HD For Indies

High-Def Penetration Explodes with Strong PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Add-On Sales | High-Def Digest - more PS3's and HD-DVD add-ons for Xbox 360 means LOTS more high def players on the market all of a sudden.

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More players are coming to market, slooooooowly:

Ultimate AV: Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc Player: Sneak Peek: "$1,300 Digital Video Output: HDMI Video Upconversion: 720p, 1080i/p Feature Highlights: Blu-ray Disc Player, upconversion of standard-def DVDs to 720p or 1080i/p via HDMI"

Toshiba second gen HD DVD players delayed worldwide - Engadget HD: "Toshiba just couldn't let Sony hog all the high-def DVD spotlight with its delays, so it has pushed back its second generation HD DVD players in the US and abroad."

Sound And Vision Magazine - Shootout: 3 Blu-ray Disc Players

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Xbox Live Video is um.. Live - DV Guru

In the "state of the format wars," HD movie downloads are now officially on the map. Slow, currently a bit buggy, large downloads (6.1 GB for V for Vendetta, which is admittedly a long movie), but in the marketplace.

I would guess that the image quality isn't as good as HD-DVD or Blu-ray, since MS is probably using Windows Media, of which VC-1 is a variant (which is 1 or 3 compression options for HD-DVD and Blu-ray). But it is THERE.

And considering that you don't need the $200 HD-DVD add-on, and you don't need a standalone player that costs MANY hundreds more than a Xbox360 that oh yeah also plays killer games...it continues to chip away at the viability of EITHER shiny plastic disc standard as the way to watch high def movies.

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YouTube Effect: CBS Gets Massive Boost - DV Guru: "In one of those 'I told you so' moments, CBS recently announced that their TV shows have received a major boost after they released some of their content on YouTube."

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CinemaTech: `The Future of Web Video': Now in Paperback Scott Kirsner's incredibly up to date book is now available in paperback for offline viewing.

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globeandmail.com: No business model for HDTV, CBC tells CRTC: "As television shifts towards high-definition channels and programs, broadcasters are finding no business model for HDTV and are instead being forced to foot the massive bill, the head of CBC warned Monday."

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The Coporation: full doc made available online - DV Guru

This is the second "known" doc that is being posted online in full. Emailed a buddy of mine about this, he said he had the DVD in his player from Netflix, wonders how cool they are with this. My guess - content distributors like Amazon (for sales) and Netflix (for rentals) will likely over-react to the reality of the situation - how many people are going to download a movie over BitTorrent and watch on their computer rather than Netflix/Amazon it? Not too many. But as a content distributor, finding out that your content is available out there for free must be upsetting.

I'd meant to see it, I think I'll download it now (take THAT, Netflix queue!)

glib PS - so does my public statement that I'm going to download something for free that Netflix has probably violate something in the birdseed text of my agreement with Netflix such that I'll have to pay them some rental fee on it or it "counts" as a DVD at my house until I present signed affidavit that I've deleted it from hard drive? Not yet, but maybe one day...

; )

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Why HD-DVD and Blu-ray are dead on arrival. - By Sean Cooper - Slate Magazine Nice one, sums up a lot of my feelings....durn it. I WANT a plastic shiny disc to work since that bodes well for indies, but it isn't getting there very fast. And shiny plastic discs are the easiest way for indies to compete - the Internet and pay-per-view and other options mentioned here are not as likely accessible for indies - you can't get in on that game as a niche or micro play the way you can with a DVD on Amazon and/or Netflix.

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World first: download-to-own movie service | APC Magazine: "Online movie service Reeltime has announced what it claims to be the world's first 'download to own' movie service, in partnership with Universal Pictures.
The concept is unique %u2013 purchasing a title from ReelTime gives the user access to three digital files. The first two are WMV %u2013 one for playback on a PC or laptop, and the other is suitable for playback on a Windows Plays4Sure-compatible portable device. The third file is used to burn the movie securely and legally to DVD (up to three times), which you then own."

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iPod DVD ripping request rejected News - PC Advisor: "The US Library of Congress has rejected a petition that would allow US iPod users to copy their movies to iPods and other devices." - poop on them, durnit! How exactly is this different from xeroxing some pages of a book you own to take with you? Ummm....

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And lastly, Machinima.com: "Make Love, Not Warcraft" - this is just fun, and kinda online stuff, but a neat thing to get in here. Didja see the South Park with the Worlds of Warcraft story? Here's how they did it, with the game maker's active assistance. Also includes some video snippets from the show. If you didn't see it, you should - it is GREAT. Typical nasty South Park, but GREAT. MMMMmmm....naaaaaasty....

What make this fit in this section? Let's see...oh yeah! You can download the episode on iTunes for $2.

:D

-mike