Quote:
Originally Posted by bruceames.
Given the growth of digital sellthrough and the decline of physical, I don't think online DRM is as much a sales deterrent as you may think. In 4 or 5 years most purchases will be digital-based anyway. There will come a day when all new future formats will have online DRM and the only question is if it starts with UHD BD or not. I hope it doesn't but I'm not optimistic about it given the signs I've seen so far (studio silence so far regarding support for UHD BD, disappointing BD market share compared to DVD, leaked documents, direction of market towards digital, known desire of studios, especially Fox, Sony and Disney to want maximum copy protection, etc).
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Whether or not DRM is a detterent depends on the circumstances and how it is implemented. Despite people buying digitally distributed content, there was a huge backlash against the original Xbox One plans, for example.
The issue with DRM on digitally downloaded content is that I think most average people don't even give it a second thought (which they should IMO). Since they are buying something that is distributed digitally, having to sign into an account and authenticate is probably something that is more or less expected. I think they often take for granted the ability to reauthenticate/redownload "forever." The problem is, as we've seen with things like Target Ticket, that's not necessarily the case.
But the problem is that because digital distribution and online authentication is still such a relatively young concept for movies and video games, we really haven't yet seen the aftermath of a major, popular service being shut down. Most instances, like with Target Ticket, were services that never really "lit the world on fire," or instances where a specific movie here or there was suddenly rendered unavailable through a certain service (or services), but just the one movie was effected, not all of the others. If someone paid for that movie, but never attempted to watch it during a blackout period, they just never noticed. But on sheer principle, when/if they are made aware of it, they should be angry and out raged.
But we've seen once prosperous companines become irrevelent when times change. I doubt that 20 years ago many people would expect Blockbuster Video (or video stores in general) to go away the way that they largely have. While you can argue that digital distribution is the future (whether some of us want it to be or not), we have no way of knowing what kinds of shifts and changes will happen within in the next decade or two. Whose to say that iTunes or Amazon's download service will still be available and relivant that far down the road? Things could shift for the worse for those companies (Amazon especially since while they are huge, they've never really been significantly profitable).
Anyway, the point is that when people are paying for things digitally through an online service, the DRM seems more transparent to them, and because they don't think about the potential long term ramifications, to them it's not really a hinderance. It's just a necessary part of the process of consuming content through digital distribution.
But when and if applied to physical media, the tides begin to change. A big part of the point of physical media is to buy it, pop it into any compatible player, and be on your way. At this point DRM (above and beyond some kind of basic copy protection or whatever applied to the disc) is not some standard, necessary thing. It's a hinderance. Anything that stops someone from simply popping the disc into any compatible player and simply playing it will not go over well. A "digital bridge" that allows a full quality digital copy to be stored and tied to a specific player, while still allowing the disc to be used freely, would be a fair comprimise, as it wouldn't prevent the physical media from being used the way that is always has been, it just gives people an
additional option that happens to require authentication. But anything that stops people from just using the disc as they always have... that's not going to fly.
From the standpoint of the end user, applying that kind of DRM to a physical copy will do little more than combine the worst aspects of both physical media and digitally distributed media into one super-inconvenient form of media, which as a result will elminate many of the positive aspects of both. It's a lose/lose proposition.
And really, even if both you and GeoffD are willing to put up with this sort of thing in the face of little to no comparible alternative, at the end of the day you should still be upset about the potential of it happening and do what you can to push back against it in the hopes of preventing such restrictions.
There's a good change that even if there is no authentication based DRM, 4K BD may not take off and could end prematurely. And if that happens, at least with no authentication needed, you will be able to use the movies that do come out in the format for the foreseeable future. You can buy a back up player or two and be set for years to come.
But if authentication is required (which I think will do more to drive would-be customers away than if it wasn't required), and the format falls flat, support will likely be cut off prematurely. Then you'll be dealing with a Target Ticket situation with a physical media format. Only there will be little that can be done to maintain access to those movies, at least at the quality provided by 4K BD. If they go with a Target Ticket-like solution, they may transfer your account to some other download service in which you can download the same movies (assuming said service has them available), but likely at far lesser quality.
The irony here is that as someone who is SO concerned about quality that you are willing to put up with this sort of thing, you should therefore be the one most concerned about the potential ramifications. As I previously stated, if it comes down to it, I'll just stick with regular Blu-Ray since it gives me the freedom that I want and with the sole exception of 4K BD, will likely still be better than most any other format or download/streaming options (even so-called "UHD" streams/downloads). I want the extra quality, but not in the form of a vague extended rental. I can live without it if it comes down to it. But you guys want it the most. It will REALLY suck if you guys get access to it, see how much better it is than what you have now and any download options out there, only for access to be cut off shortly thereafter if the format fails. That will be a bigger kick in the nuts than not having 4K BD in the first place.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
I sincerely hope not.
the more modest income earners in our Blu-ray.com community, not to mention those still looking but *between jobs*, that it would have been less painful reading if you had posted per capita income with your research.
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