One more set-top box, this one from Blockbuster

Andrew Wallenstein of The Hollywood Reporter writes:

The home video giant [Blockbuster] is developing a set-top device for streaming films directly to TV sets and is expected to announce the offering sometime this month.

(CNET's News.com has some additional analysis.)

My belief is that most of us will likely never purchase a device that *only* delivers digital movies (like Vudu, for instance, and potentially this new product from Blockbuster). It'll have to serve multiple purposes, like providing WiFi access to your entire home, acting as a DVR, storage hub for your digital files, etc. It'll probably come from your cable or satellite provider, much as we loathe those guys.

But it's admirable to see Blockbuster moving so definitively in a digital direction, after buying the Movielink download marketplace last August.

For Thursday: Set-Top Box Reviews, Upconverting DVDs, and Player-Developed Games

- NY Times columnist David Pogue evaluates four leading Internet-connected set-top boxes, and gives the $300 Vudu the highest overall grade. (Others included in his survey include Xbox 360, Apple TV, and TiVo.) Pogue also makes some good points about the limitations imposed on all of the boxes by studios:

...[N]o matter which movie-download service you choose, you’ll find yourself facing the same confusing, ridiculous time limits for viewing. You have to start watching the movie you’ve rented within 30 days, and once you start, you have to finish it within 24 hours.

...What would the studios lose by offering a 27-hour rental period? Or three days, or even a week? Nothing. In fact, they’d attract millions more customers. (At the very least, instead of just deleting itself, the movie should say: “Would you like another 24-hour period for an additional $1?”)

Then there’s the fact that to protect their cash cows, most studios don’t release their movies on the Internet until a month after they’ve been available on DVD.

- NY Times reporter Saul Hansell talks to an electronics retailer who says that until the cost of Blu-ray players drops below $200 or $150, most consumers will still be happy buying standard-def DVD players that upconvert, producing a very nice looking picture from a garden-variety DVD.

- This feels important, somehow: Microsoft allowing players to develop their own videogames and share them with others via Xbox. A vidgame twist on YouTube?

Post-Thanksgiving Linkage: Blockbuster Kiosks, Streaming Video Piracy, Speed Racer, Vudu

- Blockbuster is gonna try putting automated movie rental kiosks into Papa John's pizza joints and Family Dollar stores. DVDs will rent for just a buck, cheaper than at Blockbuster's traditional outlets, and they can be returned to any kiosk -- not just the one they came from.

- Slate has a great piece on a new kind of online movie piracy. Dan Morrell writes:

As the MPAA has focused on BitTorrent downloading, however, a newer, more popular kind of piracy method has come along. BitTorrent is out. Streaming video is in.

Before it was shuttered by European authorities in October, the British-based TVLinks—which offered links to hundreds of pirated movies and television shows—had become perhaps the Web's leading destination for illicit streaming video. If you've never heard of it, you're not alone: A LexisNexis search found only four mentions of TVLinks in major news sources over the past year. The Pirate Bay, one of the most popular torrent Web sites, was cited more than 300 times. The lack of hype didn't stop the site's spread. According to Web traffic analyzer Alexa, TVLinks passed both the Pirate Bay and TorrentSpy in global traffic rank this August. At the height of its popularity, TVLinks ranked 160th in global traffic, near the level of the New York Times.

- Looks like the Wachowski Brothers are taking the green screen approach with 'Speed Racer.'

- To help market its $399 set-top box, Vudu is throwing in high-def copies of two of Universal's 'Bourne' movies. (Here's more on Vudu.)

- My mother-in-law asked me on Thanksgiving for my advice on whether she should buy "a Blu-ray." When I mentioned the format war, she didn't seem aware of it, and she didn't seem to have much recognition that HD DVD existed. She and my father-in-law are big Netflix users, and Netflix offers movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD, so I told her the only possible problem could be if HD DVD wins, they'd need to buy a new DVD player in a couple years. Just a data point...

Reviewing the new Vudu movie box ... Comparing the iPhone with the new iPods

- David Pogue of the NY Times has a favorable review of Vudu, a new set-top box for delivering movies over an Internet connection. I've seen Vudu in action, and the image quality is pretty sweet - but even sweeter is the fact that a movie starts playing as soon as you select it. Right now, Vudu offers 5,000 movies, and they hope to quickly expand to 10,000. And every major studios has supplied at least a few titles.

Pogue's caveats:

Vudu’s dependence on the notoriously conservative, profit-driven movie studios also explains many of its frustrating inconsistencies. Some Vudu movies are available for purchase or rent; others, only for purchase. Some movies have previews (movie trailers); others do not. The list includes hundreds of movies from some studios (Paramount, Sony, Warner) and only a handful from others (Disney).

While we’re nit-picking, it’s worth noting that Vudu offers no DVD extras — deleted scenes, subtitles and so on. Be prepared, too, for a less obvious loss: serendipity. With other movie sources, the limited selection or the wait for the mail carrier can provide a moment of happy surprise when you find something good or open the mailing envelope. Vudu is more like shooting fish in a barrel.

Here's the Vudu Web site, and a Variety piece I wrote last month that talks about Vudu and a competitor, Building B.

- Video guru Anthony Burokas has been wondering whether Apple's new iPods, unveiled yesterday, will be better than the company's iPhone for filmmakers who want to tote around their demo reels. Here's his analysis.

One more set-top box ... NY Times covers the 'mumblecore' movement

- I've got a short piece in Variety today about Building B Home Entertainment, which is trying to create the ultimate set-top box: live programming, on-demand content, personalization, and Internet access, delivered through a broadband connection and over-the-air broadcasting.

Interestingly, Building B has been so stealthy that the guys at Vudu, who are also building a set-top box and also in Silicon Valley, had never heard of them.

- I enjoyed this Sunday NY Times piece on the so-called 'mumblecore' movement (which includes filmmakers like Joe Swanberg and Andrew Bujalski). What was interesting to me is that even though these filmmakers are in their 20s, they haven't been all that adventurous about online distribution. Swanberg has told me a bunch of times that he just doesn't think the Net is there yet as a delivery vehicle for his movies...so his are still available only on DVD or in theaters.

Catching up: New set-top box, new projectors, Sony 4K push

- The NY Times has the first major story about Vudu, a new set-top box from a Silicon Valley start-up. Every studio except for Sony is supplying content. Brad Stone writes:

Vudu, if all goes as planned, hopes to turn America’s televisions into limitless multiplexes, providing instant gratification for movie buffs. It has built a small Internet-ready movie box that connects to the television and allows couch potatoes to rent or buy any of the 5,000 films now in Vudu’s growing collection. The box’s biggest asset is raw speed: the company says the films will begin playing immediately after a customer makes a selection.

The gadget blog Gizmodo has more, including photos of the device.

I still think Apple TV is the technology to beat, in terms of connecting broadband content to the TV. Apple has distribution (its network of stores), a payment mechanism people are used to (the iTunes Store), and a decent content library (though Vudu seems to be a strong challenger here). Vudu's main advantage, at least at first glance: speedier downloads, and the ability to start watching a movie just a few seconds after the click.

- The Times also has a piece looking at the growing number of LED-based pocket projectors. Useful for PowerPoint presentations, gaming, or anytime, anywhere movie-viewing.

- The Washington Post writes about Sony's efforts to establish their 4K digital projectors as the premium digital cinema experience.

Here's a cool idea, Sony: what if you put up on the Web a single page that listed all the places that people could see 4K cinema in action (I know there are a few in Landmark Theatres, but their site doesn't tell you which locations.) Texas Instruments has done this for years to promote their DLP projectors.