The Internet and Film Distributuion

The internet is a fantastic place for film and especially short film media. The class listed criticisms such as poor quality and small screens but this is only as they do not have the connections or equipment to take advantage of the fantastic opportunity we have with what is available today. HD is here and it is online. Sites such as Divx's stage6.com offer full streaming at resolutions up to and including 1080p i.e. 6 times higher than the resolution of sky tv's top offering. Feature length films are there too and you can even save them to your computer. Full resolution HD streaming is not a reality here yet due to our third world connections and unheard of data caps but eventually NZ will catch up with the rest of the world. You can stream (without waiting) DVD quality on our connections now (480p). If you have a reasonable connection go to apple.com and watch trailers in DVD quality. Better than anything we are sent through traditional media sources such as Sky and TVNZ's Freeview.

Even more importantly as to the viability of the internet as an avenue of distribution is the increasing convergence of home theatres and computers. Most of the tv at our flat is streamed direct from the laptop through wifi, which is hooked to a surround sound reciever and big screen LCD. Most Laptops have tv out and any decent flat screen tv has a computer connection.

Also noted by others was the ability to rent movies online in most major markets (US, UK). Users in the US can download films and tv through their games consoles. This is a trend that will continue and eventually filter down to smaller places such as little old NZ.

Internet video does not mean bad quality and long downloads. It means a world of media at your fingertips that is often better than our own broadcasters (and government) are interested in supplying us.