Filed under: Industry

We just can't get enough of surveys that state the obvious and then one ranks up there with the best of them. The crazy thing though is that the results weren't 100 percent -- we're going to chalk this up to the remainder not understanding the question. What should be music to the ears of the MPAA though is that 79 percent said they weren't interested in actually copying DVDs and that 40 percent said they'd be more likely to buy DVDs if they could copy 'em. All interesting stuff, but everything has a price and that price seems to be about $60, which is the amount most would be willing to pay for DVD ripping software. We'd like to say that statistics like these will help motivate the MPAA to give up on criminalizing fair uses of our media, but we realize this would just be wishful thinking.

90 percent of consumers think they should be allowed to back up DVDs originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Industry

We believe that the only way to really understand what is going on is to listen to both sides and this one of the reason why we like Home Media Magazine. We feel like it gives us an inside perspective into the minds of the Home Media market, and thus Hollywood. This recent post on said site by Erik Gruenwedel really exposes how Hollywood still doesn't understand piracy. While we recognize that some people will steal just for the sake of it, we really believe that most prefer the legit route -- when given a choice. But the tech savvy looking to move forward with how they consume content really don't have many options right now. With the CableCARD HTPC fiasco and the prices plus restrictions that go along with services like iTunes and Xbox Live Marketplace, what else is a geek to do? For a brief moment there with offerings like Hulu, It almost seemed like Hollywood was coming along , but then recently their true colors were revealed once again. The real problem of course is that while consumers look at technology a way to improve the way they consume content, Hollywood sees it as a threat, and even worse, as just a way to increase revenues and control over the content. And as far as downloading movies goes, can you say release window?

Hollywood still doesn't understand why people pirate content originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While more operators are beginning to offer HD video-on-demand services, live streaming video continues to pose infrastructure and bandwidth problems.
HDTV.biz-news.com spoke to Alex Mashinsky, CEO of DigiMeld, about the challenges of streaming video - and developments that could open-up the service to millions of viewers.