Blockbuster, observing the popularity of services like RedBox (a DVD rental kiosk), has decided they’re going to skip a step and start offering movie rentals that come on an SD card. The new kiosks would load a DRMed movie onto your own SD card, and the content will expire after X viewings or days. They’re hoping that the better quality of the movies (vs. streaming ones or regular DVD) will bring users back. You might have picked a format that’s actually supported by media devices, guys.
SD cards are everywhere, indeed, but there are precious few DVD players, TVs, and personal media players that support them. Your computer has an SD card reader, or else you’ve bought one by now, but I don’t think people want to rent things to play them on their computers if they can stream them so incredibly easily. Sure, working out how to get an SD card’s content onto your TV may be easy for tech-oriented people like you and me, but for the people grabbing a movie on the way out of the grocery store… not so much.
With luck, Blockbuster will wise up and allow a USB drive to be plugged in. I mean, why didn’t they do that first thing? Everybody has those sitting around. And not that many people have high-capacity SD cards. If the movies are over 2GB, a lot of people are sunk because they only have the card that came with their camera (likely 512MB or thereabouts). Oh well, it’s a step in the right direction. Although I guarantee you’ll see a Blockbuster DRM-stripping app out there within a few weeks of these hitting the street.
Someone should get fired at Blockbuster. Like everyone who signed off on this stupid idea. I mean really….I’m supposed to bring my 2gig card, put it in a machine and download it? Then what? Move it to my computer and burn it to a DVD and then watch it?
The future is not in creating a new media device. It’s either supporting existing media (DVD is what the majority of America will be using for another 10 years…look at how long it took for VHS to die…they stopped making players last year).
You know what a smart person does when they see a great idea? You figure out how to copy it and make it better.
Redbox has a phenomenally system as is. I can even rent/return movies at some airports…and all McDonalds. I rent a movie in Colorado Springs, I’m in Denver the next day and can’t make it back in time? Simple. I just return it there. $1 a night is perfect price point for renting as well as hey…I can’t get it back in time it’s only a $1. Whoop-dee-do.
Blockbuster, and their industry, screwed the pooch when they told us we had to pay $3.99 to rent a movie we can buy new for $15…WTF??? And if we are late another $3.99? You almost bough the damn movie! VHS made sense, rental tapes cost a store $60-$100. But DVDS? Like it’s going to wear out. Lame. If Blockbuster charged a reasonable fee to start off they wouldn’t have the issue they have….store closures on the rise and rentals disappearing.
And in the end….Apple TV, Vudu, and Roku allow someone who’s tech savy to do the digital media much much easier, faster, and while sitting nekid on your couch with a bag of Cheetos….Beat that.
Blockbuster, look me up, I may have some solutions for you.
Right on comments. This is a classic example of a company not willing to eat their young. Blockbuster could have came out with their “Redbox” but the executive wanted to protect that nice $3.99 per movie revenue stream which is unsustainable. My neigborhood Blockbuster closed recently because their is a Redbox in the supermarket next to it. I have not entered a Blockbuster store since I saw the RedBox kiosk.
I think they require “SD” cards because SD cards have embedded hardware DRM called Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM). Your garden variety USB memory stick doesn’t have this.
Someone’s going to steal the hard drive from one of these kiosks and crack the DRM. Movies galore.
So this is all about DRM and making life difficult for the customer. Back to torrents everyone.
Actually the idea is not a bad one. Most new devices including TV’s and BLU-RAY players DO have SD slots as well as USB slots. If I can go in and pay 1.99 and load a new release on my own SD card I have no problem with that. Secondly, the advantage here is that the machine can never run out of the movie. There have been times I go to a redbox machine and its out of the movie or worse yet you get the disc and its so badly damaged it wont play in my machine.
The problem is that plugging the card into the TV with an SD slot does not mean you can play the movie. What I have found is that many Blu Ray players have SD slots and they can play media from the SD card. It all depends on the formats supported. This isnt really standardized so its possible someone loads a card and their TV or player cant play the video on the card. Then what do you do? still compared to the overhead of dealing with physical discs I can see the advantage. Its justa shame that Blockbuster would charge 1.99 for something that is cheaper overhead wise and yet Redbox can charge .99. Explain that Blockbuster?
I purchased three tv’s in the past 4 months and none have sd card slots however they all have usb ports on them which state for updating use only.
You may be right about the TV’s, although my BLU-RAY player does have an SD slot.
I stream movies from Netflix on this Blue Ray player…. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia&%23174%3B+-+Blu-ray+Disc+Player+with+1080p+Output/9386112.p?skuId=9386112&id=1218096447923 that I paid $99 on sale a few weeks back. It doesn’t have an SD card slot but the TV I bought… http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+55%22+Class+/+1080p+/+120Hz+/+LCD+HDTV/9318687.p?id=1218084031293&skuId=9318687 does. Either way, I doubt I will ever use the SD slot unless someone has pictures of their hot Milf mom in a bikini that they just happen to be carrying around on their SD card.
So yeah, not likely.
Actually, this is a good idea with the right marketing. Everyone, and their mother, have a netbook. Netbooks don’t have optical drives, but most have card readers.
For $70, BrandsMart has a GPX PD808 portable dvd/cd player. It has both a usb and sd slot. I converted all my music videos to AVI, and can play them off a thumb drive. Also, I may be dumb, but can’t you plug an SD into a usb card reader?
You must focus on the consumer you are trying to reach and the method/ease of delivery. Most Redboxes are placed in grocery stores because of high traffic counts. Take the same customer willing to rent from Redbox and put this kiosk in front of them and . Blockbuster is unrealistic if they think they can slap a screen on a podium and attract viable customers. Oh…forgot you 2GB SD card huh? Lost sale! This kiosk has holes like swiss cheese. Theft of a machine like this is very probable given its size and valuable “guts”. Its not eye-catching. Since this is the 2nd kiosk based rental system from Blockbuster and based off the fact that they have 700 installs when they stated they would have 10,000 by this time; I don’t think upper management in BB will last another 18 months.