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Starz, RealNetworks Offer Movie Download Service
Mz6 writes "The
New York Times and
others are reporting that RealNetworks and the Starz Encore Group will introduce an online service today that will let high-speed Internet users download and watch many of the movies shown on the Starz cable channel. This report is just on the heels of
TiVo's announcement to stream from the Web. This move is another early attempt by Hollywood to build a business out of downloadable movies and head off the sort of piracy that has hurt the music industry. The new service, called Starz Ticket on Real Movies, will cost $12.95 a month, and subscribers will be able to download and watch 100 or more movies each month, using Real's media player software, but only if you have a 600Kbps connection or higher."
Buffering ... please wait ...
From Real.com (a web page which doesn't load in Mozilla, because it checks my connection rate (without asking)! Rrrrrrr...)
.
Access over 100 movies for one low monthly fee -- 25 new titles added weekly
Download movies on up to three computers -- take them on the go with your laptop
That's about all the info Real has made available, other than movie titles.
I'm intrigued - now if only it weren't for the "possibility" of DRM sys-crap coming down the pipe, along with the movie . .
<grrr>
That was supposed to be a hot, up-to-the-minute broadband movie-on-demand service, but that didn't pan out. They still have Spiderman 1 trailers on there, for goodness sake! I don't think the film industry is really taking piracy enough to actually get off its arse and do something.
So torn....like the step in the right direction to newer distribution methods, but can never get over my absolute hatred of Real.
I've been getting movie dowloads from this site for months. Oh, and its free.
What am I waiting for? It's a bargain!!!
Kisses (muaaaaaaaaks)
--
You'd stumble in my footsteps (Depeche Mode, "Walking in my shoes")
The little boy is saying..
"I see.... dead.."
Oops sorry network congestion, oh no!!!
Osho
The wide availability of 600k to coincide with Realplay finally not having buffer issues eh?
Neat trick.
Or is 600k just the streamspeed they've been aiming for the whole time.
G
...when it gets down to fundamentals, do what you have to do and shed no tears. Dr. Matson in Tunnel in the Sky
... in order to download songs that you've purchased, please click on our sponsors first, then listen to the following ads before your song, then please let us install our software on your machine and bog it down. Enjoy our Free advertising at the end of every song! Also... please do not try to remove the song from your hard drive, as it may cause major lock-ups and really doesn't go away anyway. Thank you RealNetworks.
Going from $8 per view to $13 per month certainly looks like a step in the right direction. Maybe market forces will drive things toward a workable model after all. This is almost something I'd consider subscribing to.
Ok so if I'm paying $13/month for this service, why not pay $13/month for Starz (and HBO for that matter). Not only do I get to watch movies on my MUCH larger TV but everyone in the family can watch. Along with my TIVO or Dish PVR I can record shows and watch them ANY time I want. While I'm sure there is a market for this, it seems like a very small market
wow, what a good id..... buffering....ea! finally i can stop pirat......buffering....ing all my mo....buffering.....vies and get them legal.....buffering.....ly!
thank you, starz,.......buffering.....for making it easy for me to sl....buffering....eep at night.
I'm not looking to pay a monthly fee for streaming movies (which never works, I'd love to see a 500+kbps stream last for two hours over my cablemodem without hiccups).
Streaming video looks like crap.
I'm looking to download the movies - in DivX or whatever - that I can burn to disc and watch in my DivX set-top box, or game console.
Since they're lower quality than DVD, I'd say 5-10 bucks would be a fair price.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I was about to put this on par with an AOL CD that offered more hours per month than there were existant...
"Leisure is the mother of philosophy" - Thomas Hobbes
This move is another early attempt by Hollywood to build a business out of downloadable movies and head off the sort of piracy that has hurt the music industry.
Yep. The music business is doing so poorly. Those record label executives are going to be on welfare pretty soon. Actors, directors, and those prop guys are going to be on there next.
Wait.. didn't Harry Potter just make $90M in the US alone in its first weekend?
I cant wait for the letter I will be getting from my ISP about how I am abusing my internet connection and using more than I should be.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
I have tried cinemanow before and I think this would be the same, keep trying to download the same movie 5 times before you watch it just because you keep losing connection with the service or the download speed just sucks.
but only if you have a 600Kbps connection or higher
The post says download and watch - this is Real Networks, though, so what they really mean is use up all your bandwidth to watch stuttering video with horribly out of sync audio.
Really, how does streaming help anyone? I can handle the minor inconvenience of waiting a bit to view what I'm downloading, and once I've downloaded it I won't be stressing the servers of whoever I got it from if I want to watch it a second time.
So it states ....
"Each film will have an expiration date that coincides with its last showing on the cable station. The movies will be encoded so that they cannot be played after the expiration date."
Any estimates of how long it will take to crack this encoding?
And I still can't get the friggin gxine/Mozilla plugin to work for *any* codec, much less Real (which should work automagically, once gxine works).
Who would watch 100 movies in a month? Assuming a movie is 90min long, a reasonable estimate for the total length is 9000min or 150hours. Split over 30 days, that's 5hours of films a day. If people have 9 to 5 jobs and are out of the house from, say, 8AM to 6PM, that would leave 14hours in which to sleep (approx. 7hours), eat (2 meals, say 90min total), get ready for work (say, 30min to 1hour), read the newspaper, etc..., so the only way I can see it working is if people spend the entire weekend watching films.
Due to lack of disk space this user has been discontinued
How many people:
- Can watch 100 movies a month
- Only want to see what's on Starz
- Have a 600kbps connection, and
- Like watching movies on their PC
???For the price and quality, I'm thinking Netflix is a better deal...
...and you run and you run and you can't stop what's been done...
subscribers will be able to download and watch 100 or more movies each month.
A movie in compressed divx form is what, 600MB, x100 = 60000MB, or ~60GB in one month. Perhaps they can compress it more, but even so that's a hell of a lot of data. It'll be interesting to see how the broadband ISPs react to this, since multimedia is one of the big pros of broadband, but the providers nonetheless tend to rely on folks not actually using their full bandwidth much of the time (that's why they hate big P2P sharers).
I must say, this sounds like a tempting proposal. However, it seems to me that it would be hindered by the quality of Real's Video format. While it sreams well, I have had almost nothing but disappointing results when using Real for pretty much anything. It's video is blocky, full of artifacts, and low in both colour fidelity and contrast.
I'd love to see a DivX/Xvid mpeg4 stream service, like this start up. I wouldn't be surprised if one was in the works.
Too bad though, really, that pricing sounds pretty sweet.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
"Nobody will ever need more than 100 movies a month."
-Bill Gates
Best Windows Freeware
You pay one party for access and Comcast shuts you down for abuse.
the downside to this program is that you have to use the all-intrusive real player.
Is it 5:30 yet?
I believe that piracy hurts bad movies (and albums). There have been plenty of movies that I haven't gone to see in the theater because I've watched a copy I downloaded and hated it. Not so much recently, but Hulk and MiB 2 both come to mind. If i hadn't downloaded them, I probably would have wasted $7 in a theater to go see them. Other movies, however, that I've seen first on my computer, I have gone to see multiple times in the theater.
Same thing goes for music. If a band I normally like releases a followup album, I'd likely go buy it -- except now I'm being smart and checking online first. If it sucks, then I don't buy it.
100 movies a month??? Who has the time to watch 100 movies? Solution: Get a subscription for your neighborhood.
And now, the proliferation of accidental performance art pieces, whereby viewers are greeted with 2.5 hours of "silence". (i.e. "Connecting..." "Buffering...")
stuff |
Until your ISP cuts you off because you had excess bandwidth traffic this month. And if you do it a couple of months in a row, you'll probably get cut off for good, because it is assumed you are pirating.
I wish all the parties involved, would get together and iron all this stuff out.
Do they have all those goofy ads in the trailers.
Can I burn them to my DVD-RW and watch them anytime I want and as often as I want.
Otherwise I'll just keep on renting, ripping, and burning like I do now.
If most DVD's are 4 gigs, what quality will there be in a 20 minute download. At 200 k/second, can you even get a full gig in 20 minutes? I wonder if these movies will be at low resolutions. And at 12 bucks a month, I would like to be able to use the computer to play it on my 36" TV. But I know how much worse a movie can look just by doubling the window size on my 17" monitor. I can't imagine it would look good on a TV.
RealPlayer 10 and Helix DRM Provide Highest Quality and Security
What kind of DRM will be included in this? Can I download the movie and watch it on my laptop while away from a network connection. And what will stop someone from recording what is on their screen. I can't help but think this product/service is going to suck. Plus, ever since RealPlayer invaded my privacy years ago I have never trusted them. I do not like a company where I have to search and search and search for a setting that will disable sending reports back to the company about how I use my PC.
How about getting back to where people can buy and own stuff? Like back when VCR's came out and if I taped something, I could watch it anytime and anywhere. I hear iTunes lets people download their product and use it as they wish. Why dosen't the movie companies do the same thing?
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
When will companies learn that people want choices? The only reason iTunes is working out for Apple is because they put it on windows too.
I love STARZ and watch for the saturday night movies all the time. I might have subscribed had they supported the mac, I mean we have real player, why not just support it? Stupid move Real.
...where Arnold says: "I'll be ...buffing... please wait!"
MovieLink currently runs a promotion where any movie costs 99 cents.
They have all the MPAA stuff, like Matrices and stuff available on DVD right now.
Requires Windows DRM client, and once you start watching, you have to finish within 24 hours.
I think we do ourselves a disservice when we perpetuate this line. Didn't Slashdot cover this issue just a while back on CD sales actually increasing but the RIAA using the numbers that made it look like sales had dramatically dropped.
Well, yeah, if people are buying music like crazy but it is from Apple, the sales of physical CDs is going to decline eventually (but I think using the right numbers they haven't even declined yet).
Usurper_ii
Ron Paul
But if they read the article they would see that this model does not use streaming, but rather just downloading. If they are downloaded onto your local drive, you aren't going to have buffering issues!
Indeed, it almost sounds like the model doesn't even support buffering, because if it did then quotes like
would make no sense, since a movie that takes 30 minutes to download would definitely get the data before it was needed...So I'd give it a chance. For the new generation of portable video devices, (like the iRiver on Slashdot last week), this looks like a great source of content. Of course tech geeks like us can already just record our cable feeds and process the content ourselves, but 99% of the people out there can't. And that's a pretty good market!
I don't know what the availability of high speed connections like that (600KB/s) around the world, but where I live those speeds run you about $120 a month unless you're lucky enough to have a cable broadband provider that doesn't have any other customers on your street.
How much would you all pay for a 600KB/s pipe?
I was in the park the other day wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get - and then it hit me.
Why not pay per movie like iTunes, and save to disk? Pay once, download once, take it with you places and enjoy.
:-)
Of course, many people don't want to watch a movie too many times, whereas they will probably keep listening to the same song, so the reusability is of less value. Perhaps in that case a subscription model is better. But I always like small per-unit charges more -- it's the UNIX mindset I guess
While not directly commenting on the article (which I did read), I do have an issue with all these online video services which only seem to carry the older releases. If these people want to replace 'my' trip to the video store, that would mean they would have to carry the new releases. I understand that in this case, they are just putting the movies online they usually broadcast, which are in general older releases, but why is it that no company will put new releases online? If you want my money or replace my trip to the video store, offer new releases the day they are releases in the video stores, it's that easy!
And don't forget that the second installment of the ever so popular Shrek series was the fastest animated movie to break $300 million (and it is also the highest grossing one after beating out Nemo)
Shrek 2 has broken the record for the highest grossing animated film of all time and has beaten its predecessor to do so.
Shrek 2 earned a not too shabby $346.5 million as of June 12, passing Finding Nemo which has made $339.8 million to date. Shrek 2 did it just 25 days after release. Shrek 1 made $267 million at the box office.
It does not work on Linux. So I guess I will have to go with some MS solution that has been ported to Linux. The sad thing is that MS formats have better support than does Real or any other closed arch.
RealNetworks, Are you listening? I know that you are working on a solution, but you have been at it for nearly 2 years. Worse, you seem in no real hurry to move the commercial side to Linux. In the mean time, others are popping up all around.
Wake me up when you can burn it to DVD with reasonable quality to watch on a TV. I wouldnt expect it to make a clone of a genuine DVD - that would be a real incentive to piracy - but if it was at a resolution at least as high as a broadcast TV version I'd accept that.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
did you remember to offset that by the $20 per ticket a pirate could have spent if they hadn't downloaded it (vs the $10 per ticket the normal viewers spent)
it's not about the money they made. it's about the money that they didn't make.
they lost that which they didn't make.
Ha ha! Too bad it's Real Media! I hate that thing... repeatedly crashed under Win 2K, couldn't turn off its auto start/integration/advertising, had trouble uninstalling it. It was fine when I first used it back in the Win 3.x days but since then it has bloated into, quite possibly, the ugliest media player I have ever seen.
Show me a service that works with WinAmp (and on other non-MS platforms too) and I would gladly open up my wallet. Seriously.
I don't know what the situation is like elsewhere in the world, but here in the UK, broadband connectivity usually comes with a caveat called "contention". That is, I have to share my a theoretical 20 other people. If my next door neighboor were to sign up, I would share current my bandwidth with him.
This is all well and good when people download data in bursts (this is indeed why the system can work), but if all the people around me started to download 100 movies a month, my 2Mb connection would drop like a rock.
if this becomes a major thing internet users use, then those ISP's are going to be unable to handle that kind of data flow... most broadband users just load the drudge report in 1 second instead of 10 seconds, they dont stream more than 10 megs a day, but with this type of thing, a lot of users will be downloading hudnreds of more megs a day than expected... probably hitting those secret bandwidth quotas... this will be ugly for everyone
Harry potter (and whoever his involved in the process) isn't the one that pays the price of piracy.
.. :p)
Big movies will always make money, less but still large enough to make one rich several times over.
Music is in the same boat. Madonna, Limp Bizkit, Garth Brooks, Metallica (name 'em) aren't THAT hurted by piracy. While I don't have records of their actual losses due to piracy, I'm damn well sure they still get some good dough for their albums.
Economics is a good teacher to teach us anything that involves money.
- The less you have, the more you pay -
(Ever noticed how huge companies evades all income taxes ? All ratio kept, the casual worker pays a lot more!)
If you're a good band, you just started out, piracy WILL hurt you. it will seriously hinder your means of producing a better product.
Same goes for movies, good movies rarely have a big budget, they can't afford that much marketing and any sale they lose digs them that much deeper in their grave.
I'm not saying we should never download any movies or albums. Download it to listen to it/ view it. If you like it and you think its t he kind of stuff you'll watch/listen to again, then buy it. (or make a donation to the band via paypal
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
I got a connection speed test of 778kbs which they said FAILED their criteria for 600kbs.
Who knows what they are thinking, a classic Real networks move.
Some quick math...
100 movies, approximately 2 hours a piece. Divided evenly over an average 30 day month...
hmm, so yes, if some person wanted to spend 6+ hours a day every day, yes, they could possibly watch 100 movies in a month.
This reminds me of those AOL CD's that offered something like 1000 FREE HOURS (to be used in 45 days). Um, hate to break it to you, but in 45 days, there are only 1080 hours... Shit I have permanent connection and I'm till not on 1000 hours in 45 days.
yes yes, I know. The 100 movies don't have to be viewed by the same person (as families can watch stuff here and there). But they are just using the 100+ in the same way that seven eleven sells super gulps that contain 2 liters worth of soda. 99% of people will come no where close to actually consuming this much of their product. But you could.
another reason for people not to leave their PC. That blood clot disease, DVT, scares the crap out of me. While I think services like this may add value in some ways, I cringe at the thought of having another reason to spend time in front of the computer.
Right now, work, personal chatting/websurfing, coding and now movies. The point of sitting in front of a computer 20 hours a day(justified) is slowly becoming a reality.
Music is mobile. Movies are sedentary. lose
Well, I signed up for the free trial and am downloading 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'Welcome to Sarajavo.'
Anyone know what the quality is? I notice that Night of the Living dead is around 450 megs or so. I realize it's black and white and not the greatest quality to begin with -- so I expect that to be small. But I'm curious if the newer films -- 'Punch Drunk Love' for example -- will have DD51 soundtracks. Doubt it. But we'll see.
I'm a obsessive movie-watcher, so this -- combined with Netflix for the more obscure stuff -- really interests me. And, yes, Real is evil, but I noticed that their newest player just installed with a minimum of fuss and intrusiveness. So maybe they're trying to redeem themselves.
Dunno. We'll see.
From the website:
Watch at home or on the road
Curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn or flip open your
laptop at 30,000 feet. Your downloaded movies are available
whenever and wherever you are.
Gabriel Ricard
if the descrimination suite comes with a couch, then the gp poster's dictionary is hidden between the cushions. It's right next to his grammar.
Thats right, just keep justifying your theft fellas.
I use this because any version of Real player just sucks. I would not pay for a service like this from Real. If it was something that was DivX I would if it was a good price.
Netflix might be alright, but, last time I checked it, it was only available to US residents.
This service though can be easily made available to non-US people, too. However (I haven't -- of course -- RTFA) something tells me the licensing issues "prevent" Hollywood from allowing non-US customers to download movies... sadly
Doomie
I can't watch 100 movies per month, but for $13/mo, as long as it's got movies I like, I'd pay for it.
I'd like to know what they've got before I sign up, but I'm willing to try it out for $13 and see.
I've got a 6Mbps connection. I think that'll do nicely.
I already watch movies and shows on my PC (legitimate or not). One can also hook up their computer to their television, and many remote control devices can be purchased to control the PC. I see no problem there.
My only gripe with them is that you have to be on a Windows PC in order to sign up. Then again, Safari's Debug menu let's me specify my User Agent so....
Gabriel Ricard
The cablemodem providers in Belgium and the Netherlands give in their commercials "watch movies, hear your favorite music, surf at blazing speeds,
They cap whenever you go over your gigabyte of transfer limits to a speed lower than a 56k modem.
Why telling those things to your customers you can watch movies, play your favorite music while my own mother couldn't listen to the musicstream (128kbps) I have here or she has to pay the price of being capped.
Same with this, 600kbps you need for watching these movies; if I had a telenet cablemodem I could probably watch 1 movie and surf at blazing-speeds of less than 56k.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Yes, but sales are only up 32% over this time last year not meeting expectations.
It's never about them losing money, it's about the perceived LOSS in the growth from year to year.
It can't last forever I'll tell you that much.
How many people out there are going to be able to meet the bandwidth requirements? I am on cable through Midco.net,and always thought my internet was pretty fast. However, I'm only getting a 398 kbps rating through real. It seems they need to lower there requirements. Maybe it would be better if they made you wait a period of time before you started viewing it (e.g. 1/2 hour to an hour while it gets first part of movie, then while you're watching gets the rest). Maybe it's just me but it seems like with 600 kbps requirements, that's an insanely small market they're going after.
Portland, North Dakota Puppies
I was an early TiVo owner. I paid for Cable. I upgraded my TiVo's HD, and got DirectTV... Then I got a DirectTiVo...
But one day, I realized that I was paying too much for the limited number of shows on TV I watching... so I stopped paying at all, because the net is a good source of all media now.
Now, I download my favorite TV shows from the net. Within hours of the Simpsons airing on 'free tv', I can download a DivX of it, watching it on my MythTV box, which outputs to my 60 inch TV, with no commercials either. Looks as good as Cable or DirectTV ever did. HBO shows like the Sopranos? CBS/ABC/Fox/NBC? The same thing. Pretty much all of the 'good' tv programs, I can download right away, thanks to Bittorrent.
Mixing Mythtv, RSS and Bitorrent is the killer app for media. It's coming soon... I'll just subscribe to shows, and they will just appear on my box... And every other Myth-style Box out there will help spread them. Even better than Tivo, since I can trust someone to manage an good RSS feed and I'll get everything they think I'd like... Or I'll pick 2 feeds, or 3 feeds, or a dozen... Or run one of my own for friends, etc etc.
We are already seeing things like this:
Michael Badnarik (the 2004 Libertarian Presidential Candidate) using Bittorrent: He's put his entire Constitution Class on downloadable video, for free over the Internet, using BitTorrent. 7 parts, each one hour long.
What would buying Primetime TV for this sort of exposure cost? And who would watch it, all 7 hours, if they did? But this way, grassroot politics, simply by bypassing traditional media! Watch on demand... Educate people... Expose people to ideas they aren't getting on Mass Media.
I want to see this man in a debate with Bush and Kerry now...
Death of traditional Media, due to Growth of Net, predicted, Film at 11.com
Help achieve Liberty in your lifetime - join the Free State Project - http://www.freestateproject.org
They will not succeed before they add 3 free porn movies as bonus for each download.
With the donkey I'm always getting at least 3 juicy fakes before I get to the real movie. I will not switch before that feat. is available.
Oh, and lower the price. $0 would be fine with me.
Hollywood can still make their bucks through merchandising (and that ought to be enuff)...
About bloody time! Perhaps they're finally learning that if you make things easily available for a low price (like, say, the iTunes Music Store did), people will pirate less and pony up more. Everyone walks away happy.
It also should be said that piracy hurts movies that girlfriends and wives don't like.
If you use User Agent Switcher you can convince the website that you're running IE on Windows. Has anyone used this technique, and then tried the demo service on Linux?
I am concerned about any program, any piece of hardware, any treaty, any law that treats me as a consumer, not a citizen
Although I probably wouldn't use this service anyway , I wonder if the movies will be available in OAR (original aspect ratio). The Starz! channel shows all widescreen movies in pan n' scan or open matte as far as I know (as do most other "premium" channels). I will activley discourage anyone I know from using this service unless they offer OAR for most of the films.
Yet another fantastic reason why Mozilla and not IE should be the browser of choice.
DSLR speed test (NAC.NET): 17539 down/8468 up (mbps)
/.'ing, how are they going to maintain it to hundreds of thousands of people?
Starz!/RP "speed" test: 463kbps
If they can't even maintain enough bandwidth for a
Disney tried something similar with Movielink, but it was expensive and only served up Blockbuster-rentable movies.
I don't see this little partnership taking off.
And frankly, so should ISPs and the hardware between them and the rest of the world. I don't really think that 600kbps is for everyone is a proper expectation for this point in time, but it has to be pioneered by some requirement.
Images/etc pushed a need for something better than my old 2400bp/s modem, perhaps online movies/etc will push the need for a system capable of sustaining such media in the future?
Why not keep the business model the same, and just put ads in it? Well, I imagine, for $12.95/mo there must not be any ads, so maybe that's what they're going for. If there ARE ads on top of $12.95/mo, then I'm surprised if more than 5 people sign up.
Which means that, in reality, they didn't "lose" anything. You can't lose something you don't already have. Of course, this doesn't stop the RIAA from bemoaning fictitious "lost profits" due to illegal P2P file trading. Such logic assumes that people will buy the music/video/whatever if no illegal downloads were available, but this is an unwarranted assumption. I rather think most people wouldn't run out and buy music/video if an avenue of piracy were cut off.
I'll just stick to descrambling starz on analog cable for free, thanks. Time shift with vcr as necessary.
I got the first post, yay!
They should be paying you to watch them.
If they gave us these statistics in # of ticket sales, I think that it would be much less dramatic, and much more honest. Movie theatre ticket prices continue to rise every year for no discernable reason. So, if Shrek 2 earned $346.5 million (34.65 million tickets) when tickets are around $10 everywhere, how does that compare to Finding Nemo making $339.8 million (48.54 million tickets @ $7 ea). Granted, I've pulled these numbers (except the current $10 mark) out of my ass, but you get the point. Of course movies are going to be bringing in more money. Hollywood is charging us more.
Gabriel Ricard
The article quotes them as saying that a complete download takes "10 to 30 minutes." If you take that worst-case time and assume that this is the time to download if you 'only' have 600kbps, then you get 128MB.
600kbps x 60 sec/min x 30 min / 8 B/byte / 1024 MB/KB = 128MB
If they're renting full-length movies compressed to 128MB, the picture quality is going to suck pretty bad. You can generally get DVD quality at 700MB (depending on movie length and amount of fast-action scenes).
"head off the sort of piracy that has hurt the music industry"
The only thing that has hurt the music industry is the crap they try to pawn of as music!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Hey, isn't that how much a year's college tuition is nowadays?
Broadcast International has a product called CodecSys which they claim optimizes video transmission. From their press release at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040520/lath102_1.html:
"CodecSys cuts bandwidth significantly for full-screen, full-motion video including HD quality under 3 MB, DVD quality at 512 K, and VHS quality at 256 K."
Third party testing and verification can be found here
and they are turning away potential business because of it.
I just went to their Starz! Ticket site to check it out, and was informed by Real, "sorry, but you can subscribe to our service, you don't have a minimum of 600k of bandwidth". Then it shows me a box that says I have 300k of bandwidth.
Problem is, I've got a 3000k leased connection, so it looks like they are making a math error somewhere. Their scripting errors are going to cost them just the sort of customers they are trying to attract: people with fat net pipes and disposable income.
What a galacticly stupid idea, putting a hokey bandwidth meter on your website to sort out your ideal customers from the unwashed masses. How typically Real.
I agree, this is funny, they are supposed to dish out these movies, but can't even keep the page up...
Discernible reasons:
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Seems like this is a decent step forward and is on the right track but for now just give me Netflix. I have used Netflix for years and never had a problem. Much better selection than Real. 15,000 choices for Netflix vs. 100 for Real? If they can get to the point where you could just choose from thousands of movies and it would play well on the computer it might be a good service but for now I am much happier watching a movie on a big screen with a kickin' home theater system than on a 19 inch monitor with mediocre sound.
Strangely enough, in Calgary ticket prices went DOWN (2-3 dollars), but the theatres also got rid of cheapie Tuesdays, switching to consistant pricing.
NetFlix is putting some hurt on Blockbuster and other video chains. Using the post office as a distribution method and business class mail has proved to be much more viable to people who don't want to go pick out a movie from a store they have to drive to on a shelf. I, for one, HATE going to video stores so I don't do it anymore. I don't want to hear little johnny scream because his trailer park mama won't rent him the Mutant Turtles for the 16th time.
So, Netflix stock is going up-up and the question is, will this put a stop to it? Since my Tivo already has an ethernet connection going to my Linksys going to my cable modem - and since I ALREADY get previews for what's at the box office currently pushed to it - why shouldn't I just be able to use the menu system to pick movies and have them ready the next day or in a few hours? Is the sneakernet of the US post office going to be more efficient over time than broadband? No way.
The problem is the network, though. Broadband adoption rate worldwide, I don't have solid numbers for. I do know, from reading network operator mailing lists, that many infratsructures would not be prepared to handle this on a mass scale. if Comcast ALREADY has a secret usage cap, what would happen if people started busting through this en masse? I'd still bet on netFlix growth for awhile longer.
I've seen some high-quality Quicktime movies, but every experience I've had with Real Player is chunky, buffered video riddled with artifacting.
:)
I am on a 1GHz Powerbook, and being Apple's technology I'm sure Quicktime will always have better performance on the Mac, but what about the rest of the world? Is Real Player usable on other platforms?
Questionable codecs aside, combine this sort of service with a device along the lines of AirTunes w/ S-Video output and I'd definitely consider this type of service. But probably not for Starz.
Of course the REAL market is porn.
Well, of course, most BitTorrent users do use their own IPs. But wardriving is becoming more popular.
my old sig used to be funny, but then slashcode ate it and now it's not funny anymore
h. Starz or its content delivery providers may install on your hard drive one or more deletion mechanisms that delete Content that is outside the availability period for such Content. This deletion mechanism will be required to be installed on your hard drive in order for you to download any Content. Starz and its content delivery providers may verify such installation pursuant to means designated solely by them.
Additionally:
b. By using the Services or the Content, you occasionally make available to Starz certain non-personally identifiable information, such as the domain name and type your Internet server and browser, which pages of the Site you access, and the length of access. This paragraph of this Agreement explains how Starz uses such information, and how you can restrict the use and collection of non-personally identifiable information from "cookies." A "cookie" is a bit of text information stored on the hard drive of your computer by an Internet web server when you use the Services or access the Content. You can choose not to accept cookies, but in so doing, you may not be able to use the Services or access the Content. Refer to the Help information in your browser or Internet services provider site or software for instructions on how to disable cookies, or to be notified when a cookie is set. Starz may use cookies to track your usage of the Services or the Content, to track your interactions with the Site and to customize the Site. However, Starz will only use information stored in cookies in aggregate form and will not sell, lease, license or share information derived from cookies with any third parties. Starz sometimes uses your non-personally identifiable information to improve the design and content of the Services or the Content, and to personalize your Internet experience. Starz also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze site usage, as well as to offer improved products, programs or services.
Uh huh.
I was actually sort of interested before I read the file deletion bit. Sorry, no one deletes files from my PC except me and the federal investigators.
Drinking habits can be dangerous. You can choke on the cloth and the nuns will wonder where their clothes are.
This sounds like a good idea but come on the people who would actually use this service would preferrably go to the video store and rent a f*ing DVD because they are too lazy to hook up their computer to their tv. What I'd find more useful, and I'm sure plenty of others who are too poor to afford a real TIVO, would be a monthly service that records your favorite TV episodes/movies and then you can watch them later. Like a net based TIVO? Does this exist yet? I think it's called bittorrent. lol A few years ago I lived in a place where they decided not to air this one TV program I liked so my only option was the net otherwise I couldn't watch it... I mean look at the release dates for DVDs... DVD movie is out around the same time that the movies air on starz, HBO, showtime, etc. but DVDs for tv episodes may not be out for a year or more. If you're greedy ass entertainment company is going to charge me more money for something at least make it something I'd use.
This should be a free pirk for subscribing to the Starz network, just like On-Demand.
Otherwise, what's the point? Why else would you put up with low quality video, and let Real trash your system?
I want to watch it on my TV, if its in Divx or mpeg i can do that. I also want to be able to keep it if i like. Streaming real stuff? Dream on grasshopper
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Small bands get a lot of exposure through piracy. If you happen to play avant-garde industrial music, or neofolk, or one of a million other genres, your stuff is never going to get played on the radio. When people have never heard of you, they don't buy your CDs, attend your concerts, or purchase other merchandise. Some word-of-mouth advertising takes care of that, but sending someone an mp3 over the internet is just about the best word-of-mouth advertising you can get, because it lets people actually get hooked on music they otherwise may not have ever known existed. I know that's how I've found most of the bands I currently listen to.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Well, they complained about something very similar, which I think works through the same channels: very quickly published negative online reviews. In previous eras, the movie industry could expect a hyped-up blockbuster with top stars to have a huge opening weekend, even if it turns out to suck, since everyone queues up to go see it before they know it sucks. With online reviews, people are sometimes finding out it sucks within hours of the movie coming out (or with leaks, earlier), which is killing opening weekends of terrible films that otherwise might have snuck in $80m before anyone realized how terrible they were.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Who will be the first to target Real/Starz for patent licensing: Acacia, USA Video, or SightSound?
-brandon
Learn more about audio/video patent holders
------ Fight The Patent! website
Read a Description of Helix DRM before you pull out your debugger(s) and download the Helix server software. Feel free to let us know if you find any bounds that aren't checked or opportunities to send Real some malformed packets.
How can you stop someone form recording it off the screen or for that matter take the bits right off your video frame buffer?
If it's anything like Secure Audio Path, then Microsoft's video DRM runs with WHQL signed video drivers, and the kernel doesn't let any other app into a Secure frame buffer.
OK, I had many "flamebaited" posts defending real against windows media but this one isn't the case.
To purchase, you must
Reside in the United States (OK, its MPAA guys, got it but still stupid)
Have Windows 98 or newer (?!!? How hard is it to develop cross platform while RealMedia SDK IS crossplatform)
Have a Broadband connection rate of at least 600 Kbps (What happens if a guy uses 300 kbit and wait 2x? isn't it his/her choice?)
Also, DivX AC3 capability, yes I know. The 5.1 surround thing can be done with ac3 divx'es but its HARD for average user to find files over p2p and install necessary stuff. The point I want to make is... If you compete with "pirates", give users a plus thing. Realone has 5.1 capability for 3 years now! Yes, including Mac version. Give them 5.1 stuff if they want.
Funny about those services not offered for macs... Let me speak straight. Mac users has more money than average user and they have tradition to PAY for stuff they use/watch. So you open a drive in theater and you don't allow Mercedes or BMW cars in. Simple as that, if it sounds spoiled its your choice to understand as that. If any Realnetworks people read this post (I am sure they do) check the percent of Mac users vs. Win32 users for paid services. You won't see traditional 5% figure I bet.
I am Canadian and I tried the service (why? Because I live in a rural area and driving to video store is a pain). Of course the service is not available to Canadians but I have gotten aroudn that before...
I have a Superpass Realplayer subscription (My hobby is comparing American news with Canadian/European news). Anyway the RealOne Superpass itself is for Americans only, but you can get through that by giving your American aunts address, they don't check it as long as your credit card is valid the first time.
OK, So I tried signing up ($8/month if you are already a superpass subscriber) and it wouldn't let me because I have a Canadian ip address.
So I use an American proxy server and pay the $4 to get the service for the rest of the month. They tell me my speed is too slow (damn slow proxy server) so I had to find a faster proxy server that supports SSL. When I finally did that, and purchased the subscription it made me redownload RealPlayer 10 (even though I already had it installed, I had to download and install the damn thing or it wouldn't let me log into the service).
After downloading, it updated me with the latest DRM software and I was on my way! Unfortunately, I was stuck in a loop that kept testing my speed... I was fast enough but something was preventing me from proceeding beyond the speed check. I turned off the proxy server and it detected that I was Canadian and immediately denied me access (even though I had paid $4 at this point! How rude!). I tried using other proxy servers but could not get out of the speed test loop.
Frusterated I phoned up Real support and asked them what the hell was going on (their toll-free number works from Canada)! Anyway, eventually I demanded a refund and they gave me a month of Real Superpass free because of my frusteration. (If you ever try to cancel they give you a free month, so you can get about every second/third month free).
It pisses me off that Canadians have to wait for services like this to launch in Canada. Seriously I would pay for a good service like this because going to the video store is a pain in the @$$... I guess I will have to stick to giganews/p2p for now to get my needs serviced. I hope that at the very least it works for Americans.
You're exactly right on this. Before the Internet, they could rely on their multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to float their sub-par movie. Now that people can easily get a hold of reviews (I like rotten tomato) quickly, they might have to change their business plan.
And big corporations have shown over and over that instead of changing their business plans, they prefer to just sue people. xbox mod chips and RIAA file swapping lawsuits come to mind.
http://real.starz.com/browser.html