According to TVPredictions.com, Netflix and LG will be offering a combination HD-DVD Blu-Ray Drive and Internet VOD box this year....

Link (http://www.tvpredictions.com/netflix010308.htm)

Which would imply that the VOD would NOT be HD anytime soon....

I don't have a WSJ sub, he said source, but every other story including the press release just says a "set-top box." There is no hint at what that means, other then Hastings saying they want to target several different types of STBs.

The VOD will not be HD, it will consist of the streaming content that Netflix already has online.

Chris

is it likely that there will be a way to get lossless audio with a downloaded HD movie at any time in the near future?

No

so much for that as an option! :D

is it likely that there will be a way to get lossless audio with a downloaded HD movie at any time in the near future?

Not unless you have a TON of bandwidth. Throwing HD video and lossless audio around over the internet is not practical at the moment and probably won't be for at least several years. Downloading 30 GB over a 1.5 Mb/sec connection will take days. Even with the ridiculous badwidth of something like FIOS, it's still gonna take 4-8 hours to download a typical HD movie.

is it likely that there will be a way to get lossless audio with a downloaded HD movie at any time in the near future?

Most HD downloads are still 720P, so probably not. There's just not enough bandwith for it.

just making sure my desire for a state of the art dual format player wasn't going to shortly be derailed by VOD.

if VOD can't produce 1080p24 and lossless audio (as upcoming HD players will do), i'm not a buyer and never will be.

I'll bet $ that this downloaded content will be in the same web-quality as the current Netflix downloads. Will probably look horrible on a HD monitor.

There is no downloaded content, it is all about streaming what is already there.

Chris

There is no downloaded content, it is all about streaming what is already there.

Chris

It says that it delivers Netflix movies to your TV via the STB. That is either accomplished by streaming or full download, both of which require enormous bandwidth for HD video and lossless audio. My guess is that the content being delivered will either not be HD, will not have lossless audio, or both. If it is HD, it will likely only be 720p.

Again, the content is already there. It is not HD, it does not have lossless audio. It is SD encoded with WMV. There is no download to the box, it is a pure stream.

The service has existed nearly a year now to Netflix subscribers. You can go and watch everything that will be available on such an STB right now. The only difference is that Netflix is trying to get the content off a PC monitor and into the living room.

Chris

Your MSO delivering HD cable and you having the bandwidth on the Internet side are completely different. The average broadband speed in the US is about 5Mbps, which is barely enough for lower bitrate 720p with 2-channel audio (and that's being generous with compression).

If you cable connection is even 10Mbps I'd be surprised.

Chris

yes, my cable box is connected to the cable running in from outside the house.

nowhere near any internet connections.

and yes, i get 720p and 1080i with 5.1 surround via cable.

but i'm not paying anybody to download or stream a 720p or 1080i movie with 5.1 audio if there are HD players around the corner that can deliver 1080p and lossless audio.

On the other hand, it would be very cool to be able to preview a movie for the first time on VOD thru your Netflix account, and then decide after seeing it whether you want to own it in hidef. A click of the remote and Netflix charges your account and sends you the BD/HD disc to own.

Come on, how many videos do we all own that we ask ourselves "Why the hell did I buy this thing?' SM3, anyone?

"Throwing HD video and lossless audio around over the internet...."

Well our high def cable boxes are already doing almost that. HD video with dolby digital. I love these posts that talk about how its going to be so hard to do this over the internet which fail to acknowledge that is exactly what those of us on cable high def are doing. And we are sharing our internet connection at the same time.

No it isn't exactly up to 1080p with DTS Hight def audio. But its getting close, real close.

The difference in size between a Dolby Digital track and a TrueHD or DTS-HD MA track is enormous. The bitrates can give you an idea. For example, dolby digital tops out at 400-600 Kb/sec. TrueHD can be up to 18 Mb/sec (that's about 35-40 times more). Also, the lossless compressed formats are compressed less than the lossy ones like dolby digital. Finally, cable already compresses the hell out of everything to save bandwidth. This is why the video and audio quality of HD on cable doesn't even compare to that of HDM (no it's not because of 1080p, it's because of compression artifacts). Lossless audio ceases to be lossless if you compress it like they do. Cable bandwidth would have to increase by a factor of 10 at the very least, before you can think about throwing around uncompressed or lossless compressed audio and higher quality (less mangled) HD video.

On the other hand, it would be very cool to be able to preview a movie for the first time on VOD thru your Netflix account, and then decide after seeing it whether you want to own it in hidef. A click of the remote and Netflix charges your account and sends you the BD/HD disc to own.

Come on, how many videos do we all own that we ask ourselves "Why the hell did I buy this thing?' SM3, anyone?

good point, but i'm a renter (of great magnitude) and only very rarely a buyer.

i'm already paying the monthly fee to rent all the BR discs i want (at blockbuster), so i don't think i'll be up for paying for a VOD movie of lesser video and audio quality. ever.

No thanks. I'm happy with my Sammy BD-UP5000. :)

"Throwing HD video and lossless audio around over the internet...."

Well our high def cable boxes are already doing almost that. HD video with dolby digital. I love these posts that talk about how its going to be so hard to do this over the internet which fail to acknowledge that is exactly what those of us on cable high def are doing. And we are sharing our internet connection at the same time.

No it isn't exactly up to 1080p with DTS Hight def audio. But its getting close, real close.

Apples and oranges. The cable box uses different technology than an internet connect.

Again, the content is already there. It is not HD, it does not have lossless audio. It is SD encoded with WMV. There is no download to the box, it is a pure stream.

The service has existed nearly a year now to Netflix subscribers. You can go and watch everything that will be available on such an STB right now. The only difference is that Netflix is trying to get the content off a PC monitor and into the living room.

Chris

It seems to me that this is the only post on the thread that understands what is going on with this announcement.

Why is everybody looking for this to deliver streaming HD content? As several others have pointed out, technically, it is not possible with today's technology. Heck, look at some of the new Sling hardware coming out at CES. They are only cracking 1080i, and that's within your own LAN. They certainly aren't promissing real-time HD streaming remotely throughout the world.

My STB, a Series 3 Tivo gets great HD over the air. No cable here. And the track is only DD. That said, on my internal network, I can transfer video from Tivo box to Tivo box, or to the computer at somewhat better than real time speeds. The PQ over the air is every bit as good as either of my HD DVD or Blu Ray player streams. Of course the audio is not lossless.

If I "buy" it once, I want to keep it "forever". That is a real problem with VOD. Give me a small disc like the current HDM formats. I put them in those large cd storage cases along with the case liner which makes finding each movie very easy. My lovely wife can read the movie hype off the liner and make her decision for what to watch for the evening. Many times we stop a movie halfway through and pick up on it later. Maybe the next day, maybe much later than that.

That is why I have seven Tivo solutions in my home 4 DirecTiVo and 3 Series 3 Tivo. Record now, watch later.