It’s 2012… why is it so hard to find people who will stream you HD movies on a PC?
Amazon, Google, and Vudu seem to usually allow HD only on tablets and consoles, not a standard computer. I refuse to support Apple because of their patent shenanigans and because I hate iTunes.
Are there any other companies that will take my money and get me a legit streaming rental of new-release HD movies?
What do you mean by “new-release”? Movies that are in the cinema aren’t going to be legitimately available for streaming, as that would pretty much kill off the theatres. Netflix has streamed to PCs in HD for over two years.
New to DVD. Netflix streaming is usually crappy old movies.
It is? I don’t use it but assumed it was like DVD rental services which usually seem to have new releases pretty much as soon as they’re out on disc.
Microsoft through the Zune player.
Yes. Netflix has two catalogs: One for DVDs-by-mail, one for streaming. Their DVD service has just about everything. Their streaming service is different; unlike most digital rental services, Netflix does a subscription plan (one flat monthly fee) and the selection is really bad – mostly really old movies, some documentaries, some TV shows, and very few new major releases. The whole reason I’m asking this is because Netflix’s streaming never has the movies I want to watch. I’ve been a member of theirs for a decade (on and off) and have had high hopes for their streaming service, but they just haven’t been able to afford or negotiate the rights to the better movies. Too bad.
Same deal; HD is only available on the 360 and not on regular Windows.
I guess this is because with a PC it is trivially easy to store the streaming video and replay, copy or burn it to DVD.
Not so easy on other platforms.
I’m pretty sure Best Buy (cinema now, I think) and Amazon do.
Amazon does not, at least for certain ones that I want to watch (Prometheus).
CinemaNow just might… it seems they use hardware DRM tied to Intel CPUs. Thanks.
Turns out my local video store actually rents Blu-Rays for cheaper than the streaming services, but I’ll keep CinemaNow in mind the next time I’m too lazy to go out.