Sonic Solutions has announced that they will finally be bringing HD streaming to its Roxio CinemaNow online video
service, using a new technology dubbed Sonic CineVision Adaptive HD which the company promises will make films look Blu-ray-esque in 1080p full HD.
Sonic’s competitors, such as iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, and Sony have all had HD streaming or downloads for some time now.
CineVision Adaptive HD will also be available “as part of the company’s CineVision Master Encoding system” says TWICE, “enabling others to maximize the quality of streaming video content.”
The CineVision Master Encoding system is used in current Blu-ray production, so the company says the streaming quality will be second to none.
Adds CinemaNow executive VP of strategy Mark Ely: “Consumers not only want instant access to new Hollywood hit movies on their connected TVs and Blu-ray players, they want it in HD.”
Result for: vudu
VUDU has announced today that it will begin offering music and video for free through its service, fully ad-supported.
The deal, made with Brightcove, will initially only include Sony music and videos. The company hopes to eventually add long-form content to the new service but there is no set roadmap.
The move will make VUDU one of the first media hubs to try to add advertisements as part of the working business model. Rivals such as the Apple TV and Roku provide access to existing services or use the standard pay-per-title model.
The ad-backed model has not been thoroughly tested but for the most part has failed miserably with the notable exception being Hulu, the video site which continues to see huge growth.
Result for: vudu
VUDU has announced that they will begin selling HD movies rather than just rent them, becoming the first VOD service to do so.
The agreement was made with notable independent film studios Magnolia Pictures, FirstLook Studios and Kino and VUDU will offer 50 titles in HD beginning this week.
The first title available is the 2008 Best Documentary winner “Man on Wire” followed by FirstLook’s “Transsiberian” and “War, Inc.”
VUDU currently offers 1400 HD movies for rental and you can purchase the 50 titles in either “standard HD” or VUDU’s own HDX format.
Purchased titles can be saved to your VUDU box or stored in the VUDU Vault and sell for $14 USD to $24 USD.
