The recent news that Internode is to partner with TiVo to both sell the PVR and provide an uncapped plan to download the TiVo's movies on demand service has pushed the issue of legally downloaded movies back into the spotlight.
We can't ignore the fact that P2P sharing of movies illegally happens an awful lot, but the key word there is "illegal".
What are your options if you want to keep the plods from your doors, and how can you get movies as cheaply as possible?
With a typical legally acquired movie tipping the scales at over 1GB, and many Australian broadband plans offering less than that in download quota, it's all too easy to spend your quota on a single movie - or perhaps two - and therefore spend much more on each flick than you'd planned to.
It doesn't have to be that way, however, depending on your choice of movie provider and your choice of ISP. The choices aren't great, and there's really not enough competition to get things really shifting, however.
|
Provider
|
Typical Movie File Size
|
Movie Cost
|
Typical TV file size
|
TV Episode Cost
|
Free content
|
ISPs offering service unmetered
|
Playback method
|
|
BigPond Movies
|
900MB+
|
$5.95 for non-bigpond members, $4.76 for Bigpond members
|
378MB
|
$2.95 for non-Bigpond members, $2.36 for Bigpond Members
|
Trailers
|
Telstra Bigpond
|
PC, Media Center, Xbox 360 (via Media Center)
|
|
Apple iTunes Movies
|
1GB+
|
$3.99 to $5.99, $1 more for HD versions (where available)
|
500MB
|
$2.99/episode, some series available by season
|
Trailers, Vodcasts
|
iiNet
|
Mac, iPod (except shuffle), iPhone, Apple TV
|
|
TiVo
|
2-5GB
|
Currently "free" for a single movie per week; pricing for rentals not yet announced
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Radio services planned for 2009.
|
Internode
|
TiVo, PC/Mac connected via Home Networking Package (costs $199 extra)
|