Blu-ray, DVD, HD, Video info and more at WesleyTech.com

Netflix Watch Now coming to Xbox 360

Announced today at E3: the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game console will soon feature Watch Now movies from Netflix. The standard Netflix subscription applies.

This is good news. No additional purchase required for those with an Xbox 360 already. This will come with a software upgrade later this year when Microsoft revamps the Dashboard.

Also available through the new Dashboard is “Live party” where you can have up to eight people in a chat at a time. With Netflix you can start a movie and it can stream to all members of the party simultaneously. No word on if all users must have Netflix for this to work.



The video quality is identical to the Roku standalone player. This means it’s highly compressed standard-definition. Netflix claims to be transitioning to HD, but I wouldn’t expect that until middle of next year.

Keep in mind: the 20GB Xbox 360 Pro is on sale for $299 until supplies run out.

Image sourced from: Gizmodo

DreamStream DRM for online video appoved for use

In the battle against piracy, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has assessed a new DRM specification utilizing a 2048-bit encryption. DreamStream, the developer of the technology, claims this technology is “military grade” and has never been cracked or exploited.

The chief development officer for DreamStrem, Ulf Diebel, was very pleased to find the approval of the MPAA.

We are very excited to have the MPAA stand behind our technology. The MPAA understands the need to be proactive - rather than reactive — in addressing the chokehold that piracy has on the motion picture industry. Their recommendation is not something that Hollywood will take lightly.

The digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by DreamStream will be used for streaming online video. Encrypted video does not download to the end-user’s computer, instead it will be viewed from the remote server. This doesn’t seem like it should work because video capture software doesn’t care if the displayed video is streaming, analog or saved. Perhaps DreamStream is an obtrusive software package that cripples the user’s computer while playing video?

Another aspect of the DreamStream technology seems aimed at protecting the server from hacker invasions.

Hacker attempts are no longer measured in how many per day but how many per second. It is just a matter of time until the pirate comes aboard your ship and breaks into the treasure chest. Unless they cannot see the ship. With DreamStream, your digital information is invisible. Your treasure chest is secured, and the key to it is encrypted with a 2048 bit encryption.

And then maybe this is good news for Blu-ray. With cumbersome software, the end-user may stick with optical media long enough to make it survive long-term. DreamStream claims HD-quality content with no delays, but the US is simply not ready for millions of streams of high-quality video through the existing infrastructure.

And how can you trust a company that thinks VMD will prevail against Blu-ray?

When is XstreamHD launching again?

Source: AfterDawn (update)

Is Sony undermining Blu-ray?

Sony is introducing digital movie delivery to the Playstation 3 later this year. The video game console will be host to movies from most major studios. They also have a BRAVIA media link for their lauded line of LCD displays offering online video content. The same movie service will be provided to BRAVIA later this year as well.

I do not think that Blu-ray Disc and digital delivery are peers to be compared, but does this move undermine the retail strategy of the Blu-ray Disc Association?

Two separate marketing campaigns will be engaged at the same time. I don’t mean to bring in World War II analogies, but fighting multiple fronts isn’t always the best way to get things done. It contrasts high-quality optical media with convenient internet video. While Blu-ray is higher-quality and more fully-featured than DVD, it’s physical format does hint at “old technology” while the big tech hit is the iPhone. The new technology is lower-quality than even DVD, but it seems newer, fresher.

These campaigns will have to be targeted with focused scope. Blu-ray should be marketed at the home theater market, and digital delivery at the casual market.



Oddly enough, digital delivery would seem to appeal to the youth and college crowd, but so far it looks like the lion share of Blu-ray adoption is to the younger video game crowd. However 40% of the Blu-ray market is in the over 35 crowd.

What do you think? Is Sony latching onto Microsoft’s shtick by looking to digital delivery?

Digital movies in the cloud?

I’m looking for opinions on this topic. I have been discussing it around the office, but I want to open the dialog with the larger community.

Would you use a service that allows you to own the content but it is stored on a remote server for you to stream at will?

In the office, three of us use Blu-ray primarily, one uses DVD, and another uses Time Warner Cable’s video-on-demand (VOD) service. We were talking about the future of video delivery. I’ve heard a lot of people on-line talk about waiting for a service as described above, and the VOD user said the same thing.

It seems like people appreciate the idea of downloading content at will, but they also want ownership of this content. They don’t want to rent it out, but they’re also concerned about what kind of hard drive space they would need. These are all real concerns.

Personally, I like the idea of digital download, but I like the idea of high-quality content even more. A Blu-ray Disc could have over 40GB of audio/video content, and our broadband infrastructure in the USA is not up to the task currently. Netflix only offers 4:3 aspect video and stereo audio. Xbox Live high-def video might have 720p vertical resolution, but it’s compressed to a file size smaller than a 480i video on a standard DVD. Hulu looks fine on my laptop for casual viewing, but on a 50″ screen or larger the quality is worse than standard cable broadcasts.

Time Warner and Comcast are fighting to make VOD service the goto for rentals, and they high-def quality is better than other digital delivery services. But they also tend to broadcast 2.35:1 aspect films in open-matte format, and the audio is low-quality Dolby Digital.

Coming around to the opening question, if our broadband was robust enough to handle high-def, high-quality audio and video to every home in America, I don’t know if I would necessarily want to own the content on a remote server. I would rather have unlimited access to all movies and TV shows on a subscription basis much like Rhapsody offers for audio now.

What do you think?

Netflix announces set-top box

The leader in online video rental is now expanding to hardware. Netflix has announced a set-top player for their “Watch Now” movies (about 10,000 titles). This player is built by Roku and will retail for about $99.

Currently all subscribers to Netflix with the $8.95/mn. package have unlimited access to stream movies, and this carries over to the hardware. There is no additional subscription charge. Before this you were confined to Windows based PC viewing with Internet Explorer web browser. I never took advantage of Watch Now exactly for this reason.


The box is small and unassuming. The 5-inch x 5-inch x 1.75-inch player is black with a simple Roku logo on the front, but it has HDMI, component video, s-video, composite video, stereo audio and optical audio on the rear. It connects via ethernet on the back panel or with built-in wireless-g network.


The downsides for streaming video over receiving the DVD in the mail may be a deal-breaker. Most titles are not in widescreen, they don’t have surround sound audio and worst of all the picture quality is not close to DVD quality.

You cannot add movies to your queue from the TV. You simply browse your existing queue of Watch Now titles. Netflix separated the DVD queue and Instant queue a while back, but all DVDs added to your DVD queue are automatically added to the Instant queue. The movie buffers for about a minute before it starts playing.

While I would never consider this box at this quality on my normal movie watching 50″ screen, I am considering picking this up for my bedroom to watch things quickly when nothing is on TV (which is most of the time).

Day-and-date movies come to iTunes

PRESS RELEASE: May 1, 2008—Apple® today announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod® with video, iPhone™, Mac® or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99.

“We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios.”

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include “American Gangster” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Other popular titles now available for purchase include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

Pricing & Availability
Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download immediately from www.itunes.com. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 (US) for library title purchases and $14.99 (US) for new release purchases and $2.99 (US) for library title rentals and $3.99 (US) for new release rentals, and high definition rental versions are priced just one dollar more with library title rentals at $3.99 (US) and new release rentals at $4.99 (US). Short films are available to rent for 99 cents (US). Movies can be previewed, purchased and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

Hulu open to the public

A while back you may have heard something about Fox, NBC and other companies getting together to create an online service to provide video content of popular TV shows and movies. Well, it was in beta for months and is now open to the public.

Hulu has a big selection of modern and classic television shows. Everything from The A-Team to Young Hercules. They even have episodes of new shows like Arrested Development, House and Heroes. It’s worth your time to investigate all the offerings.

They’ve also added movies to their list of properties. Boasting more than 50 content providers, including FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., and Lionsgate, they’re looking for a huge market share of online video (I wonder if this prospect helped spur on the writer’s strike). Providence Equity Partners even bought in to the the tune of $100-million. Some movies on the list include The Big Lebowski, Mulholland Drive and Live Free or Die Hard.

While the picture is not nearly as good as DVD, and definitely inferior to Blu-ray, the video quality is not too bad, and the interface is user-friendly. I can watch an episode full-screen on my MacBook and it looks acceptable. They are going to be offering high-def content at some point and have HD movie trailers currently so we can look forward to that.

You don’t get Obama Girl on Hulu, but you do get full episodes of your favorite shows. Give it a shot.