Technology360

Comcast Proposes DVD/VOD Service

John Dempsey writes:  "... Sensing that the financially troubled Blockbuster is ripe for plucking, Comcast is sounding out the Hollywood studios on the following proposition: A Comcast customer with a digital box will see a menu listing for, say, The 40-Year-Old Virgin as much as six weeks in advance of its scheduled appearance on pay-per-view.  ¶  For a fee of about $17, the subscriber could call up the movie for one immediate video-on-demand showing. Two days later, the DVD of Virgin shows up in the mailbox for the subscriber's permanent collection. ..."  Link:  Video Business.

Discs Are So Dead

Robert Capps writes:  "Two new formats aim to bury the DVD.  But Web distribution will kill them all. ...¶... Blu-ray and HD-DVD are just discs. And while discs have been a great distribution mechanism for the past few decades, as a plan for the next few they stink. Manufacturers and content providers have to pay to produce and ship them as well as make sure consumers have the hardware to use them. By hardwiring manufacturing costs into the system, discs obstruct market evolutions like flexible pricing or small-profit releases that appeal to niche audiences. ..."  Link:  Wired.

New In-Stat Report ... Forecasts the Future for HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc Sales

The media of the world has been abuzz with the competition between two new approaches that are battling to become the "next generation" of DVD. Reporters have embraced the topic, and remind us of the videotape format wars between Beta and VHS. But today's market is likely to provide winning opportunities for each of the contenders. A new report by In-Stat explains why, and provides bold sales forecasts through 2009. ... Link: In-Stat news release.

Internet and Multimedia 2005: The On-Demand Media Consumer

Arbitron has a new report of this title:  "One in 10 Americans show a heavy preference to control their media and entertainment, according to the latest study from Arbitron Inc. and Edison Media Research—Internet and Multimedia 2005: The On-Demand Media Consumer. The study focuses on new devices and services that allow Americans to exercise more control over the media they consume. Topics include DVRs, portable MP3 players and other on-demand technologies. ..."  A 38-pp summary (pdf) and 49-pp PowerPoint (also pdf) are available on the Arbitron web site.   It's also available at Edison Media Research. Thanks to  Roger Johnson for the tip. --Dennis

David Jennings has a methodology critique of this on his DJ Alchemi weblog entitled, What Does On-Demand Media Really Mean?  Thanks for the tip to Stephen Hill. --Dennis

DVD Market Continues to Grow As Recording Units Gain Share

DVD recorders are beginning to drive the market for non-PC DVD hardware, a trend that keeps the overall global DVD hardware market on the rise, according to In-Stat. The DVD recorder market (not including units connected to PCs) doubled in size in 2004 and will grow by 87% in 2005, ...  Link: In-Stat.

Kill the TV?

Raven writes: "... But this has me thinking about something that I've mused over before. I watch far more TV shows from Netflix than I do movies. I get a movie every month or two, and I churn through a 22 episode season of a TV show every two or three weeks. And they're all TV shows I did not see on TV. ..." Link: A Netflix Odyssey.

High Definition and the future of viewing

The Register [UK] has a comprehensive analysis of the unfolding state of HD.  Reprinted from Screen Digest.  Worth reading.  --Dennis

Record year for DVDs

The home-video industry continued to see green in 2004. Shrek 2 reigned as the top-selling DVD, and DVD sales drove home video revenue to another record, $24.5 billion. ¶ Of that, $21.2 billion was from sales and rentals of DVDs. VHS sales and rentals fell from $6.4 billion in 2003 to $3.3 billion last year. Home viewing once again topped moviegoing, with 2004 box office $9.4 billion. ... Link: USATODAY.com.

What Are Good Friends for? Perhaps for Recommending DVD's

Although Netflix is the unquestioned leader of the online DVD rental business, and is known for its innovative recommendation engine, some subscribers still find it hard to navigate its more than 25,000 titles in search of movies they want to watch. ¶ With that in mind, the company has begun testing a feature called Netflix Friends, which lets users share movie reviews and recommendations directly and automatically with selected friends. The service is scheduled to become available to all 2.5 million Netflix users next month. ... Link: The New York Times.

JVC develops BD/DVD disk to ease Blu-ray transition

Hoping to ease the transition from DVD to Blu-ray Disc, JVC has developed a Blu-ray/ DVD Combo ROM Disc, containing two DVD layers and one BD layer. ¶ Earlier this month, Toshiba and Memory-Tech developed a dual-layer DVD/HD DVD disk able to store both DVD and HD DVD content. JVC expects the Blu-ray/DVD disc to likewise enable customers to view both standard and high-definition video content. The company intends to propose the disc to the Blu-ray Disc Association next spring, with production to begin when BD-ROM players emerge in early 2006. ... Link: EE Times.