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VaBeachGuy

A new way to watch TV and Movies

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A way the ratings could be brought into the 21st century would be by having the shows downloadable. The studios could track how many downloads there were of a specific show and guage how popular it is that way. It would seem to me that it would be more accurate than the current way.

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A way the ratings could be brought into the 21st century would be by having the shows downloadable. The studios could track how many downloads there were of a specific show and guage how popular it is that way. It would seem to me that it would be more accurate than the current way.

<font style='width=80%; filter:glow(color=blue)'>I completely agree! Then, once they're aired a season... they can release a season set on DVD! (better quallity) :lol: </font>

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A way the ratings could be brought into the 21st century would be by having the shows downloadable. The studios could track how many downloads there were of a specific show and guage how popular it is that way. It would seem to me that it would be more accurate than the current way.

I completely agree! Then, once they're aired a season... they can release a season set on DVD! (better quallity) :lol:

If they were to embrace the concept of downloading the quality of the download would be DVD quality. You can already download movies at that quality (or pretty close to it). It wouldn't take much to make it a reality.

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Thats a great idea! Now how can we convince TPTB to do that? It would certainly show the show is doing better than what the ratings say.

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A way the ratings could be brought into the 21st century would be by having the shows downloadable. The studios could track how many downloads there were of a specific show and guage how popular it is that way. It would seem to me that it would be more accurate then the current way.

I completely agree! Then, once they're aired a season... they can release a season set on DVD! (better quallity) :laugh:

If they were to embrace the concept of downloading the quality of the download would be DVD quality. You can already download movies at that quality (or pretty close to it). It wouldn't take much to make it a reality.

Hmm... Personally, I'd rather not download. Too much trouble. Much easier to just go to the store and buy the product. Before we go back on topic, answer me this one question. :laugh:

 

"If" they do pay-downloads as you think they will, do you think they'd "also" give the option of orderring a customised DVD with all the bells and whitsles, then they'd mail it to your house? Personally, I think pay-downloads + orderring costumised DVD's is the way to go.

 

OK, now back on topic. :lol:

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Buying products in a store will never end. In the future I envision Video entertainment will be different though. The programming will be custom picked by the individual watching it. Just what bells and whistles you would get with your programming is something that woudl be worked out by TPTB.

 

Think about it like this, you come home on Saturday night and remember that Enterprise was on 3 days ago and you forgot to watch (or couldn't at the time) so you pick up your remote keyboard type in "Enterprise" and a listing of Enterprise episodes comes onto the screen. You select the one you want to watch and hit "Go" and poof Enterprise is on your TV. You can pause it or rewind it come back to it tomorrow and watch it over again. Whatever you want. This is all done through your TV and it's all done as quickly as changing the Channel. It would work with movies also. The content available would be whatever TPTB make available.

 

This could be done as a subscription service like Cable TV. You pay per month X dollars and you have complete access.

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Would it be per service, network, or show?  I only watch 3 shows, and each is on a different network. :lol:

 

Anywho, it sounds like an excellent idea!  However, if you home burn DVD's, how do you do the extra's and menus? :laugh:

If you had a DVD burner right now with the current technology and wanted to copy a DVD (which isn't quite legal unless you own the original and only want to make a back up) you would have an exact copy of the original.

 

If a system like I am proposing is ever adopted then the DVD you would buy, download and burn would be identical to one you would buy with the exception of maybe the DVD case and cover and the pretty printing on the DVD itself.

 

But then again if a system like I propose was ever adopted there would be no need for DVDs because you would have 24 hour access to the movie/show through your TV. The DVD's would just be extra clutter taking up space on a shelf.

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A way the ratings could be brought into the 21st century would be by having the shows downloadable. The studios could track how many downloads there were of a specific show and guage how popular it is that way. It would seem to me that it would be more accurate then the current way.

This would make so much more sense in so many ways. But - the way I see it - we have 21st century technology and 19th century management ideas.

 

The same goes the other way as well; I was just thinking about something similar yesterday. I wish I could watch current episodes at 6:00 so I could go to bed at 9:00 - now I have to tape everthing; ENT doesn't come on here until 11:00 p.m. (though I usually stay up for this)

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The same goes the other way as well; I was just thinking about something similar yesterday.  I wish I could watch current episodes at 6:00 so I could go to bed at 9:00 - now I have to tape everthing; ENT doesn't come on here until 11:00 p.m. (though I usually stay up for this)

That's exactly why they need a viewer-programable system. This is a 24 hour world now and what was "Prime Time" in 1968 is nothing even close to "Prime Time" now. My personal "prime time" is after midnight, sounds like yours would be around 6pm. Two different lives, two different schedules. Why not have 2 different ways to watch TV? (without the hassel of the VCR).

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My TV schedule:

Monday - 9:00 PM - EVERWOOD

Wednesday - 8:00 PM - ENTERPRISE

Saturday - 8:00 PM - STARGATE SG-1

 

I don't watch any other TV shows, so I think it'd be awesome if you could pay per a TV show instead of per a network or service, know what I mean? Anywho, I'd still like to have the DVD's as well as I watch movies & TV episodes on the big screen TV, the PC, and at a friend's house.

 

Anywho, I love VBG's idea, but this is how I would alter it:

1. You can order specific shows, thus having access to all the episodes as you order them. You could also order movies!

2. You would also have the option of placing orders for costumised movies and season sets on DVD.

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CJLP, it is no big deal to download shows if you have a fast internet connection. You could probably download an Enterprise episode in about a half an hour or an hour. Maybe less if you can dowload at 1.5Mbps.

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My TV schedule:

Monday - 9:00 PM - EVERWOOD

Wednesday - 8:00 PM - ENTERPRISE

Saturday - 8:00 PM - STARGATE SG-1

 

I don't watch any other TV shows, so I think it'd be awesome if you could pay per a TV show instead of per a network or service, know what I mean?  Anywho, I'd still like to have the DVD's as well as I watch movies & TV episodes on the big screen TV, the PC, and at a friend's house.

 

Anywho, I love VBG's idea, but this is how I would alter it:

1. You can order specific shows, thus having access to all the episodes as you order them.  You could also order movies!

2. You would also have the option of placing orders for costumised movies and season sets on DVD.

Do you have Cable TV in your home? If so you are paying for the entire service not just the few shows you watch.

 

Besides, the reality is that the majority of people watch more then a show or two. So it may not be a good thing for 1000 people but it would be a good thing for millions of others, and in business if you have 1000 people that don't watch much TV at all vs. a million that watch a good bit of TV then the 1000 don't matter in the least. TPTB will concern themselves completely with the Million and could care less if the 1000 live or die.

 

As for ordering the DVDs I really believe that at some point down the road they won't be needed. If you have 100% access 100% of the time to 100% of the content of a DVD what's the point of having the disc?

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:clap:I think they have something out like that now. I think it's called T' BO or something sounding like that. :clap::clap:

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Well, I'm never going to get cable TV as I just don't watch all that much TV. I watch movies and my 3 favorite shows... and that's about it. I rarely watch anything else. As far as news and such goes? I read. :clap:

 

Anywho, VBG, answer me this. What happens to those who don't want to shell out $50 a month for TV or can't afford it? This is exactly why I prefer DVD's to pay-tv.

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Well, I'm never going to get cable TV as I just don't watch all that much TV.  I watch movies and my 3 favorite shows...  and that's about it.  I rarely watch anything else.  As far as news and such goes?  I read. :clap:

 

Anywho, VBG, answer me this.  What happens to those who don't want to shell out $50 a month for TV or can't afford it?  This is exactly why I prefer DVD's to pay-tv.

What happens to people that don't pay for Cable TV now? They have to get by with broadcast TV alone. Eventually broadcast TV won't be much more then PBS anyway.

 

And if you don't plan on getting any kind of subscription TV anyway none of this would affect you one way or the other for quite a long time after the system was adopted. Physical DVD's and music CD's will be around in one form or another for quite some time to come.

 

Eventually though I predict that you will have to advance your willingness to adopt other ways of obtaining the shows you enjoy. I know that everyone will have to upgrade their TV's in the near future to HDTV compatible. It's just the nature of technology to advance and improve. Think of all those people that had 8 track tapes in the 70's but now can't play them or can't but new 8 tracks of their favorite music anymore.

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Doesn't really matter to me how the music/movie/TV industry evolves, as they've done good so far. All I ask is they have the "option" of owning the music/video on disc as well as being able to pay-for-view, or whatever it's called.

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Myself I would love this service, because like VBG my prime time is after midnight. I don't have cable because I am not home at the times that most shows are on, and so I won't pay cable prices to watch infomercials every night. But if I could come home and bring up a Trek Episode or whatever it is I feel like watching at that time, I would definitely put out the money.

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Doesn't really matter to me how the music/movie/TV industry evolves, as they've done good so far.  All I ask is they have the "option" of owning the music/video on disc as well as being able to pay-for-view, or whatever it's called.

8 Track tapes did fine, cassettes did fine and LPs did fine too. For their time. People that were stuck on them though were reluctant to see something new come out. Like CD's. VCR tapes are the same way now that DVDs are here. I think you are young enough to have never experienced a sweeping change such as I am explaining and therefore you seem fearfull of it. I've seen a few in my time:

 

Broadcast TV to Cable

 

8-Track's demise because of cassettes

 

The LPs Demise because of DVD

 

Betamax to VHS

 

VHS to DVD

 

Soon Analog TV to HDTV.

 

Old Coke for New Coke... err... I guess that one didn't really work did it? :clap:

 

You keep repeating that you want the option to buy and I keep telling you that I believe that option will remain for quite some time to come. But eventually everyone will be forced to step into the future and advance, no matter how closed off to new ideas and methods they may be. Those people that remain closed off to the possibilities will be the ones that have their 6 year old grandkids trying to teach them how to watch TV and rolling their eyes every time grandpa or grandma says "I liked it better when..."

 

I have friends now that refuse to get a computer and insist that there is no use for something as friviolus as the internet and e-mail. Those people are behind the curve and are struggling to catch up with the realities of life in the 21st century. Eventually most aspects of life will route through the internet or some form similar to it.

 

Refuse to advance with society and you will find yourself left behind wondering what happened.

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Well, answer me this. Without DVD's and CD's... How would you take selected music along with you on a walk? How would you watch a movie on the PC or take it to a friend's house? What if you can't afford pay-TV? Most people I know simply can't afford pay-TV. Heck, we never could, that's why we have broadcast TV.

 

Anywho, I don't care if it's on DVD, CD, a computer chip, a hard drive, whatever. As long as it's on some kind of "thing" that I can turn on and watch, I'm happy. I just don't like the idea of paying for an expensive service that I'm almost never gonna use. Know what I mean?

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CJLP, I fear some day you may regret spending too much money on CD's and DVD's unless you use them a great deal of time. I've seen my music collection go from LP's to cassettes to CD's. There is no reason to think CD's wont be replaced on a couple of decades. I put a lot of money of building up a VHS library only to have DVD's become the way to go. I wonder how long before they are replaced. I am hestitant to buy anything anymore because I expect it will be obsolete within 10-20 years and unless I constantly re-watch them I would not get my money's worth from them.

 

The only way I see DVD's as cost effective is to buy for children who can watch movies like Snow White three times a day every day.

 

As for cable not being worth the money - that depends on people's circumstances but most people I know have it. Personally, I couldn't live with the SciFi channel and Foxnews.

 

VGB.

5 1/4 floppy to 3.5 floppy to CD

analog cellular to digital cellular

wristwatches went from daily setting to battery operated

Slide rules to calculators

DOS to Windows

Monthly news services like Prodigy to ISP's

- this would be a cool thread - technology we've witnessed become obsolute.

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Well, answer me this.  Without DVD's and CD's...  How would you take selected music along with you on a walk?  How would you watch a movie on the PC or take it to a friend's house?  What if you can't afford pay-TV?  Most people I know simply can't afford pay-TV.  Heck, we never could, that's why we have broadcast TV.

 

Anywho, I don't care if it's on DVD, CD, a computer chip, a hard drive, whatever.  As long as it's on some kind of "thing" that I can turn on and watch, I'm happy.  I just don't like the idea of paying for an expensive service that I'm almost never gonna use.  Know what I mean?

I don't know how this would all be provided tp people. If I knew all that I'd make the thing myself and be a rich man.

 

I'm only looking ahead at the trend I see in downloading. I could actually envision the downloading of TV shows and selected movies as completely free or with a nominal monthly fee. If it's free then commercials would be inserted into each show just as you see on regular TV now. We have commercials on Cable too so there could possibly be a small monthly fee. Nothing more then Cable TV costs I would suspect.

 

As far as taking it with you that's already being done with things like the Diamond Rio which is a small MP3 player that you download music into and use like a walkman (are walkmen still used? They may be dead like some of the other things mentioned and I don't know it yet.)

 

As far as people not being able to afford it goes, it may seem harsh or cold but if there is a fee charged for the service then those people will be left behind until they can afford it. The business aspect of it all will dictate it. What happens to the people without Cable TV now? Do they get free cable? No, they are left behind. What about the people that can't afford the internet, do they get free internet access? No, they are left behind. Besides, if you can afford to buy all these DVD's and CD's you are wanting to buy then you would be more then able to afford the small monthly fee it might cost for this kind of service.

 

I don't believe it would matter what they do or how they do it though. You have shown enough resistance to this idea ever since the very first time I brought it up that I don't believe you would ever agree with it at all. It's just like with my friends that refuse to get a computer, no matter what good reasons I may give them they will always come up with another excuse to not want one.

 

Is it a fear of change or technology? If it is I can tell you from experience, the changes are always for the good and have always improved life or the way we go about our daily business. The ones that aren't good or improve things fall by the wayside.

 

I know one thing, when or if this service is ever abaliable I will get it within the first weeks it is in my area. That might be 20 years from now but I know I will keep pace with technology as it marches on.

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I think downloading shows and movies off the internet is becoming more popular all the time. I know people who get all their movies from WinMx. I used it a couple times myself. Possibly things like Tivo and INDEMAND will pick up too. The problem I have with those services is that there is a charge. Don't laugh, I still use my VCR for a lot of stuff. I set the timer and copy off a channel for later use. I do not have digital cable yet but I do take advantage of the cable internet service provided by Comcast. I am still using the anolog cable service for TV.

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I think downloading shows and movies off the internet is becoming more popular all the time. I know people who get all their movies from WinMx. I used it a couple times myself. Possibly things like Tivo and INDEMAND will pick up too. The problem I have with those services is that there is a charge. Don't laugh, I still use my VCR for a lot of stuff. I set the timer and copy off a channel for later use. I do not have digital cable yet but I do take advantage of the cable internet service provided by Comcast. I am still using the anolog cable service for TV.

Not laughing - I have two VCR's. I hooked them up so I can record one show and watch another at the same time. Sometimes your mood doesn't match the schedule.

 

However, right now I am listening to a radio station over the internet from a city I used to live in - so I like the access the internet brings

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VBG, what about downloading movies & TV episodes to your PC and burning your own DVD's? (by then, we should be able to make menues too :clap: ) Anywho, if you had the "option" of watching via TV or watching & saving on the PC, then I might shell out the money.

 

It all boils down to this. If I buy a movie, I expect to own it and be able to watch whenever I want. Same goes for TV shows. This "pay-to-view" service, the reason why I'm resistant is that you constantly pay to watch the same programs. Yes, I have a lot of CD's and DVD's, but it's taking me a VERY long time, and haven't been able to afford one for 2 or 3 months now.

 

Answer me this. Let's just "say" you're right. In theory, I could turn on the TV, pick a movie or TV episode from any TV show, play it, pause, rewind, fast forward, whatever, and watch when "I" choose to. Correct?

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Answer me this.  Let's just "say" you're right.  In theory, I could turn on the TV, pick a movie or TV episode from any TV show, play it, pause, rewind, fast forward, whatever, and watch when "I" choose to.  Correct?

Actually, VBG is right. And there is no theory involved, it's reality. Available right now. I have digital cable, and my converter box has a DVR built in. A DVR is a generic term for a TiVO. At this point, there are about 25 in demand channels available on digital cable with more to come. What in demand means is that you can select a specific episode from a specific series and play it at your convenience. You have the option to pause, rewind, and fast forward. Unfortunately, none of the network channels are available in demand, but that could change. The built in DVR allows me to record shows and save them to a hard drive until I choose to watch them. Again, I can pause, rewind, and fast forward. After I have viewed the program, I have the option to erase it or permanently save it to the hard drive. With the DVR, I can record two shows at the same time while watching yet a third. The DVR also has several ports on the back, including a firewire and USB port which as of yet aren't active, but when they are, will allow me to download my saved programming to my PC and burn them to a DVD. The legalities need to be ironed out before that option becomes available. Welcome to the 21st century CJLP!

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I still say it's a rip-off.  I'd much rather pay once and OWN the episode and movie, not pay a monthly fee. :clap:

 

Any chance you could "opt" to burn the movies and TV episodes to DVD?

It's not worth getting angry over but you might want to remember free tv is only "free" because advertisers foot the bill. When they finally realize that most people surf channels during commercials we may see the end of "free" tv anyway. I read somewhere the average American spends about $368 in increased cost of products (hamburgers,clothing, cars etc) because companies have to recoup what they spend for advertising. So you're paying for TV whether you watch it or not.

 

Personally, I hope they do make changes in how TV programming is delivered. I think there current "schedule" format is archaic.

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