For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment
A message
from Tesco Internet Access came as a surprise this week. “Dear Customer, This
email is to inform you that we’ve taken the decision to close down this service
at the end of February 2012, which means you will no longer be able to access
the service after that date. Hopefully, our closure will not inconvenience you
in any way.”
It took a
moment to realise that the service in question was dial-up internet access and
not one of the many innovative online services that the supermarket giant
offers. A dozen years ago, dial-up was the only way to access the internet for
many rural residents, as it is still for a decreasing number of countryside
dwellers. The Tesco pay-as-you-go service was an excellent deal at £12.49 per
month for an “up to 56 kbps” connection, which was fast enough to check the
text-only emails that users sent to each other in those happy days.
“Hopefully,
you already have an alternative way to access the internet (e.g. broadband), so
our closure will not inconvenience you in any way,” the email concludes. With
the arrival of streaming audio and video, the once-familiar burbling sound of a
telephone modem has passed into history, as obsolete as the press-button call
box.
Today,
the expectations of the internet user extend far beyond email and the
occasional download of a small file. Tesco launched its online movie service in
conjunction with Blinkbox at the end of 2011 and it will add yet more bits and
bytes to the cloud of video data that shows no sign of abating. The
Amazon-owned Lovefilm, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Apple are among the many
organisations that deliver online entertainment to the home and from the start
of this year, cloud-based UltraViolet discs have started to appear on the
shelves.
One of
the first titles to carry the UltraViolet Digital Copy message is the Triple
Play title from Warner Home Video “Final Destination 5” (pictured), which was
released in the UK on Dec. 26. The package contains both Blu-ray and DVD discs
together with a redemption code that gives access to online streaming and
download versions. Customers that use their Clubcard to buy the disc at Tesco
also can sign up to Blinkbox and this provided Cue Entertainment with an ideal
opportunity to compare the two services.
There is
no need to break the shrink-wrap in order to watch the film through Blinkbox.
The process begins at the checkout when the buyer presents a Clubcard and for
most customers, that purchase will be recorded before they reach home. To sign
up, the customer simply associates the Tesco Clubcard with a Blinkbox account –
creates one if necessary – and then installs the download manager to retrieve
the digital copy. Streaming video on any device requires a web browser and
nothing more.
After
the customer responds to the confirmation email, streaming or downloading can
begin. In Cue Entertainment’s test run, there was a minor technical glitch that
the Tesco help desk handled efficiently if hesitantly – it seems there are few support calls to answer at the moment.
The file
size of “Final Destination 5” from Blinkbox is just under 1 Gbyte to give a
running time of 92 minutes. For comparison, the Blu-ray data on the disc
occupies over 20 Gbytes; the DVD files are more than 5 Gbytes. Given that the
disc media files are themselves compressed, the digital copy file is a miracle
of video compression.
On a
relatively slow connection, the file took 90 minutes to arrive, which was time
enough to explore the alternative UltraViolet sign-up process.
Warner
Home Video uses its Flixster subsidiary as its UV service provider, which for
most people will mean a double sign-in: once to the UltraViolet service and
once to Flixster. The process is similar to associating a Clubcard to a
Blinkbox account. You are not required to link your UltraViolet account to a
retailer’s streaming provider but the Flixster portal is a lot more
user-friendly than the UV site.
Activation
of the UV account must be confirmed within three days of registration and once
this is done, access to the download is almost instantaneous. The larger file
size (1.3 Gbytes) and apparently slower connection speed than Blinkbox meant
that it took more than two hours to arrive. There is a “Watch Now” button on
the Flixster download window, which allows users to start viewing before the
entire film has downloaded. There is always the danger that download delays
will mean that viewers reach the end of the file before the end of the film,
but it does take the wait out of wanting, even with a fast broadband
connection.
There was
an unexplained message on the Flixster screen once the file arrived: “Judi Test
Demo. Flixster Collections is unavailable at the moment. We’ll be back up and
running before long, please try again soon. Thanks for your patience!” Not
quite as drastic as “you are no longer able to access the service”, but it
doesn’t inspire confidence in a new user.
Back on
the Blinkbox download, playback failed at the first attempt with a message from
Windows Media Player that said, “You do not have the rights to play this file,”
along with a link to the Blinkbox web site. Here, there was a request for email
address and password with another message “Please install the Blinkbox
Entertainment Licensing control before inputting your credentials”.
That
done, a further message appeared, “We have detected that you require a
Microsoft update to your DRM”, which led back to a Microsoft “security
component upgrade” and then to two more messages to explain that an upgrade is
required. This was not an easy sequence of events to navigate but eventually
the familiar Warner Bros Pictures logo appeared on the screen. Inserting a disc
would have been easier.
Considering
the relatively low data rate, the quality of both pictures and sound is
excellent on a 32-inch screen and a budget audio system. It gives the DVD a run
for its money although it does not bear comparison with the HD images from the
Blu-ray Disc and DTS-HD Master Audio is too much to ask from a digital
download. Given that the consumer has all three formats to play with, the
Blinkbox download option should prove a valuable selling point.
Despite
the larger file size, the quality of the UltraViolet download was not quite as
good, with some encoding artefacts and a generally “softer” look to the
picture. Consumers are unlikely to notice these minor imperfections on small
and medium video screens.
There is,
however, one major difference between the two digital copies. The original
aspect ratio of the cinema release is 2.39:1 (widescreen) and Blinkbox
preserves this in the “letterbox” transfer. The UV copy, on the other hand, has
a 1.77:1 (16×9) TV aspect ratio, achieved by cropping the frame left and right.
Warner must have been involved in this decision, since the full-frame transfer
obviously came from a TV master, with extra picture information top and bottom.
The public might prefer the video to fill the frame; the film enthusiast would
rather have the full picture.
Both UV
and Blinkbox offer a streaming version and, from the fire and breaking glass of
the opening titles to the mayhem of the collapsing bridge, the content needs
every digital bit that is available. The Blinkbox streaming quality is
watchable although more suited to a smaller screen: an iPad for example.
Playback of the UV version might have reverted to a low bit-rate in the tests
in order to avoid buffering, but in the process, it became unacceptably
“blocky” (fine detail turns into large squares).
The
Flixster panel on the rear of the slipcase has a “use by” date of Dec. 25,
2013, while the Tesco/Blinkbox website states “Tesco Movie Purchase (Watch
forever – no time limits)”. Consumers are entitled to question the
length of time that any company that offers video in the cloud will maintain a “free” service when the original income from the disc will have been
amortised many times over.
If
Blinkbox Online Movie or UltraViolet subscribers will receive a “Dear Customer”
email in 10 years’ time remains to be seen. Until then, the Triple
Play+Blinkbox disc “Final Destination 5” appears to offer the best of all
worlds – if you like that kind
of thing.
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