New Movie Download Pay Service

SailorBob writes " After nearly two years in production, Hollywood-backed Movielink is giving the green light to its online movie rental service. The Web site, a joint project of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros., will debut Monday with a limited selection of first-run and classic films from the five major motion pictures studios, in a test of the technology to select U.S. residents. Though the film studios have licensed content to other video-on-demand sites, it is the first time they've introduced a service of their own. Of course, just like the new music services, this is also only available to US residents. "

IE only

[Anonymous Coward]

"Of course, just like the new music services, this is also only available to US residents."

And those residing in the US who are using Internet Explorer 5 or later.

24 hours to watch it all once downloaded

[MikeDX]

Hmmm.

When I first saw the headline I assumed it was going to a great step towards truly using the power of the internet and online sales.

However, this is nothing more than glorified movie rental with the user paying well over the odds.

I've been using something called DVDSONTAP for a while now, pay £9.99 a month and rent as many dvds as I like and send them back when I like. $4.99 AND the "pleasure" of downloading AND having to install their DRM crap? No thanks. I'll stick to regular DVD and of course, leeching from usenet ;)

Windows only for now.

[donkeyDevil]

It's early on for Movielink, but in its initial incarnation, its strictly Windows & Strictly IE. If you try anything else, you'll get:

Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:
*
You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP

Running Netscape, even on Windows will get you:


Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:

You need Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher - Upgrade Now

Spoofing your browser & javascript settings will just hang your machine.

Read the article

[m00nun1t]

It's a "a test of the technology to select U.S. residents". It's a limited test, people, not a fully fledged launch. It supports the setup the majority (80+%) of Internet users have: Windows, IE and WMP/Real Player. Please, no more "it doesn't support linux" or whatever posts.

(and before you say "it's not a test without platform X", I'm sure if they can get it to work on Windows, they can get it working on your platform).

"Work made for hire" is weaker outside the USA

[yerricde]

Dont they want money from outside the US?

The difference is that in the United States, the studios own the movies' copyrights because of the "work made for hire" rule. Elsewhere, the "work made for hire" rule applies less or not at all, and the studios do not own the movies; the director, screenwriter, and score composer do. The studios may have to negotiate a separate contract for each country where the service is offered.

Re:Whats wrong with my money?

[Anonymous Coward]

Until it gets slashdotted, and until MovieLink ban the proxy IP:

Non US people turn off JavaScript, and go here [magusnet.com].

But why would you want to?

Re:Why bother

[Ford Fulkerson]

In fact the only advantage I can see is that Hackers will break the code in.. oh... seconds and then peer-to-peer distribution will take off for film ;-)

From the article:
The company is testing the service for 90 days, taking in consumer advice and troubleshooting the technology. After that, it expects to publicize the service widely through online marketing [...]

Note to hackers, make sure to wait until the studios evaluation period is over before releasing the crack..

Re:24 hours to watch it all once downloaded

[Madthio]

Actually, you have 6 days to watch the movie once you are finished downloading it. Once you begin playback, you can watch it as many times as you want (or can) within 24 hours. That may not be fantastic, but it is better than having to watch the entire thing within 24 hours of download.

These downloads aren't exactly small, either (the faq claims that they average around 550MB), so I am not going to wait at my computer for the download to finish so i can hit "play" before my 24 hours runs out...

I'll stick with Charter On Demand.

[croftj]

I'll stick with my Charter on Demand movies. My TV has a bigger screen, the prices are just as good and the selections are better.

It doesn't require my to go by a specific TV from a specific vender either! I can use an old B&W tv with vacuum tubes or a new shiney one. It can be a large screen, or HDTV or just a regular TV.

Life is good when you don't have to buy even more stuff you don't want (like a WindozeXX computer) just to see a stupid movie!

Re:IE only

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I'm using IE6 and it still tells me to upgrade...

Re:24 hours to watch it all once downloaded

[Spunk]

We have this in the US too. Netflix [netflix.com] charges $20/month. I don't own a DVD player, but I've heard good things about them.

Re:Microsoft Windows only

[Luke-Jr]

Actually, I believe Mozilla for Windows has some kind of ActiveX wrapper so it works...

Tried it

[SirAnodos]

I tried it last night. Rented and downloaded an older classic for $1.99 (took 1.08 hours on my DSL). It seems their codec could have been much better. I have seen DivX movies the same size (628MB) and same length movie that were higher quality. I would say the quality was similar to VHS. I don't know what codec they are using, but it doesn't seem like MPEG4, which is what I would like to see them use to make maximum use of bandwidth.
This service would actually be useful for us, because we live so far away from any rental store... and sometimes have problems getting the movies back on time. :-)
We usually watch DVDs on the computer anyway.
If a service opens up that uses MPEG4 (or DivX) and has good prices, then we will be using it quite frequently.

Not in the US but...

[Mantrid]

This sort of service has some potential. There are several issues - i think I can live with DRM for this, provided that whatever system they have is self-contained. Also their download system must work, and work well. It must be convenient or why bother?

But perhaps the biggest issue here may be bandwidth - even with 1.5 Mbps DSL at home it'll take awhile to download a movie. (I wonder how the quality is at that...) If I'm going to rent a movie, it is rare that I'm thinking ahead as to what I'd like to watch. So once I decide "hey let's rent a movie", the download process begins and a few hours later I can actually watch the movie. As opposed to running to the video store for about the same price in half an hour.

An even bigger threat may be Video on Demand (VOD) services slowly being introduced by cable companies. They are basically offering the same service, but you don't have to wait for it, and it works with your TV equipment, not your PC.

Even with all of these problems, there may be a niche market here - such as going on a flight - just DL a movie ahead of time. Of course DVDs are readily available - but at least in this case you can do it a week ahead of time and not worry about returns - hey here's a thought maybe they can offer LAN services from stores a local airports? Download over your ethernet from airport store servers?

I hope they have a business plan though!

Just use the Web Entanglement proxies!

[Flamesplash]

For those outside the US you can always try the proxies listed with the Web Page Entanglement [slashdot.org] article, they are inside the US.

An alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

You know what works a whole lot better, and yeah I know this is primarily for Windows: get a PVR video card like WinTV PVR. Then if you've got either digital cable or satellite, hook up one of the receivers to it (via s-video) and you're all set to go. Want the latest movies? Pay per view-- $4 each. Record it, burn it to DVD, and you've got a way to have hard copies of those movies which you don't think are worth the $20 price tag, but which you might want to see again. The quality is near identical to the broadcast, which is not quite DVD but certainly better than video or whatever this company is selling. Not only that, but it captures the dolby surround as well (or whichever kind it is that's encapsulated in the stereo channels), so I'm able to play it back on a real home theatre system and experience it much better than I ever would on my PC.

I guess it all depends if you've got $500 to spend on the PVR card and DVD burner. For me it was a worthwhile investment, I'm really happy with it, and it's cool to have the ability to edit out commercials as well. (I wonder, when you rent their movies online, how many previews they'd subjcet you to and if you'd actually be able to skip them. My guess is about 10 minutes, and no.)

Re:Whats wrong with my money?

[fjordboy]

while forcing the rest of the world to download the warez version,

I don't see how this forces the rest of the world to download the illegal version...you don't have a "right" to the movie or a "right" to watch it. You aren't being "forced" to illegally download it. No one is holding a gun to your head...if you download it illegally, you've downloaded it illegally. You can't use "the legal download service wasn't available for me so I was forced into a life of crime" excuse..that is just plain ridiculous. Stop whining and get on with life.

Re:Whats wrong with my money?

[cornjones]

They aren't streaming. The site is way sparse on details but from what I can see, you download their "Movielink Manager". The MM handles your movie downloads (resumes, etc). You download the full movie in whatever format they send it in and you have 3 days to watch it. Once you start it you have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you like. I don't know the quality but it will be much better than streaming.

The MM also "convieniently" removes movies files when your rental expires.

Re:Audience Not Limited

[krb]

Your math is wrong because you're not factoring in overlap... by which i mean, users who fall into more than one category. These characteristics you list are not strictly independent. I'd guess that damn near everyone still running win95 lacks broadband, for example, so if you've already limited your market to "broadband subscribers" you probly don't have to care about too many people with win95.

I won't bother getting into the discussion of whether your numbers are accurate, but if we assume they are, i'd figure that the best guess for the actual market is much closer to being exactly the same as the percentage of users with broadband, due to overlap. In your estimation, that's 20%, which is still a fairly decent chunk of the user base, assuming they're able to effectively advertise to that demographic. I don't think they will, mind you, but it's still a potentially lucrative market.

-k

I guess they don't Like me

[BroadbandBradley]

Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:

*

You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP

Netflix spams - avoid them

[wowbagger]

Netflix advertises via spam - as such I would avoid doing business with them.

Google'd evidence [google.com]

Winblows...

[yunfat]

From the website:

"Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers; however, you currently do not meet our minimum system requirements. You will need to adjust the following:

*

You Need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP"

Guess no movies for me.

Netflix

[Andy Dodd]

I have a Netflix subscription and LOVE it.

I'd say they have an excellent selection of non-mainstream films. Last year I shared the account with my apartmentmate Kate. She definately had non-mainstream taste in movies. I don't think there was a single movie she wanted that she couldn't find on NF.

Cheaper than this new service and higher-quality too. Also more flexible and available to those who don't have broadband.

Tell them what you think.

[Anonymous Coward]

For all us suckers out there that aren't privelaged enough to use such spectacular software as IE and Windows, they left an outlet for us to express our grief. While the main site is protected from malicious non-IE browsers, the "tell us what you think" for is not. Post away here:

http://4.42.225.135/kbase.asp?articleid=8

30 days:

[kikta]

"You have a rental period of 30 days to play the movie. Once started, watch the movie as many times as you'd like within 24-hours."

Also, it looks like it is offered in Real or Windows Media Player formats.

MovieLink features

[Animats]

It requires extensive proprietary software:

• You need Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
  You need Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher>
  You need RealPlayer 8.0 or higher or Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher.
  You need a Connection Speed of 128 kbps or higher. Scripting must be enabled.
  Cookies must be enabled.

There's spyware.

• a. Downloads. You acknowledge that Movielink and/or its authorized third party providers and affiliates may issue upgraded versions of the Services and Movielink Manager Software required to be downloaded by you from time to time, and may automatically electronically upgrade the version of the Movielink Manager Software that you are using on your computer. You consent to such automatic upgrading, and agree that these Terms of Use (as amended from time to time) along with the Software License Agreement and any amendments thereto will govern all such upgraded versions.

  b. Modification of Services. Movielink reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to update, change, modify, add or remove any portion of the Services or these Terms of Use, in whole or in part, at any time. Changes to these Terms of Use will be effective when posted. You agree to review these Terms of Use periodically to be aware of any changes. By continuing to use the Services after any changes, you agree to be bound by subsequent revisions to these Terms of Use.

There's an arbitration clause like the one just struck down by the courts regarding PayPal.

• g. Arbitration. Any and all claims, grievances, demands, controversies causes of action or disputes of any nature whatsoever (including but not limited to tort and contract claims, and claims upon any law, statute, order or regulation) (hereinafter "Claims"), arising out of, in connection with, or relating to (i) the interpretation, performance or breach of this Agreement, or (ii) the arbitrability of any Claims under this Agreement shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, on an individual basis. Such arbitration shall be administered in Los Angeles, California by the AAA in accordance with its then-existing Commercial Arbitration Rules. Except as provided herein, the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 1, et seq., shall govern all proceedings hereunder. The arbitrator's award may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction and shall include costs and may include reasonable attorneys' fees to the prevailing party, and judgment upon the award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BY ACCEPTING THESE TERMS OF USE, YOU ARE GIVING UP YOUR RIGHT TO A COURT OR JURY TRIAL.

Re:Tried it

[release7]

Your post doesn't come close to capturing just how truly awful the quality is. I just download King Kong for $1.99. Here's what I get:

At 100% size, the picture is 3" diagnoal on my 19" Trinitron monitor. It is getting played through Windows Media Player. When I zoom to full screen (though I can never eliminate the obnoxious Media Player skin border), the pixelation is so obvious as to make it unwatchable. The picture is dark and many of the details of the film are lost. Fiddling with the brightness and contrast controls do nothing to correct the problem. And movie buffs will certainly find the television dimension format completely unacceptable. I'd say the sound quality is about the equivalent of an MP3 at 96K, maybe less.

In short, the experience sucked. "I waited over an hour to download THIS CRAP!?" is the thought one comes away with. Even if you could hook this up to your living room television set, the picture would still be atrocious. No one in their right mind would ever use this service again.

I don't know what the industry is trying to do here but it certainly isn't to provide a viable consumer service. There's definitely something else on their agenda.

Re:Why hide the site?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a Californian, just like them, and I still get this. I used whois for their phone number ([phone]) and called them and they stuck me on hold. Fuck that, I'm paying by the minute for that call (Santa Monica is not a local call here). I hung up on them. I've toyed with those "geo-locator" services before, and they all seem to pick up that I'm somewhere in the Golden State. Whatever they're using, they must be smoking.

They're always whining and moaning and bitching about "letting the free market decide", and you know what? They're absolutely right in that regard. The decision has been made crystal-clear. You can log onto Kazaa or the like of it and deal with the headache of "remotely queued" or "need more sources", or you can deal with the headache of "not availible outside the usa" "use windows only" "fuck mozilla" from these clowns. This site seems to just scream "we don't get it". They don't. They take what they think cheapens their expenditure and add everything that makes money then take out everything consumers like and after falling flat on their face, like a whiny kid who fell in the mud during a race, they point at the winners and scream and yell "he cheated!" and then scream at the judges to declare them the winner and jail everyone else. That's the kind of scum we're dealing with. They tied their shoes in knots and wonder why they can't even crawl.