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Quote of the Week: Would you rent movies using Video on Demand?
Submitted by ETC Anytime-Anywhere Consumer Research on Tue, 2008-02-26 01:13.

"If I like a movie and I've seen it already then I'm probably not going to order it on VOD. The only possibility of using VOD is if I hadn't seen the movie and I was curious about it. But in that case when you get up to $4.99 you can get Netflix sending you multiple movies for an entire month for that price. So I would much rather have Netflix and just que up a list of all the movies and then have them in my possession for as long as I need them. Sometimes I might think about getting a movie on VOD and I purchase the movie and then I get taken away from the movie and don't get back to it until 24 hours later and it is already gone. ...[continued]

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CES: Embracing the Connected Consumer
Submitted by David Wertheimer on Wed, 2008-01-16 23:36.

CES, Las Vegas: On a panel today at CES, I had a chance to discuss with several industry executives what challenges exist in "Embracing the Connected Consumer." The consensus was that we're doing a good job of providing bandwidth and electronics, but not a good enough job of bringing it all together into a seamless cross-platform experience. The interconnects are still missing -- content is marooned on the island of whatever box or ecosystem it lives on. Or so it seems. Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

Interestingly enough, I spoke before the panel to Scott Smyers, Chairman of DLNA and SVP at Sony Electronics. The Digital Living Network Alliance is an industry group comprised of 250 CE, tech, and content companies that has been working on exactly this issue since 2003. In 2008, there will be 1,800 products (yes, that's what they say) that are DLNA certified. That means that once in your home, connected to your network, they can trade content -- no matter who makes your devices. Your wifi-enabled camera's pictures are available on your TV, and even your iPod's music can play on your Bluetooth-enabled stereo. What's most fascinating is how many DLNA-certified products are out there that people don't know about. Did you know that the Playstation 3 in your living room right now can play your iTunes content straight from your computer? No? Well, don't feel bad. Not many people do. ...[continued]

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U2 Shows up at CES
Submitted by David Wertheimer on Wed, 2008-01-16 23:36.

CES, Las Vegas: When CES opened two days ago, Bill Gates brought lead guitarist from Guns-n-Roses, Slash, onto the stage with him. That was fun. But move over, Bill, because I was on the stage tonight with Bono and The Edge.

I had front row seats to the coolest U2 concert I've ever seen -- and I've been to several of them. What made this one special was how close I was able to get to the band. REALLY close.

The good news is that almost everyone in America will have the same opportunity when National Geographic Entertainment releases U23D, on January 23rd (in IMAX) and February (in other digital 3D cinemas).

I've seen most every film and live event made recently in 3D, and I believe this one moves the industry forward. It may change the way you think about 3D, or at least the way you go to concerts!

U23D was so convincing that there were moments in the film when I was looking through the crowd at the stage that I had to remind myself that the people dancing in front of me weren't really there. There were times when I smiled because the 3D made the experience more rich and textured than even if I had been there.

Beyond the simple enjoyment of the experience, though, seeing it made me realize how new Live 3D is as an art. There is not a well-accepted grammar for filmmaking like there is in cinema. The shot framing and editorial are quite different. As I mentioned, at times, I was there. Then there were moments when I focused (literally) on the effects, the transitions, or the wrong part of the screen. Some of that was technical, but most was a result of creative decisions that were made. Maybe not wrong, but just different, and audiences aren't trained by experience how movies like this look.

These are still early days for digital 3D, and the field is still open to creative innovation. Now that the cameras and projection make the creation and distribution possible, it's time for more people to study and focus on the creative aspects of the experience. There's a lot of learning and experimentation yet to be done as 3D evolves from being just a gimmicky way of distributing a 2D movie into being a truly unique form that stands on its own.

So, U23D may not have been perfect, but I loved it. I walked out with the same kind of feeling I had after going to real U2 concerts -- without having to deal with parking and having to sit through some lame warm-up band! ...[continued]

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CES: Big Day of Press Conferences
Submitted by David Wertheimer on Wed, 2008-01-16 23:33.

CES, Las Vegas: Today was a big day of press conferences from the major Consumer Electronics companies. For the most part, each company told the press how they were leading in LCD TV's, and many claimed to have bee the first to make or sell LCD TV's in America. I found myself wondering, "If everyone is leading, then who's following?" then I remembered my 10th grade statistics teacher who said, "Numbers are numbers. What you do with them is something else."

Other than the Blu Ray/HD DVD news, which has been covered elsewhere, there were some interesting comments/themes that emerged. ...[continued]

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Pulse of the Industry Stories

Content is now king

The days where the internet was dominated by people communicating or buying products are over. Now users spend 47% (up 37% from four years ago) of their time reading and watching content. The study from the Online Publishers Association (OPA) found that the time Internet users spend viewing online content is up 37% from four years ago. ...[continued]

POSTED IN: content

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source: computerworld.com

Cuban upping ante on VOD

Mark Cuban is at it again with his new strategy called Ultra HD Video on Demand. The service will be offered up to DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Verizon and other cable-network distributors as an add on to Cuban's HDNet. The catch, films will be shown on HDNet before, or on the day of the film's release in movie theaters. ...[continued]

POSTED IN: VOD

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source: variety.com

BitTorrent plans free streaming TV Service

BitTorrent will roll out a service which lets users watch part of their media library of TV and Films, for free supported by advertising. But will users go to BitTorrent for the digital content needs? Or will they stick to the network sites which have created a much improved streaming experience? Only time will tell. ...[continued]

POSTED IN: streaming

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source: contentagenda.com

Universal Music to sell songs without copying constraints

Universal Music Group announced it will test DRM-free music sold through Real's Rhapsody, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Google, but will leave Apple's iTunes Plus DRM-free music store out of the loop. Universal aims to release the tracks through music distributors next January. Needless to say Universal will keep close eye on sales and piracy, which will ultimately determine if Universal offers its entire catalog in a DRM free format. ...[continued]

POSTED IN: Copy Rights | DRM-Free