Members Jimbroni Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 Sorry for the crosspost, didn't get any response out of the movie forum, so I thought I'd try here. Just wondering if there is source out there to purchase or rent HD movies online. Not like netflix, where you order movies and get them in the mail. But more like Direct2Drive does with video games. You purchase the game, get a code and download it, then play on your PC. I've been trying to find something similar for movies and haven't had much luck. I'm really looking for HD content but any movie services you guys know about would be helpful. I have a PC with surround sound and DVI out to my HDTV and Harman Kardon home theater. Works greats for online trailers and video games, but I am wondering if there are any online movie services that people recommend. I just tried renting a movie from iTunes as a test. I rented Clone Wars, aside from the fact I thought it wasn't a very good movie, The audio totally sucked (no surround), and the video was serviceable but not great either. Anybody know of any legit sources for online movie rental that have good sound/video quality and/or HD content. I'm thinking along the lines of how PS3 and Xbox can be used to order movies.__________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 Actually Netflix recently rolled out HD streaming:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix#HD_Streaming "On November 19, 2008 Netflix initiated a "soft launch" of HD streaming consisting of approximately 300 movies. Users of the Roku box, TiVo HD boxes, Xbox 360 with New Xbox Experience, and Blu-ray players with integrated Netflix are able to stream movies in HD. PC and Mac users are not able to stream in HD right away.[18] Netflix's HD streams are available in 720p and are encoded using VC1 Advance Profile L2 and stream at 2600kbps and 3800kpbs, a substantial increase over the standard definition stream rates of 375, 500 and 1000 kilobits." Small selection at that time, dunno how much it's expanded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimbroni Posted January 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 yeah thanks. Unfortunately they are not ready for PC, only if you have a box like Roku or PS3 or something. I'm more looking for something that will work on a PC with some software, maybe they will develop that in the future. Apparently they do allow streaming SD movies for PC, has anybody tried that out. Is the quality and sound ok, any dropouts, etc? I'm little skeptical of streaming movies, I would think purchasing direct downloads would play a little more seamless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 I use the SD video streaming from Netflix and the video and sound quality are pretty good, with no dropouts using DSL.It uses the Microsoft Silverlight browser plugin for Mac or PC. The cheapest Netflix deal is 2 hours streaming video and 2 DVD rentals per month for $4.99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimOBrien Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 Then get ready to have your internet account dropped or capped. A number of ISPs are starting to put caps on how much you can suck down the pipe every month. True it's a large cap now (250Gb for services like Comcast) but just wait.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 ISPs won't do that because that will conflict with movie studios making a profit from a new distribution method. If the movie studios are making a whole new income stream from streaming their movies through Netflix, etc., they won't be too happy if ISPs attempt to stop it. The studios are like the 800-pound gorillas of media, they'll get what they want, and they'll make life difficult for those who don't cooperate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cry Logic Posted January 4, 2009 Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 Then get ready to have your internet account dropped or capped.A number of ISPs are starting to put caps on how much you can suck down the pipe every month. True it's a large cap now (250Gb for services like Comcast) but just wait.... Download caps are a fact of life here in Australia.The biggest cap my ISP provides is 100Mb/month for $109 AUD.If I hit the cap I'm throttled down to 64k!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted January 5, 2009 Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 Download caps are a fact of life here in Australia.The biggest cap my ISP provides is 100Mb/month for $109 AUD.If I hit the cap I'm throttled down to 64k!! Are you kidding? Could you even check a Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account daily and use less than 100Mb a month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimbroni Posted January 5, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 What about legit download sites? Are the files compressed? As they are in streaming? I've found a few so far Themoviedownloads.comNetmoviedownloads.comWatchdirect.tv These 3 offer 60 day moneyback guarantees, but I have no idea of the quality of their downloads, or what the selection is like? How much HD content if any? Anybody try these or other ones I haven't found? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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