Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot Asks: Would You Like Early Access To Movies And Stop Going To Theatres?
It appears many major stakeholders in the movie industry want to bring new titles to you within days, if not hours, as they hit cinemas. Earlier this year, we learned that Sean Parker is working on a service called "Screening Room", an idea that was reportedly backed by Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams, to bring movies on the same day as they show up in theaters. Apple seems interested as well. It is reportedly in talks with Hollywood studios to get iTunes rentals of movies that are still playing on the big screen. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that several studios are exploring the idea of renting new movies for $25 to $50 just two weeks after they have hit cinemas.
None of such deals have materialized yet, of course, and also it needs to be pointed out that several movie companies have discarded these ideas before because they know that by offering you new titles so early they are going to lose on all the overpriced cold drinks, and snacks they sell you at the theatre. There's also piracy concerns. If a movie is available early, regardless of the DRM tech these companies deploy, good-enough footage of the movies will crop up on file-sharing websites almost immediately.
But leaving all those aspects aside, would you be interested in getting new titles just hours or a week or two after they hit the cinemas? Would you want to end the decades-long practice of going to a theater?
None of such deals have materialized yet, of course, and also it needs to be pointed out that several movie companies have discarded these ideas before because they know that by offering you new titles so early they are going to lose on all the overpriced cold drinks, and snacks they sell you at the theatre. There's also piracy concerns. If a movie is available early, regardless of the DRM tech these companies deploy, good-enough footage of the movies will crop up on file-sharing websites almost immediately.
But leaving all those aspects aside, would you be interested in getting new titles just hours or a week or two after they hit the cinemas? Would you want to end the decades-long practice of going to a theater?
$25 is ok... $50 is way too much.
Even if services that offer same-day movie screening as they hit cinemas arrive, I would rather go to a theatre and watch it on the big screen. Watching a movie, in my opinion, isn't just about watching the movie. It's the experience, something I feel I wouldn't be able to replicate on my smartphone or TV at home.
early/late. wouldn't go anyway.
The implication in TFS is that they are available later and making them available sooner may or may not cause people to watch them.
They're not even available later. They're not available at all. Look at all the Netflix movies that are only on DVD. Last night I looked for The Lobster and found it was only on DVD. So it's not in the theater any more and not available streaming and I don't have a DVD player and the world has moved on from DVDs.
So if they want me to watch, make it available sometime at least. I'm not watching it if it's not available at all.
Pondering of the relative merits of early vs. late release timing when the current situation is there is no release at all is moot.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I don't have any of those things. I have a computer with no disk drive.
99.99% of the time you don't need one. It's not worth it to me to get a disk drive that will then not work because it hasn't been used in years. Media gets on my PC and tv via internet, or USB.
If they want me to watch their stuff, they have to make it available in a format I can use.
I'm not going out of my way to accommodate them.
Your excuses are terribly lame. The mail is trivial to use. A disk player is trivial to use. Your whining about wires is also lame.
If you aren't willing to plug something into your TV, then you have to be content with "smart TV" features that suck or broadcast TV.
But if you insist on depriving yourself, that's your own problem.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Then why are you even commenting? According to you, you wouldn't be consuming the media in any fashion, regardless of release schedule or format. I might be able to go and comment on a NFL discussion, but I won't have anything of value to add.
...Last night I looked for The Lobster and found it was only on DVD...
Pondering of the relative merits of early vs. late release timing when the current situation is there is no release at all is moot.
Just because you've elected to move past DVDs doesn't mean there is "no release at all." It means you can't figure out how to take advantage of the release that is readily available. Just because the industry hasn't decided to adapt to your standard yet doesn't mean they're somehow trying to keep the movie from you.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
They're not "ancient and obsolete", since they provide BETTER picture and more usable controls (far less latency fast forward/rewind) than the streaming video.. Plus movie extras (I realize many don't care about those, but I like them a lot, even though admittedly most rental DVDs/Blurays have only a tiny portion of it if any).
Even though tons of "video stores" have gone away, if a company can put up tons of vending machines to rent movies and games, it seems to me yet another sign physical media is not dead.