The Blockbuster Set-top Box Has Arrived

[admin]

Movie rental maven Blockbuster has officially entered the set-top box arena. Its offering, MediaPoint, will go head-to-head with other online DVD rental services that have inked deals with hardware partners.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112600890.html

A competitor to Netflix, but offering much less movies. Still, it's interesting how quickly these hardware movie streaming boxes are being rolled out, but they are not really a threat to Blu-ray yet (other than in general terms) until they offer HD streaming.

[dr_ml422]

Very interesting as Voodo launched theirs also. I think that's their name. It's not a threat to Blu-ray and it shouldn't as Blu-ray has yet to corner the whole market video wise anyway. It's another alternative for those that aren't w/Blu-ray yet to watch some decent flicks at an affordable price. On that note I find it very interesting that all these Mega Giants are coming out w/their own version of a set-top box now that Verizon is finally entering hdtv through their service along w/Fios and digital telephone. It might be just a coincidence or it might hold true as Time Warner has drastically upped their advertising campaign now that Fios is breaking up the streets and installing true fiber optics. I can't wait. As soon as Fios hits my area I'm dropping Time Warner and adding 2 boxes of Fios TV and maybe their internet service as well. I'm almost certain they'll have a movie set-top option as well. They already have a lil something w/their DSl.

By 2012 they'll be so many new avenues to take regarding HD that Sony's going to have to come to some serious decisions regarding their whole Blu-ray campaign.

[admin]

Interestingly, the discussion in the other new Blu-ray thread about BD-Live could come into play here. BD-Live can easily be configured to become a video download/streaming service, so Blu-ray and downloads can co-exist together. Today's Blu-ray players, the PS3 apart, probably isn't fast enough or has insufficient storage to make this work.