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Sonic to offer 3D download service
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
July 28, 2009 at 9:51 am
Going along with the Cinemanow service already available, Sonic is rolling out a 3D download system.
The company has partnered up with NVIDIA and says the 3D content will be optimized for GeForce GPUs. The CinemaNow player, when it goes live, will support the interesting GeForce 3D Vision and all compatible NVIDIA based 3D-capable displays. A couple notable displays that are capable are the Samsung 2233RZ and ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm.
Read more at After Dawn.
Comments (9)
I must be getting old. I don’t understand a word of this but am reasonably confident that it has nothing to do with historic movie theatres.
I don’t understand all the acronyms either, but for my money, since it really refers to movie downloading, it is almost anti-theater piece of news. It is at least marginally relevant, as this trend may make preservation efforts more difficult.
I agree, CWalczak. Frankly, I think that encouraging this kind of piracy, if anything, will help destroy the last vestiges of movie theatre going altogether. It’s yet another example of people wanting “something for nothing”, an attitude that started in the Reagan Administration. In the early 1980’s, the SCOTUS, under Ronald Reagan, voted, by just one vote, to allow movies to be taped on video and made for videoi and VCR, which, sadly, has ultimately helped lead to all this kind of piracy.
Sounds like a way to view 3-D, not piracy.
That was my impression; as far as I know, CinemaNow is a legitimate subscription service where one is legally allowed to download films upon paying a fee, like iTunes or similar music downloading sites.
My concern was that the more these services become available, especially with enhancements in picture quality and the inevitable price reduction that comes with competition, more and more people will choose to download movies and watch them on computers and home theater systems that can play downloaded films.
Thus, there becomes increasing less reason to go to a movie theater or have interest in theater preservation. It’s like the 1950s all over again, when the TV wrecking ball hit so many theaters. Matters aren’t helped when the theater-going experience is being so often undermined by audience behaviors (like cell phone use), irritating screen advertising, and other factors that only cause people to think to themselves, “Why should I put up with this when for less than the price of a ticket, I can download a high quality movie file and watch it in the comfort of my home?”
If movie theaters are going to survive, the industry will have to learn how to provide an experience that can’t be enjoyed at home. Cinerama anyone?
Its just going to continue until they find a way to kill theatres all together. The world is headed in a direction where there will never be a reason to leave your house. You can now work from home, shop from home, download music and video from home, its just never going to end. And that’s very sad.
This:
“Its just going to continue until they find a way to kill theatres all together. The world is headed in a direction where there will never be a reason to leave your house. You can now work from home, shop from home, download music and video from home, its just never going to end. And that’s very sad.”
is a point well-taken, movie534. Your post says it all…in a nutshell. That being said, I’m going to continue renewing my memberships to the Coolidge Corner and the Brattle Theatres every year, and patronizing those movie theatres, and hope that more and more people follow suit. There’s nothing more exciting than going to a real movie theatre, seeing movies on the great big, wide screen as they’re MEANT to be viewed, and sharing that experience with a whole bunch of other people, whether they all know each other or not.
I dont blame you one bit MPol. I keep hoping that one day I can somehow get the owner of the Ritz in Elizabeth NJ to show movies again, classics, in a big 2700 seat theatre. I will never give up hope that things will change someday.
Hi, movie534. Thanks.
Keep contacting the owner of the Ritz in Ellizabeth, NJ, about what you’d like to see. Writing, calling, emailing, or even giving suggestions to the people working the box office might help. Keep trying—don’t give up. Here’s wishing you the best of luck.