| Bar Bulletin |
May,
2003 |
| Technology Talk |
|
Coming To A PC Near
You...
By
John Anderson
It used to be that
Internet movies only consisted of humorous one- or two-minute clips that
you received as an e-mail attachment from one of your friends.
As the net matured,
movie websites featuring short films (such as AtomFilms.com) began
to emerge. These sites used the Internet as a vehicle to get exposure for
up and coming film makers.
Movies Through the Mail
At one time, if you
wanted to use your computer to watch a recent Hollywood release you would
go to Amazon.com and purchase the movie and have it shipped to your
house. Now you can use your home computer to rent your movies. Several
companies have started offering DVD rentals by mail. You log onto their
website, make your selection and in as little as 24 hours you have your
movie. Most of these online video rental sites don’t even charge late
fees, unlike their brick and mortar counterparts.
Netflix (netflix.com)
boasts that they have over 13,500 titles and will not charge any late
fees, ever! You can choose from classics to new releases and shipping is
free both ways. Shipping can take 1-3 days but you can have up to three
DVDs at your home at one time. If you want a new movie, just pop the DVDs
you already have in the postage paid envelope they provide and you can
select three new titles from their site.
You will need to
subscribe to the service; there is a flat fee of $19.95 per month, but
there is no commitment and you can cancel at anytime.
Netflix has over
1,000,000 customers across the country and you can get your movies
anywhere the US
mail delivers.
Download Movies Right to Your Computer
Did you know that
you can download recent
Hollywood
release right onto your computer? Movielink.com will let you to
just that. You can even watch the movies on laptop while traveling. There
are no late fees, but in contrast to Netflix, there are no DVDs to return.
Movielink is an
online movie rental service and a new distribution channel for the movie
industry. The Movielink service offers U.S. broadband customers a broad
selection of feature films, both recently released theatrical films and
additional content from film libraries spanning a wide range of genres.
The Movielink service enables customers to rent movies for a limited time
on a transactional (versus subscription) basis and legally download them
to their personal computer.
How
It Works
You browse the site
and view trailers of available titles without charge. Once you’re ready to
rent, you register and pay for the movie rental with a credit card. After
downloading the film, you generally have 30 days to begin viewing the film
unless specified otherwise at the time of rental. Once you begin viewing a
film, you have 24 hours to complete watching the film. You can watch films
any number of times during this 24-hour period with VCR functionality,
including pause, rewind and fast-forward.
Movies usually cost
between $1.99 and $4.99 and you can view the movies in either RealPlayer
or Windows Media Player format. Movies can be stored on your computer for
up to 30 days and you will be able to watch a movie an unlimited number of
times in a 24-hour period.
You will need to
download and install the Movielink download manager, which is used to
download and view your movie selections. You will not need to be connected
to the Internet to watch a movie except for when you watch your first
movie. Movielink checks your computer settings when you enter the site to
make certain that you meet the minimum system requirements which include
using Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, the current version of either
RealPlayer or Windows Media Player and a connection speed of 128kbps or
higher.
The download time
depends on the size of the movie file, your connection speed and the
amount of traffic you are competing with on the Internet. Movies can be
downloaded in as little as 40 minutes. Once you begin downloading a movie
the Movielink Manager will display “Download Time Remaining” and “%
Complete.” Both are approximations, but they give you an indication of the
download progress. The size of the movie files can vary, depending on the
nature of the film as well as the length of the film. Most movies are
approximately 550 MB. Movielink recommends your computer have at least 1
GB of free disk space available on your hard drive to download a movie.
The movie is
available to watch as many times as you like in a 24-hour period. The
24-hour period begins when you have successfully downloaded the movie and
clicked “Play Movie” in your Movielink Manager to watch the movie for the
first time. Movielink Manager shows you the remaining time to watch each
movie you have downloaded in the Watch By column. The 24-hour period
includes the time that you pause or rewind a movie. At the end of the
24-hour period, the movie automatically expires and Movielink restores
your hard drive space by removing the expired file.
Fresh Popcorn and the Silver Screen
Of course there can
be no comparison between your home theatre and actually watching a movie
on the big screen with dozens of people ooh-ing and ah-ing along with the
action.
Before you head out
to the theatre (or the rental store) you might want to check Reel.com
to see what the critics are saying about what’s new in theatres and the
new DVD releases.
And when you’re
ready to purchase tickets, head on over to Moviefone.com or
MovieTickets.com. There you can purchase movie tickets from home
before you head out to the theatre.
However you watch
your movies this summer, you won’t always have to stand in line to do it.
So sit back, relax, turn out the lights, and pass the popcorn.
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