When I first went to obtain the Philip K. Dick movie, a Scanner Darkly, from my on-line NetFlix account. I have always had a great experience just going in and watching the movies that it recommends for me. This was the first time that I actually tried to find a movie to see if it was there to play instantly on my computer – it was not there. I went to the only other place that I know of to rent movies on my computer, the iTunes store. I was able to rent a Scanner Darkly with very little difficulty. The only thing that went wrong was that my credit card information in the iTunes system was expired. As soon as I got that solved, the movie downloaded in about 30 minutes. I watched the movie digitally on my MacBook Pro laptop computer, which usually has very loud, and clear speakers and sound levels. This movie must have had something wrong with it because the sound volume was very, very, very low. I had to watch the movie with my ear almost next to the speaker in order to understand what was being said in the movie. I didn’t really have any other options because I was staying in a hotel room far, far from home and any video store that I was familiar with – well, are there really any video stores out there anymore? I wish I could have found the movie on video-on-demand from the hotel room television, but they only had a limited selection of current releases and adult films.
Renting DVDs or choosing Video on Demand are examples of diminishing returns. Dr. Thornburg used the example of Betamax and VHS tapes. They essentially did the same this using two different types of technologies. This is the same as with DVDs and Video on Demand. They both are technologies in which a user can watch a movie, but the way to get that movie to the person is quite different in each one. As we have seen over the last couple of years, video on demand has been getting less expensive, better quality, and more mainstream. I think that on-line servers like NetFlix, HuHu, Zulu, iTunes, and others are going overtake the video-on-demand market. In my own opinion, DVDs and almost ancient history. The cloud is coming much faster than we ever could imagine! I think that this is also diminishing returns because DVDs and Video-on-Demand roughly came out at about the same time, but video-on-demand was first used in hotel rooms or on exclusive cable t.v. set-ups.
The tridads for these technologies could be:
Hello Lewis,
ReplyDeleteI found your discussion interesting because we achieved viewing a movie based upon Phillip K. Dick differently. I did not think of iTunes as a means of obtaining the movie. I probably would have used that option since I have an account with iTunes for applications with my iPhone. The ability to obtain a movie without leaving home is excellent and the online servers provide this benefit. I went to BlockBuster and rented Minority Report. I did not have an account, but preferred BlockBuster to opening a new account with NetFlix. I agree that DVDs are “on their last leg” as a means of video rental. The online servers such as iTunes and NetFlix along with video-on-demand will obsolete DVD rentals.
v/r
Sullus
I understand your classification of Video On Demand and DVD as ones of diminishing returns; although I viewed the growing Video-on-Demand services as more in the Red Queens category. The rise in demand for these services and the stiff competition Netflix is currently facing with Walmart and now Amazon Prime in the Video On Demand category are the main reasons for placement in this category. In one sense I agree with your assessment that DVD rental will become obsolete, if I did not have a sea of Red Box Rental Units flooding many neighborhoods. This move may have extended DVD the life support is it seeking.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at Thornburg's definition of Increasing Returns it states that there are two competing technologies and one ends up replacing the other. In this case, I agree that the video on-demand will end up replacing DVD's. I think that it will happen gradually as the DVD players get older, just as it happened with the VCR. There are still some VCR's around my school because we still have players that work, but they are almost all replaced by DVD players. I think that the Red Queens, which are explained by Thornburg to be two forces that move ahead of the pack in their competition to capture the market. Netflix is fighting for its life by moving toward video-on-demand. Other sources for video-on-demand like iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, and Walmart are all competing. I am not certain that we have reached the point where there are two front runners who knock out the competition quite yet. The race still seems to be on.
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