The service, which is set to start in November after a test period in October, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple's iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection.We are so sick of hearing about piracy.
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NBC makes many of its popular shows available online in streaming media, which means that fans can watch episodes on their computers. Under the new NBC service, called NBC Direct, consumers will be able to download, for no fee, NBC programs like "Heroes," "The Office" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on the night that they are broadcast and keep them for seven days. They would also be able to subscribe to shows, guaranteeing delivery each week.But the files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.
The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. "Kind of like 'Mission: Impossible,' only I don't think there would be any explosion and smoke," Mr. Gaspin said.
Anyone interested in these downloads? Too much DRM?
]]>At this point though, I'll mention this much, these downloads will probably be useless to most of the targeted audience of online viewers if they aren't in a minimal of 480p. Since this is NBC we're discussing, I will point out that most of the episodes of Heroes last season were released in 540p and 720p.
]]>A good idea, but I can't use this. My main TV time is durng my commute. And since I only stick with legal torrents (yes I'm paranoid) looks like I'm outta luck.
]]>@goodguy812: Err, you're aware that cable and satellite providers choke the resolution of their HD programming, right? De-rez it? This beyond the fact that you have to pay a surcharge to even receive HDTV.
Over-the-air HD programming is not only free, but it's better.
Oh, and you DO have your HDTV set up correctly, don't you? 30% (or is it 60%) of HDTV owners wired their TVs to receive NTSC... You might want to check.
]]>i don't have an ipod because i have a psp. but if i bought an ipod, can i transfer music that i have downloaded illgally? or does it have to come from the itunes site? surely they wouldn't make you buy every single song for it? and i have a pocket pc (dell axim) and pocket t.v. program (free from download.com) and it plays every type of video format (except for divx).
]]>well the downloads will probably beat my bunny ears! and if you have an hd tv, why do you need to pirate shows? why buy a nice t.v. when you can't afford cable?
]]>i don't put it away! skrew that! i admit i'm a dork. i just feel like i'm the only one because i never see anyone else with one.
]]>Apple updates all its iPods (except Shuffle) to have video support, so what does NBC do? Pull its content off iTunes. Brilliant, they'll offer free shows with homegrown DRM and they won't work on Macs and probably not on the most popular portable media player out there. Also, want to know where to find the people watch video on tiny players? Try flying on an airplane or waiting in an airport...
]]>So I have to watch the whole damned thing in one uninterrupted viewing? If something kewl comes on, I can't rewind and Sylar hurl Hiro through a sculpture and into the 14th century? Oh, wait, I can. Just start at the beginning of the episode and start my stopwatch. Ew!
Also nice to know that when I'm out of the house for more than a couple days, I'll come home to an expired episode.
Does their DRM invade my privacy?
Does it work on a Mac. (ha ha ha, of course that's a rhetorical Q)
What resolution is it? Surely it will look like crap on the HDTVs.
And can I sit on my couch to view, as I could have with the previous version? Take it on the underground?
Considering that NBC was booted b/c they wanted to DOUBLE the price of their shows, I don't see much of a victory for them giving it away for free. Even with commercials.
Wow, does Pirate Bay owe NBC money for boosting their traffic? I think they do...
]]>Once again, until the commercial way of distributing content online is better than the Peer-to-Peer online solutions, the people who really WANT online distribution will not embrace the commercial way.
]]>I do. I download every show I watch via bittorrent (Azureus client program) from EZTVEFNET.org, Mininova, and Demonoid. I have a Creative Zen vision W player ([www.creative.com]) and I watch on the bus/train as I go to/from work. I also sometimes watch on my lunch hour.
]]>hackers have too much time on their hands when they are reduced to trying to remove comercials from a program. put your skills to some better use. and quit hacking video games!! your killing the fun, and will eventually kill online gaming.
]]>@goodguy812: I use utorrent and www.demonoid.com.
They have the right idea here, just implemented wrong. Hopefully they will iron out the wrinkles but who knows.
]]>noone buy an ipod touch.......i heard that they will slash the price in 2 months!!!!!lol!!!lmao!!!
]]>who watches t.v. or movies on a portable device? and where are you doing it at? i've never seen you! and anytime i try to bust out my psp in public i get wierd stares like, dude "your a dork!"
]]>I think it is a fair compromise. The shows don't pay for themselves. Like it or not, commercials pay for the shows. The show is just "filler" between the commercials. For the ability to download the show for free and watch on any device of my choosing, I would be willing to put up with some commercials. Alternatively, there are people who would pay for a version without commercials. It looks like they are trying to work with us.
]]>bitlord is the best. you can get good torrent searches on www.isohunt.com also. the best combo i have found for downloading.
]]>yeah, i like a few shows on nbc, and don't mind commercials. if i can watch full length videos in good quality, count me in.
free is free. you can legally give it to people, or you can have them figure out how to steal it. either way, i'd probably not care as long as i can watch my favorite shows for free.
]]>I can't transfer it to another device, and I need Internet Explorer, which isn't even made for Macs anymore. Thanks NBC for the user friendly product!
Besides, why would I bother with this when I could just continue to download the bitorrent of my favorite shows each week without any hassle (or commercials)?
]]>First, the paid version didn't have commercials. While not my cup of tea, I can see how people might think a couple bucks is worth saving the 20 minute commercial load. Plus it's nice to have the ability to rewind and pause, and watch it when, where and as many times as the viewer likes.
NBC comes out of the gate not only with programming lacking any compelling reason to visit their web site, but completely ambivalent to the reasons people were paying money to download their shows. You get a 7 day opportunity to view your downloads, of course it'll have commercials and because of that, you're probably out of luck in being able to pause, rewind or fast forward.
Furthermore, because we're all pirates, NBC doesn't trust us to put the content on our portable devices and insists on putting DRM on what they just a few hours ago freely cast into the wind.
These people have no idea what their customers want. Appointment TV is dead, and not only are the local TV stations in peril from being unable to adjust, but the networks will soon follow. The content originators, studios and film makers, professional as well as amateur, will have a direct line to the eyeballs leaving companies like NBC fighting over advertising dollars targeted for the lowest common demographic.
This move just cements my opinion that they should have just shut up on their visits to Cupertino and let Steve Jobs, as arrogant as he is, educate them.
]]>Not too sure about the un-skippable commercials, though. I suppose if there was an option to buy a DRM-free, commercial-free, hi-res version (at a fair price), NBC might be on to something.
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