Are there any legal online high def download services with 5.1 sound?

[yoda313]

I posted earlier about my disgust of the stereo only download copy of Casino Royale on the Playstation Network on the PS3. The video was awesome in high def but sucked being in stereo.

I have now checked out Amazon.com's video on demand for quantum of solace which I haven't seen yet. I can't believe it is also STEREO only!?!!?!? what gives? Are online distributors so cheap on bandwidth they won't allow multichannel sound? I can't believe that an extra couple hundred megabytes for surround sound would cut into their profit margins that much.

What other suggestions would you have for me to try?

Obviously I can just go to blockbuster and rent the bluray disc. I may end up having to do that. But I can't believe I can't get a download service to have 5.1 sound.

Another alternative is for me to pay for on demand through my comcast dvr. I'm just not ready to do that yet. Granted it would be oar and available instantly compared to a download service. But I'd like to at least try to get surround sound on a video download pay site.

Suggestions?


Edit - I"m tempted by netflix but I hate the idea of a subscription when I just want a couple of movies. Are they in 5.1 when streaming online or is it stereo only?

Edit 2 - I looked at blockbuster.com and it had quantum of solace but it didnt' even have a high def option from what I could tell. All it offered in detail was it required windows media player and was just under a 1gig in size. Didn't say if it was stereo or surround sound.
ANyone know if blockbuster.com is in surround sound?

[freebird73717]

I have netflix and as far as I know they only stream in stereo. There are tons of post on the net complaining about this. You are not alone.

Doesn't affect me though as I don't have a surround sound system...
Can't miss what I don't have
Streaming is pretty nice though. If I want to watch a movie right away just fire up my laptop, connect it to my tv and in a few minutes I'm watching my movie. Quality is based on your internet speed. I have 1mb speed and netflix says it's only good enough for basic quality. Nice free perk though. I signed up just for the movie rentals and found out about the free streaming!

[yoda313]

@freebird - thanks for the confirmation. That stinks. I mean it has such potential. The high def is great but stereo only really takes the fun out of it.

At least I'm not the only one complaining about it. Perhaps they'll take a consensus and start offering surround sound on the downloads?

[rallynavvie]

You mention Netflix and you'd rather drive to a Blockbuster to rent BRDs? Why not just sign up for Netflix and have your BRDs sent to you?

[yoda313]

You mention Netflix and you'd rather drive to a Blockbuster to rent BRDs? Why not just sign up for Netflix and have your BRDs sent to you?

1 - bluray has an added charge on netflixs regular rates

2 - I don't rent enough to use it.

I get enough on cable to be happy. I only go to blockbuster every now and then. Thats why I'm looking for a high def download option with 5.1. It would essentially eliminate the need to rent a physical disc except for bonus contents on movies I really like and want the extra stuff.

I'll still buy the movies I wnat to keep obviously. This is just for those I'm curious about don't want to own.

[lordsmurf]

Yes, but the ones I'm aware of are specialty services, they deal in niche subjects or content. It's not the same catalog of general movies you get from Netflix/BB/etc.

It pretty much has to be 720p, too. Having 1080p streaming content is for the birds. It just doesn't work right now -- at least not in the USA, our overall net access speed is just too slow here.

[yoda313]

@lordsmurf - 720p is fine with me since I don't have a 1080p set. However the 5.1 is important to me.

Its nice to know at least some services offer the option. Too bad its the fringe element right now....

[yoda313]

BOOM!

Found one - AMAZON.COM!

Yep. Not sure about high def with 5.1 but at least standard def with 5.1 is a start.

I was browsing their on demand section (I recently bought two two parters of the Stargate Atlantis series on ON DEMAND with amazon). I looked up Xmen Origins Wolverine and it has 5.1!!!!

Now it doesn't have a high def version of Wolverine that I can tell just yet. But it has a 4.00 rental option for Wolverine.

Now the only "catch" is that you only get stereo while streaming. But it says for a pc download it will have 5.1 available. I think it said it was 2.3gb or so not too bad. Hopefully the video quality will be decent enough.

It's only a 24hour rental so right now I'm not going to download it until I'm ready to watch it all the way through.

Edit - I'm downloading the rental for wolverine now. With my cable internet speed I'm up to 14% downloaded now. Too bad it doesn't give an estimated time to completion - edit turns out it does but was in a different area so I'm a half hour away but can already start to play the movie which is good. It did say it was like 2500kpbs video bitrate or so. And as I mentioned it said it was 2.3gb. So for standard def that should be fairly decent quality. At 4.00 thats not bad for a rental. And the important thing is I get the 5.1.

I had rented 007 Quantum of Solace on Itunes but was sorely disappointed it lacked 5.1 even though it said it was in that and it was the high def version. The picture was great but only stereo sound. AS i had read the apple forums on it it appears only the apple itv box will play it back in 5.1. That stinks. Hopefully this amazon unbox with 5.1 will do nicely.

Unfortunately when I downloaded the Stargate Atlantis pilot it was not in surround, also not in widescreeen either. However the season 3 episode I downloaded was in widescreen. I have yet to download the file itself. The stream was stereo but the download may be in 5.1 as I mentioned with the wolverine movie.

Oh and this is PC only. But it does have the option of using TIVO. They also had some other specialized settop box it would work with. Forgot the name... EDit - you can stream on mac but the download option is only available for pc - you can stream too in tivo but appearanly its letterbox only and stereo only - but that may be for standard def tivos - perhaps the hd tivos will do anamorphic widescreen and 5.1, I can't test that since I don't have a tivo subscription anymore and the tivo I do have is analog only....

Edit 9pm est time - Well I finished watching Xmen Origins Wolverine on the Amazon download. It worked really well. AND IT WAS IN SURROUND SOUND! Yep that was well worth it.

And the video quality was very good. Near dvd quality and upconverted natch (I'm using a dvi-hdmi cable from my vista pc to my westinghouse hdtv. If you sit really close to the set you can see some pixelation and some of that dark scene blurring you tend to get on movie trailers you get online (you know where it is a little watery looking going from dark to light or vice versa? Watch the Indiana Jones Crystal Skull trailer and its the part where the logo splashes up - thats what I'm talking about.

But it was worth 4.00 renting to get the surround sound without a physical disc. Now if they have surround sound on their hd rentals/purchases as well I'm sticking with Amazon.

Woohoo!!

Oh and by the way yes I did like the Wolverine movie. I thought it got worse reviews than it should have. However I'm used to having the movies I like get panned in the main stream media. Still doesn't mean I can't like the movies I like does it???? As long as they get released on disc in some form or another I can still show support for the stuff I like