Apple and Fox Entertainment resume iTunes movie talks

[AppleInsider]

News Corp., the media conglomerate that owns the Fox Entertainment movie studio, is once again engrossed in talks with Apple Computer about a deal to sell its films on Apple's ubiquitous iTunes Store, reports CNN.

Peter Chernin, News Corp.'s president and chief operating officer, reportedly disclosed the ongoing discussions with the Cupertino, Calif.-based iPod maker during a conference call with analysts and reporters following the release of the firm's fiscal first-quarter results Wednesday.

"Chernin would not give a time frame as to when Fox movies might be available, if ever, on iTunes," said CNN. "He did say though that News Corp. and Apple were having 'positive talks,' but that several details still needed to be worked out."

This isn't the first time the two companies have converged on the prospect of making films from the Fox movie studio available to the millions of customers who shop the iTunes Store each day.

Prior to the launch of Apple's movie download service in Sept., it was reported that the Fox Entertainment Group was one of just three studios which expressed the most interest in joining the service during the early going. But like independent Lions Gate Entertainment, its involvement was said to be contingent on other major studios joining the iTunes bandwagon.

Apple launched the iTunes movie service on Sept. 12 with just one studio, Walt Disney. During its first week of operation, Apple said the service sold over 125,000 of Disney's flicks, generating over $1 million in sales. Since then, the company has not provided any additional sales results.

Quibbles over movie licensing fees have so far been the major factor in preventing other studios from joining the iTunes service. Although it's widely expected by industry watchers that all of the major film studios will eventually find a home in iTunes, it's been reported that the studios are eager to put off any escalation of the pricing battle until after the important holiday sales season for DVD sales.

Meanwhile, Apple is hoping to come to terms with several of the studios in time for the launch of its iTV device in early 2007, which will provide one of the first direct-to-television movie download experiences for consumers.

In a surprise announcement earlier this week, Redmond, Wash.-based rival Microsoft Corp. said it would offer a similar experience through its Xbox Live gaming service later this month.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Feynman]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"....but that several details still needed to be worked out."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

I'm sure one of these things is HDTV.

[SpamSandwich]

"Chernin would not give a time frame as to when Fox movies might be available, if ever, on iTunes," said CNN. "He did say though that News Corp. and Apple were having 'positive talks,' but that several details still needed to be worked out."

Perhaps he's willing to set benchmarks.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by Feynman

I'm sure one of these things is HDTV.

Now that Microsoft has upped the ante I don't see how Apple can launch iTV with anything less than 780p in January.

[MacTel]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

Now that Microsoft has upped the ante I don't see how Apple can launch iTV with anything less than 780p in January.

That's not dependent on iTV rather what is sold through iTunes. I doubt Apple will up the quality on the movies before the iTV launch. They should as their offerings are small at this point.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

Now that Microsoft has upped the ante I don't see how Apple can launch iTV with anything less than 780p in January.

I would love some 720p goodness, but I don't know about waiting 15 hours for my movie to download.

[monkeyastronaut]

Originally Posted by Ireland

I would love some 720p goodness, but I don't know about waiting 15 hours for my movie to download.

Start downloading just before you go to bed. Next morning go to work/school. By the afternoon/evening, your movie would be there, ready to be watched in hi def goodness.

There's your 15+ hours.

[lantzn]

"In a surprise announcement earlier this week, Redmond, Wash.-based rival Microsoft Corp. said it would offer a similar experience through its Xbox Live gaming service later this month."

Similar experience? Yeah kind of like they do with their operating system. It's similar to Mac OS X.

[ecking]

It's about f**king time another studio looks to ge on board with this.

[josa92]

I'm not too sure about these movies being sold on iTunes....I don't like the idea in general, but apparently, lots of people have a different opinion on the matter...

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by monkeyastronaut

Start downloading just before you go to bed. Next morning go to work/school. By the afternoon/evening, your movie would be there, ready to be watched in hi def goodness.

There's your 15+ hours.

Or, just trek over to Best Buy and buy a BRD or DVD.

[caribbean_mac]

Apple has learned a lesson long time ago when windows swept the market by storm and it was a learning experience for the people at the apple camp

In this consumer world you have to make a product that is simple stupid but with class and technological edge
its not that im saying that the Zune is a technological advancement,but its just a repeat of the ipod intentions
(too Late Ms)

People and the so called mac users the faithful lovers who apple depends on are the ones that do the ads for apple not the
'mac guy "

Itv going to work and you know why because Steve jobs called a bluff and MS fall for it with the Zune and now with the Xbox download thingy (that man is a true lead although he does things that don't please us at times )

so now Steve has seen whats under MS gift boxes for Christmas he would wait for next year to start wheel his technological battle axe. However,This time he knows that the market like and what the enemy is made of.


Don't you think apple could have produce a ipod with WI-Fi, walkie talkie and GPS a long time a go after all the invented the world best digital portable music system which is now a house hold ICON and a Subculture around the world

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by monkeyastronaut

Start downloading just before you go to bed. Next morning go to work/school. By the afternoon/evening, your movie would be there, ready to be watched in hi def goodness.

There's your 15+ hours.

Wednesday night, what to do? Let me think. Do you know, I've an idea! Why don't we get the movie Cars from iTunes it's in HiDef. Very good idea!! Ok so we'll download it now and watch it Thursday or Friday. Yeah, but what will we do tonight? How should I know?

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Wednesday night, what to do? Let me think. Do you know, I've an idea! Why don't we get the movie Cars from iTunes it's in HiDef. Very good idea!! Ok so we'll download it now and watch it Thursday or Friday. Yeah, but what will we do tonight? How should I know?

[TenoBell]

The next resolution increase will probably be 850x480P HD.

Before you guys bemoan you first have to understand how video works. There are more factors that determine video quality beyond only pixel count. In fact pixel count in of itself doesn't really tell you much of anything, because any video source can be given any number of pixels.

Standard definition video and High Definition use two different color space gamuts that cover different sections of the CIE color curve.

The two use different sample frequencies to represent the recorded analog light source.
A full standard def Y-Cr-Cb luminance/chroma sample is 13.5 MHz.
A full high def Y-Cr-Cb luminance/chroma sample is 74.17 Mhz.

The color space of standard def video we generally watch is represented by 4:1:1 Y-Cr-Cb
Which means 13.5 MHz sample for luminance/green, 3.37 MHz sample for red, 3.37 sample for blue.

High definition color space we will typically watch will also be 4:1:1 Y-Cr-Cb
Which means 74.17 MHz sample for luminance/green, 18.54 MHz sample for red, 18.54 MHz sample for blue.

850x480P recorded at HD color space in 4:1:1 8bit, 14.9Mbps compressed with MPEG4.

850x480 covers every pixel of 16x9 with no loss of resolution from letterboxing.

HD color space provides an over all denser image with more contrast and color information.

MPEG 4 compression is more efficient at providing a quality image in a smaller file size than the current MPEG 2 used in DVD and broadcast television provide.

This provides a good compromise for file download speed vs visual quality.

Plus once the United States moves to digital television 480P is likely to be a far more used format than 720 or 1080 because stations can broadcast up to 5 channels over the same bandwidth.

[SpamSandwich]

Wow. Great post, Teno. Nice comment in the last paragraph also.

[monkeyastronaut]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Or, just trek over to Best Buy and buy a BRD or DVD.

or ordering it online and have it delivered to your door.

after using online banking/shopping, i never want to stop at a real store/bank anymore.

[monkeyastronaut]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Wednesday night, what to do? Let me think. Do you know, I've an idea! Why don't we get the movie Cars from iTunes it's in HiDef. Very good idea!! Ok so we'll download it now and watch it Thursday or Friday. Yeah, but what will we do tonight? How should I know?

hmmm well, this is just a scenario, but consider you might not have to download the whole movie to start watching it.

or just get a faster connection. or wait for the dvd or go get it then. but having the option would be great. i am all for digital downloads even if they take some hours to download. there's a whole 24 hours of dead time that my mac or my xbox could take advantage of before i decide on watching something. so i might as well opt for hi def downloads if i were given the choice.