Amazon Offers High-Definition Programs On Demand
More than 500 high-definition TV shows and movies will be available on demand from Amazon, the Seattle-based company announced Tuesday. Titles from Warner Bros. Entertainment, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MGM, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Showtime Networks include recent releases such as Frost/Nixon, Twilight, Yes Man, Californication, The Tudors, Smallville and Gossip Girl.
Blu-Ray ‘Quaking in Its Boots’?
The videos are available through several compatible devices — the Roku digital video player, several TiVo DVRs, the Sony Bravia Video Link, and Panasonic VIERA CAST-enabled HDTVs.
Rental prices are $3.99 to $4.99. HD TV shows can also be purchased and watched on Macs or PCs through compatible devices or downloaded for offline viewing for $2.99.
Some observers have contended that online delivery of HD is a major competitor to the still-growing Blu-ray Disc format. But Ross Rubin, director of analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said that Blu-ray is still the preferred medium for HD purchases.
Josh Martin, an analyst at Yankee Group, agreed, saying that he doesn’t “think Blu-ray is quaking in its boots quite yet.” He added that Amazon is still a relative niche player in this market, with only Apple’s iTunes Store the “800-pound gorilla.”
Good-Enough Quality
But James McQuivey at Forrester pointed out that there’s HD, and then there’s HD. “HD streamed over the Web,” he noted, “is usually lower quality than HD in Blu-ray.” The issue for Blu-ray, he said, is that the quality is good enough for most people, just as up-converted regular DVDs can be good enough.
McQuivey said this is one reason Blu-ray prices are falling, because “fewer people are willing to pay a premium to get hold of Blu-ray content when other experiences are good enough.”
Rubin said the on-demand impulse might be awakened by Amazon and others like it, but it would currently be…
Related posts:
