Comments on: Vongo does IPTV

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 31 May 2006 22:28:00 +0000

Vongo is a low quality service. And you can do what Vongo does for free…since all they are doing is repurposing their Starz content and selling it over the web. They add a few concerts and charge DVD rental prices for low quality content and then brand it. For anyone seriously thinking of using online video they need high-res content, ease of use, ease of portability and much better rights to view content on different devices. Something to actually make the experience fun and not cumbersome. Vongo is doing nothing really innovative or creative. Why waste your time. It would be much funner to do it yourself with a good video card or HD capture card or DVR connected to your laptop. Even a Sling box. All of which can be used to copy broadcast content and encode it and share it…for PERSONAL use…legally. Skip Vongo altogether and save your money. Wait until a real service comes out that allows you to download, copy, burn, and port the movies.

By: Eddie

Eddie — Fri, 12 May 2006 05:04:58 +0000

Ben,

I agree completely. The costs of downloads can be cut down dramatically if content was distributed with bittorrent. The problem is that you have to wait for the entire file to download before you watch the movie. Serial downloads allow you to watch the movie while it downloads.

Baratunde,

I am glad you agree with my comment about Apple. By the way, use the trick I mentioned to report to websites you use “Netscape 4.8 Windows XP”! The website does not offer much by itself, but I hate the idea of being blocked from a website. So I bypass it even if it’s not for any good reason…

By: Baratunde

Baratunde — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:08:47 +0000

I can’t agree more about the Mac comment, especially for companies doing things with MEDIA. I mean, HELLO??? iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto.

Apple computers ARE media.

When companies like TiVo and Vongo consistently dis the Mac platform, they’re missing out on valuable feedback from UI and design-conscious consumers. They’re also leaving a bigger opening for Apple itself to come in, DEFINE the user experience and perhaps dominate the market.

A friend recently sent me a link to check out Vongo, and I couldn’t because I’m on a Mac, so honestly, I don’t care what the pricing, features, catalog are. This product doesn’t exist.

Same with sites that don’t play well with Firefox.

Now if only I could find a phone company that WASN’T dumping all my info illegally to the NSA…

By: ben vershbow

ben vershbow — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:23:34 +0000

Warner Bros. just signed a deal with BitTorrent to set up an online movie retail service (NYT). This would be more in the iTunes pay-per-download vein than Vongo, which is more an on demand service. Jumping on bit torrent is a great idea, though from what I gather, the prices will be a little too high for this to catch on big. They also load files with some annoying DRM.

I download “24″ from illegal bit torrent sites each week. If Fox were to offer a service with fast bit rates, where files automatically started downloading the second the show aired for something like 50 cents per episode, I would use it in a heartbeat. I might even do it for 99 cents an episode. Downloading movies can be a hassle. I think the same logic that made iTunes a success could work here: quality stuff, fast, and at reasonable prices is a better than scouring the net for free shit. And with big video files, bit torrent is clearly the solution. But they’ll probably screw it up.