Movies in the comfort of your tent
We’re going to need bigger pipes (or is it hoses?) soon. My poor cable modem is not able to deliver the kind of bandwidth that Hollywood has decided I need. Couple that with the cap on downloaded content, before payment of penalties, and our house is just not ready for the brave new multimedia world that lies in wait. Instead, we’ll wait, as buffers fill and empty.
My family watches just about as much online “TV” content as they do real “TV”. No difference in the relative value of that content; bad comedy doesn’t improve just because there are some ads in the margin. It’s just that MGM has decided that the time is right for distributing full-length movies in a YouTube world. We’ll see more ads, and the screen will not fill the wall (unless we make a concerted effort to hook up the projector).But, the trip to the mall will be a thing of the past.
I’ve grown to enjoy timeshifted content. For example, rather than watching a season of a particular program by checking schedules and moving my favourite chair in front of the living room screen, I can decide to have marathon sessions of “That 70’s Show” or “My Name Is Earl” while sitting near my favourite beach, laptop in lap. Can “Ballykissangel” be far behind? I’ll be watching in the dark, of course, because the LCD screen just doesn’t “cut it” in full daylight. I can hit pause, refill the grape bowl and carry on without a moment of laugh track being wasted. Try that with network distribution!
Now, if my ISP is in on the take, we’ll get movies with home made popcorn. And real butter! It’s going to be a brave new online world.
