MovieBeam

[Ilya]

Thread moved to the "HD Over the Air (OTA)" forum.

 

[mdovell]

It certainly is a interesting concept and I wonder how much PBS honestly can continue to send with it's signal. They already sent tv guide data so this I think is a huge amount. If it wasn't for a small voom error with one station I'd be getting six maybe even more stations from them...it's weird.

Anyway getting back to the argument if you take the whole HD thing out of the situtation and allowed movies to stay on maybe for a week or a month I think it could sell.

I know one guy that doesn't have cable or satellite but yet he'll drop down money for a few dvd's a month. Paying $100 for the device (it looks like it's lowered again) and $2-4 a movie could save him some money....o wait he doesn't have a lan line! OK so if there's a way to call out maybe with a cell on top of this maybe he could get it.

Just to note the cheapest place for movie rentals is this red box thing at my supermarket...it's $1 for a day...but even at 35mpg it would cost me $1.28 to there and back...so technically it could be worth it...

 

[Jim5506]

MovieBeam website now states price of $99.

 

[dlsnyder]

Last I checked the boxes were still available at my local Sears in Moreno Valley CA (LA market). I wonder if anyone is buying them? I could see doing a lease deal, say $20/mo and you get a certain number of movies included. It could be kinda like Netflix without the post office delays.

 

[mdovell]

I think it could sell more generally if it could maybe do live ppv's like a boxing, a wrestling etc. maybe adult stuff could sell it... PPV's without a box might appeal to some given that the cable cards I don't think can do it anyway

 

[dlsnyder]

Live PPV isn't possible as the technology does not allow for real-time programming. Movies are slowly downloaded to the boxes in the field using data embedded in the VBI of the PBS station's analog signal. And since Disney is the gatekeeper, I doubt that they will put any adult content on there. But who knows? They may decide to sell the system to someone who would do that.

 

[lilyarbie]

I think increasing the bitrate on their movies might help as well. People don't want to download overly compressed movies for a fee in either HD or DVD when they can get movies for Netflix for a little bit more with outstanding quality.

 

[lilyarbie]

Also, they could expand HD outputs for DVI, RGB, and component interfaces. HDMI is still a relatively new interface for HD television sets that hasn't been around too long.

 

[mrjam2jab]

Its now available for $49.99 using Promo Code 49LD...even harder to resist now.