Hiring movies from video stores may soon be a thing of the past, writes STEPHEN FENECH
A TRIP to the video store to hire a movie may soon suffer the same fate as rewinding VHS tapes, changing typewriter ribbons and writing letters.
Like music, movies will now become the latest form of entertainment to go the way of the download.
Apple has just taken the covers off its eagerly-awaited iTunes Movie store in Australia, almost two years after the US.
Customers can now rent or buy the latest-release films the same day they are available in stores on DVD, along with cheaper catalogue titles.
There are more than 700 films in the iTunes movie library.
New releases will cost $24.99 to download and own, with library titles costing $17.99. Older movies start at $9.99.
Rentals for new releases cost $5.99 and $3.99 for older titles.
This comes just weeks after iTunes made episodes and entire seasons of local and overseas television shows available for purchase online.
Other services are due to begin as early as next month with EzyDVD, the Australian retail chain and online DVD store, also planning to offer movie downloads.
EzyDVD’s new service – EzyDownload – will allow users to choose to download a movie to rent or to own.
EzyDownload’s content will be extensive, including latest releases and classic movies, TV shows, music concerts, sport, documentaries and special interest programs.
Video Ezy and Blockbuster, which serve eight million customers across Australia and New Zealand, will also roll out an eRental service later this year.
Video Ezy and Blockbuster’s eRental movie download platform will still involve a trip to the store but users will bring along a portable device to carry home the movie files, instead of a disc.
The device is then plugged into a set-top unit which is connected to the user’s TV.
In 2006, Telstra’s Bigpond became the first retailer in Australia to offer movie downloads.
Movies we downloaded from the iTunes movie store had an impressive picture quality and can be classed as high definition, with a resolution of 720p.
The downloaded movies are still a fair way behind the full high definition quality offered by Blu-ray Disc movies, which have a resolution of 1080p.
But who wants to watch a movie on their computer when there’s a large flatscreen TV in the lounge room?
It is possible to connect a PC to a TV with cables and watch the movie but this can be more trouble than it’s worth.
Apple TV, a wireless streaming device that connects to a TV, can solve this problem for viewers who rent or purchase their films through iTunes.
We downloaded Cloverfield, National Treasure 2 and The Hunt For Red October and piped them, via our wireless network, to an Apple TV connected to a 127cm plasma panel and they looked as clear as DVD.
Each movie was about 1.2GB in size and took more than 30 minutes each to download, so anyone with a limited monthly data limit on their broadband plan could blow it with a couple of movies.
Bigpond movies are not included in the data allowances for Bigpond members.
In October, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release What Happens In Vegas, which will be the first digital copy DVD.
This means users can download a copy of the movie from the disc to their computer and transfer it to an iPod, iPhone or other portable device.
Fox will offer the same digital copy feature on the recent release of Shine A Light – the Rolling Stones feature film.
