Oh, I think folks are confusing HD movies with regular DVD quality movies. I wouldn't tie up my connection for HD stuff because I don't have the space. With 750mb movies? Yeah ... I have had broadband for several years and if you don't have broadband, you don't and even downloading a song would take 30 minutes. Sheez, I soo remember those days!

It was also stated in the past that music downloads would never take off ... and we see how awesome that has turned out ... 

Well I have many friends that are using the service about 6+. Yes the harddrive for xbox is way to much, kinda sucks. But what I did was bought the elite for the 120 HD, and HDMI. I'm just going to sell my premium.

I've heard this before, but wouldn't that mean the primary audience would be:

1. Computer users

2. Owners of ultra-high-def sets

I can see #1 in a few years assuming enough people want to watch movies on their computer screen instead of the living room 1080i/1080p set.  But #2 would suggest that people start replacing 1080i/1080p sets with something higher resolution.  That would mean mainstream transmission equipment, etc. are all higher def.

Correct, but right now MS has to worry about Netflix and Apple not Sony. I bet during next week's Apple World Steve Jobs will announce something regarding digital movies/tv downloads from iTunes.

But soon MS will have even more problems (besides Apple/Netflix) since Sony already confirmed they are working on "media downloads" from PSN... they will announce it in a press conference in about 2 months (they said it during CES). Actually, if you remember it correctly, "PlayStation 3" was supposed to be a digital hub for the living room. This was Sony's plan from the beginning so they might be working on it for a while.

I think Sony will win the HD format war but they will not win the digital download war. You know why? Because the digital download wars don't have winners... that war will have loosers but it will not have a solo winner.

I found a similiar discussion on another website and this is what one poster said that i agree with. Ill post his user name so people wont think im trying to steal what he said.

Blu-Ray Buckeye (Thats the user name)
Special Member

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,162

Default Why downloadable music & movies are not comparable
To all the people who say that downloads is a great model for buying music and therefore it will be for movies as well...

Your thoughts are misguided. Here's why music and movies are different animals regarding downloading:

1) Seeing trumps hearing: People download music despite the imperfect quality because people are visual creatures moreso than audio. Some people are audiophiles, but seeing the difference is a bigger deal than hearing it. It's just true.

2) Portability for music doesn't compromise quality as greatly as it does for movies: Music downloads are important because listening to music while on the go is far more critical & viable than watching a movie on the go on a tiny screen. People want their iPod for jogging, at the gym or while working or whatever. The consumer gets close to the same quality as the CD. However for movies the "on-to-go" experience is infinitely inferior.

3) People download hit singles... can they download individual movies scenes for a quarter?: Music downloads have taken off because people like to buy the singles for pop so they can avoid buying the full crappy CD. This is a nonfactor for movies where you obviously buy the entire thing. All these geniuses greatly underestimate this effect. I think it's a driving force in downloaded music.

4) Disposable content: Downloadable music is meant to be fairly disposable. You can pick up the latest big hit pop garbage single for under a buck and when you're sick of it who cares... it was meant to be disposable anyway. The same is not true of movies that people buy.

5) Infrastructure: The hardware & S/W backbone to even make mainstream HD movie downloading viable is at least 10+ years away, and that's being kind. I don't need to go into details on this.

I download movies and the quality is as good as anything I get on a DVD. I'm not sure what that guy is getting at. Does he think downloads are poor quality?

Just like I thought, MS wants both HD-DVD and BluRay to burn and rot like Michael Bay (among others) said. And again MS offers content and deals that will only be significant and popular in America. I thought they were gonna step up their game, at least in Europe/pthers?

And still no news of the new SKU with built in HD-DVD drive etc? Figures.

Looks like they're set to gain more customers in NA, and NA only.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/01/08/sore-loser-bill-gates-declares-downloads-are-the-future-not-hi/

Sore Loser? Bill Gates Declares Downloads Are the Future, Not Hi-Def DVD

Warner Brothers' decision to side with Blu-Ray has caused early HD-DVD adopters to feel like losers while Blu-Ray supporters are gleefully congratulating themselves for their great foresight. On the assumption that the format wars are actually over -- not everybody agrees -- you might think this would be the final nail in the coffin for Bill Gates. He's already halfway out the door at HD-DVD backer Microsoft, but multi-billionaire Bill has always been a positive thinker.

When USA Today asked for his reaction, he replied in part: "HD DVD did well over the holidays. The other trend we're seeing is that direct download over broadband - I think the greatest example of that is XBox Live - (is) becoming an important choice. Over time, that will be the dominant way that people get their movies."

Is he trying to say everybody loses? I think he's just acknowledging that high-def DVD is only a stopgap measure. The format wars may or may not have fostered innovation and lower hardware prices, but the elephant in the room has been downloading over broadband, an idea whose time has finally (apparently) come. In addition to XBox Live, Netflix recently announced a deal with LG for a new download box, Apple is talking about renting movies through iTunes, Sony is hinting they'll roll out something similar to XBox Live for the Playstation 3 this year, and so on and so on.

Why does this matter for movie fans? Beyond the obvious, if you have an interest in non-blockbusters and don't live in one of a handful of big cities, movie downloading holds the prospect of opening up the playing field to smaller distributors and independent filmmakers. Right now we tend to look down on films that go straight to DVD (or iTunes), but if Radiohead can make a success of a completely independent release structure, why can't filmmakers?

 This has been broadly and thoroughly discussed in other threads lately, with the overall consensus being; optical formats won't die down anytime soon because of global broadband circumstances.

Even MS knows that the "download" is FAR from reaching mainstream ... (a lot more than BR reaching mainstream)

Gates is just trying to make some damage control

"MS to dominate CES" : yes, that was awesome ...