[mythtv-users] FCC admits CableCARD a failure, vows to try something else

Simon Hobson linux at thehobsons.co.uk
Sat Dec 5 17:16:23 UTC 2009


Francesco Peeters wrote:

>  > The movie industry has more at stake, though, in a way.  It's not just
>>  piracy they're trying to avoid -- it's cross-border sales, the same
>>  thing DVD region encoding was trying to prevent.  Movies routinely go
>>  on sale in the U.S. while they're still in theaters in Europe, and
>>  vice versa.  They're afraid of cannibalizing their own sales if people
>  > can freely play back stuff sold in other countries.


>Well, they *could* try releasing the movie at the same time in the
>European theaters as well...  ;-)


And that brings us back to money again - why do you think there is so 
much pressure for cinemas to go digital ? Cinemas get the costs (a 
digital projector for that size of screen doesn't come cheap), and 
the film distributors get the savings - if cinemas go digital, then 
the distributors can print less copies and also save on the physical 
shipping costs.

The main reason they stagger cinema releases is that it allows them 
significant savings on film costs. Every cinema that shows a film in 
traditional "big roll of pictures on a strip" form has to have a 
print of the film - and it can't be shared with any other cinema 
wanting to show the film at the same time. By releasing in the US, 
and then in Europe a few months later, it allows them to ship the 
prints around the US, and then ship the same prints over to Europe - 
instead of printing twice as many copies.


-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.


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