How long till HD Downloads become viable?

[spicynacho]

Only 20% of US households have broadband internet access. Probably less than 1% with anything more than 10 mbps much less the 20-30 mbps required for HD Downloads to be viable.

[aaronwt]

HD downloads are already here. Even when I had a slow 8mbs connection with Comcast I could start viewing an HD movie on XBoxLive within 30 seconds and view the movie completely without it stopping.
Now i have a 30mbs connection with FIOS which is much. much faster.

[Liqwid]

Right now. Xbox Live Marketplace. It's the best way to do it.

[resevilfan86]

iTunes will one day be a huge provider for HD movie downloads. I give them within the next two years or so.

[holsty101]

World wide or U.S. based? Mass market or early adopter?

I think world wide, mass market is 15+, the main problem as I see it is the infrastructure. I don't know what the market penetration's for cable is in the U.K. but I'd guess most people use the phone lines (what with near 100% penetration), the big problem with that is you need to be almost within sight of the nearest exchange to get even half-way decent speed. I was due a speed increase to 2MB (umm, 16 mb?) from my ISP but they did a line test & I was to far for it to work, I lived about 2 miles from my local exchange .

Not to mention you loose out on being able to (easily) lend films to friends, I guess you could argue there'll be flash drives/whatever large enough to handle the files, but I guess they'll be DRM'd to hell & back so who knows how that's gonna work out.

[LastSonOfKrypton]

hopefully never. i like the idea of owning a disc. i don't want to see movies go the ipod route.

[aaronwt]

The minute HD downloads mirror the disc experience, I'm done buying HD movies on discs.
I'd much rather purchase a digital copy and either store it on a hard drive or download it again anytime I want to watch it. But it would need to equal the disc experience.

[LastSonOfKrypton]

When you put it that way Aaron I'd probably go that route on some movies. I rented "The Reaping" off of XBL tonight and the HD experience was nothing like I expected. I was much better off taking the 5 minute drive to rent it on BR. The XBL version was like a slightly beefed up SD DVD.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by LastSonOfKrypton

When you put it that way Aaron I'd probably go that route on some movies. I rented "The Reaping" off of XBL tonight and the HD experience was nothing like I expected. I was much better off taking the 5 minute drive to rent it on BR. The XBL version was like a slightly beefed up SD DVD.

I use XBL for titles that aren't available in either format. I won't watch an SD version but a 720P version is much better than SD. I watched the Babylon5 HD movie from XBL and it looked much better than the DVD version of it.
I've also used XBL when I'm with my girlfirend and she wants to watch a movie I don't have since they do have a large selection of titles to choose from.

[Gaco]

Eh poll is closed?

Anyway I'd say somewhere between 10 and 15 years.

[upgrayedd]

What forum is best for talking about XBL? It is neither fish nor fowl in the HD wars. I have watched movies on XBL but I preferred HD DVD. My movie collection is well...collecting. I plan on only purchasing discs on movies I MUST have and doing XBL for the rest.