Now if only the ps3 had enough games to warrant selling my 360 for it... Blu Ray can only be so tempting. (Actually, screw blu ray... digital downloads are the only way I buy tv shows, anymore.)
On my 32" 720p HDTV, the videos are gorgeous. Perhaps you should give it a try.
I've spent hundreds of dollars on Amazon Unbox downloads for high-def television shows. The tightly locked DRM on these files may seem painful to pirate happy thieves, but once I download the video from amazon, the key is downloaded to my computer and I can play the video in multiple players.
I am also convinced that the DRM will be hacked, eventually, and I will be free to back them up. (Although I really have a need to... they don't charge for me to download the files again)
Who provides your uncompressed, 1080p, free to download from celestial jukebox of music, movies, and television show? No one.
You just steal lower quality version through torrents.
Since when did it become a bad thing to pay for your media, much less when it is higher quality, and professionally encoded?
Anyhow, I also have to agree with Carbonize that the rediculous high def optical media is also "crippled" with DRM, so that argument is moot.
Why are you dolts buying optical media? Digital downloads are here, it's time to buy a $90 500GB hard drive and shrink your library to the size of a couple paperback novels.
However much you love having your video files downloaded onto a HD, HD's fail. Most people prefer to have a physical copy (BRD or DVD) that they can share with friends or bring on a trip, or just have. I think DL'ing video will become more popular, but physical media will be mainstream for a long time. Especially since tens of millions of people on the North American continent do not have broadband. Not to mention the rest of the world.
Yea, what's wrong with that? I used to buy them on DVD, but they
cost the same to buy online... and I get them in high def. Without a
high def dvd player.
And I get unlimited downloads, so I don't have to worry about a
scratched disc or a damaged hard drive.
@ Izzy
I've been running raid 0 10k rpm hard drives for years. I'm familiar
with disc failure. However, while I understand the inconvenience of
a failed hard drive, that doesn't mean the damage is irreparable.
Maintaining backups of unrecoverable data is an obvious necessity,
while sadly not common-place. For the most part, this is
inconsequential; The most popular online media shopping centers
allow you to download purchased goods as often as needed. It can be
moved from an old computer to a new computer, often requiring an
email to support for an additional key.
Xbox Live Marketplace and Amazon Unbox are provide fantastic content
and provide the foundations for future digital content delivery.
It's too bad recording industries are focusing on the here and now
through rediciulous control methods while they could be increasing
the popularity of legal distribution through rapid development and deployment of a universal, user friendly online marketplace.
I'm not talking about a website. I'm talking about an internet-based application that can be used on any personal computer, in stores on internet equipped kiosks (buy an album, instant download to wifi/wusb equipped mp3, sync it to your media center and computer at home), or on mobile device. (Buy a movie while leaving work, have it downloaded to your computer and/or media center and have a mobile copy converted and ready to sync by the time you get home)
There are scores of "starving" programmers in the world. There is no reason this vision isn't already reality, besides lack of vision by the recording industry, today.
There is money to be made, so let's get started, now!
' On my 32" 720p HDTV, the videos are gorgeous. Perhaps you should give it a try.
I've spent hundreds of dollars on Amazon Unbox downloads for high-def television shows. The tightly locked DRM on these files may seem painful to pirate happy thieves, but once I download the video from amazon, the key is downloaded to my computer and I can play the video in multiple players.
I am also convinced that the DRM will be hacked, eventually, and I will be free to back them up. (Although I really have a need to... they don't charge for me to download the files again)
Who provides your uncompressed, 1080p, free to download from celestial jukebox of music, movies, and television show? No one.
You just steal lower quality version through torrents.'
On your 720p TV, your videos look "gorgeous". Opinion, and partially skewed. What about the rest of the world that sees low bitrate, low res movies on their bigger 1080p TV sets ?
There are full loseless audio and 1080p high bitrate movies available right now, it's called Blu-ray.
If you want to torrent (lol, use newsgroups), there are plenty of x264 encoded 1080p videos available at about 12-15GB that are 95% as good as the real deal. Heck, you can also just download the whole disc itself, play it back through PowerDVD.
This "digital HD download" stuff is fine for the general masses, but to anyone who cares about video PQ, it's subpar.
True, these aren't 1080p. I hadn't really considered that, since quality 1080p televisions were so far out of my price range. But I can see how the US isn't read for 15gb movie downloads, just yet.
Could you please direct me to a place where I can purchase my own $90 500 gig drive? I have 160 gig that I bought for a little over 100 just a couple weeks ago. And that was after my 10% "educational" discount.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Looks very nice...
Now if only the ps3 had enough games to warrant selling my 360 for it... Blu Ray can only be so tempting. (Actually, screw blu ray... digital downloads are the only way I buy tv shows, anymore.)
You like DRM-infested badly compressed video?
Or is there some new lossless video service with no DRM, besides bittorrent?
And Blu Ray movies are not DRM infested?
@ Jesse S.
On my 32" 720p HDTV, the videos are gorgeous. Perhaps you should give it a try.
I've spent hundreds of dollars on Amazon Unbox downloads for high-def television shows. The tightly locked DRM on these files may seem painful to pirate happy thieves, but once I download the video from amazon, the key is downloaded to my computer and I can play the video in multiple players.
I am also convinced that the DRM will be hacked, eventually, and I will be free to back them up. (Although I really have a need to... they don't charge for me to download the files again)
Who provides your uncompressed, 1080p, free to download from celestial jukebox of music, movies, and television show? No one.
You just steal lower quality version through torrents.
Since when did it become a bad thing to pay for your media, much less when it is higher quality, and professionally encoded?
Anyhow, I also have to agree with Carbonize that the rediculous high def optical media is also "crippled" with DRM, so that argument is moot.
Why are you dolts buying optical media? Digital downloads are here, it's time to buy a $90 500GB hard drive and shrink your library to the size of a couple paperback novels.
@Brian
You make a lot of points, some are valid.
However much you love having your video files downloaded onto a HD, HD's fail. Most people prefer to have a physical copy (BRD or DVD) that they can share with friends or bring on a trip, or just have. I think DL'ing video will become more popular, but physical media will be mainstream for a long time. Especially since tens of millions of people on the North American continent do not have broadband. Not to mention the rest of the world.
"I've spent hundreds of dollars on Amazon Unbox downloads for high-def television shows."
WTF, hundreds? On downloads!? OF TV SHOWS?!
Damn.
@Brian
You should have saved some of those "hundreds" and upgraded to a bigger TV with 1080p.
@ Chebwa
Yea, what's wrong with that? I used to buy them on DVD, but they
cost the same to buy online... and I get them in high def. Without a
high def dvd player.
And I get unlimited downloads, so I don't have to worry about a
scratched disc or a damaged hard drive.
@ Izzy
I've been running raid 0 10k rpm hard drives for years. I'm familiar
with disc failure. However, while I understand the inconvenience of
a failed hard drive, that doesn't mean the damage is irreparable.
Maintaining backups of unrecoverable data is an obvious necessity,
while sadly not common-place. For the most part, this is
inconsequential; The most popular online media shopping centers
allow you to download purchased goods as often as needed. It can be
moved from an old computer to a new computer, often requiring an
email to support for an additional key.
Xbox Live Marketplace and Amazon Unbox are provide fantastic content
and provide the foundations for future digital content delivery.
It's too bad recording industries are focusing on the here and now
through rediciulous control methods while they could be increasing
the popularity of legal distribution through rapid development and deployment of a universal, user friendly online marketplace.
I'm not talking about a website. I'm talking about an internet-based application that can be used on any personal computer, in stores on internet equipped kiosks (buy an album, instant download to wifi/wusb equipped mp3, sync it to your media center and computer at home), or on mobile device. (Buy a movie while leaving work, have it downloaded to your computer and/or media center and have a mobile copy converted and ready to sync by the time you get home)
There are scores of "starving" programmers in the world. There is no reason this vision isn't already reality, besides lack of vision by the recording industry, today.
There is money to be made, so let's get started, now!
'
On my 32" 720p HDTV, the videos are gorgeous. Perhaps you should give it a try.
I've spent hundreds of dollars on Amazon Unbox downloads for high-def television shows. The tightly locked DRM on these files may seem painful to pirate happy thieves, but once I download the video from amazon, the key is downloaded to my computer and I can play the video in multiple players.
I am also convinced that the DRM will be hacked, eventually, and I will be free to back them up. (Although I really have a need to... they don't charge for me to download the files again)
Who provides your uncompressed, 1080p, free to download from celestial jukebox of music, movies, and television show? No one.
You just steal lower quality version through torrents.'
On your 720p TV, your videos look "gorgeous". Opinion, and partially skewed. What about the rest of the world that sees low bitrate, low res movies on their bigger 1080p TV sets ?
There are full loseless audio and 1080p high bitrate movies available right now, it's called Blu-ray.
If you want to torrent (lol, use newsgroups), there are plenty of x264 encoded 1080p videos available at about 12-15GB that are 95% as good as the real deal. Heck, you can also just download the whole disc itself, play it back through PowerDVD.
This "digital HD download" stuff is fine for the general masses, but to anyone who cares about video PQ, it's subpar.
@ jynxycat
True, these aren't 1080p. I hadn't really considered that, since quality 1080p televisions were so far out of my price range. But I can see how the US isn't read for 15gb movie downloads, just yet.
Fios... save us!
@Brian:
Could you please direct me to a place where I can purchase my own $90 500 gig drive? I have 160 gig that I bought for a little over 100 just a couple weeks ago. And that was after my 10% "educational" discount.