Time Warner expects download-to-burn movies to hit in '07

Good news, folks: Time Warner (disclosure: our parent company's parent company is owned by Time Warner) is facing a future of "download-to-burn" DVD movies with grim determination, and expects said apocalypse to occur sometime in 2007. Sure, a few services have started offering a some movies here and there, most of which have been late, overpriced and plagued with problems, but it sounds like Time Warner is getting ready to do this thing for reals next year, with that fancy new Wal-Mart download service as a potential partner in such doings. Of course, pioneers like Movielink and CinemaNow can't be really blamed for their failures: most of the problems arose from studios like Time Warner practically forbidding them to provide a decent user experience to those potential criminals customers of theirs. The new word is from none other than Richard Parsons, the chief exec and chairman of Time Warner, who says "I expect we will be in a download-to-burn mode in 2007 -- It will be a part of next year's offerings." We'll be waiting to see how well Time Warner fulfills that promise.

[Bill @ Nov 28th 2006 8:42PM]

this sounds like a service worth paying for

[PJ @ Nov 28th 2006 10:01PM]

hopefully each major city will host the files on local time warner servers, so that they are only transferred through Time Warner lines (for speed purposes). Maybe we can d/l a movie in less than 1 hour rather than the 8 or 10+ for the 4.5GB dvd downloads

[Mindbleach @ Nov 28th 2006 10:29PM]

Download-to-burn movies are already here. What Time-Warner expects to be innovating - probably with a filthy sheen of DRM sprayed on once again - is PAY-to-download-and-burn. Those of us who know how to use the internet already get cheap DVDs, the ability to copy purchased or rented DVDs, and lossless DVD rips by the dozen. Time-Warner is losing a usability war against people who work for free in their spare time.

[Slocko @ Nov 29th 2006 4:56AM]

i was all gungo-ho for movie downloads like 1-2 years ago. now that hd-dvd/b-ray is here, no desire for dvd quality anymore. hd all the way or bust!

[j @ Dec 25th 2006 8:09PM]

While the hardcore pirates will never be pleased with *anything* the MPAA does, this is a huge step for media giants. Time-Warner seems to be the most progressive of the pack: they were the first to offer $2 DVDs in China to combat piracy there http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/1961
This move may seem like too little, too late, but I like having the option of going legit if I dont want to risk downloading an ISO. Of course, rent-and-rip is pretty darn convenient...