So many have asked the question: How do you make DVD rentals easier than running down to the video store. Well, we’ve seen NetFlix with their rapid shipping and quick turn times and Blockbuster on their heels. These big-boys are now turning to on-line download and “content on demand.” It all sounds nice, but even with great bandwidth and streaming video you still have a fundamental problem. You must watch those vidoe’s on your TV.
PortoMedia of Ireland has a different take on DVD rentals. How about rent movies on flash memory?
May seem a little crazy, but think about it. Once you have that content on flash, the ability to watch video on any portable device, be it a laptop, PDA or other device makes enjoyement of that DVD when and where you want it …well…ideal.
So what is the process?
“PortoMedia is setting up kiosks that will let consumers download movies to a flash memory key or portable hard drive. The kiosks will be packed with hard drives that can hold 350 to 5,000 titles. Users then plug in a memory device from the company, enter a PIN code, and buy or rent a movie. When consumers get home, they simply slide the memory device into a dock their viewing device and enjoy.”
If you are not on board with the idea of PortoMedia, don’t worry – you are not alone. Others, like Ziff-Davis, have doubts, but consider this:
A MoviePoint kiosk [that’s whay PortoMedia is calling them] can hold 5,000 titles. No Blockbuster can do that. Further, those 5,000 titles don’t run out…get sold out, or put on waiting lists. Downloading to flash memory keeps the HD technology while eliminating the packaging costs of DVDs, retail space of DVDs and shipping costs [as with NetFlix] on moving DVDs from one customer to another. All this and you can watch your movie on just about any device you want.
Still hooked on the internet and on-line streaming video? Consider this:
“Owner of PortoMedia is a physicist by training, and Armstrong claims the Internet can’t handle movie downloads anyway. He did the math on last year’s release of Shrek 3. In the first three days, 11 million copies got sold. That’s 66 petabytes of data.” The internet can’t handle that.
