Netflix 'Watch Instantly' Coming to TiVo
by Richard Lawler, posted Oct 30th 2008 at 3:21PM
Posts with tag rentals
Netflix Outage Leads to DVD Shipment Delays
The message asserts that the company is "still experiencing issues with its shipping systems," though it gives no estimated time for a fix to be implemented. Have you been bitten by the Netflix delay bug? Have your titles continued without so much as a hiccup? Let us know in comments below.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Most Americans Think In-Store Movie Renting is Dying
As a matter of fact, 87% of those surveyed agreed that "renting DVDs at the video store or through mail service will become a thing of the past," and 94% of those same folks reportedly felt that movie downloads were just "better for the environment." Not like the average joe / jane understands how much energy is consumed by warehouses full of drives, gigantic air-conditioned server rooms and legions of PCs sucking down content, but yeah, these results are totally representative of the truth. [Source: Widescreen Review, I1
mage courtesy of Street Knowledge]
Roku Netflix Player to Stream Content From Other "Big Name" Providers
Roku's Netflix Player got off to a hot start after launching just over a month ago, and apparently its creator has big plans for the plainly designed $99 box. According to a recent report over on Forbes, Tim Twerdahl, Roku's vice president of consumer products, has affirmed that a routine software update would be hitting later this year to enable content to be fetched and streamed from other "big name" providers. Regrettably, the conversation ended there, so there's absolutely no telling which "providers" he's referring to. Still, we're certainly intrigued by the idea of this thing becoming more versatile in the coming months, but wouldn't the name have to be tweaked at the very least? [Via Silicon Alley Insider]
Blockbuster Stock Tumbles After Apple's Movie Rental Announcement
Blockbuster has been struggling to compete with Netflix mail order rentals and online content deliver, which was made completely free and unlimited to subscribers ahead of the anticipated debut of iTunes' movie rentals. Over the past several months, Blockbuster's web site traffic has dwindled, stores have closed, and massive layoffs seem unavoidable. The national movie rental chain's stock prices are about half of what they were as recently as November.
Instead of stemming the tide Blockbuster just seems to be slipping faster and faster into a footnote in content delivery history. The iTune's rentals may just be the nail in the coffin.
From Newsvine
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Movie Rentals Hit iTunes (Plus, a New Apple TV)
Well, we all knew it was coming. The rumors have been circulating for so long that it's more been a matter of when rather than if.
At today's MacWorld keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that he has finally struck a deal to put movie rentals on iTunes. Pretty much all the major movie studios --Touchstone, MGM, Miramax, Lions Gate, Fox, WB, Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony -- have all signed on to provide rentals at $2.99 for older films and $3.99 for new releases.
Like pretty much every other online movie service and Vudu, the iTunes movie rental service, which launches today, gives you 30 days to watch a chosen film, but after you hit play, you have just 24 hours to complete the movie before your rental expires. The files can be transfered to iPods and Apple TVs, though, so you can start watching the movie while it's still downloading your computer's iTunes, then copy it over to your iPod (or Apple TV) and finish watching it somewhere else later that day.
Apple also unveiled Apple TV Take 2, which essentially amounts to a new interface for the Apple TV that makes it independent of a computer. The update lets you access the full iTunes store directly from your Apple TV and rent DVD-quality movies to watch on your TV (or buy music and audiobooks to listen to on your TV/home theater system). And, for just a dollar more, you can get HD quality video and 5.1 surround sound. The Apple TV will still sync to your PC or Mac, if you have one. The revamped Apple TV ships in two weeks for $229.
The best part is that current Apple TV users aren't left out in the cold. Jobs admitted that Apple hadn't exactly hit the nail on the head with the original Apple TV, and is offering the new UI and features as a free download to all current Apple TV users. For once, some of Apple's early adopters are getting taken care of!
So, does this mean you should forget Blu-ray and just pick up a new Apple TV? Maybe, though we're going to reserve our final judgment until we find out whether the HD offered is highest-quality 1080p or not (as with Blu-ray) and if every one of the 1,000 or so films Apple is promising to have available by year's end is also available in HD.
That said, we won't say don't rent movies from iTunes. We've got iPods just like everyone else, and we'd be dumb not to partake of this latest offering from Apple. We just want to see if Apple really has a decent selection of HD movies, since no one else -- other than the Blu-ray camp (and only recently) -- seems to have pulled this off.
From Engadget
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Movie Rentals Finally Coming to iTunes
Details are slim at the moment, but it is reported that Fox has been granted some flexibility with pricing, meaning newer films may be priced higher than those from the current iTunes movie catalog.
In addition to the availability through iTunes, the deal will also allow Fox films to be easily transfered to a computer or iPod using Apple's FairPlay DRM scheme.
The deal is expected to be officially announced at the January 14 MacWorld Expo.
From Engadget
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Netflix Seeing Four Times As Much Traffic as Blockbuster
According to web analytics firm Compete, by the end of October, Netflix was attracting four times as many unique visitors a month as Blockbuster. Since January of 2005 Netflix web traffic has steadily climbed, while Blockbuster's has dropped off.
Netflix's instant watch feature alone has attracted 450,000 users in the month of November, while Blockbuster struggles to get its direct-download service from Movielink off the ground. Adding to Blockbuster's troubles, Apple is expected to launch a movie rental service via iTunes any day now.
The battle between Netflix and Blockbuster has been a long one. But every time it looked like Blockbuster might be gaining some ground, Netflix countered with a move that buried its competition.
From Valleywag
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Blockbuster Heading for the Dustbins of History?
Massive layoffs are in the cards at Blockbuster, as revenue slid almost 6 percent in the 3rd quarter, stock prices are down to an anemic $5.06, and 526 stores have been closed in the last year. It appears that Netflix has not only put a chink in Blockbuster's armor but given it a flesh eating virus.
Blockbuster managed to put pressure on Netflix with lower prices, but all the focus on destroying the pioneer of DVD rentals via mail has taken an even worse toll on Blockbuster.
Consumer familiarity with Netflix and its streaming films have proven too much for Blockbuster to battle. Blockbuster chairman Jim Keyes has even admitted that the focus on Netflix has damaged the company. He has decided to move the focus of the company to just increasing overall membership but it might be too late. Like the traditional print media outlets barely scraping by in this new online economy, Blockbuster may be staring death in the face.
From Crave
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