Digital Home Thoughts

Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Register in our forums so you're ready for our next giveaway contest...


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Apple Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...




Go Back   Thoughts Media Forums > DIGITAL HOME THOUGHTS > Digital Home News

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old 12-08-2010, 03:30 PM
Hooch Tan
Contributing Editor
Hooch Tan's Avatar
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 918
Send a message via ICQ to Hooch Tan Send a message via MSN to Hooch Tan Send a message via Yahoo to Hooch Tan
Default Forget About RedBox and Returning Movies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_techn...with-usb-drives

"So, how would renting a movie from Flix on Stix work? Basically, you'd step up to a kiosk, browse for a movie (or a TV show, or even a game) using a touchscreen interface, pay with a credit card, and then plug in a thumb drive (your own, or one supplied by Flix on Stix) into the kiosk's USB port."

Here we go again.  Remember DIVX?  No, not DivX, DIVX.  It was a system attempted by Best Buy where you could "rent" DVD-like discs that would play in special DIVX players.  You would pony up some cash, and a licensing server would then allow you to watch the DIVX movie on a DIVX player for a certain amount of time.  When you are done, you would toss the disc.  Not ringing any bells?  That is because it failed.

What about Flexplay?  It was another DVD-like disc that would pay a "rental" fee and watch the movie on your standard DVD player.  The catch?  Well, the moment you opened the case, the Flexplay disc would begin turning black where 48 hours later, your DVD player would not be able to read the disc.  Yeah, that one did not really take off either. 

Well, enter Flix on Stix.  It is another "rental" scheme, but instead of playing with plastic media, you download the movie onto a USB flash drive, and then play it on your computer.  You cannot use just any media player though.  Special software is needed because the movie is encrypted to only allow you to watch for a set amount of time.  You also have to wait for the file to transfer to your flash drive (better have a USB 3.0 one!) but the kiosk thoughtfully lets you play games while waiting!  Who knows what anyone else in line would do while waiting.  If someone has a decent computer, would it not be better to just watch streaming movies? 

What did you say?  Your Internet connection is kind of pokey?  Ever hear of Redbox?  Yeah, those DVDs work on computers and even DVD players.  And they offer Blu-ray for that high definition experience.  And both of those offer the full experience rather than just the movie.  So what is great about Flix on Stix?  You will have to tell me, because I have nothing.

 
Reply With Quote
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:28 AM.