Fox Will Offer Digital Movies Weeks Before DVD Release

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Fox has announced its movies will be available in digital format at a reduced rate and three weeks prior to the physical releases on Bluray and DVD formats. The first movie will be the blockbuster Prometheus, followed by many of the latest theatrical summer releases.

Fox needs to tread carefully here, however. The company has tried to offer early digital copies in the past and failed to succeed for a number of reasons.
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This is a good step forward. Now all we need is a guarantee the movie will be available (once purchased) digitally at any resolution its sold at and they've finally found the present. Still light years to go before we've drug them into the future with us.
 
I doubt the bitrate and audio quality will be anywhere near that of the Blu-ray releases.
 
This is what typically kills it for digital distribution:

1. You will only be able to watch the movie on a single PC x amount of times
2. You will be unable to play the movie on portable devices
3. You must use proprietary/buggy playback software to watch the movie
4. You must have Internet access to validate the license/certificate before playback
5. The owner has sole discretion to revoke a license and/or take the servers offline at any time

I can see paying $15.00 to rent the movie if it's still playing in the theaters, but I'm not going to pay $15.00 to see it a couple weeks ahead of the DVD/BR release when I can wait and rent it from Redbox for $1.20.
 
Good for Fox. They've got to go there anyway since physical discs just aren't going to stay popular and there's a large number of people who could care less about video and audio quality since their viewing device is an inexpensive flat panel with integrated stereo speakers. There are still going to be outraged home theater people who grumble about it, but they're obligated to do that since they have the physchological need to justify their expenditure on the things they bought, but they're a small niche market so they'll probably be overlooked in the grand scheme of volume sales.
 
I could never see myself buying digital only versions of movies. I do like when I get an UltraViolet copy with a Bluray though (at least on Vudu it's 1080p, far better than Netflix streaming, so I'm happy).
 
I guess they figured it'll get leaked to the torrent sites 2 weeks early anyway might as well try to sell some digital versions at the same time.
 
Game Master 128 said:
I doubt the bitrate and audio quality will be anywhere near that of the Blu-ray releases.
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Of course it wont. Anything streaming will NEVER reach BR quality in the next 10 years. The main issue is you thinking that BR quality is necessary. BR is like a ferrari. Its great, it runs lovely, a treat to the eye, but you can only really enjoy it on the race track. BR quality is the same thing, its great, but impractical and expensive when talking about streaming.
 
I'll give it a shot for prometheus and see how it goes. Maybe they will let me put it on an SD card, then I can check it on my phone.

If it comes with a proprietary format and a crappy player I won't be doing it again but I really liked that movie and I can see a one time deal being worth it.

I'll be buying it on blu-ray too.
 
Mostly worthless. While this is somewhat of an alternative to going to the movies -- $15 for a whole household, its not that attractive for an individual.

Other problems ensue from the proprietary player --
* Assuming multiple replays are allowed they are possibly limited in number or expire after a date.
* Again assuming multiple replays are allowed, each time you must stream the whole movie -- this costs bandwidth.
* Totally reliant on the web service & company that is being used for continuing the service in the future and ensuring availability.

Some of these things certainly aren't unique to this service, but then again I guess this is about what we can expect in the future.
 
I have no shadow of doubt they will get greedy and screw this up royally just like ubisoft did by putting DRM everywhere
 
There is no chance I'd ever "buy" anything digital from any of the movie companies. If it's not DRM Free I won't buy digital anything, especially with music and movies. I didn't rent it, I bought it. If my purchase expires or the company providing it has too much control over when, where, how, or even if I can watch what I purchased, then those companies are not entitled to receive money from me.
 
I'd like to see one-time-watch digital rentals on the same day as the theater release. I don't like going to the theater and usually wait to rent it on amazon for $3.99. I'd gladly pay $20 to put it on the TV at home instead of going to the theater.

It's not like you can't download a 1080P screen rip from torrents / warez forums within 12 hours of its debut on the big screen.
 
bbo320 said:
I can wait for the BR Disc if they can wait for my money.
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Ditto.

Online quality may be good enough for tv shows, but not when I want to watch a movie with full sound & all.

And if Fox follows their track record... they WILL screw it up.
 
Weeks ahead? I think not. More like DVD delayed by 3weeks.
 
Why the hell can't I just start buying movies through steam...
 
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