Netflix Download & Burn Service?

Thomas Hawk has the scoop on two interesting rumors about Netflix:

The first is one is about a Netflix movie download service: "...the announcement of an independent download-and-burn service may boost the stock. " Why make the customer burn a DVD when they can watch it on their computer? Maybe the extra step is required to watch it on a TV, which is typically connected to a DVD player. I'm wondering what kind of DRM will be required to let customers burn movies? Will this require a special player? Is this a rumor or have the folks at Roth Capital leaked something?

The second part of the story includes, "...Roth thinks NFLX is posturing for a sale of the company." I think Reed Hastings is having too much fun to sell the company, but with a market cap of almost $1.4 billion...

Comments

[Sorry rumormill]

Both are wrong.

[Mike K]

Of course they are, but they're interesting rumors. Eh?

Snore snore

[Becky]

I think this "download and burn" service is simply an interpretation of Netflix's statement that they will be providing video on demand in the near future possibly using set-top boxes provided by Tivo.

[James McShill]

Netflix already has a Rent-and-Burn service. All of their customers are ripping the DVDs and burning them. That's why blank DVD sales are up. Most people have DVD burners in the computer, and the only reason they would use them is to copy rentals. The heavy users are most likely burning the most. Afterall, it's impossible to watch a movie and send it back the same day or the next day. People need at least a week to watch a movie. Our lives are so busy nowadays. 4 hours watching TV...

"All of their customers are ripping the DVDs and burning them. That's why blank DVD sales are up.. Afterall, it's impossible to watch a movie and send it back the same day or the next day. People need at least a week to watch a movie."

Thanks for the broad generalizations. I buy blank dvd-rs for my home videos. I also have more than one dvd player, thus more than one gets watched at a time. Also, not everyone has a 9-5 job. Some of us work nights and can returna movie the same day we received it.

[Be Logical]

Let's not be too quick to generalize. I'm a college study, doing a double major, working, and I can watch a Sorpranos disc in a day, 6 out of 7 days a week, and still have time for everything else.

Also, "it takes a week to watch a movie"???
What the hell are you smoking? If the average person works from 9-5, you get back home, eat, take care of whatever business...you can pop in a movie at 8 and be done by 10. I didn't know movies were know 48 hours long and it required us to watch them over a week period.

Are you people crazy? A movie can't be returned the same day? See, I might work 8 hours a day, but, wait for it, my wife and her mother that lives with us, wait for it, DON'T!!!! OMG!!!! You mean, someone else could be watching these movies??? OHHHHHHH!?!?!

Mail gets dropped off at 11am....watch movie at 1pm....go to grocery store at 5pm....post office next to store and closes at 6pm....

Nah, who in their right mind does something like that?

[ThrottleFlix]

The point is that ThrottleFlix assumes that the "average" user takes a week to get each DVD back to them. They delay receipt of DVDs and sending new DVDs to try and get everyone to a 1-week turn around. And they think you are copying if you send them back same day. You hear people accuse you of that all the time. Or they say you don't have a life. I think James McSHILL's comments were meant to be humorous - a reductio ad absurdum type of logic. It's easy to watch 1-3 DVDs a day if you stop watching the idiot box. But Netflix doesn't want to replace TV. Even with their 8-out plan, they don't send DVDs fast enough to replace TV (2-3 a day, 10-15 a week).

Those of us who stop watching TV have plenty of free time. But the most expensive Netflix plan won't give us more than 8 DVDs a week. Just over 1 a day. And they try to call this unlimited, when all the plans are limited to X-a-week (X = number of DVDs out at a time).

"Nah, who in their right mind does something like that? "

Count me in on that. I walk mine into the main mail facility and drop them into the slot in the wall for local mail. As I have a DC in my town, even as late as 10pm gets them there the next day. They may not pick them up from the blue boxes out front, but I know they do from inside. Mailman delivers them by 11:30A, I can watch them anytime until around 10P. PLUS, as posted above, I have a spouse, 2 children and a mother that all watch them as well. They are not all for me - and they are home ALL DAY!

[Davis Freeberg]

I suspect that someone at Roth Capital probably did misunderstand between burn on demand and download to TiVo, but it does raise the interesting question of whether consumers would be willing to bear the cost of DVD production.

One of the arguments agains Bluray technology is the cost to manufacturers. If consumers could burn HDTV DVDs, I'm sure that they would embrace the technology. To be able to have a movie burning on my BART ride home would remove any advantage that blockbuster might have.

Ultimately, I think the studios would fear DVD canibalization too much to ever allow such a program, but hey one can dream can't he.

[ThrottleFlix]

Upon reflection, I must apologize. I'm a douche who loves to play "victim" every chance I get. Sorry about that.

[ThrottleFlix]

Upon reflection, I must apologize. I'm a douche who loves to impersonate other users every chance I get. Sorry about that.

"Afterall, it's impossible to watch a movie and send it back the same day or the next day. People need at least a week to watch a movie. Our lives are so busy nowadays. 4 hours watching TV..."

Why is it impossible? Most movies are under two hours. If you combine that with, let's say, someone who is home all of the time due to being retired, injured, etc. it would be easy to watch 2 to 4 movies a day, if not more. If someone who is not home during the day watches just one movie and their children watch one or two movies you have thre in a day.

Don't automatically assume that because someone is renting a high volume of movies they are making copies.

[gawk]

I have 5 people that live in my house, netflix is perfect, sometimes we get our movies and they all get watched that same night, or within a few days, sometimes a week, it varies, but it sure beats going to the movie store and having a million previews on each blockbuster DVD. Just because I get 3-6 movies a week means I copy them? say I get one set on monday, return them or some of them tues-wed, get more friday and have the weekend. It's hot as hell in AZ here, not doing anything outside that's for sure!