[Macworld]

Post your comments for Apple introduces iTunes Movie Rentals here

[randombob]

If it's not HD, then it wasn't ready to be released.
If you are going to release products "for the future of" something, you need to future-proof the tech! last decade's video standards and crappy stereo sound are not the wave of the future.
Yes I know that bandwidth & all is a current problem plaguing the idea I just wrote. But the idea is to innovate a solution & bring us value we couldn't otherwise get.
I can go down the street & rent Blu-ray movies for the same damn price. 1080p and uncompressed sound. No contest, iTunes loses.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
Still not ready for me yet. Netflix still seems like a much better value.

[randombob]

whoops, disregard last comment. The liveblog says there IS HD w/ 5.1
Bravo, Apple! I'm on board. sign me up for a 1TB time capsule & an ATV2

[MorrisTheCat]

YES! Finally! Thank you Steve.
The pricing is decent. Would have preferred it just a little lower, but OK for the convenience. I'll be anxious to give this a try. Perhaps, in time, no more trips to Blockbuster to find that movie I'm looking for.

[djourd]

Now I can watch a movie on the fly and not have to leave my home. Very Nice

[elCapiton]

There's HD and SD options and both are cheaper than PPV from my satellite provider. It's not quite as cheap for the SD rentals as it is for me to rent a DVD from some places but still it's convenient and the HD option will probably be the most popular. Now I'm just waiting for it to come out in Canada.

[Adwiz]

Nice move. Price is decent. Great to have 5.1 finally. Will have to see how well HD rentals play out in terms of download speed, but that's a nice move. My only complaint is the 24 hour limitation. That really sucks. There are quite a few times, with longer movies and family settings, that you just can't get the whole thing watched in one sitting. So, you watch half the movie and then sit down the next night to complete it. With the 24 hour limit, this becomes way too complicated to coordinate. I've also encountered situations where I've watched half a movie and then decided to watch the rest on a trip the next day. Same issue. Apple would have been much smarter to go with 48 hours before expiry. That way, nobody has any complaints. The 30 days to start watching limit is a stroke of genius, but the 24 hours to finish watching is simply too tight for a lot of situations. All it takes is one case where you can't finish watching and run out of time before the next evening, and people will decide to stop renting from Apple. That could kill much of the impetus. Bad business move, IMHO.

[ericgorr]

Dang. I was really hoping they would see the light and realize that the reason why places like blockbuster charge $3, etc. for movie rentals is because they need to maintain a large physical inventory in good condition, a physical store and hire real people who expect to be paid. With movie downloads, none of these costs exist and I find it hard to believe that the cost of the infrastructure needed to provide the rental comes anywhere close.
But, if I just look at my personal movie watching habits, I watch two movie per week from netflix at $14 / month. So, my cost per movie over the entire year is ~$1.60. The average cost per movie with Apple's movie rentals nearly doubles my cost per movie and I haven't even considered the costs involved with getting the AppleTV device, etc.
Based on all of the startup and equipment maintenance costs, I would only consider using this service if the movie rental price was $1 for library titles and $1.50 for new releases.At the current pricing they aren't even remotely a consideration. If I wanted to impulse watch a movie (which I only do once or twice a year, under special circumstances), I'll just head to blockbuster down the block.
Furthermore, the 24 hours to watch is simply too short...it needs to be at least 36 hours and I would like to see ~60 hours to watch, which would give people three evenings to watch a movie.
Not sure who is the most to blame for this disastrous pricing scheme, but I'm guessing it is the studios...hopefully Apple will be able to get them to see the light and dramatically cut their prices as I personally have little doubt this service is DOA.

[jgraham]

Quicktime 7.4 has poped up for down load.

[baldgoat]

Anyone know if I'll be required to buy a new box, or if there will be firmware/software updates?

[elCapiton]

You have 30 DAYS to start watching it. I don't think once you'd start watching it you wouldn't watch the entire thing within the 24 hours allowed. The cost is less than PPV and that doesn't cost anything extra for a satellite provider to provide because if you don't buy it then they're still actually broadcasting it anyways. Also, I bet the studios are making more per movie rental on this than they do on DVD rentals. The DVDs that are rented usually cost about $100 from what I've heard.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
It's a software update.

[dberezin]

My questions are:
Are the standard definition movies available in 5.1 sound? When I buy or rent a regular DVD (not Blu-Ray or HD DVD), they are standard definition, but they have surround sound (DD or DTS).
Will the std def movies be widescreen?
I also noticed on Apple's site that it said "Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is not available with all HD rentals."
Apple TV is getting there, but may not be all the way there yet (for me). Even though I don't have an HD player, I still like the surround sound.