More Bang For Your Download Buck (Or Two)
By Shane C. Buettner July 27, 2006 — On July 17th is was announced that Movielink and Sonic Solutions have teamed up to allow users of the Movielink VOD (Video-On-Demand) service to burn downloaded movies onto DVDs that will playback in standard DVD players when the download has been authorized by for use by content providers. In somewhat related news, Warner Bros agreed (like everyone else) to sell its shows on Apple's iTunes Music Store for $1.99 per episode.

Movielink has licensed Sonic's DVD-on-Demand technology, which is what allows consumers to securely download, format and burn movies to DVD in a "protected format" that will still playback properly on the broad install base of DVD players. In turn, Sonic will be bundling the Movielink Service with its Roxio CinePlayer and other Sonic software applications sold through OEM and retail channels. The announcement didn't offer specifics on either the video or audio codecs or formats used for the burns let alone offer any clues as to the quality that is to be expected.

Still, this announcement is significant as it represents the potential for the content providers to completely eliminate the replication costs associated with "packaged media" and to also cut out traditional retailers. This paradigm also takes advantage of the paid download model that consumers have embraced so heartily for their music purchases.

If this takes off could HD DVD and Blu-ray meet the same mass market failure of DVD-A and SACD? Let's hope not. I wouldn't be any happier with low-res movie downloads than I am with compressed MP3 audio. Of course, how the public at large thinks about this is what will carry the day. The Sonys and Toshibas of the world might one day wish they had consolidated their efforts in convincing the public that they need high-defniition on a disc at all, rather than convincing them that they need one particular flavor of HD a silver disc instead of another.

Among the TV shows Warner is now selling through the iTunes Store are Friends, Babylon 5, sketches from MADtv, and classics such as episodes of The Flintstones and The Jetsons. Warner owns the Movielink download service and according to Video Business has also been selling select shows through CinemaNow. But according to Warner, the exposure of selling through iTunes was too powerful to ignore, as it claims Apple has sold over 35 million videos online.