HDM Vs HD Downloads

[john_nemesh]

Downloads are the future....NOT the present.

Currently only ONE provider is offering HD content with any consistancy, and that is Xbox Live Marketplace. Currently restricted to renting movies only, and space is so limited on the Xbox you wouldnt want to keep a large library anyway. Download times are generally very long with most people waiting up to 4 hours or longer to play the movie they downloaded. There are no "extras" or behind the scenes goodies to be had, and lastly, the picture and sound quality can not remotely compare to what Blu-Ray and even HD-DVD have to offer at up to 10 times the filesize!

If downloads are going to work, they need to be DRM free, copyable to ANY machine or device, which would also allow for backup or archiving. Especially important is the ability to store the movie on a server, then playback on any media device on the network. They need to be high quality, 30-50GB downloads...impractical now, but in 5 years you should be able to stream this stuff on a normal internet connection. They also should be burnable to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray STANDARD formats for easy playback on existing equipment.

I have no doubt that this is the way of the future, but with the backwards viewpoints of most studios, we will not see an implementation like this for some time to come.

Netflix at one point stated that the most efficient data delivery network in place for shuffling around 8GB of data was a DVD via the US Postal Service. The same holds true today for the 50GB discs, given the current state of our internet infrastructure.

While some people will gladly wait 5-10 years for all of this crud to sort itself out, I would like to OWN a physical copy of my favorite movies, in STUDIO MASTER quality with LOSSLESS audio. Right now, the best way to do this is buy a Blu-Ray disc. I will worry about the rest when I am in my 40s!