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Flix on Stix

Sounds like a perfect way to spread USB-stick type viruses.

You probably get some nasty DRM installed on your computer too...
 
1) DRM (How else do they deactivate rentals)
2) Most likely pretty compressed to fit on flash drives.
3) Most people can't use it to watch on their TV.
 
hmm, so people are waiting behind you for a movie and your playing cards on the machine waiting for it to write to your USB drive. I just tested that a 1 gig file, (about the size of one movie), takes 2 minutes to copy.
 
jpnelson said:
hmm, so people are waiting behind you for a movie and your playing cards on the machine waiting for it to write to your USB drive. I just tested that a 1 gig file, (about the size of one movie), takes 2 minutes to copy.
Click to expand...

this.... cheap USB drives write REALLY SLOWLY
 
siliconnerd said:
1) DRM (How else do they deactivate rentals)
2) Most likely pretty compressed to fit on flash drives.
3) Most people can't use it to watch on their TV.
Click to expand...

1.) Agreed completely.

2.) Not necessarily. There are flash drives much larger than DVD's these days, and they can use a better, more modern compression algorithm than MPEG2 to save on space without compromising quality.

3.) I wonder if the format they have decided to use is compatible with PS3/XBOX360?
 
Nice concept idea, but I doubt it will take off anytime soon. With On Demand and other streaming services niche things like this are going to have a hard sell to consumers. Plus getting behind grandma trying to do this would be a little annoying to say the least.
 
The whole thing screams "I'm a college kid and I hope to god I can milk some cash from the nipple of video rental by changing an established idea slightly, and digitalizing it"

Pretty shoddy.
 
I can just see a standard user try to use their 256 MB stick from 6 years ago on this machine, and then get pissed when it won't load his movie because there isn't enough space.
 
According to their website there are two machines currently.

One in Santa Monica, CA and one somewhere in India in a city I've never heard of :p
 
Very cool idea.... at the very least Hollywood is getting that its gotta be Digital, download, usb whatever, go digital and move on.
 
ccmfreak2 said:
I can just see a standard user try to use their 256 MB stick from 6 years ago on this machine, and then get pissed when it won't load his movie because there isn't enough space.
Click to expand...

Or somebody using a class 2 SD card in a USB adapter and then selecting '3 hour HD movie'. It'd be like 30 minutes to an hour then. heh
 
I can see people going in with a 128mb drive that they just bought at the dollar store. Buying like 5 movies only to be told their don't have enough space. And they don't understand why. I think this company is giving people a little to much credit.
 
What I don't get is how they have games. Can you play games directly off of a USB flash drive without a hacking your Wii? Or is Metroid being released on PC?
 
A reasonable assumption would be that the rental equipment checks the free space on the drive before it actually lets you "purchase" anything. I doubt these things will be in business for very long if it does otherwise...
 
Is this a sign of the apocalypse? Dyed in the wool early adopters taking a wait and see attitude? Shirley you jest!
 
Anyone stupid enough to use this deserve all the viruses and maleware they get!
 
Video shows wait time for 1 movie...

usb 1.0 - 6 and a half minutes
usb 2.0 - 2 and a half
usb 3.0 1 and some change.

A bit too long I would say after you wait for like 3 minutes for someone to decide which movie they want.
 
boss99 said:
What I don't get is how they have games. Can you play games directly off of a USB flash drive without a hacking your Wii? Or is Metroid being released on PC?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you'd probably have to have a host application for the console, similar to the Netflix streaming app for movies that redirects you to a menu that can launch games off of the USB stick...
 
First I was like, "ooh, turn around hot chick". Then she did and I seen her face. "Turn around ugly chick"
 
I think the machine should sell the stick. then you are not risking the virus potential (cept with hacking), and compatibility and peed issues.

The thing that gets me is... err well at least I thought video rentals bread and butter is the overage charges right?

Totally of subject but I am pissed... I hate that charter has put in bandwidth caps....
 
So let me get this straight.

The industry is trying to innovate by providing convenience services and you guys shit all over them? Sure, there's the ever present danger of malware being put on there from them, but do you really think Sony ever truely recovered from their CD malware crap? No.

It seems a perfectly good service to me, and I for one look forward to seeing these and maybe trying them out. I just hope the videos don't require Windows only.
 
This sounds about like much more effort than streaming rentals. It's like taking a step backwards halfway back to the Blockbuster model.

I certainly wouldn't invest in this company, it's a really bad idea. Also, how are they going to manage to convince the content owners to do this?
 
An idea yes, a good one??? Maybe in airport or something. My issue is someone figuring out what is running it, loading a bootstrap on his USB stick as you figure the machine will have to be updated via network or firmware... as we know, anything that has something going in and coming out is vulnerable.

I make my USB stick bootable with whatever OS, unplug the machine from the network and boot it, it can't get its update from the net, so it check the USB stick... Ice now has a Credit of a few free movies this week....

The DRM is a good question, but to me this is like the perfect target to hack... your not getting physical media out.... such as money or DVD, so technically you can get as many copies FROM the machine as you want and technically nothing goes missing for a while until an audit shows someone got super greedy... if you remain small time, this could be a fun hack for a while.

The idea is ok... that much I see, but someone tried to tell me that Avatar on their Fios at 1080P was as good as the blu-ray, and I know he has a killer connection. We tested 2 am Monday morning... Blu-ray won hands down, no contest, period. When we measured bandwidth coming off the disc, it was 1/2 his total internet connection.

I guess if you have a 16 gig card and want a movie or 2.... but even today's broadband needs to be maxed out with no compression to give 1080P... Wonder why Sony went with a 100 Gig Blu-ray Spec... what do you think you will need for 3D 1080P... double... 100 MB sec.....

Whats scary is the public is unware of the 1440p standard thats out there and beyond.... Boy did I get off topic...

Anyways... it could be an idea... like the rent a disc that would go bad after 48 hours, but of course the first think you do is make a copy... :)

As I do, I wish every company the best because if no one tries, no one succeeds or more importantly fails...

Good luck
 
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