I was thinking about all the discussion (or arguments) over HD media. Each delivery system has its merits and downsides. What would be your optimal delivery system for HD media?
PS. Must be semi-realistic nothing such as cable plugged into your head (Matrix)

1. One box, all TV channels you want and Movies.
2. Every movie ever made would be available at anytime at the push of a button. (or voice command) The would all be stored on a massive server that allowed you to pick the movie you wished to view and instantly gain access to it. Want to have Starwars weekend? No problem. Want to have Mel Gibson week? No problem.
3. Movies would in any aspect ratio you wanted to view it in.
4. Movies would have any resolution you wanted to view it in (provided your TV/Projector) could handle it.
5. You don't own the media, but have access to view it at anytime you wish.
6. Flat rate for unlimited viewing.
7. Very organized you can view titles by nearly any type of search you want.
8. TV channels are $1 per station. Pay $70 a month for 200 and you only watch 10? Now you can pay $10 a month for 10 channels you want. If you like the first option it's still available.
9. Box upgrades are free for continual subscribers.
10. Reserved for future thoughts.

Everything is free. And super hires, 3d hologram TV.

Not bad... but I would want some sort of redundant connection system. One of the advantages of physical media is you can still watch it if there is a cable outage. I would not want to have a movieless weekend because of a cable outage somewhere and all my movies were stored on a server instead of my own local device.

I just want my MTV!

I'd like a fully featured BD 2.0 player, with no more changes to the BD spec, hooked up via HDMI to my 73" tv and Denon 2808CI receiver, using the latest lossless HD type audoi codecs.

I's like all BD discs to use as much bandwidth as possible for the film and one HD audio codec (although I like the extras, I'd rather have a less compressed film image).

I'd like to be able to find 2 more of my aging Wharfedale RB-21 speakers (no, please don't laugh), and by-wire them to said reciever.

And I'd like my wife to stop bitching at me when I buy all this stuff...... :D

Seggers

Oh - and those TV stations? Border-free.

In some ways I'm pretty close already. I can watch virtually anything I want, free of charge through downloads. What's missing is the instant part (which I don't mind too much) and the quality - best I ever get that way is compressed 720p.

No offense, but I think some sort of uplink into the head will come before some of the features on your list.

That is unless the government mandates changes that are good for consumers and bad for providers. (which they really don't do)

My perfect system is similar to what I have now.

Basically I have a PC with tons of storage and a TiVo S3 and a PS3.

The tivo grabs stuff off of cable (via cablecard), the PS3 plays blu-rays, and I stream SD DVDs and recordings from the TiVo to either the TiVo, the PS3 or any computer in the house.

I want to implement HD in this, but I don't want to buy a BD drive until they are much cheaper, and as of yet I haven't gotten any process with HD to work as smoothly as the SD stuff does. (plays reliably on multiple systems with no additional work)

The advantage to my setup is that I have a large library that I, or any member of my family can access without having to find (or mess up) a physical disk. No waiting on a service or device that are outside of my control.

The disadvantage is that while I do have almost every movie my kids have ever seen, I don't have every movie, and I still have to buy them and wait for them to come to the house etc.

FWIW I would love some sort of subscription based HD service (netflix over the internet), I hope they will come along with something soon that compares at least generally to what I am getting from BD now.

My perfect system is similar to what I have now.

Basically I have a PC with tons of storage and a TiVo S3 and a PS3.

The tivo grabs stuff off of cable (via cablecard), the PS3 plays blu-rays, and I stream SD DVDs and recordings from the TiVo to either the TiVo, the PS3 or any computer in the house.

I want to implement HD in this, but I don't want to buy a BD drive until they are much cheaper, and as of yet I haven't gotten any process with HD to work as smoothly as the SD stuff does. (plays reliably on multiple systems with no additional work)

The advantage to my setup is that I have a large library that I, or any member of my family can access without having to find (or mess up) a physical disk. No waiting on a service or device that are outside of my control.

The disadvantage is that while I do have almost every movie my kids have ever seen, I don't have every movie, and I still have to buy them and wait for them to come to the house etc.

FWIW I would love some sort of subscription based HD service (netflix over the internet), I hope they will come along with something soon that compares at least generally to what I am getting from BD now.

I am doing this as well right now. I got a HD-DVD player for 100 bucks but the rest of my movie experience is now grabbing SD and HD recordings of movies off the movie channels, storing it on a hard disk on my file server, then streaming it from said server to my TiVoHD or Series 2.

HD movie channels look good enough for the most part. My perfect delivery system is taking my TiVoHD and getting VOD service with a monthly fee. That way I can pick from a catalog and have it spit to my cable box(TiVo). I can then store it if I want.

I am doing this as well right now. I got a HD-DVD player for 100 bucks but the rest of my movie experience is now grabbing SD and HD recordings of movies off the movie channels, storing it on a hard disk on my file server, then streaming it from said server to my TiVoHD or Series 2.

HD movie channels look good enough for the most part. My perfect delivery system is taking my TiVoHD and getting VOD service with a monthly fee. That way I can pick from a catalog and have it spit to my cable box(TiVo). I can then store it if I want.

This is going to sound fanboyish, and I know it is more expensive than the tivo, but...

The PS3 (and probably the 360) is an excellent streaming client, it is faster than the TiVo in actually watching something. Basically you just browse to it (folders are supported) and press play, unlike with the tivo where you start the transfer, and then start playing while it streams.

Basically given the choice I always use the PS3 to watch stuff off of the server, rather than the TiVo, even if it is only a few button presses different.

I am almost positive that the 360 would do the same thing, just that the friends I have w/ 360s don't use it for that.

edit: One thing to note on the ps3, FFwding on the TiVo works better, I think it is because it is copying to the drive and you are playing it from there, and of course there is no 30 second skip on the PS3.

My perfect HD delivery system:

-The entire contents of IMDB available in 1080p (except TV shows originally recorded on tape or kinescopes).
-All content available for download to unrestricted home-burned discs.
-All content is in original aspect ratio as shown in theaters; if multiple AR's were used in theaters, each version is available.
-Movies cost US$5-10 each, with frequent sale prices. TV shows cost US$1 each or $10 per season.
-Pre-printed boxes for multi-sets, pre-printed inserts, etc. can be ordered separately by the same account that downloaded the movie and shipped later.
-Blu-ray DL 50GB blank discs cost US$1 each, and the burner costs $50 or is part of a $100 set-top recorder/player. (It could be HD DVD TL at the same prices; either is fine.)
-Plenty of extra features are available, all as optional downloads either in advance or when the movie-only disc is put in the player.

(I like to "buy stuff". I never like to "pay for services".)

You know, I'm actually happy with my HD delivered on round, shiny optical discs. I guess I'm just boring like that. :rolleyes:

Star Trek Holodeck with 7 of 9.

Sounds like the OP is describing an HTPC.

It always changes, but right now, my dream is......

1. HP slimline HTPC with universal HDM support.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/03/hps-pavilion-slimline-s3330f-pc-does-blu-ray-and-hd-dvd/

2. Dual HDPC20's for 4 tuner DirecTV DVR functionality.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/directvs-pc-tuner-is-real/

3. For storage a Thecus N5200B 5TB 5x1TB Raid 5 array.

http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=11&pid=8


A single source component that plays:

CD, DVD, HD DVD, BD, Internet movie downloads

Also functions as my DirecTV DVR, plays video games and let's me surf the web. One ring to rule them all indeed........:D

Star Trek Holodeck with 7 of 9.


+1,000!:D

My perfect HD delivery system:

-The entire contents of IMDB available in 1080p (except TV shows originally recorded on tape or kinescopes).

LOL!! That would be amazing.

5. You don't own the media, but have access to view it at anytime you wish.
6. Flat rate for unlimited viewing. This is pretty much how I see it.
Except would a flat rate with unlimited viewing make enough money for studios? Maybe a base rate + 25 cents per view.

This will be along time though. We'd all need like 100MB/sec connections to stream everything on the fly. Im lucky to get above 200kb/s right now.

A dedicated box with a T1 line hooked up to each studio for downloads.

T1... that's kinda slow =P

But yeah, the direct line to the studio.. I'll take that too

This is going to sound fanboyish, and I know it is more expensive than the tivo, but...

The PS3 (and probably the 360) is an excellent streaming client, it is faster than the TiVo in actually watching something. Basically you just browse to it (folders are supported) and press play, unlike with the tivo where you start the transfer, and then start playing while it streams.

Basically given the choice I always use the PS3 to watch stuff off of the server, rather than the TiVo, even if it is only a few button presses different.

I am almost positive that the 360 would do the same thing, just that the friends I have w/ 360s don't use it for that.

edit: One thing to note on the ps3, FFwding on the TiVo works better, I think it is because it is copying to the drive and you are playing it from there, and of course there is no 30 second skip on the PS3.

If the PS3 was about 200 bucks, i would pick it up and use it. Trust me I have been wanting to do this for a long time with an HTPC but could never find a decent enough setup for a cheap enough cost. The TiVo works good enough. I can browse to my shared folder on the server and pick my movie and watch it while it streams. It would be nice if they could tune it up for faster streaming though. Not really sure what is holding it back. I am assuming it is a software vs a hardware issue. Though the new HDTivo's are way faster than the Series 2.

I like the idea of having access to "my" media wherever whenever. Being able to send a "copy" to a friend or my family. In the event we're interested in a given tv show (an episode that we missed) the ability to pull it up days or even weeks later.

Of course the assumption is that PQ/AQ is top notch and continues to improve where it can.

I like the idea of having access to "my" media wherever whenever. Being able to send a "copy" to a friend or my family. In the event we're interested in a given tv show (an episode that we missed) the ability to pull it up days or even weeks later.

Of course the assumption is that PQ/AQ is top notch and continues to improve where it can.

I can download top notch HD shows from my Series 3 Tivo to my computer. Sharing those could be difficult since most are about 11gig for an hour of TV. Tivo to Tivo or Tivo to computer works fine and transfers are a bit faster than real time. But over the internet, not likely a good solution.

My TivoHD (with expansion drive) and PS3 provide me with more HD content (and other entertainment options) than I have time to watch. There are still a few SD TV shows that I watch though. I would like them to be in HD.

Cheap Bd's. I like owning physical copies so discs are working for me.

If you buy a movie then download it what happens if your hd crashes? If you could redownload what you have bought at any time (like steam) I might like a download based service.

I doubt we will see services offering unlimited downloads of 5gb + files tho. I can dream.

If the PS3 was about 200 bucks, i would pick it up and use it. Trust me I have been wanting to do this for a long time with an HTPC but could never find a decent enough setup for a cheap enough cost. The TiVo works good enough. I can browse to my shared folder on the server and pick my movie and watch it while it streams. It would be nice if they could tune it up for faster streaming though. Not really sure what is holding it back. I am assuming it is a software vs a hardware issue. Though the new HDTivo's are way faster than the Series 2.

I think the streaming is intentionally slow, like it doesn't want the streaming to cause problems for the other things that it is doing (like recording 2 shows which it seems to be doing most of the time).

They seem to feel that if it is fast enough so you can play it realtime then it is fast enough, thats fine when it is TTCB, but for TTG it would be nice for it to work more like a traditional file copy between two PCs.

To me the ultimate movie service is netflix merged with an on demand model. Where you have the massive library available to you any time and it gets around the need to own discs because you can always just re-rent it anytime you want to watch it again. It meets the collectors needs and then some because you have access to a far greater collection than almost any collector. Also since you dont own the movie you get free upgrades over time as the next format comes along its a seamless upgrade. It also doesnt have the same limitations as netflix where stock supply is a problem as is waiting 24hrs to actually get the movie and having to manage a queue (always having to add new movies).

DRM Free HD (1080p) Downloads for $5-10 a pop in a standard format (WMV-HD, MPEG4, AVCHD). (Should be reasonable since they can clearly sell it for $15 disk retail for a profit, taking out all the middle-man costs $5-10 should be more then sufficient).
HDM Player able to read these files from HD-DVDR or BDR. (in addition to HTPC)
No DRM is key. Lets see how much time it takes for studios to realize this (as labels are starting to, it seems)

To me the ultimate would be simple.

HD DVD wins the format war, and there are massive bargain bins of HD DVD for $5 at Walmart with thousands of movies to choose from.

And anyone who has an HDTV, can purchase a HD DVD player for $49.

Basically its the same exact system we have for DVDs today, except HD DVD takes it over.

Of course, its never going to happen, but I can always dream.

To me the ultimate would be simple.

HD DVD wins the format war, and there are massive bargain bins of HD DVD for $5 at Walmart with thousands of movies to choose from.

And anyone who has an HDTV, can purchase a HD DVD player for $49.

Basically its the same exact system we have for DVDs today, except HD DVD takes it over.

Of course, its never going to happen, but I can always dream.

Could be exactly the same for BD if they ever get thier act together.

1) Lossless video
2) lossless 7.1 (if not higher)
3) Seamlessly branch different cuts/edits
4) Hard Copy I can hold in my hand, loan to a friend, sell on ebay when I'm done with it, etc

Let's see ....

1. Profile 2.0 BR player that loads quickly and has no freeze-ups.
2. BR discs parity-priced to DVD (or maybe just slightly higher).
3. Lossless 7.1 soundtracks.
4. HDMI input for my Meridian 861 processor to handle hi-rez audio.

mine would be a robot clone to go to work in my place so that I can watch Blu Rays all day

My current media player brings up movie descriptions from IMDB and Amazon, as well as a list of actors and links to other movies they are in.

It would be cool if you could do that and also access a trailer to see if you like it.

I want a format were its possible to add/modify on user base.

Buy the movie, add subtitle track from another source. Add a commentary track from a nonstudio source etc.

As an example. Lets say a Star wars fan that knows every little piece of wortless info on the movie, makes his own track and other fans can download and add it to the movie.

Star Trek Holodeck with 7 of 9.

and t'pol!:D

and t'pol!:D

Don't be greedy.

The perfect HD delivery system already exists. Every Thursday the UPS man stops by my office with a box from Amazon.com. Inside are a couple of sexy blue boxes witch contain flawless video and audio!