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12:52:00 PM EDT
Hearing Something Orange -- Roger Eno
Movies On Demand
This is kind of interesting and cool but puzzling -- a set-top box from Disney which allows you to watch movies on demand any time you want for a $6.99 monthly fee plus another charge per movie rented. Once you select a movie to rent, you can view it as many times as you like within a 24-hour period. It's backed by deals with most of the big movie studios, so it'll have the big hits as well as other recent releases.
I'm a big tech geek, so anything like this kind of appeals to me, but I do wonder if this isn't one of those "solutions in search of a problem" sort of thing. For example, if you already have a cable or satellite provider who offers video on demand, something like this is going to be superfluous (especially if you also have a TiVo or other video recorder). According to the information provided by the news article, the service will offer a rotating selection of 100 or so titles at any one time -- which is more than you'd get by your usual video on demand, but not so many more, I think, that the average guy would be willing to assume the extra cost.
What would be really cool (and which would make it something I would want to get) is if, in addition to the usual suspects of recent releases and hits, this box that unlocked entire film libraries of the movie studios and independents, basically making this set-top box the largest video store in the history of the world. It's no big deal to rent a DVD of The Two Towers, or see it on pay-per-piew or video on demand -- it's everywhere at the moment. But it might be cool to view some of director Peter Jackson's other films, like Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles or Beautiful Creatures, only one of which (Beautiful) you'll have a chance of finding at the local Blockbuster.
What do you think? Would you buy this box?
(story via Gizmodo)
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
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Hmmm. doubtful. You got to pay $84 a year just to sit down at the table. Then your movie charges will be, what? I'm guessing $3 a throw for extremely limited usage. Add limited selection and phui! How many of that 100 titles will be lowest common denominator gack? Most, I'd guess.
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Probably not, just for the simple fact that I don't want to be too big of a couch potato. There's something to be said for the easy convenience of the box, but it does my body good to stroll through a video store on movie night. I mean, isn't that part of the fun? Jostling your way through the aisles of already-viewed videos or DVDs and betting the one you want to see is actually there . . . and is undamaged?
Who'd want to miss out on that? -
It sounds way to expensive and way too controlling to me. Divx in a different guise. Activation fees + a monthly charge (for what, I don't understand) + a per use charge -- some marketing guy is smiling.
7/6/07 5:07 PM
Jon