Have you purchased a downloadable video or movie online?

No, because I'm waiting for a decent selection to become available in Canada. once I can download shows like Lost or Battlestar Galactica or either of the Stargate's i'll be all over it, but for now, the selection for Canadians kinda sucks.

No....

NO

Buying DRM stuff which I can't use later, and is lower quality than a DVD, does not interest me.

I have tested bigpond.com (bigpond movies / Sony) and found the quality/price ratio to be horrible compared to renting or even buying most DVD's. There is also the issue of used downloads if you are on a high speed (24Mbit) but downloads limited plan, like myself.

No.

Reasons: Same as offline above.

Well....
Once again there is no answer that would apply for me.
I have used my C.C. many many times for online purchases of hard good's but have yet to have ever seen any type of movie/video that i feel would be of acceptable quality that i would want to DL let alone pay for and DL to burn to a dvd
Best Buy is maybe 4 minutes away so if i want something i just drive down and buy it 8)
If they don't have it locally, E-bay & some searches for a hard copy.

waiting for better video quality, I haven't seen any service with dvd quality or better yet.

I don't believe you will see DVD quality video for quite sometime. Downloading 4-8GB worth of data is bandwidth sapping. It is very convenient and the price is really good when you can get beyond that movies should cost what you believe they should cost. A $500 phone maybe overpriced for you and completely within reason to someone else. DRM is simply a fact of life. If you believe you will be able to avoid DRM on any media in the next few years you are not living on earth.

Well you can use newer video formats and get dvd quality, H264 (1 - 2MBits) and AC3 audio (448kbits), 1.5-2GB for 2 hours. But still a bit too much downloading for most and the new video codecs requires very fast cpu...

That is the problem in the distribution channel. In order to reach the broadest spectrum of audience you need to cater to the broadest spectrum of systems. This is why PC gaming rarely makes a huge leap forward. They need to keep it realistic for everybody in order to achieve profitable success.

Originally Posted by mats.hogberg

The day I own what I buy (not just the right to watch it on the device I used to DL it) I may be interested.../Mats

Hi Mats,

I'll add my .02 cents!

In your profile one of your operating systems is Windows.
We are permitted to use Windows on our PCs, but we don't own it.
Other software is the same.

(You also use Linux but I'm not familiar with ownership rules for that.)



Now, to answer the poll, I haven't purchased downloadable videos.

I've purchased e-books and software, but I'm always worried about losing
the download halfway through, even though my connection is fast.

With videos I'd worry about the same thing, but also wonder how much
quality they could squeeze into a small file. I've downloaded old (archive)
videos and between the time it takes and the somewhat poor quality I'm glad
that I didn't have to pay for it!

I think renting videos/movies/TV shows is very reasonable so they would have
to come up with something a lot better to beat it.

But, of course, anything is better than television!

It would be interesting for people to mention some of the video titles
that they are purchasing and downloading. Also if they are pleased with
the quality of the video. (ToolFool already mentioned that in his post)

Originally Posted by mats.hogberg

Originally Posted by 3Simon7

Hi Mats,
In your profile one of your operating systems is Windows.

Yes, as my employer provides it for me (among other work related pieces of software).

/Mats

What I meant was even though we buy the software we don't really own it.

Your boss bought the operating system but he/she doesn't own it.

Hopefully this makes my other post make sense, but probably not!

Back before they locked our machines down and forced me to work days I downloaded a few movies from Movielink when I was really hard up for something to keep me away.

Baldrick wrote:

waiting for better video quality, I haven't seen any service with dvd quality or better yet.

Yes, this is true. But..

Most encoder-uploader-freekies are still trying to fit 700mb on a cd-r. That seems
to still be the norm of today.

So, until people can move onward, and realize that some things have to change,
ie, bitrate and method-process, you-all-everybody will have to suffer the
continued aged-old practice of low-bitrate videos' -- or, Crap.

The above is just my opinion

-vhelp 4095

ROF: If you believe you will be able to avoid DRM on any media in the next few years you are not living on earth

I don't believe anyone came close to even inferring that. I dislike DRM but I can accept it in certain circumstances if it is of sufficient quality and the price reflects the limitations of use.

When I was with bigpond movies, they expected me to pay $5 for a new release that

- could only be played on computer, not transferable to my HT media player (DRM)
- stereo sound
- slightly below average divx quality
- forced to use buggy bloatware - a "movie download manager"
- almost one hour download time (more if I used the net at the same time)
- Limited to 1 day viewing

I would rather rent from the movie store or rent from DirecTv and if I like the movie, I'll buy it at Walmart when the price drops, yep I am cheap.

Originally Posted by offline

ROF: If you believe you will be able to avoid DRM on any media in the next few years you are not living on earth

I don't believe anyone came close to even inferring that. I dislike DRM but I can accept it in certain circumstances if it is of sufficient quality and the price reflects the limitations of use.

When I was with bigpond movies, they expected me to pay $5 for a new release that

- could only be played on computer, not transferable to my HT media player (DRM)
- stereo sound
- slightly below average divx quality
- forced to use buggy bloatware - a "movie download manager"
- almost one hour download time (more if I used the net at the same time)
- Limited to 1 day viewing

I agree DRM has some maturing to do before anyone can expect the mass audience to purchase more virtual copies than hard copy media. They need to allow portability and playability but still preserve the rights of the copyright owner to prevent piracy of this virtual media. At some point this will happen. These things take time and I don't think anybody can say big business is a fast mover.

Originally Posted by Dv8ted2

Originally Posted by ROF

DRM is simply a fact of life. If you believe you will be able to avoid DRM on any media in the next few years you are not living on earth.

The problem with DRM is the security holes that it creates. If they could come up with something that does not allow hackers free reign of my computers, then it would be better.

You refer to rootkits which are not the norm in DRM. When found they are squashed like bugs. Don't be so paranoid. Every DVD you brought home has DRM on it. I don't think gremlins are inside your DVR.

I am speaking of Digital Rights Management(DRM) not Total Management Chaos(TMC).

Originally Posted by mats.hogberg

The day I own what I buy (not just the right to watch it on the device I used to DL it) I may be interested...

/Mats

You know I've said this before. Welcome to Earth Morloc. That future you describe sounds interesting but it must be some alternate reality either that or you tipped over the candy jar and have consumed all the sugars.

Originally Posted by mats.hogberg

How about a general biometrics lock? All playback devices are equiped with some biometrics sensor (retina scanner?) that's used when I buy, and when i playback. I could live with that. Then it's locked to me, not the device I happpened to use for downloading it.

/Mats

Then it becomes a question of privacy. Somehow people get all upset when someone wants their fingerprints, DNA, Retina scans or other. As if any of this stuff could not be readily taken unwittingly anyways. Not to sound paranoid but if someone wanted this stuff from you they probably already have it.