Blockbuster joins Netflix in video-on-demand
Blockbuster just upped the ante in its competition against Netflix: The media entertainment provider Tuesday rolled out a digital media player that offers instant access through television sets to on-demand content of recently released movies. The service is essentially the evolution of Blockbuster’s Movielink.com site, which offers roughly 10,000 on-demand movies for download to personal computers. Some 2,000 of those titles can be downloaded to televisions via Blockbuster OnDemand. Two elements of Blockbuster’s recent offering are different from Netflix’s: the fees and the movies.
First, the 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player is available at no charge —but the customer must rent 25 Blockbuster OnDemand movies in advance, at a cost of $99 through the company’s online service. After the initial 25 rentals, movie rentals start at $1.99 each. The players will begin shipping in time for the holiday season. Movies stay on the player for 30 days; once a movie is started, it must be viewed within 24 hours. Rival Netflix has a free “Watch Instantly” feature, which streams movies to subscribers’ TVs or personal computers, but users must subscribe to its unlimited monthly service. Second, Blockbuster said the movies it is offering are more current that those of other subscription-based services. Many of the films will be available through the Blockbuster OnDemand service within weeks of leaving theaters, according to the company.
Source: CRN
Comments(6)
So? Who gives a sh.it? In case you forgot, we *pirate* movies here and the formats the scene releases ‘em in are playable with portable hardware too.
what is this? some1 sticking dollars in your pocket to write about it? shape up rlslog
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Many of the films will be available through the Blockbuster OnDemand service within weeks of leaving theaters, according to the company
and all will end up on rlslog. Look on the bright side people.
well i don’t think its gonna work much for blockbuster… NETFLIX is on the 360 after that update… and The shipping from NETFLIX is almost over night in most big cities… and yes… u can upload a full movie on a ZUNE , Ipod or other video devices….then play it on ur TV
i think it won’t be long before blockbuster or other video stores become obsolete… but then again not everyone has a high speed i-net connection…. so it’s gonna be a few years….
Blockbuster blows.
I love waiting several hours to watch a downloaded movies from Blockbuster as much as I need a hole in my head. Download video sucks ass. I’d never buy a download set top box.
I want an instant streaming set top box from a service provider where I can get high definition 1080p blu-ray quality video on demand and live tv from one place over a low bandwidth connection (3Mbps or less) on both PC Player for PC and set top box for TV.
Oh wait, it already exists, it’s called MyTVPAL! and Netflix! (WWW.MYTVPAL.COM) / ( http://WWW.NETFLIX.COM )
Blockbuster is just trying to keep it’s stock up until it dies! It has no flare innovation. Those who do not innovate do not survive.
On demand means instant playing. So we should call it “wait several hours then never use the darn box again because your fed up of download boxes, just like AKIMBO”. That’s right! Just like Akimbo.
Congratulations Blockbuster on once again missing the mark and sailing below our expectations.
Long live 1080p blu-ray instant streaming on MTP and NF!
Comment Guy