'Harry Potter' to Be Seen Via Web

[ctn|chrisw]

'Harry Potter' to Be Seen Via Web

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Warner Bros. has become the latest studio to offer some of its films for download over the Internet.
The studio will offer some of its biggest recent titles, including ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' as well as older titles such as ``Mars Attacks,'' over CinemaNow, a video-on-demand service that offers films for viewing on computers.

CinemaNow offered films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in a 30-day trial earlier this year. The current arrangement with Warner Bros. will run until the end of the year and may be extended.

While Warner Bros. has offered its films for viewing on demand before, this is the first time they will be offered for download.

Films such as ``Harry Potter'' can be downloaded for a fee of $3.99 for 24-hour viewing. Older films from the Warner Bros. home video library can be downloaded for $2.99 for the same period.

The studio said a key factor in allowing people to download digital copies of its films was CinemaNow's anti-piracy technology, supplied by Microsoft Corp.

``As we would with any entrant into the area, we investigated their technology and found it to meet our digital rights management requirements and reached reasonable economic terms,'' said Jeffrey Calman, executive vice president of video on demand and pay per view for Warner Home Video.

Neither side disclosed the financial terms of the agreement.

The individual files are as large as 700 megabytes and can take as long as two hours to download even over high-speed broadband connections. They contain digital locks that prevent the files from being copied. The license expires after 24 hours, rendering the file useless unless the license is renewed.

CinemaNow Inc., based in Marina del Rey, is majority owned by Lions Gate Entertainment.

Warner Bros. is also one of five studios that formed a separate company, MovieLink, that will offer movies on demand over the Internet. That venture is expected to launch by the end of the year.

On the Net:

http://www.cinemanow.com

[missyob]

Would you download it from the net and take up valuable bandwidth that could be used to download music? <smile>.

I would just get pay per view or rent the movie from the video store.

~ Missy

[ctn|chrisw]

i wish i had t3 *sigh*

[InvisableMan]

harry potter sucks anyways

[ctn|chrisw]

other movie on der 2...its not harrypothead.com

[Lain]

What a waste, who'd want to wait 2 hours do download a movie and then sit in front of your computer and watch it. When you could just order pay-per-view.

[I am Jesus]

ooooooooo Harry potter..... is a homo

[rm']

Assuming a monthly rate of 35 USD per month for a cable connection, per movie will cost you 2.99 USD + 0.05 USD + electricity expenses. Depending on the service, Pay-Per-View costs anywhere from 5 to 7 USD. Assuming the movie is 2 hours in length, with the antipiracy restrictions, you can watch one downloaded movie 24 times nonstop. A Pay-Per-View movie can only be watched once. I think it's a steal. You will, of course, have to suffer reduced quality, but Divx is already better then VHS, and better then most analogue cable connections. I'd assume that these movies come in some WMA video format though, but at 700MB a pop, they wouldn't be bad quality.

I think this is a great way for the motion picture industry to avoid the PR snafu that the recording industry has gone through.

[Aquila Blue]

Originally posted by InvisableMan
harry potter sucks anyways

Harry Potter does not suck, I have yet to meet a person who actually read the books who disliked them. I think it's a great thing. These days children do not read enough. They watch TV and other activites, and many just don't like to read. This adds to the problem of illiteracy. Just because a person does not like to read does not mean they are not smart in intelligent, but I think that children who enjoy reading tend to do better in school and whatnot. It is so difficult to get children interested in reading however, there are so many distractions. But the Harry Potter books have really galvanzied children reading. They are getting kids and teens hooked back on books. Once they start reading the Harry Potter books, they tend to want to read more as well, which is a good thing. I say anything that gets kids to really want to read is a great thing. I personally have read all four books and they are all excellent (although the 3rd and 4th ones are much better by far), and am looking forward to the 5th book.

[edit] sorry but I have a low tolerance for people who totally dismiss something because they deem it "childish" [/edit]

[ctn|chrisw]

i havent watched tv in a week. Can somebody tell me what i missed on judge trudy?

[Aeroe]

huge wide screen surround sound theatre vs 17in monitor and lil' speakers

just go to the cinemas... sheesh... spend money, enjoy, it's American

[ctn|chrisw]

I usualy ordewr pay per view and watch movies on my big screen but my cable company still doesnt offer digital in my area.

[Curi0us_George]

I think it's an excellent idea. Of course, it's not a new idea. The "adult industry" has done this for some time already.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Warner Bros, or Kazaa, warner Bros or Kazaa?

[Xerxes]

"As a special gift, in association with out industry partners, we are bundling free "RIAAdrone" software along with Harry Potter that will scan for and destroy all pirated content on your computer. With RIAAdrone you can now use your computer with out the fear of breaking copyright laws ever again. "

[spanky]

"To help remind people that pirated material is illegal and wrong, RIAAdrone will randomly delete files each time it finds something illegal. This punishment is most effective on business workstations with shared drives across the network which has admin privilages.

But in order to help pay for the development and distribution of RIAAdrone, it has been packaged with partnered software. This software will collect and share your personal information for everyone to see. It also uses this information for "targeted advertising" so you may begin to enjoy pop-up ads. This software has been brought to you by Gator.com and SaveNow along with 23 other companies who just started out last night. (during an intense investigation we discovered these new companies can be trusted because they told us so.)

What's new in RIAAdrone 2.1
- Fixed a bug which caused RIAAdrone not to stop when randomly deleting files
- Included a remote admin ability which will allow the RIAA to log and and double-check your computer's files
- Changed the remote admin username and password from admin/admin to an anonymous login so it would be easier for us to remember"

[rm']

The RIAA has nothing to do with the movie industry

[spanky]

Xerxes:

As a special gift, in association with out industry partners, we are bundling free "RIAAdrone"...

Still, it's fun to pick on the RIAA every chance we get.

[fwgx]

They have the same cause though rm', just different media really.

It will take 1 download and a 50k crack for that to get onto kazaa and onto a CD of mine.

[Bilbo Baggins]

There is a similar group to the RIAA for the movie though isn;t there (MIAA?)

[fwgx]

Bloody unions

[rm']

The Motion Picture Association of America is not nearly as anally retentive as the RIAA (as evidenced by this move, for example). It's funny though, because they hold a tighter monopoly on their market then the RIAA does. The movie making industry is centered almost entirely in America, whereas music production is scattered all over the world.

It's not fair to compare the two, because their tactics are completely different.

[Bilbo Baggins]

I thought that Bollywood was now bigger than Hollywood? Or maybe they just have a greater output of films per year.

And this is nothing to do with unions

[rm']

Bollywood makes more films, but they sell far, far, far, less, and employ far, far, far, fewer people.

[ctn|chrisw]

y do all posts turn into riaa hate threads? We have wa3 bitching thread in the bitchlist...how bout a riaa sticky?