Hollywood Shoots Itself In The Foot Yet Again With Netflix Set-Top Box
from the customers-are-the-enemy dept
When I started reading CNet's write-up of Roku's new Netflix set-top box, I was beginning to think that the movie industry might finally be getting its act together. The price ($99) seemed reasonable, and the subscription rate (as little as $8.99/month) seemed about right. After years of missteps, I thought, maybe they were finally starting to figure out this Internet thing. Then I read this sentence: "Thanks to Hollywood's byzantine licensing system, less than 10 percent of Netflix's 100,000-plus library of titles is available for streaming to the Player." Even worse, only two of Netflix's 100 most popular movies are available for streaming. It's almost as if Hollywood doesn't want its customers' business.
Apparently, three other manufacturers, including LG, are working on competing set-top boxes. They should be careful not to put all of their eggs in the Netflix basket, given that Netflix may or may not succeed in getting the studios to release more of their titles. And as we've said before, the last thing the video streaming market needs is yet another pointless standards battle. What's needed is an open platform that supports free and paid downloads from a variety of different sources. Some of the Netflix boxes will reportedly include DVD or Blu-Ray drives, which is a smart move. Device makers should also be exploring more open content-delivery options, either in conjunction with existing video sites like YouTube, or developing a new, open platform where anyone can share their videos. In the long run, a lot of video business models will likely involve giving away free content, and a company that provides the set-top boxes for delivering that free content is likely to make a bunch of money. That market will grow especially fast if Hollywood continues its campaign to make its content as difficult to purchase as possible.
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Filed Under: downloads, movies, proprietary, settop box
Companies: netflix, roku
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Beware of Roku
I wouldn't buy this box from them...
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Game Consoles?
Then, for those of us with only 2 HDMI inputs, we could actually still use this feature for watching HD movies.
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What Hollywood wants
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Re: What Hollywood wants
1. Pay high prices to a theater to watch it once.
2. Buy a physical copy that we can only play on a device of their choosing.
3. If we want to watch the movie on any other device we have to pay again per device/viewing.
I have no problem paying for contact that I want, but I should be able to choose when, where and how. DRM just makes that nearly impossible.
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Re: Re: What Hollywood wants
4. re-buy your physical copy in 5 years when they obsolete the new current physical format standard.
and this is why the content industry is so fixated on physical formats, and will continue its fixation until its demise.
it takes a decent sales person to sell something once. it takes an evil genius to sell the same thing to the same people again and again.
i purchased a number of movies and music on tape, and then again on optical disc, and i'm pretty much finished with that process. i've already paid, sometimes twice, i'm not paying again.
ebooks, digital music, digital video, downloadable content... none of this stuff will be allowed to succeed as long as the content industries think the physical format is still viable.
open and accessible formats are bad in their minds because once you buy it and can do what you want with it, you aren't going to buy it all over again.
in fact, i would be willing to assert that hollywood will continue this madness for at least a few years after sales of physical formats have ceased all together.
this is why they want copyrights to never expire and why they want to push draconian DRM systems on us so we just buy physical media repeatedly to avoid the headaches.
hopefully they come to their senses before they do something that makes [what's left of] the buying public truly rebellious. they could do something truly psychotic, like pushing to make obsolete playback devices (cassette players, VCRs, SD DVD and CD players) illegal and have some sort of enforcement division conduct raids ala the BSA/RIAA.
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Re: What Hollywood wants
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Re:
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PC vs Set-Top Box
As a Netflix subscriber, I get unlimited viewing of the available programming, which is growing all the time. I can also watch competitor Hulu.com's offerings. I'm happy with it -- this is the only way I watch TV. Yes, less is available this way, but I'm willing to deal with renting DVD's to span the gap for now, and believe the barriers will begin to fall in the future. This is what's next -- not Blueray, but subscription services.
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Re: PC vs Set-Top Box
no, it's not.
bluray just won the standards battle so it will be forced on us more and more.
there will be no viable streaming or subscription services as long as the movie and television studios believe that physical format sales are profitable. hollywood will actively sabotage these services to protect their media sales.
it's a chicken and egg problem: as long as there is physical media, the industries around it won't support alternative distribution. physical media will continue as long as there are no viable alternatives.
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Re: Re: PC vs Set-Top Box
I for one will do every thing in my power to not buy or receive a bluray player or disk but I have been like that for any thing involving Sony. If I do it will be used unless forced like i cant buy a new computer with out one but then I will go back to building them.
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Re: PC vs Set-Top Box
The only problem I have now is not the content, content providers, or even the technology. My problem is the ISP that provides access to the internet (Comcast.com). This company throttles every port I attempt to use. Hell, not just throttle but purposely disrupts my internet connection ever 5 seconds. Because of this the $60/mth I pay for 3-8meg/sec is more like 50k/sec. Attempting to play online games, stream video, or just surf the damn net is near impossible.
When ISPs are competitors or in league with special interests we (the consumer) will loose.
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Great idea!
This is definately a step in the right direction. Now, if only they would use an open streaming format...
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At least for now, anyway. I get far more out of the games I have and pay for each month than Movies. Most of the movies I care to see I've already bought.
Anymore, with all the B.S. - I just wait on the movie to come out on the regular movie channels and their on-demand. If it never appears there, I guess I'll never watch it.
I do buy movies on occasion, but I can't say they are 'newer' ones, usually the older stuff. In the last 3 years, I have to admit - I've seen maybe 3 movies that were really good - the rest were cliche mediocrity.
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Netflix Bandwidth
However, lately I have been unable to download on Friday and Saturday nights. Netflix tells me that *my* internet connection is too slow. Of course what they mean is that *their* servers are swamped. I can't wait until they launch this system, I won't be able to use downloads at all.
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Re: Netflix Bandwidth
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@Mater of the overstated and obvious
The real question is what can we do about it? Take it like THEY want or download them for free...hmmmm. I wonder why they have a problem.
Morons. Absolute morons!
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Re: @Mater of the overstated and obvious
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Physical media has its place
The backbone of your service provider cannot support the MASSIVE amount of data the a FULL bitrate HD movie takes up.
There is also not currently any equipment that can play Full HD content out to mutliple feeds without spending many millions of dollars.
Sooooooo...If you want FULL HD experience and not some watered down garbage, the only way you will be able to get that over the next few years is physical media...which happens to be Bluray....So quit your damn whining.
If you like view the world will vieled eyes, then streaming is for you, but I like to see the subtle nuances that only Real HD can offer.
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Pirating
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Makes perfect business sense
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