Blu-Ray Vs Digital Downloads In Australia

You’ve got to remember also that when DVD came in, there wasn’t much ‘streaming video’ on the internets, especially at the quality and length of an SD digital movie.

On top of that, the switch from VHS to DVD was markedly different, like switching from AM to FM on the good old ‘wireless’.

So now we have Blu Ray. Stunning? Yes. but can you buy a copy of the same movie for less, play it on the same device (presuming one has a BR player)and still get to see who kills the bad guy without having to clean and rewind the tape? Yes.

I would say that the “HD Race” is not a race at all, rather a really, really slow evolution of digital media that is likely to have more discussion over its life span on how it is performing than discussion on how good the bloody movies look!

As for downloading HD movies – I’m going to freeze myself and thaw out in time to see what Aussie life is like when/if the NBN gets rolled out.

I havent purchased physical media in a long time. The last physical game I purchased was World Of Warcraft (both expansions purchased digitally), and the last physical movie I purchased was a $5 throwaway bin DVD of Perfect Storm some years back.

I would *LOVE* to purchase movies online, however there really arent any legal options that can compare to the convenience and accessibility of pirated torrents. For example, all my game purchases are via Steam or the individual sites that offer the game digitally. I do this for three reasons:
* One is the monetary factor – games are almost always a great deal cheaper to purchase digitally.
* The second is the convenience – no dealing with shopping centers and “people” and shops that are out of stock; the game is always available to buy and ready to purchase with the click of a mouse button.
* The third is the wasted packaging – pretty much every game requires software updates as soon as you stick the CD/DVD in the drive. These updates often run damn near as big as the game content itself! So all you end up with is an out-dated copy of the game thats going to require a big download, and a box you never look at again to collect dust in the corner. I could make up a lovely story and claim I’m saving the environment by not wasting the packaging plastics etc too. But I’m not.

When it comes to movies, however, wheres the Universal Studios and Warner Brothers equivelent of Steam? Wheres the cheap, convenient and legal place to purchase my movies? As you’ve mentioned, all there is iTunes store (lolololol) and Hulu. Why on earth would I choose either of those options over pirated torrents and my A100 Popcorn Hour device?

Torrents are so incredibly convenient, especially when you’re with an ISP that offers decent allowances (specifically, Exetel / TPG / AAPT / Primus / etc) at ADSL2+ speeds. I spend maybe 15 minutes a _WEEK_ queuing up all the TV episodes and movies I want, and let the torrent client do its thing according to a basic schedule. Since I sync at somewhere around 18Mbit, I can basically download everything I want to watch in a month overnight. Then next time I’m on the couch and feel like watching something other than reality TV cooking shows and crime dramas, I turn on my Popcorn Hour, browse through my library of movies and watch with a single press of the remote control button.

How does that compare to physical media? Going to the shops, purchasing a $50 BRD, sorting through a large collection of physical media whenever you want to watch something, sitting through non-skippable advertising and copyright warnings…. All for the same quality audio and visual experience (assuming you download genuine BRD rips and not 720p or lesser content)

My advice for the movie studios and music managers of the world is to invest some serious time and money into a range of heavily subsidized hardware devices (like the Popcorn Hour) that can access a legally operated torrent tracker that allows you to purchase DRM-free movies and mp3s for a decent price, at a decent bitrate, directly from your hardware device. Then use the combined torrent swarm to provide basically unlimited free bandwidth for you to distribute your products, give bronze/silver/gold style memberships to your heaviest users (and seeders) featuring discounted movie purchases and maybe promo merch giveaways to make seeding an attractive option, and take a fixed amount of money per month to cover the cost of the subsidised hardware device. Make it like a mobile phone – 2 year contracts at a decent monthly rate and include a free movie purchase a month or similiar. In terms of tracking pirates, perhaps some sort of encryption on the hardware device storage to prevent it being copied directly to another drive, or inserting traceable identifiers into the movie/mp3 (without damaging the file format) to track what downloads are ending up on public trackers. Then remove that user from the system and charge an amount to their account to cover distribution?

Anyway. Physical media is winning in Australia because of a lack of decent digital distribution. I think once that becomes sorted (NBN?), and some good thought goes into legal supply of digital content it will kill physical media off until its a niche market of audiophiles and videophiles(??) only.

SPEAKING OF AVATAR ON BLU RAY —
Why the hell is it in 16:9? Just the way the director intended? I know I am probably in the minority with a cinemascope 2.35:1 home cinema, but wtf?