STREAMING words

Netflix says, "streaming is the future."
I say, "agreed."

Imagine never needing to hold a physical copy of a movie. Ever. Sure it is already happening but physical form still has an advantage right now. Quality. We can't watch to many 1080p movies without getting a blu-ray player and now 3D is being added to the mix. It is a lot of information to send over a network and we haven't even started with 2K resolutions at home yet (which will happen within 5 years...). That's the challenge for streaming video. Quality. So why do netflix and I agree? Because streaming has become a proven method for video distribution. Everyone watches videos on YouTube and dozens of other sites that stream on demand, including Netflix. In fact, Netflix predicts it's digital streaming will start to overtake it's physical distribution by 2013!
What will it take for streaming to really take off? Not a lot really, it is just too easy, but faster load times will help, and higher resolutions. I see resolutions being tackled first, because we are on the brink of a TV revolution. After all, it is still the best way to watch content, and new SMART TVs or settop boxes will make watching even easier.
That still leaves the problem of load times, which will only get worse as resolutions go up. What can we do about this? Pray that the Internet providers of the world (well mostly just here in the US) crank it up a notch. Did all you ISPs hear that? We need more juice!

Here is a little possibility of the future with streaming...

A theater normally only plays what it has on hand but what if they had everything on hand? What if they could stream a 4K film? A theater wouldn't have to wait for a print or even a Digital Intermediate to become available. They could just stream it, whenever they wanted. The theater would make more profits by playing whatever people wanted to see, and the studios could save on over head. How do you track the madness? Well, since it is all digital a studio will know exactly when film is streamed and exactly how many people bought tickets. Sounds like a win win to me, but what do I know? I am just a partner in an up and coming independent studio in Portland, Or.

Thanks for reading my ramble... Or should I say stream?