Downloading High Definition TV Shows

[Martin]

Apple recently added 11 more TV shows that can be downloaded through iTunes for $1.99 a piece. These shows support an amazingly crisp 320x240 resolution (sarcasm, by the way). Hell, I wouldn't even download things off of Bittorrent with that resolution.

Now, that's not to say that I'm opposed to buying TV episodes, but rather that my choice seems to be pay for junk or get high quality stuff for free (I buy the occasional DVD boxed set when it's around, though).

So my question: what is the most you'd be willing to pay on a regular basis to download high definition, DRM free TV shows onto your computer?

Cuss and discuss.

[Andy]

martin i think those videos are for the ipod video, in which case 320 by 240 would be perfectly acceptable

[codemage]

I think Time-WB said that they'd be releasing (for free) a whole bunch of vintage stuff in low resolutions for pod and phone players.

There'd be a few minutes of advertisements per 1/2 hour (about half that of normal TV) - which is where they'd get their revenue back.

Fortunately for the computer elite... we've figured out how to use the fast-forward button. :/

[Tony]

There's a level of convinience here. You can't download bitTorrent videos onto iPod.. can you?

Now if I can download (at crazy fast rates) HDTV quality episodes onto my computer (and have them end up on the HDTV).. commercial free, then $1.99 per episode seems pretty fair. Actually I think some digital cable network is considering droping commercials for some cash payments.

How would you expect them to keep the downloads DRM free though? From download straight to bitTorrent. No ripping required

[Tony]

codemage wrote:

Fortunately for the computer elite... we've figured out how to use the fast-forward button. :/

We might need to start developing more sophisticated (or rather raw access decoder) players soon..

You know how when you play DVDs, they lock out your controls while they scroll through that "FBI Warning" screen for 30 painful seconds, and not let you menu/title/forward.

There's so much product placement in movies as it is, that additional commercials will simply be redundant, and perhaps even less effective than product placements in the movie itself. Ether way, it would be unbelievably bad to have commercials spliced into DVDs

[Dan]

Well the most i whould whont to pay for a season on dvds whould be $20~$25 so if you get ride of the case and the dvds maybe $10~$15 per season. So if most seasons have 12 to 15 eps i whould say about $0.83 per ep.

[Martin]

Andy wrote:

martin i think those videos are for the ipod video, in which case 320 by 240 would be perfectly acceptable

The point being that a larger video can easily be scaled down.

Speaking of which... played with the video iPod yesterday - it's sweet. And yes you can put other videos on it. The store had a ripped copy of Oceans 12. Go Japan.