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Bollywood New Releases Available via Video-On-Demand

af_robot writes "There's an announcement of a secure, DivX video-on-demand service for first-run movies, but only for Bollywood movies. 'Each new Bollywood film is released on the public Internet a day before or on the same day of its theatrical release, through piracy on multiple illegal movie download web sites,' said Al Mason, CEO of Cinema on Web. 'Our partnership with DivXNetworks represents the future of entertainment on the Internet. Soon virtually all new major Bollywood and Hollywood movies, including entertainment will be distributed digitally with secure VOD solutions like the one created by DivXNetworks, simultaneously defeating piracy and generating additional revenue for film studios and producers.'"

21 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. What's the name of that movie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny


    Excellent! I've been looking for a certain Bollywood movie. In it an East Indian guy saves a girl from a corrupt landholder and at the end they all dance. What was it called again?

    1. Re:What's the name of that movie? by sTalking_Goat · · Score: 3, Funny

      OH yeah! I loved that one especially the part where they're dancing in a fountain/the rain and ducking around a tree, and then its gets positively scandalous and they hold hands!

      --

      My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...

    2. Re:What's the name of that movie? by raindrop#1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whereas American films consist of:

      85% explosions and car chases
      10% sex
      5% product placement

    3. Re:What's the name of that movie? by standsolid · · Score: 3, Informative

      source

      Apu: I'm hoping you enjoy this movie. It made every Indian critic's top 400 list.
      Woman: [singing] Love love love love love! I'm in love with lovely Johnny.

      [an Indian man breaks through a window and curses in Hindi at three sitting men]
      [they all start dancing]


      Bart: This movie you rented sucks.
      Homer: No it doesn't, it's funny! Their clothes are different from my clothes.
      [laughs] Look at what they're wearing!
      [laughs more]

      -- "Homer and Apu"

      --
      WTPOUAWYHTTOTWPA
      What's the point of using acronyms when you have to type out the whole phrase anyways?
    4. Re:What's the name of that movie? by RangerRick98 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Whereas American films consist of:

      85% explosions and car chases
      10% sex
      5% product placement


      That is truly pathetic. I for one refuse to rest until they're at least 25% sex. Who's with me? :)

      --
      "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
  2. Hackproof secure content delivery system, eh? by b00m3rang · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Where have I heard that before?

    1. Re:Hackproof secure content delivery system, eh? by speculatrix · · Score: 3, Interesting
      There's only been one unhacked secure video delivery system, and that's the tightly controlled closed proprietary system from NDS called Videoguard, used first by Sky satellite TV in the UK, and is now being adopted across Europe.

      It depends on several things:

      Firstly, proprietary hardware; they don't use a standard conditional access module (CI-CAM), but the decryption hardware is deeply embedded in the receiver

      Secondly, non-standard crypto systems; they don't use or share the crypto algorithms with others; and it's possible to change the algorithm over time to ensure they're a moving target - made possible by proprietary hardware

      Finally, a very active private security team who read bulletin boards, blogs, news sites etc; apparently they visit people who get too "interested". Hello NDS people!

      It's strongly rumoured that NDS's researchers looked very closely at their rivals' systems to learn how they worked, and on discovering weaknesses posted hacks, so that they discredited the opposition and thus drove revenue their way. More interesting, Sky and their associates have flouted European Commission regulations on open and fair access to their technologies where they have a monopoly.

      And for the final irony? The software system driving the set top boxes and the interactive content is called OpenTV, when it is not open at all, and they adapted GNU tools to compile the code and yet didn't contribute those tools back under the GPL until they were forced to!

  3. Great idea! by chris09876 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is really a wonderful idea. If only our friends at the MPAA could do the same... ...

  4. FYI by zepmaid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bollywood refers to the Hindi film industry in India.

  5. This is whats needed by pinkocommie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Video on Demand over IP is what will hopefully end the cable monopoly and if it actually gains acceptance with consumers eventually end conent producers monopolies as well. One can hope... (somehow always thought that stuff like this will be taken up in developing countries without as strong corp's as out here in the west. More power to India eh :))

  6. Honesty by ancyent_marinere · · Score: 3, Funny

    virtually all new major Bollywood and Hollywood movies, including entertainment will be distributed digitally

    This flash of clarity and honest self-assessment is truly refreshing. I for one am glad that they've finally officially recognized that most of their movies are lacking in entertainment value.

  7. If Eye Can See It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So can a recording device. Whether they like it or not, the pirates are always going to have a way to circumvent the anti-piracy schemes. I think the industries would be better off focusing on quality that can't be duplicated by a DVcammed AVI or movie screen. There are always going to be jackasses who will prefer to not pay and watch a shitty copy of a movie as opposed to paying to see the real shitty version of the same movie. If the movie was really something worth seeing then maybe people would actually pay.

  8. Re:Beware ye scurvy swabbies! by snuf23 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ahar! Me recklessness knows no boundaries! Preview? Missing end tag? Ahar! I know not of these things!

    --
    Sometimes my arms bend back.
  9. hooray! by X_Bones · · Score: 3, Funny

    Soon virtually all new major Bollywood and Hollywood movies, including entertainment will be distributed digitally [...]

    You mean they're going to start including entertainment with their movies now? Good, because I was getting tired of the non-stop flow of crapfests.

  10. Bollywood tidbits by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Informative
    Quite an informative (but currently misfigured) Bollywood article on wikipedia.

    Bollywood's viewership is 3.8 billion vs Hollywood's 3.2 billion.

    Former Miss World, bollywood queen, and my current heartthrob Aishwarya Rai was featured on 60 mins as the world's most beautiful woman and is among the cast in the next Hollywood James Bond flick.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  11. Forget DRM by Handpaper · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Run a subscription BitTorrent server. Charge $20/month for membership. Fingerprint torrent files to prevent them from being used by other IP addresses.* Guarantee quality. Employ professional rippers. Provide back catalogue. Don't bother with custom BitTorrent clients. Point people at Mr Cohen's site
    Profit.

    The Bollywood studios have an opportunity to embrace the technology so feared by their Western cousins. Their production costs tend to be much lower, their business model more fluid. If they get this right, they could ride the bandwidth wave into the next decade, paying less for distribution than the MPAA pay for toilet tissue. Let's hope they can provide a much-needed example

    *This is a speed-bump only, but I would imagine that people who have paid for content are less likely to distribute it further than those who have not.

  12. I only know by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Funny

    about the indian guy who smashed his car with an elephant and - oh, wait...

  13. Re:Defeating Piracy by saintp · · Score: 5, Insightful
    On the iTunes Music Store, the price per song is not $0.00. Nonetheless, people have turned to the iTMS in droves, because it offers a business model people want. That's why we're constantly raking the *AA over the coals at /.: They refuse to change their business model to reflect the changing technology, so they're trying to legislate their dying business model back into existence, just like they did in the VHS vs. Betamax days.

    And, just like then, they are failing because of innovative new content delivery systems like this. Yes, some people will always steal movies because it's free. Most people -- say, those who haven't written their own BitTorrent client in the past year -- will move to a system like this, where for a small fee (less than the $20 required for two at the theatres or a purchased DVD), they can view the movie they want, and don't have to wait three days until they get it downloaded, only to find out that they got the cut-down version released in Shanghai, shot by some kid with a camcorder in his hoodie and subtitled by Altavista's babelfish.

    People will happily pay for convenience; they will not, however, pay exorbitant fees for convenience. Bollywood is acknowledging that, and is hitting pirates back by competing with them. No one currently competes with pirates, which is part of why they're so successful. Now, their "z3r0-d4y \/1dZ" are getting pwn3d by Bollywood's -1-day vids. It's official: video pirates are going to be Bollywood's bitches, and it's going to hurt piracy to get screwed by that big, singing Indian cock.

    End piracy? No. You're just as delusional as the *AA if you think there's a magic bullet to end piracy. A positive step towards ending it? Fuck yes.

  14. Re:Beware ye scurvy swabbies! by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

    The boats have all been sunk and Davey Jones locker has been secured for Bollywood!

    Ever since running out of royalty money, Davey Jones has had to share a locker with Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  15. Re:Defeating Piracy by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I think it's true that an effective video-on-demand solution could defeat *some* piracy. If they're offering a good value, some people will be willing to pay *reasonable* prices.

    It can be hard to find reliable sources for pirated material. If it's easy to find, it's usually going to get shut down. Downloading of P2P, you don't always know if a file is complete and free of corruption. It's hard to tell if you're downloading what you mean to be downloading. Even if it is, you don't know what kind of quality you're getting. All told, it's sort of messy and annoying and time-consuming process. And it's a messy, annoying, time-consuming process that might get you in legal trouble.

    If someone can make a simple, easy, painless process, and they charge a nominal fee, some people who might otherwise have pirated may be willing to pay the price to save themselves the headache. For example, I know people who have pirated far less audio since the iTMS opened because they found shopping on iTMS to be an easier and more pleasant (and less frightening) experience than Kazaa, and therefore worth the $1/song.

    Not that it "defeats" piracy, but it's stopping *some* of the piracy from happening.

  16. Re:80-20 rule by afish40 · · Score: 3, Funny

    BTW, 80% of those 'gorgeous' babes are fscked by 20% of the producers in Bollywood! Why would Bollywood producers need to run a file system check? Are the Bollywood actresses that heavily corrupted?

    --
    Thanks a million. Push Start to replay.