Since bursting on the scene 13 years ago, Netflix has been a huge ally for consumers trying to save money. For years Blockbuster had dominated the rental industry and whether it was abusive late fee practices or high rental prices, they took advantage of their strength. The value that Netflix passed onto consumers injected some [...]
Posted on March 5th, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: DVDs, Kiosks, Media, Movies, Netflix | Comments Off
The US patent office must have gotten their hard drives unpaused, because hot on the heels of winning a patent related to closed captions on a DVR, TiVo has been awarded another patent at the heart of the DVR experience. With the application having been filed in October of 1999, it took the USPTO over [...]
Posted on February 18th, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, Netflix, Technology, TiVo, VOD | 7 Comments »
See larger view of chart here While old school media types like to insist that content is king, when it comes to viewing said content, the format and media player can make a big difference in the quality of the user experience. With new options seeming to crop up everyday, I wanted to take a [...]
Posted on February 2nd, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: DivX, Netflix, TV, VOD | 3 Comments »
HBO may stand for Home Box Office, but it may as well be Hates Being Online given their objections to internet video. According to Time Warner, HBO has over 40 million subscribers and while this lucrative revenue stream allows them to produce some of the most compelling content on television, it also gives them an [...]
Posted on January 24th, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: DRM, DVDs, DivX, Media, Netflix, Technology, VOD | 2 Comments »
Ten years ago, Blockbuster video was on top of the world. They didn’t know it at the time, but it was the golden age for the video store. After years of reminders to be kind and rewind, consumers were adopting DVD players en masse and needed a source for their entertainment needs. For better or [...]
Posted on January 20th, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: DVDs, Kiosks, Media, Movies, Netflix, SA, VOD | 3 Comments »
A couple of months back, I received my monthly bill from Comcast and almost had a heart attack. Over the course of one month, my bill went up over 50% and while I’ll admit to loving TV more than your average bear, after years of fee increases, it became hard to justify paying over $50 [...]
Posted on January 19th, 2010 by Davis
Filed under: Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, Media, Netflix, TV, Technology, TiVo | 1 Comment »
I know that I’ve been critical of DivX’s efforts to woo Hollywood in the past, but I’ve also got to give them credit for a win when I see one and I think they knocked it out of the park when it comes to Paramount. Recently, Paramount announced that they were going to be distributing [...]
Posted on November 18th, 2009 by Davis
Filed under: DVDs, DivX, HDTV DVDs, Media, Netflix, SA, VOD | 2 Comments »
Normally, I tend to think that most regulations are bad. In a free market, businesses should be allowed to operate with a wide degree of latitude. At the same time there is a pragmatic part of me that understands there can be exceptions to this. Everyone should have the right to free speech, but that [...]
Posted on November 5th, 2009 by Davis
Filed under: DRM, Media, Movies, Netflix | 5 Comments »
Photo by C-Bunny. Just in case you think Blockbuster’s problems are isolated to a declining video store industry, I’d encourage you to take a closer look at their latest 10-Q filing. Despite there being clear growth in the DVD by mail category, Blockbuster is hemorrhaging subscribers. In fact, the percentage of people giving up on [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2009 by Davis
Filed under: DVDs, Netflix, SA | Comments Off
During their ten year history, TiVo’s obituary has been written more times than I’ve sat through an entire commercial, yet no matter how tough the climb has been, TiVo has continued to defy critics and skeptics alike by chugging along (as if by sheer will at times.) Even though the financial wiz kids over at [...]
Posted on July 21st, 2009 by Davis
Filed under: Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, DivX, Microsoft, Netflix, Slingbox, TV, Technology, TiVo, VOD, Video Games | 8 Comments »