DirecTV Plans 2,000 VOD Titles

[Scott Greczkowski]

(note from Scott, now this is COOL!)

DirecTV Plans 2,000 VOD Titles
http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=679

'As Much as Possible' Will Be HD; Users Can Order Programs Online

DirecTV's upcoming launch of the first satellite-provider video-on-demand service will include 2,000 movie and television titles, with "as much as possible" in HD.

The service will launch in July for DirecTV customers with current-generation HD DVRs. Networks that currently offer VOD content&mdashsuch as Discovery and Showtime—will have their own VOD "channel" environment. The most popular content will be housed on DirecTV satellites, while the bulk of the library content will be delivered via the HD DVR's broadband connection.

"We have a commitment for 2,000 titles at launch, and that will continue to grow," said Eric Shanks, DirecTV's executive VP for entertainment. "We're pushing for as much as possible [in HD].

It will be a pretty small subset at the start, because there's not a whole lot of HD on demand."

The launch date for customers without HD DVRs has yet to be determined

Read the rest at http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=679

 

[iceturkee]

this is really cool news!!

 

[hancox]

you just beat me, Scott

Very slick - my HR20 is going to need a NAS at this rate

 

[Sean Mota]

Scott, is too quick

 

[bclark]

Is that what the "Showcase" option in the DVR page is for?

 

[db2]

I thought this part was interesting:

"Unless [EchoStar has] a satellite hidden up their sleeve, I'm not aware of any launches," Mr. Shanks said. "You can track the rollout of local HD from Dish and get a sense of what speed they're moving, which is slower than us."

 

[vurbano]

Not cool at all. This will suck up bandwidth at an unbelievable pace. Say goodbye to any hope of increased HD PQ. Worst possible news for anyone hoping for HD PQ improvement.

 

[rad]

Not cool at all. This will suck up bandwidth at an unbelievable pace. Say goodbye to any hope of increased HD PQ. Worst possible news for anyone hoping for improvement.

IMHO it will all depend on when they're going to push the VOD content to the harddrive. If they do it in the middle of the night, when they're not using the sports subscription channels and shut down a few PPV channels nobody may even notice it.

And then again, if this is how you feel, why do you stay with D* with all the bad PQ comments that you make every day? I'm sure Charlie would love to have you.

 

[ScoBuck]

I'm sure Charlie would love to have you.

Don't be so sure.

 

[beast37799]

i wonder if they will have howard tv ??

 

[bonscott87]

Not cool at all. This will suck up bandwidth at an unbelievable pace. Say goodbye to any hope of increased HD PQ. Worst possible news for anyone hoping for HD PQ improvement.

Why? It's via broadband. Would have no effect on PQ on the sats. A few "Big" titles will be sat but not many. Replace some PPV with VOD and that solves that problem.

 

[JimK2]

If I have to pay $5 per video I probably would never use it but if it was like Netflix, where for a monthly fee I could download 3 titles a week i'd sign up.

 

[Sean Mota]

That's why I never use the one on cable. They want too much money per title or show. I just do not see the benefit of it. Netflix beats VOD if you could wait for the DVDs and now with HD DVD available on Netflix I will never have a use for this unless is free.

 

[Jimbo]

Why? It's via broadband. Would have no effect on PQ on the sats. A few "Big" titles will be sat but not many. Replace some PPV with VOD and that solves that problem.

Good point !

Jimbo

 

[lucki4u18]

It greatly benefits those with premium channels such as hbo, starz, showtime and cinemax...as you get to watch their movie library whenever you feel like it (hopefully in hd).

 

[igator99]

It greatly benefits those with premium channels such as hbo, starz, showtime and cinemax...as you get to watch their movie library whenever you feel like it (hopefully in hd).

So with VOD you can download a library of movies, TV shows etc...? I've never had it since I've been with D* for so long. Interesting but I doubt if I would use it much.

 

[vurbano]

IMHO it will all depend on when they're going to push the VOD content to the harddrive. If they do it in the middle of the night, when they're not using the sports subscription channels and shut down a few PPV channels nobody may even notice it.

And then again, if this is how you feel, why do you stay with D* with all the bad PQ comments that you make every day? I'm sure Charlie would love to have you.

Doesnt Video on demand mean instantaneous video whenever you want it? Are you saying they are going to download 2000 movies to everyones hard drive? Thats absurd. IF this is pick a movie to watch tomorrow then they shouldnt call it VOD because its not.

 

[rad]

Doesnt Video on demand mean instantaneous video whenever you want it? Are you saying they are going to download 2000 movies to everyones hard drive? Thats absurd. IF this is pick a movie to watch tomorrow then they shouldnt call it VOD because its not.

If you took the time to reserach what's been said about VOD that D* will offer, they will download some of the most popular content to the harddrive, in the D* reserved space, so you can watch it right away, other content would be delivered via a broadband internet connection. What isn't clear yet on the broadband delivered content is if you need to wait for the entier selection to be downloaded before you can start watching it, or if it will need to buffer X percentage of it before you can start viewing.

Now about the definition of VOD and what it means, yes others, including me, agree that it's probably not the best way to discribe the service. But cable also calls their service VOD and folks have reported tht sometimes they can't get a request right away due to all the channels on their node being used by others in the neighborhood so I guess cable is also stretching the definition.

 

[Brewer4]

Doesnt Video on demand mean instantaneous video whenever you want it? Are you saying they are going to download 2000 movies to everyones hard drive? Thats absurd. IF this is pick a movie to watch tomorrow then they shouldnt call it VOD because its not.

I am 99% sure you will be able to pick a program, have it start caching, and watch it within 30 seconds or so. I have an Xbox 360 and every web online service does the same thing. As for cable VOD, I saw my brothers VOD on Time Warner and it was slow to kick off a program too. Now this was years ago in the beginning phase of VOD but it wasn't as quick as picking a channel and having it show in 3 seconds. So I think we will see caching and a stock of videos on the hard drive so it will be as near as real time as folks will care about.

I am looking forward to D* VOD. I just hope they don't nickel and dime me by trying to charge 3-5 bucks a showing.

 

[Sean Mota]

It greatly benefits those with premium channels such as hbo, starz, showtime and cinemax...as you get to watch their movie library whenever you feel like it (hopefully in hd).

There's a separate fee even you have the premium channels if I am not mistaken.