Blockbuster OnDemand Comes To TiVo 57
MojoKid writes "Netflix isn't the only company that sees that streaming is the future of movie rental distribution. Blockbuster, which always seems to be playing catch-up with Netflix, will start
making its on-demand rental and purchase content available on TiVo DVRs. Blockbuster OnDemand has only been available as a streaming service on Windows PCs or streaming to TVs via the 2Wire MediaPoint device. Meanwhile, Netflix streaming is available on far more platforms, such as on Windows and Mac computers, TiVo, the Roku Digital Video Player, LG and Samsung Blu-ray players, the Xbox 360, as well as a number of video portal software applications, like Boxee and ZeeVee's Zinc. Blockbuster's partnership with TiVo is yet another indication of the coming revolution of on-demand media available to TVs — that is, if the revolution hasn't already started."
Revolution (Score:3, Insightful)
I've already changed my Habits. I dumped dish and will no longer pay for cable or satellite. I stream NetFlix thru my x-box and am pretty happy paying less than 15 a month (microsoft live and netflix) for a full queue of shows I get to see when I want to see it.
Dish, Comcast, And direct TV better start panicking, the age of a la carte is here.
Re:bandwidth (Score:1, Insightful)
When it works, it's great. But the OP does have a point about bandwidth. When the connection gets congested it can be annoying when the stream can't keep up. And there are a lot of people out there that don't want to watch a highly compressed movie on their fancy video gear. The quality does suffer. If you ramp up the bitrate to compensate, you're back to fussy pipes again.
Just Quit Blockbuster (Score:4, Insightful)
I was so ticked off that I switched back to netflix, which I quit because of throttling and got to cash in my one month of one free extra dvd I got in the class action suit. The service has greatly improved since I left. They have way better selection than blockbuster and I sometimes use the online streaming to play things on my ps3, I just wish it was natively supported and I didn't have to pay for a program(playon) to do it. Then again, the program also supports other online video sites and I am able to stream every episode of Star Trek TOS from CBS, which is great. The only downside is that I have to pay one dollar extra per month to get access to blu ray's, but it is so much easier to get the movies I want sent that I don't mind.