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03-10-2008, 11:28 PM
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#1 of 34 
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Local Date: 07-09-2008
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Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
I'm a HUGE film fan (over 2,000) DVD's & I'm only 25 
I PERSONALLY love having the film on disc. But Comcast is working on PROJECT INFINITY, which is set to have over 8,000 HD films & TV SERIES on Video On Demand (VOD) by 2009.
From there, they will be adding titles monthly.
Does anyone fear this could do damage to DVD's? Will people prefer to (for free) watch just about any film they wish on demand? Will they stop buying our favorite shiny little discs?
I love all of your opinions & I would love your opinions on this from fellow film lovers?
Please discuss.
Sigh
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03-10-2008, 11:51 PM
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#2 of 34
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Miel R.
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
Personally, I will ALWAYS want to own physical media, be it music or movies. That's just my personality, though. I suspect that at least 95% of the people on this site will feel the same.
VOD will replace physical media to a certain extent in the future (it's got a long way to go) but I think there will always be an option to buy a disc, for those of us who prefer it. Similarly, I think CDs will be around for those to want to own an "album" even though m3ps are taking over the music industry. It may come to a point where a CD is a limited-edition novelty for new releases, but I think they'll never go away completely.
I think DVDs/blu-ray discs will have a stronger hold than CDs, because of the nature of video and the portability issues.
Last edited by MielR : 03-10-2008 at 11:57 PM.
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03-11-2008, 06:08 AM
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#3 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
Their list of flicks is only a drop in the bucket, too. I will still buy my favorites because there is something Comcast can't compete with: picture and audio quality. The on demand service needs to be on par with DVD for me. The signals on my digital cable are very compressed and that bugs me. I want immersive surround sound, too. Comcast can't touch my Oppo DVD player in terms of either.
If Comcast (or Netflix) can provide me with on demand films in HD-quality picture and sound, then I'm all for it, provided they offer more than the number of films and shows you quoted.
"You're all gonna die...only question is when. This is as good a place to take your first step to heaven as any. It's ours. It ain't much, but it's ours. Only question is how you check out. Now, you want it on your feet, or on your knees beggin'? I ain't much for beggin'. Nobody ever gave me nothin'. So I say, fvck it, let's fight."
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03-11-2008, 08:47 AM
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#4 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
I don't think it will have an impact.
Have you tried to watch an On Demand movie on Comcast? It can be pretty annoying. The FF and REW features are extremely slow, controls very unresponsive.
Even if they have films listed that I also have in my Netflix queue, I will still wait for the DVD to watch them.
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03-11-2008, 11:50 AM
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#5 of 34
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R. Ray Rogers II
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
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Originally Posted by Brett_M
Their list of flicks is only a drop in the bucket, too. I will still buy my favorites because there is something Comcast can't compete with: picture and audio quality. The on demand service needs to be on par with DVD for me. The signals on my digital cable are very compressed and that bugs me. I want immersive surround sound, too. Comcast can't touch my Oppo DVD player in terms of either.
If Comcast (or Netflix) can provide me with on demand films in HD-quality picture and sound, then I'm all for it, provided they offer more than the number of films and shows you quoted.
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I agree. The Oppo is a damn fine DVD player.
My big gripe for On Demand. The movies they show in HD are a majority of the time cropped to 1.78:1. I WANT the OAR, dammit!!! Show a 2.35:1 film in the correct aspect ratio and not 1.78:1!! Yeesh. They ought to follow in the footsteps of TCM and show all their films in OAR.
I also prefer owning a physical copy of a film. More tangible to me compared to a downloaded one if they ever offered it. It's also about convenience too I figure. I enjoy a library of films dammit!!!
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03-11-2008, 08:08 PM
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#6 of 34
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Carl Fink
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
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Originally Posted by JayMacey
Does anyone fear this could do damage to DVD's? Will people prefer to (for free) watch just about any film they wish on demand? Will they stop buying our favorite shiny little discs?
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This service is free? That's interesting. How do they plan to make money?
I much, much prefer physical media, but being able to watch thousands of movies on demand for free is a pretty appealing option. |
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03-11-2008, 09:21 PM
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#7 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
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Originally Posted by cafink
This service is free? That's interesting. How do they plan to make money?
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By having people not switch to FiOs or satellite, mainly.
Jay's Movie Blog - A movie-viewing diary.
Transplanted Life: Sci-fi soap opera about a man placed in a new body, updated two or three times a week.
Trading Post Inn - Another gender-bending soap, with different collaborators writing different points of view.
"What? Since when was this an energy ball movie?" - Overheard during a screening of Takashi Miike's Dead Or Alive
"What the hell religion are you people?" - Overheard during the Captain Marvel serial at SF/29
"If I feel even one bullet hit me, I will rip your lungs out through your nostrils!" - Ron Silver as himself, "Heat Vision And Jack"
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03-11-2008, 09:57 PM
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#8 of 34
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Member
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
Free? from Comca$t? I doubt it. The movies they currently offer aren't even free. They will either add a new programming tier, or just distribute the cost among their entire subscriber base.
Even it it were free, it would never replace physical media. We still have phone books and newspapers, [I know, for the advertising] which are useless examples of physical media.
John
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03-12-2008, 07:54 AM
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#9 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
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Originally Posted by John Dirk
Free? from Comca$t? I doubt it. The movies they currently offer aren't even free. They will either add a new programming tier, or just distribute the cost among their entire subscriber base.
Even it it were free, it would never replace physical media. We still have phone books and newspapers, [I know, for the advertising] which are useless examples of physical media.
John
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Comcast currently has hundreds of flicks free on demand. I would expect that trend in the future. New releases or whole series could be a different story.
"You're all gonna die...only question is when. This is as good a place to take your first step to heaven as any. It's ours. It ain't much, but it's ours. Only question is how you check out. Now, you want it on your feet, or on your knees beggin'? I ain't much for beggin'. Nobody ever gave me nothin'. So I say, fvck it, let's fight."
Last edited by Brett_M : 03-12-2008 at 04:08 PM.
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03-12-2008, 01:52 PM
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#10 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
When I was living in Saskatchewan, we had a FiOs system called Max, with two VOD streams. One was tied to Movie Central (The HBO/Cinemax/Showtime of Western Canada) and the other was a pay-per-view VOD system. Both were riddled with compression artifacts and rather slow in responding to pause/ff/rew functions. Movie Central on Demand was only free if you bought the entire Movie Central package and ALL films, regardless of VOD stream, were MAR. Chalk me up as unimpressed and unwilling to give up my DVD/HD collection anytime soon in favour of some download/streaming regime.
\"My opinion is that (a) anyone who actually works in a video store and does not understand letterboxing has given up on life, and (b) any customer who prefers to have the sides of a movie hacked off should not be licensed to operate a video player.\"-- Roger Ebert
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03-12-2008, 02:01 PM
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#11 of 34
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Member
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
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Originally Posted by Brett_M
Comcast currently has hundreds of flicks free on demand. I would epxect that trend in the future. New releases or whole series could be a different story.
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Not exactly. You have to subscribe to a minimum tier of service to get that offering, and the selection does not include any contemporary feature length films. Those are sold on a pay-per-view basis by both Comcast and the satellite companies. Since we're primarily talking about these types of releases, I can't see Comcast adandoning a money making delivery model in favor of a free one.
John
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03-12-2008, 04:13 PM
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#12 of 34
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Re: Project Infinity To Replace DVD's?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by John Dirk
Not exactly. You have to subscribe to a minimum tier of service to get that offering, and the selection does not include any contemporary feature length films. Those are sold on a pay-per-view basis by both Comcast and the satellite companies. Since we're primarily talking about these types of releases, I can't see Comcast adandoning a money making delivery model in favor of a free one.
John
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Obviously, John. I have the basic package -- no premium channels -- and there are hundreds of free films on demand. There are pay for view films and events -- I'm not denying that. If they decide to offer films for download, I assume that they will charge for it, either by the film or for a package, or for a new set top box/service.
"You're all gonna die...only question is when. This is as good a place to take your first step to heaven as any. It's ours. It ain't much, but it's ours. Only question is how you check out. Now, you want it on your feet, or on your knees beggin'? I ain't much for beggin'. Nobody ever gave me nothin'. So I say, fvck it, let's fight."
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