they should be able to quote non-substantial sections of work in order to refer to them and build new work.

      If you buy the disney movie from the disney site, the license you're going to receive is going to be pretty precise - it's going to say that you've been granted the right to watch the movie as many times as you like within a 24-hour window, and that's the agreement you're going to sign/click.

      If you find a way to transform a document that was intended to be a temporary copy of something into a permanent copy of something, you're not exercising fair use, you're forcibly acquiring a copy of the material that allows you to do more than was originally intended, and more than the license you paid for and signed for gives you right right to. Therefore it is perceived as the "theft" of rights that were not granted to you in the first place. Were you to want to own the material indefinitely, there are ways of acquiring that right legally, by purchasing the DVD or video, or by entering into a contract that grants you those rights, were the other party also willing to enter into that contract (at present, Disney are unwilling to do this over the internet).

      Also, I believe that recording movies that were broadcast is still subject (at least in theory) to regulations that state that you shouldn't be allowed to keep it indefinitely. Now obviously everyone flaunts that, but were you to hack into their digitally protected files, keep a copy of that, and then claim it was fair because they actually broadcast "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" way back in 1987, I don't think the judge would be very sympathetic, because (a) you're not on the right side of the law anyway, because you never paid for a permanent license, and (b) you're playing silly buggers with the letter of the law, and despite popular depictions of legal proceedings, judges seem to really hate it when you do that.

      Here's a question though : if they managed to protect DVDs such that it was impossible to copy them, and the DVD got damaged, I would still own the right to the material contained on the DVD. Theoretically therefore, the production house that created the DVD would be legally obliged to help me recover a new copy of that material, since I have a license to it, and their protection systems prevent me from getting it without their help. I wonder what happens then? Would they be forthcoming with a new copy if you handed them back the damaged DVD/media?

    3. Re:Not fair use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " If you find a way to transform a document that was intended to be a temporary copy of something into a permanent copy of something, you're not exercising fair use, you're forcibly acquiring a copy of the material that allows you to do more than was originally intended, and more than the license you paid for and signed for gives you right right to. Therefore it is perceived as the "theft" of rights that were not granted to you in the first place."

      Bullshit. Why don't you leave the lawyering to real lawyers. What I originally intended when I put my money down was to take possession of this item and do anything I wanted to it, so long as I returned it undamaged to the store. And there is nothing illegal about that.

  31. Sweet! by El · · Score: 1
    Users can watch the film an unlimited amount of times before the movie expires.

    For my daughter, that would be at least 60 times!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  32. legal issues, not Americentricism by mblase · · Score: 1

    Guess they haven't quite got the hang of the fact that the biggest advantage of the internet is it's worldwide reach yet.

    As nice as it would be for them to release the movies to a worldwide audience all at once, there are probably legal reasons (copyright law, international distribution rights, etc.) that they haven't got them in other countries yet. Apple's facing the same problem with their iTunes Music Store, but they're working out those issues as quickly as they can.

    While the Internet is worldwide, ownership rights are not. Have patience, grasshopper.

    1. Re:legal issues, not Americentricism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BuyMusic.com was like that too. I tried to purchase a song off of it but it wouldn't let me.

      At least I tried to be legit, but if they're not going to let me spend my money then I'll get it for free.

      c'est la vie :)

  33. I'll give Disney their $5 or so. by acceleriter · · Score: 1

    If they have the balls to make Song of the South, a movie they practically deny exists, available on this service.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

  34. This is a good thing with DRM by ExEleven · · Score: 1

    With DRM this means that we can all enjoy a movie (Even if disney movies suck bigtime) over the Internet and not be pirateing it. It allows companys to do things like this which is good in the long run.

    Who need freedom when we have Mickey Mouse.

  35. and so on until.... by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 5, Funny

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "No, 1% to go."

    "IS THE DOWNLOAD DONE YET?"

    "Yes! You can watch Monsters Inc 2 now!"

    "I DON'T WANT MONSTERS INC ANYMORE I WANNA PLAY PLAYSTATION"

    *twitches, vein in forehead pops*

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    1. Re:and so on until.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Too bad Billy, shut your mouth and watch Monsters Inc 2." And then he does so, because you've raised him not to be a spoiled little brat.

      Ha hahahaha. i crack myself up

    2. Re:and so on until.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      And then he does so, because you've raised him not to be a spoiled little brat.

      You made a mistake. This should read "And then he does so, because you've raised him to believe that might makes right and 'because I said so' is the only real reason."

  36. DRM by Omega · · Score: 1

    The reason they only support rm or wma is because they want to enforce digital restrictions management. This is also the same reason they only support Windows. They put a self-destruct in the movies you d/l so you don't get to keep it or make backup copies.

  37. Miramax included? by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The last I heard, Disney owned Miramax -- does that mean that titles like Clerks and Pulp Fiction will be released? Don't get me wrong -- I like both movies, but I'm not sure that Disney would want people to associate them with movies that use the word "fuck" more than the word "the"... :^)

  38. DRM, of course. by RatBastard · · Score: 1

    Think about this for a minute. What's to stop an MPEG4 or DivX file from being sent on to another computer or even to Kazaa? Nothing. Real and Windows Media Player 9 both have DRM built in.

    --
    Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
  39. yeah but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    the movie rental lasts 30-days... but when you choose to start watching it, it expires in 24 hours

  40. For US residents only by dingleberry78 · · Score: 1
    Another vote against this service is that it's only available to folks in the US. As a Canadian, I get the following message at movielink.com:
    Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States.

    So much for the world wide web.
    1. Re:For US residents only by El · · Score: 1

      Can't you go through a proxy/redirector in the US so that it thinks you have a US IP address?

      --

      "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    2. Re:For US residents only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That's because there's no DMCA in the rest of the world yet. Can't risk those heathen nations getting a copy and ripping it.

      ~~~

  41. Re:Not unlimited viewings for 30 days, but 24 hour by Mantorp · · Score: 0

    if the movie is short enough it could be almost unlimited...and the more times you can watch it in 24 hours the faster the download

  42. Why would _Disney_ do this? by jdbo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While I may have a misunderstanding of Disney's market, I am under the impression that they primarily sell family entertainment, esp. movies for children.

    Now, children's entertainment is a special category, in that kids watch movies OVER and OVER and OVER again - more often on VHS format than DVD, due to the relative durability of the former (though this may be changing). because of this, families tend to BUY disney movies (vs. renting); if they rent, it's to check something out before buying it.

    Now what aspect of the above market does Disney hope to satisfy with downloadable movies?
    - these movies will have to be accessed on the computer (not as easy as VCR/VHS, let alone half as childproof)
    - these movies expires after 30 days
    (not as permanent - and kids will obsess over their shows for far longer than 30 days...)
    - the cost is $3-$5 dollars per download (cheaper than rental for the amount of time, but even considering an optimistic 1-hour download time, it's still going to be faster to drive to the store and back (for most US citizens) than to download - and (I believe) that there's still not much coverage for broadband in most rural areas...
    d) Also, for those who don't mind waiting (or lack broadband), Netflix (and its competitors) offer a similarly-priced, keep-as-long-as-you-feel rental system.

    Now I realize that Disney is not just a kids' movie company, but I still don't see how this system makes much sense.

    OTOH, I am pleasantly surprised to see (even this much) innovation from a company with such a draconian distribution history.

    1. Re:Why would _Disney_ do this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now what aspect of the above market does Disney hope to satisfy with downloadable movies?

      Maybe the parents-who-don't-want-to-watch-toy-story-10000-ti mes-over-a-period-of-3-years-over-and-over-and-ove r-and-over-again-oh-dear-god-please-make-it-stop-o r-i-will-be-forced-to-gouge-out-my-own-eyes-with-a -spoon aspect of the market :)

    2. Re:Why would _Disney_ do this? by Comsn · · Score: 1

      this is obviously for the people who are stupid with math.

      expiring rental thats pretty hard to copy for the average layman, that they have to pay to watch again = awesome for disney!

      this is the start of pay per play (FOR EVERYTHING), beware!

      one-play dvds (or 48 hour expiring ink dvds) are here, its like DIVX all over again!!! EXCEPT YOU ALL THINK ITS A GOOD THING BECAUSE ITS ONLINE! :V

    3. Re:Why would _Disney_ do this? by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      Pixar movies kick ass.

    4. Re:Why would _Disney_ do this? by moncyb · · Score: 1

      Disney wants to get rid of VHS and DVD. They want to go back to before the VCR. Where everyone has to pay for each viewing of a movie, and video recording, editing and copying equipment was expensive and hard to acquire. They are trying to push DRM.

      There may come a day when you want to make a movie or record some video, but can't because either you have to pay some huge fee for a DRM license/key or you are not allowed at all because only big movie studios have "legitimate" reasons to own video cameras. Most likely they'll start with the former, and slowly creep into the latter.

      They are not doing this for the customers, they are doing it so they can price gouge and limit competition.

  43. Ice Age?!? by El · · Score: 1

    Ick!!! Do the kid a favor -- buy him the Monsters Inc. DVD. Unlike most movies, it's only mildly annoying to have to watch Monsters over and over again. I beleive my daughter has memorized at least half of the dialogue by now...

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  44. Quick! Someone tell InterTrust! by nickgrieve · · Score: 1

    I am sure this is one of patents

  45. Well, not any more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bittorrent links are dying.

    1. Re:Well, not any more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, before the summer rerun season things were okay, things might have changed since then I wouldn't know. Then again, it's possible that bittorrent is primarily only good for TV shows, in which case it may pick up again in the fall.

  46. Re:Think: Business Traveler, Movie on Demand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    It's more convenient for a home-user to go and rent a dvd for that price, sure. But think about the tech-consultancy-slaves stuck in podunk, ID, with hotel broadband, a laptop, and nothing in the world to do between 9pm and dawn...


    In room movies on demand aren't much more expensive, are shown on the TV not he laptop and include lots more pr0n then I would expect from Disney. Some hotels even offer unlimited pr0n for 24hrs for abot $13. Erm ... so I've been told.

  47. T3 Phone Home by fm6 · · Score: 1
    Yeah, I've actually played WMV files that did the "phone home" bit. Back in the heady dotcom days, there was a company peddling an online movie technology that was meant to work with file sharing. They didn't care who copied the file, because in order to play the file on a new computer, you had to pay a license fee. Also, you couldn't start playback unless the system was online long enough to verify that you had paid for it. Don't know how it verified that it was on an "authorized" computer, though. Perhaps that was the fatal flaw in the system.

    The interesting thing is that this all worked with Media Player without any plugins. The downside of this is that if you had thumbnails or previews turned on, it would try to verify the license every time Explorer thumbnailed or previewed the file! If your machine wasn't online, Explorer would hang.

    1. Re:T3 Phone Home by Danse · · Score: 1

      Hmm... seems that you could find out what calls it was making to check the computer it was registered too, and then write an app to intercept those calls and return the same info. Basically you would end up having to distribute the movie file along with a second info file that the app would use as an info source to return to the media player. But I don't know how technically difficult it would be for sure, or if it's even possible.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    2. Re:T3 Phone Home by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Have you heard of digital certificates? It's not that easy to forge them.

    3. Re:T3 Phone Home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's correct, however, it _is_ easy to bypass the check itself because the player runs on your system. :)

  48. But by tarquin_fim_bim · · Score: 1

    most people have already seen Dumbo and Herbies Love Banana, so are they gonna come up with some new stuff to tempt people?

  49. Air Bud Prt 7 in a Motel Room? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sorry, but I have MANY MANY more exciting things to do with my time than watch some Air Bud sequel, or (lionking, aladdin, mulan, etc.) part 4.

    Like Pr0n.

    Or slashdot.

  50. Song of the South? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only Disney feature that really interests me at this moment is Song of the South. The one with Brer Rabbit, and the song "Zip a Dee Doo Dah."

    Even back when I knew someone inside Disney, who could get the early-80's laser discs and the proprietary player they used internally, there was no way to get one's hands on this film.

    Is that one available on this service?

    1. Re:SONG OF THE SOUTH? by acceleriter · · Score: 1

      Are you in Europe?

      --

      CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    2. Re:Song of the South? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disney is just a bunch of politically correct gay cocksuckers. If they had a pair, they'd still sell this movie. Fuck them and fuck Mickey Mouse.

  51. SONG OF THE SOUTH? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My DVD copy of it suits me just fine. I don't need to download it.

    LD to DVD transfers.

    YAY!

  52. A pointless service by shamino0 · · Score: 2, Informative
    Let's see here....

    For $3-5, you get to spend all evening downloading a file. When you get it, you have 30 days to play it before it self-destructs. And it self-destructs 24 hours after you start playing it. And you have to watch it on your computer, and the computer must be a PC running Windows.

    On the other hand, video rental stores charge you the same $3-5, and you usually have at least three days to watch it.

    Or pay-per-view cable which costs the same $3-5 for 24 hours, but doesn't involve any download time.

    Or NetFlix where a $20/mo fee lets you watch your rentals for as long as you want.

    Can someone tell me again what advantage there is to using Movielink?

    1. Re:A pointless service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And your PC has to be in the United States. Because the French can't be trusted, apparently.

    2. Re:A pointless service by mrpuffypants · · Score: 1

      It's a new paradigm shift! It's revolutionary! It harnesses the radical power or the global economy and bottles it in an easy to use-powerful form avaliable to anybody with an internet connection! It'll make us billions! MUHAHAHAHAHA!

      (cough) shit, I just slipped into "jaded movie exec mode" there...

    3. Re:A pointless service by MarkLR · · Score: 1

      I suppose it's Disney's fault that DSL or cable lines aren't faster.

      Maybe they are just ahead of the curve. In a few years with fibre optic networks to everyone's doorstep you will be able to download the movie in a minute or two. Then Blockbuster is in real trouble.

    4. Re:A pointless service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The local rental store charges only $2 for two days - that's basically cheaper than the USA then!!

      I am in Europe, heh heh..

  53. An opportunity for Apple... by Chief+Typist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is lame, for the many reasons pointed out in this thread (too short expiration, buy vs. rent for kids, etc.) The interesting thing, at least in my mind, is that Disney is opening their intellectual property up a bit (granted, it's got DRM up the wazoo.)

    What would happen if Apple/Jobs did a movie service like they've done with the iTunes Music Store?

    They've got the inside connections in Hollywood (Pixar, editing suites, etc.)

    They've got the technology (QuickTime, delivery mechanisms & bandwidth)

    And they could make it easy enough for my Mom to use...

    -ch

    1. Re:An opportunity for Apple... by mrpuffypants · · Score: 1

      Keep submitting it through the iTMS suggestion system and they may actually listen :)

      Why do I actually believe that, if any company does, Apple actually listens to user feedback?

  54. Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you think that's bad, check out the Penn & Teller - Bullshit! homepage at Showtime. This is what I get:

    Sorry. We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States.

    This is just a site about the show. It just makes no sense whatsoever to limit access in this way. I wonder if Penn & Teller would agree with me that it's... BULLSHIT!

    ?

    1. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? Dont you know that the USA IS the universe. Nothing exists outside of it. Anyone who claims to be from outside is a suspected terrorist. Of course they blame 9/11 for this type of website.

  55. Step in the right direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if only the music industry would take a hint... piracy is going to happen despite whatever people try to do to stop it. the only possible solution to reducing piracy is to convice consumers that there is no need to pirate by offering fair pricing and usage policies

    1. Re:Step in the right direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or quit producing creative works and go dig ditches or something.

      Or, if the "fair pricing" you call for is too low to sustain the industry, they can offer fair pricing *and* stop doing what they do and go dig ditches.

      After all, wouldn't we all be happier and better off without movies or music? (Or books, of course. Can't forget those.)

  56. Don't trust it!! by DigiShaman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't trust this scheme. I smell spyware being loaded into these movies or something. Last thing I want is for my harddrives to be commanded with del *.mp3 when I least expect it.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
    1. Re:Don't trust it!! by Comsn · · Score: 1

      currently, it is still illegal to delete anyones personal data.

      mp3 != copywrite infringement.
      mp3 == audio compression/format.

  57. disney's evil! by sewagemaster · · Score: 1


    finally i can watch those SUBLIMINAL messages frame by frame!

  58. This is nothing new... by EverDense · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is nothing new...

    How is this possibly news?

    Disney and ShareReactor have partnered up for quite a few years now.

    --
    http://jesus.everdense.com/
  59. I Like It, But One Question by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1
    I like this, but what's the best way to show this on my TV. I much prefer the TV to the computer screen for movie viewing. In fact, that is probably the one thing stopping me from downloading my first movie tonight.

    Hope Disney will include everything they have that is over 2 years old.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:I Like It, But One Question by angle_slam · · Score: 1

      Connect your TV to your computer. Just use a VGA to component adapter. If you have a fairly new TV and a fairly new video card, you can probably just use a DVI cable to connect the two.

    2. Re:I Like It, But One Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh, and here I've been watching full screen video on my TV from my computer for 3 years now, currently in HD. My house must must be in some uber-distant future time-hole or something.

    3. Re:I Like It, But One Question by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1
      Connect your TV to your computer.

      Duh. Like many people, my computer is in my study, not my living room. The distance between them is non-trival. In fact, it's a distinct advantage to have my study far from the chaos of the living room.

      Even if I ran a wire the distance (assuming that's possible), I won't have any remote control functionality over the viewing functions. Not the recipe for a satisfactory viewing experience.

      I guess what they really need to do is be able to download this to an Internet-enabled, Tivo-like PVR box and allow more than this sucky 24-hour viewing window.

      You know, it takes me like 3 minutes to see how this could be so very much better than what they're offering. And the people who thought this kludge up are getting paid ever so much more than I am.

      --
      "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  60. 30 days? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "- these movies expires after 30 days
    (not as permanent - and kids will obsess over their shows for far longer than 30 days...)
    "

    Customers will be able to store movies for up to 30 days. Over that span, they can watch a movie as many times as they wish in a 24-hour period.

    "the cost is $3-$5 dollars per download (cheaper than rental for the amount of time"
    My Blockbuster has all new releases for $2.99 for 3 days. These are $3-5 for 24hours.

  61. Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [accidentally posted this to the wrong thread first. Yes, I'm stupid]

    If you think that's bad, check out the Penn & Teller - Bullshit! homepage at Showtime. This is what I get:

    Sorry. We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States.

    This is just a site about the show. It just makes no sense whatsoever to limit access in this way. I wonder if Penn & Teller would agree with me that it's... BULLSHIT!

    ?

  62. Maybe it's like the Steven Wright line? by cliveholloway · · Score: 1
    I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, "Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours". He said, "Yes, but not in a row."

    cLive;-)

    --
    -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
  63. As a Windows user and a Slashdot reader... by darkfus · · Score: 1

    I'm beginning to notice that Linux obviously has no spell checking capabilities.

    --
    [sig]darkfus[/sig]
    1. Re:As a Windows user and a Slashdot reader... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And clearly no intelligence checking capability either judging by 99% of slashdot posts.

  64. Specs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    For anyone curious the video specs for the WMV versions they use are:

    Resolution: 512 x 276
    Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio 9; 64 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo 2-pass VBR
    Video Codec: Windows Media Video 9
    Total Bitrate: ~700Kbps

    And if you are so inclined you could certainly use something like Fraps 2.0.0 to capture the video and audio.

  65. Re:Good -- Well, Maybe just Okay. by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Funny
    oh wait, they're not suing the youth of America.

    Of course not, they're too busy extending copyrights from here to eternity.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  66. The same thing by aliens · · Score: 1

    That stops you from going to a video store renting a movie(on DVD or Tape, if you thought of using screen captures I know you can figure out DeCSS and Macrovision) and making a copy.

    I think you're being sarcastic but of course you got an Interesting modifier which makes me laugh.

    --
    -- taking over the world, we are.
  67. Yawn by geomon · · Score: 1

    Great. Now I can watch "The Apple Dumpling Gang IX - Clovis' Revenge!".

    Seriously though, ever since Disney began the ruinous process of serializing every one of its classics, I can do without their fare.

    They will probably pressure Congress to *force* us to subscribe.

    --
    "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
  68. Oh? by DesScorp · · Score: 2, Insightful

    " Now if only the RIAA could follow this lead. I don't seen anyone hating disney - oh wait, they're not suing the youth of America."

    Rest assured that if movie downloading ever matches the level of music downloading, they will. Disney aggressively protects their copyrights and properties, and was one of the prime movers in getting copyright terms extended.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
  69. cable companies by SphynxSR · · Score: 1

    Will start charging for bandwidth now.

    --

    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
    1. Re:cable companies by Demanche · · Score: 1

      Actually .. if you have yet to hear.. they don't :>

      Well in australia maybe..

      Ccanadian companies are loosing their grip on the "per GB" market " .. I even got an email from my isp telling me any overconsumption from the 11th this month and onwards will be credited to me :D

      (this is for videotron and sympatico in canada if you wre curious)

      --
      Mod me down im a newf (wiki)
  70. WRONG, Mr. Poster by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Users can watch the film an unlimited amount of times before the movie expires.

    RTFA. Users can watch the movie an unlimited number of times within a 24 period that must commence within 30 days of the movie download. Not at all the same thing.

    The real kicker here is that it would cost Disney NOTHING more to make it unlimited viewable for the whole 30 days, and then it would be a heck of a deal. Instead they're still penny-pinching.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  71. Boo by Mwongozi · · Score: 1

    "Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States."

  72. YOU don't get it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hook your computer up to your TV you retard! It's all the rage these days! In fact a lot of us have been doing it for 4-5 years now!

    HELLO!

    No to mention the tens of thousands of "Media Center PCs that have been selling since last christmass so even moronic mom and dad can get into the DL and watch on TV act.

  73. oh believe me, i hate disney... by RATBOON · · Score: 1

    these people pushed through the absurd copyright laws we now have. but fuck them, i will sign up to their service, rip the vid/audio, and proceed to share.

    --
    ---- oh no - it's the RIAA and their $100000000 fine. I'm gonna take that so seriously...
  74. Yeah they are idiots by Snaller · · Score: 1

    Yeah, the morons could at least let us visit their site.

    Anyone know of a proxy that allows you to watch the place?

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    1. Re:Yeah they are idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes a proxy and a working US CC no. Then I just need to spoof my browsers UA string and reverse engineer the media format so that I don't have to install a retardo-player. That of course is assuming they have any movies actually worth watching, which is doubtful.

  75. I'm Too Lazy for Movielink by IHateEverybody · · Score: 0, Redundant
    From the Movielink page:

    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

    I had Mozilla open at the time and have never really liked IE. I think I'll just stick to Usenet, Kazaa, and Bittorrent for now. They don't ask me to change my web browser.
    --
    Does this .sig make my butt look big?
  76. DRM Alternative? by randallman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On topic, I tried the service and the video quality was quite poor. Off topic (slightly on), since DRM is bad, what would be a good alternative? I don't think online rentals will ever work without some restrictions. There has to be an opportunity for profit. I would like to be able to download a DVD quality movie and watch it.

    I think the answer should be open (not proprietary). Like SSL encryption. How about some time of key encryption system. Your system uploads unique data which is used to encrypt the movie and generate a decryption key that will only work on your system.

    There is no perfect solution, because of our lack of integrity. If everyone was honest, we wouldn't need locks on our doors.

  77. Cops suck too by KalvinB · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...because they arrest the youth of America. And judges because they put the youth of America in jail. And our peers too because they form the jury that convicts the youth of America.

    How dare we punish kids who do illegal things.

    Ben

    1. Re:Cops suck too by EpochVII · · Score: 1

      how dare they put kids in jail? how dare copyright law make it illegal.

  78. In other news... by David+Gould · · Score: 1


    ...Hell residents brace for blizzard conditions.

    Seriously, you're right. I'm highly surprised that they of all companies would be doing this. Strange world.

    --
    David Gould
    main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
  79. Here we go again:-Aim higher & to the right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Except that Linux is a hackers dream platform and if they allowed you to play the movie on Linux you could rip it and have it on the net in minutes."

    Uh huh...lets see.
    Windows has 90-95% of the desktop OS market.
    [Looks on Kaaza]
    Lots of copyrighted movies, music, and games.

    Kind of shoots your argument down, doesn't it?

  80. Wow! A whole day? Really? Gimme a break. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'd think Disney and the rest of the MPAA would be excited to take advantage of the unique qualities of digital distribution. Instead, they impose even more limits.

    With physically rented movies, as long as I hold a copy, no one else can watch that copy. Hence the 5-day rental window. The movie has to go back to the store in order for them to make more money off it.

    But obviously, this is not the case with digital distribution. There's no reason they couldn't let me watch it 24 hours a day every day for a month. A longer viewing window would allow me to treat the file more like an object. I could watch it one week, my wife could watch it the next, the kids could watch it the week after.

    But instead of using digital distribution to offer us more options, they offer us more arbitrary restrictions. Don't they understand that they're competing with Kazaa and the other filesharing networks? Why not offer me something at least remotely competitive?

  81. While in the real world....Sloth loader. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " My two year old son throws a fit if I can't put the Ice Age DVD in quick enough!"

    Well no wonder your load times are glacial.

    BTW To the other posters. I have Ice Age, Monsters Inc, and I'll have Finding Nemo when it comes out. So there, pffft.

  82. Band width is is question. by ratfynk · · Score: 1, Redundant
    Ok so the .Net guys are succeeding in degrading the real value of the internet. Lets see Xbox, Music files, Movies. The price of band width is bound to go up, not down. The economics just are not there sorry.


    Local ISPs, Universities, and .orgs will not be able to afford to buy a big enough pipe WIFI or not. The bandwidth cost of so called entertainment for the masses will put an end to the good part of the net. Band width for OSS and things like Univerity knowledge data bases will become too expensive. Many sunsites are already putting in band width limiters, I have noticed a considerable drop in speed, already. Microsoft has it right with bread and circus software, the trouble is the bread part is a hoax, and all pipes will send cash to Redmond.

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  83. Have you tried? by koi88 · · Score: 1

    That's just what I'm curious about. Has anybody actually tried? VLC plays so many formats, even proprietary ones, that I wonder if it's able to play this stuff.
    It can even play .asf files. So maybe also these films...
    If not, maybe it can do in a few weeks :-)
    It's just a technical problem, I guess...

    BTW, in case one of the developers reads this, a big THANK YOU for VLC and mplayer!

    --

    I don't need a signature.
  84. As a Windows user & a Slashdot reader.My symp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I'm beginning to notice that Linux obviously has no spell checking capabilities."

    Try browsing Slashdot with Konq. Spell-check your forms.

  85. Disney is a memer of the RIAA. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry to burst your bubble.

  86. Why would you WANT to? by stevejsmith · · Score: 1

    I think that online movie technology will probably be less hacked than music for a couple of reasons all centering around the fact that most people don't WANT to watch a movie over and over again, whereas people listen to music constantly. That and the fact that it would take up LOTS of space to host movies. And with retals being so cheap ($3), why would you waste five hours getting the damned thing at a low quality?

  87. Disney is suing the youth of America by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now if only the RIAA could follow this lead. I don't seen anyone hating disney - oh wait, they're not suing the youth of America.

    Disney has a music branch, Walt Disney Records that is a member of the RIAA, so yes, they are suing the youth of America.

    --
    -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  88. I'm not in the US! by altstadt · · Score: 1

    You insensitive clod!

    Consider yourself lucky. I get the message:

    Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States.

  89. Re:Here we go again:-Aim higher & to the right by JCholewa · · Score: 1

    > Uh huh...lets see.
    > Windows has 90-95% of the desktop OS market.
    > [Looks on Kaaza]
    > Lots of copyrighted movies, music, and games.
    > Kind of shoots your argument down, doesn't it?

    Yeah, it is really amazing that when I moved from Windows 2000 to Mandrake Linux 9.0, I pretty much reduced my amount of technically illegal activity from "shitloads" to "none".

    My only real vice right now is that I download copies of shows recently played on television. For some reason, I just prefer watching them on my computer. Hmm.

    --
    -JC
    http://www.jc-news.com/coding/SFi/

  90. Apple's slightly ahead of you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the new version of Quicktime that will ship with Panther includes a new wavelet-based image compressor with no compression artifacts at a 25:1 ratio. That seems like the road to iTunes Movie Store.

  91. Sure, this'll work... by Nucleon500 · · Score: 1

    If I'm going to pay for a movie, and then spend a week downloading it, I want it to work for more than 30 days. And the DRM doesn't help, either.

  92. that would be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in 24 hrs probably 12 times.. if you didn't sleep.

  93. Let Me Iterate the Points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (a) if you're under house arrest and are not allowed go to the video store and don't have some minion available to run your errands.

    (b) or you are in some other way shut-in, e.g. perhaps you can no longer fit out your front door.

    (c) pay-per-view only lets you watch what the ppv programming executive thinks you should watch on any particular day. you need to see FreeWillie _tomorrow_ dammit and it can't wait much after that.

    (d) with netflix you have to wait at least a couple days for the movie to go through the mail, rather than the somewhat reduced time it takes to download. downloading is 'more instant' for DVD-sized data chunks.

    (e) perhaps you don't own a VCR or a DVD player, but you do own a MicroSoft OS and Computer and you are simplifying your life and getting rid of all non-computer appliances.

    (f) you are boycotting *ockBuster Video because they flushed out all the good video rental stores in your town and they only rent stripped versions of Holywood pablum.

    (g) your video store clerks hate you and tagged you on their computer system as a jerk and they all laugh at you when you go in to rent PochoHontus.

    (h) netflix.com threw away several DVDs you mailed back, claiming they never received them, and hence you can no longer do business with them.

    I could go on, but it's time for me to go home from work now.

    see, there are an infinite number of reasons why you should just download your movies over the internet.

  94. and.. by mlerner · · Score: 0

    movielink is still unavailable for users outside the US..

  95. Isn't this the same business model... by KC7GR · · Score: 1

    ...that killed DIVX? Movies that expire, in terms of playability, within a certain time frame?

    Besides, why in the Multiverse would I want to watch a movie on my computer screen when I can wait for the DVD, and then watch it on a monster screen with a sound system that makes a PC's speakers sound like tin cans and a string?

    Sheesh... Eisner'll try anything to make a buck...

    --

    Bruce Lane, KC7GR,

    Blue Feather Technologies

  96. Re:Wow! A whole day? Really? Gimme a break. by wuice · · Score: 1

    If they're going to set themselves up as "competing" with Kazaa, they might as well give up now. It's a little difficult to compete with free unlimited use on any computer.

    I have to think that only people who don't know about Kazaa, or who have ethical reservations about using systems such as Kazaa, will be patrons of this service.

  97. Re:Good -- Well, Maybe just Okay. by Sabalon · · Score: 1

    Thus helping RIAA to sue the youth of america who is interested in older music whose copyright should have expired years ago.

  98. (OT) Re:Screen captures? by David_W · · Score: 1
    ...oh wait, you're new here, my mistake...

    You know, that's much less funny when your UID is higher than that of the poster you reply to. ;)

  99. OMG, are you _kidding_? by mbourgon · · Score: 1

    This is a fricking goldmine for them. This is simply a variation on the Divx :( (aka not ;-) scheme- pay everytime you watch the movie. Go to a friend's house? They need to pay. Watch it at home 2 days later? Need to pay. And what happens when Disney stops releasing it on DVD?

    Heck, that's it. It's for their Limited Release DVDs... release it for a couple of months, people buys it. From then on, until they release it again, if you want to watch it you have to pay them. Each time. DVD gets scratched? Pay each time. Have a nifty new ethernet-enabled DVD player? Bet they'll figure a way for you to watch it like that.

    It's Divx all over again.

    --
    "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
  100. "[...] unavailable to users outside of the U.S." by jon_eccleston · · Score: 1

    Everyone's noticed now that you need Windows to use this site, but spare a thought for us poor users outside of the US.

    "Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States."

    If the big studios (which I'm supposed to hate, I know, but they /do/ make cool movies) make something like this available in the UK, I'll be first in line to check it out.

  101. Not going to work! by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 3, Insightful

    * I will not use Windows to do anything, and you're not going to make me.
    * I don't want to wait an hour to download it and then get to view for 24 hours, when I could get it for the same price in 10 minutes from Blockbuster.
    * The rental will have far superior video and audio quality.
    * My computer is upstairs, and the TV with a real sound system is downstairs.
    * DRM. Although at any rate, I could simply connect my video cards' S-Video out to my capture cards' S-Video in :)

    So, in short, the quality necessary to shove it down even a broadband connection sucks, it's DRMed, and I don't like watching movies on my computer.

    1. Re:Not going to work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since Enterprise airs when I'm putting my kids to bed, I'm time-shifting episodes with my computer. The picture quality is worse than TV, but the commercials have been cut out. It saves me 17.5 minutes / episode.

      The s-video out/in is an easy way to copy. They'll have the macro-vision signal thing, but that's easy to defeat. Another way to defeat it is to insert a VXD in the chain ahead of the video on your system to catch and store and forward the digital data after it's been unencoded. Just like hooking an interrupt in the old DOS days and just as do-able if you've got the capability. Someone will do it and share it on the net and then DRM'd video will be easy to record into a non-DRM format.

  102. It's a poor idea, actually by artemis67 · · Score: 1

    Most people live within 5-10 minutes of a video rental store. Downloading a movie like this will take many hours, even over a broadband connection. So if the prices are roughly the same, why would you wait hours and hours?

    It's the same reason I cancelled my Netflix subscription. I loved everything about Netflix EXCEPT the wait for the movies to arrive. Blockbuster is just too damn convenient.

  103. How about this? by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Good idea, but how about this: Only let the child watch a Disney movie based on a classic novel once he's read the novel. This way, he will learn how Disney writers distort the stories. That way, he won't be like "I don't get it" when he tries out A.I. and Pinocchio's Revenge, both of which refer to events in Carlo Collodi's novel that didn't appear in Disney's 1940 film adaptation.

    Works out well and when he gets a good book he'll end up earning more TV time than he uses

    Your child will probably see a Cingular commercial and demand that the earned minutes roll over from week to week.

    And does he get credit for looking at magazines with pictures in them?


    Disney products are made in sweatshops
    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  104. Alternatives to Disney by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Trying to get rid of Disney? Here are options:

    Try Don Bluth movies; they're better.

    Try DreamWorks animated movies; they're better too.

    Heck, try even the movies in Wal-Mart's $5.96 bargain bin; they often follow the original stories better than Disney adaptations do.

    If your kid demands to see Nemo, try Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland or other dubbed anime not distributed by Buena Vista.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:Alternatives to Disney by skribble · · Score: 1

      Wow, i'd so hate to grow up with you as my parent. What happened to you? Did you get dissed by Mickey Mouse? Do need something to vent all your frustrations at, and Disney just happened to be what you chose at the time? Should we start drinking X brand Cola too, since Coke and Pepsi are bad too?

      Seriously, there are many worse evils in this world then Disney. And if you think that any of that crap you mention above appeals to a child better then Disney, then you are sadly mistaken, and really in the great scheme of life few things are more valuable then the joy of a child.

      Further more half your reasons to get rid of Disney make Disney seem responsible for MPAA and RIAA. If we are doing the guilt by association thing then you'd have to get rid humanity while you were at it. The sweatshop stuff, while certainly bad, blames Disney for issues which are for the most part beyond Disney's control (Yea, sure, they could show there frustration with forgien governments and contracters by just halting all business, but then so could everyone else, again... guilt by association.

      About the only "evil" thing Disney is directly resposible for is lobbing for the copyright stuff, which is both there right in a free society, and there resposibilty as a public company (i.e. to maximize profits). The real culprits in this case however are the assholes in Congress who voted for it.

      --
      --- Nothing To See Here ---
  105. DivX and DRM by yerricde · · Score: 1

    The .mp4 and .avi files typically don't have digital restrictions management, but DivX for Windows is a DirectShow codec, and like other DirectShow codecs, a DivX stream can probably be wrapped in a DRM layer.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  106. It's out of print by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Somebody who plays a Disney sales rep on TV says: "buy the DVD of the movie you want"

    I would, but why can't I find Pinocchio (1940) at Suncoast? Why does Buena Vista routinely take Disney animated movies out of print?

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  107. Disney's Nemo by yerricde · · Score: 1

    I'll have Finding Nemo when it comes out.

    You can get a movie with Nemo right now. It's called Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. No, Nemo is not a fish here.

    You can get Disney's sea movie with Nemo right now. It's called 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Nemo isn't a fish here either.


    There's something fishy about Disney
    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  108. It's out of print-used market. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why I shop the used market.

    1. Re:It's out of print-used market. by yerricde · · Score: 1

      That's why I shop the used market.

      You mean the abused market? The scratched-to-hell market? It amazes me what little kids can do to a DVD.

      I've read reports that some out-of-print Disney titles have regularly broken $100 on eBay. What working-class parents can afford that?

      --
      Will I retire or break 10K?
  109. Re:Not unlimited viewings for 30 days, but 24 hour by Omkar · · Score: 1

    The movie files can be viewed on a PC or on a television connected to a computer

    Hello, VCR! If I can watch it, I can copy it.

  110. WMP DRM Smoke by MrEnigma · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I thought the DRM in WMP was all smoke, and that using some Dev tools provided by Microsoft, you can easily grab a lossy stream (and possibly a lossless one using more advanced techniques) of any DRM file.

    If I was a business, I would definitely make sure that my files were protected going out there...then again they don't care, they just want the money at first, then they get real greedy.

    --
    GeekWares - Buy and Download Today!
  111. I hope Disney realizes... by spike+it · · Score: 1

    I hope Disney realizes that this will up the amount of illegal downloading of movies online. All it takes is one person to 'buy' each movie, and send it out over the internet. They're making it too easy!

  112. Yeah, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just that Twentieth Century Fox made the Ice Age movie.

  113. I'm sorry but... by __aahlyu4518 · · Score: 1

    I just can't wait 30 days for my movie to be downloaded....

  114. Don Bluth??? by samael · · Score: 1

    I've yet to see a Don Bluth film I'd rate above a 6/10. I'd happily rate Lion King, Lilo and Stitch and Emperor's New Groove way above any of them.

  115. Great, now I can stop leeching! by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

    No, wait, I don't live in the USA, so I guess I do. Control freak fucknuts. They'd rather lose money than admit that regional barriers and regional licensing are farcical in an online context.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  116. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The quality of Real Player or WMP is horrible, way worse than what you get with for instance SVCD.

    I guess "normal" people might not care (look at how many VHS tapes that are still sold!), but I personally would require more quality if I should care.

    Besides, when will 5.1 OGG come, we wants it ;)

  117. Screw Disney... i want Star Wars Kid!! by samhalliday · · Score: 1
  118. Crap! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With all the kids in my neighborhood, my kazaa, er I mean, web browsing bandwidth will be shot to pieces! Disney you are the antichrist!!

  119. good idea for disney by digtl88 · · Score: 1

    I think it is a good idea for disney to create this option in order to escape some piracy.