Amazon to offer independent films in HD format online

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by Volume 11

This is nothing but 100% amazing news.

I 100% agree, plus the ramifications are most likely much wider than this initial rollout may suggest. This is targeted at independent film makers, but I can easily see this becoming a cost effective approach to publishing all kinds of HD content down the road, such as TV programs (BBC, PBS, independent cable channels, etc). Heck, I could see porn being done this way, though I am doubtful that fits in with Amazon's business model - but I could see a similar entity taking this approach with such more controversial content.

Additionally, think of the potential for foreign movies which simply have no distributors in the US. For those foreign movie producers who simply want a cost effective way to publish their content in the US, this channel is a no brainer.

The outlay to distribute these commercially is enormous compared to taking this route, probably in excess of $100K, so I think we may be seeing just the tip of the iceberg.

[Volume 11]

Originally Posted by Blurry

I 100% agree, plus the ramifications are most likely much wider than this initial rollout may suggest. This is targeted at independent film makers, but I can easily see this becoming a cost effective approach to publishing all kinds of HD content down the road, such as TV programs (BBC, PBS, independent cable channels, etc). Heck, I could see porn being done this way, though I am doubtful that fits in with Amazon's business model - but I could see a similar entity taking this approach with such more controversial content.

Additionally, think of the potential for foreign movies which simply have no distributors in the US. For those foreign movie producers who simply want a cost effective way to publish their content in the US, this channel is a no brainer.

The outlay to distribute these commercially is enormous compared to taking this route, probably in excess of $100K, so I think we may be seeing just the tip of the iceberg.

Exactly! Their are so many positive long lasting effects this could usher in to not only filmmakers, but studios and film lovers alike, that I think this might be the best route to take in the HD war.

Im honestly excited about this (besides the fact that I prefer indie cinema) mainly because I have a relative in the film industry who would love to make his own films or TV shows, but is too busy working 70 hour weeks and climbing the hollywood hierarchy chain to do so at this point. Anyone who has actually worked in the film/TV industry knows how archaic and controlled the field is...and how family connections and wealth play a much larger role than talent or vision...

News like this is another step away from three major corps. running the entire film world...

We can go on for hours and hours about the possible long term effects this news can have...

I, for one, am very excited about the future of HD now!

PS-who wants to bet BD will try to shrug this off as nothing special and then copy it with another provider a year or two dow the line?

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Bottom line is I think that this is ultimately a really legitimate revelation and breakthrough in the way movies are burned, distributed and sold and the positive effects that a system like this could have on the entire indie market are so substantial that nobody really knows yet just how big somethinlike this could really become.

I do agree that this could be the single biggest and most influential piece of news that I have heard yet from either format. This quite honestly could be one of the most influential programs to hit the movie scene since the advent of digital cinema and I stand by that statment. I have a bunch of freinds who went to film school at NYU and they always talk about how difficult it is to break onto the scene and how terribly contolled the whole market is by the major studios simply because of the money aspect. This really changes all of that and I have already emailed a few of my friends on this subject.

Any way you look at it this is extremely promising stuff and very very exciting for indie film lovers!

[INDY-HD-DVD]

Looks like the story made it in the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/techno...ck=2&cset=true

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by Volume 11

PS-who wants to bet BD will try to shrug this off as nothing special and then copy it with another provider a year or two dow the line?

Hey, this is actually one of the big deals about this. Apparently it is simply not feasible to do this on demand replication for Blu-ray, which really reinforces HD-DVD's position in this distribution market.

Here is a relevant comment from Ben Waggoner, an industry insider over on AVS:

It isn't technically feasible to do this with Blu-ray. There's no duplicated media format that works on all the shipping players, and BD replicated media requires AACS, which is a $2500 hit per title.

Both of these above points are highly relevant. First, there is currently no suitable burnable media for BD which will work across all shipping players, and pressing discs is absolutely not feasible for this type of replication.

Also, Amazon program allows independent film-makers to get started publishing approved content for very little upfront expense, but the required AACS per title on Blu-ray means an additional outlay of $2500 just to get started which pretty much renders this impractical for this purpose.

So, based on this, Bluray is practically cut out of the market for the time being. I think their strategy instead will be to downplay the importance of the whole approach - even though this is really huge both in terms of the immediate benefit to lovers of indie movies as well as the potential down the road for what types of content can eventually be delivered, and even its application by other retailers for on-demand HD DVDs, such as by Walmart for example.

[Kimba1970]

Wonderful news, that makes me more than happy of my HD movie format of choice ! I can see such possibility that I can wait to see the first titles available: boy I need to save some money for this !!

[cloudy]

ANY idea at all how long before we are able to start ordering these?
I know they have to go through the process of deciding which titles to offer, but if they truly think they can offer 1,000 by the end of the year, wouldn't they need to start kicking things into high gear rather soon?

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by cloudy

ANY idea at all how long before we are able to start ordering these?
I know they have to go through the process of deciding which titles to offer, but if they truly think they can offer 1,000 by the end of the year, wouldn't they need to start kicking things into high gear rather soon?

It sounds like it will be pretty quick, some comments from Amir:

Originally Posted by amirm

The program is for this year, and even shorter time frame than end of the year. I suspect there will be hundreds new titles by fall and well surpass the 1000 mark by the end of the year. Indeed, our biggest worry is what to do when far more demand materializes than the current target.

Note that discs produced this way will look no different on Amazon than any other commercially produced HD DVDs. In other words, in a few months you will see 1000+ HD DVDs in Amazon inventory with no distinction between MOD and mass replicated content. As such, customers are going to see the incredible depth of offerings in HD DVD, all presented to them in a familiar setting.

So it looks like the time frame is within a couple of months we will be seeing the fruits of this endeavour.

[Headhunter]

Interesting project, it's nice to hear that independent films will have a readily accessible and affordable entry into the high definition format.

[califlaman1976]

This is great news not just for HDDVD but for independent filmmakers and their audiences as well.

of course whats his name on that other site doesnt bother to mention this just his little buddys brown noseing article and pie charts about why bluray has won allready

[mrkiller]

Good news for HD DVD

[Blurry]

Over on AVS, there are some interesting discussions going on concerning one key benefit of this burning on demand system. Basically, any of these titles can be updated at any time as well as the underlying standard HDi templates used to hold the content together.

SO this means that they can progressively add additional standard capabilities to the underlying HDi and all new titles released will automatically take advantage of this. This means new interactive features or extended networking features will get progressively better for all titles!

Additionally, due to the network capabilities of HDi, existing owners will likely be able to update their existing discs to add many of these new features.

Kudos to the thought out dynamic implementation that the HD DVD group put together that really creates a product that can move with the times.

It is cool that a year down the the road, you can pull out a title and potentially have a new dimension to explore that was not there when you bought the disc.

[kannisto]

Just have to chime in that I also think this is really good news for HD DVD and something really innovative and new There's great potential here. It also shows again that all the new innovative stuff is happening on HD DVD side first and foremost. I'm also a fan of good indie movies. Looking forward to buying some of that stuff

[Das Koopa]

this is amazing news more titles to choose from more support from Microsoft and gaining more support and leverage from amazon

[ObiwanMcCartney]

Hopefully they can get Jinnah (Christopher Lee) released as part of this project. It is so "indie" that I've never been able to even get it on sd dvd domestically.