Sprint to offer full-length movie downloads

[gusto]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Using a mobile phone to buy movie tickets and check showtimes is one thing, but Sprint offers the whole movie.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S - news) is expected to announce on Monday that it has begun selling a service which allows users of its mobile video phones to watch full-length movies, television shows, concerts and comedy specials.

Provided by vendor MSpot, the service offers unlimited shows and movies for a monthly flat fee of $6.95, on top of regular service charges.

The announcement comes as Sprint and other wireless phone services are looking to video content like TV programs, music and sports to boost revenue.

They also are spending billions of dollars building up their networks for mobile video and speedy Internet service so they can grow revenue despite cheaper calling plans and a shrinking pool of first-time wireless phone subscribers.

The initial lineup includes films that are far from anyone's first-run list.

Among them are "One-Eyed Jacks," the Marlon Brando-Karl Malden Western, as well as "Angel and the Badman" with John Wayne. Other titles include "Night of the Living Dead" and the most recent -- "Short Circuit" from 1986.

"This is what we could get rights to quickly," said Dale Knoop, Sprint's general manager for multimedia services. He said the company and MSpot are in negotiations for more current content, but declined to say which studios are involved.

Sprint plans to debut seven new films a week.

Knoop also declined to say how many people have watched the films.

One question facing Sprint and the wireless industry is whether handheld-device users want to watch a feature-length film on a 2-inch or 3-inch screen.

Sprint found that many people have a shorter attention span when it comes to mobile phone video, a Sprint spokeswoman said. Allowing for that, the service lets viewers watch movies in segments, similar to a DVD.

[x3d33x]

Why would anyone want to watch a full-length movie on their puny cell phone screen. I pity anyone who can't atleast get to a portable dvd-player.

[nkstn]

man now i feel bad =/ ive watched a lot of movies and tv shows on my phone!! :cool: but i wouldnt pay for it.. seeing as i can get it for free.

[samseed101]

Yeah, now show me a powervision phone that has the battery capacity to last through an entire movie :)

[will_z32]

Yeah, now show me a powervision phone that has the battery capacity to last through an entire movie :)
or entire tv episode

[Draggar]

Why would anyone want to watch a full-length movie on their puny cell phone screen. I pity anyone who can't atleast get to a portable dvd-player.

Most people who would take advantage of that (layovers in airports, etc..) know they have the time and bring a laptop with them.

DVD player is almost standard with most laptops now... :)

[viperboy]

kind of a cool feature, except for the battery life issue. but, im guessing that you have to be in an area with EV-DO, right? cause i live in allentown, pa and even though we are not too far from philly, we dont have EV-DO yet. the rep at our store told me that we are considered part of the philly area, even though were a good 40-50 miles away from philly.

[unbreakableblue]

they're probably trying to compete w/ the new ipod. Which is a good thing, except for the fact that people are going to be disappointed when they can't watch the latest lost and then call their friends to chat about it on the same charge... The ipod's battery isn't stellar either (at least when it comes to video), but people can do w/o their ipods. panic attacks aren't far behind when a phone dies..

Also, just to give you an idea of where you might use something like this, i ride the metro 2 hours a day (1hour to school, and 1 back) and, although i carry my laptop, i'm hesitant to pull it out on the metro. so my ipod (and maybe my 920 pretty soon) comes in handy like you wouldn't believe. And by the way, watching movies on such a small screen is really not that bad. you just can't have too many expectations... :lol:

[josh33_unc]

its not that bad of quality actually, they have stuff broken down into clips. but its still the full movies. they have short circuit on there now, an old night of the living dead, 3 stooges, are the ones ive watched. they also have some other no name ones

[rip]

Zoovision.com....its free, but there isnt mcuh to choose from. We watched the "night of the livivg dead" movie about a month ago. There is a few more older movies, but I can only assume that because the copyrights expired.

[bigaL4u2c]

Zoovision is good for movies. I'll pay the $6.95 for Mspot if it has regular movies, tv, etc. and it looks good on the Ev-Do. I'm in my car all day long and I don't mind the small screen. I listen with my stereo head sets, pretty cool. :cool:

[imtravis]

Maybe they'll make a phone with a fold out screen. So then you could have a 10 inch screen on your cell. ;-) They are working on flexible display technology, this woud be a great aplication of it.

[Clash]

I'm glad that they got a flat fee for this though... tis' something positive! Beats the $2.50/music download!

[x3d33x]

I'm surprised at the warm reception for it. I for one could never find a practical use for it instead of coming home and watching it on my tv. But I guess maybe for those who travel an aweful lot, but then you might have problems keeping an EVDO connection :P

[losplatanos]

cool well its good when u go on road trips, travel, stuck on traffic, waiting in lines, but all this phone have poor battery life

when they make a phone were u can talk for 3 hours, watch tv for 2 hours, listen to music for 2 more hours, and still have enough battery power to do it again, then things will be great

[ninoid]

Maybe they'll make a phone with a fold out screen. So then you could have a 10 inch screen on your cell. ;-) They are working on flexible display technology, this woud be a great aplication of it.

I think a mini built in projector would be cool. Set your phone on your desk and watch a movie on the wall.

[sneak]

Thanks for the tip on Zoovision. I didn't even know the media player worked with external files on the 8300. Nice find! :)

[galorajo]

I have to say, I was stuck an extra hour in the DALLAS airport a week ago and time flew FAST when I watched SHORT CIRCUIT in my 9000. It was so funny cause I even had a little croud behind me.
I think is really worth it if your going to use it. PRETTY COOL where technology is going!

[Dwimmerlaik]

For those of you "screen is too small" people there is hope! Come over to the Geek side! Get a PDA phone! These aren't the droids you're looking for...
Join me and together we can rule the galaxy! Etc.

On the PDA phone the films are much more bearable. If you travel alot they pass layover time much faster. Get a snack, kick back, and it's like your own personal movie theatre! :Popcorn2:

MMmmmm... Convergence! >drooling<

[laursifer]

For those of you "screen is too small" people there is hope! Come over to the Geek side! Get a PDA phone! These aren't the droids you're looking for...
Join me and together we can rule the galaxy! Etc.

On the PDA phone the films are much more bearable. If you travel alot they pass layover time much faster. Get a snack, kick back, and it's like your own personal movie theatre! :Popcorn2:

MMmmmm... Convergence! >drooling<



That all depends. Your idea is only applicable to videos you convert yourself at a higher resolution. Movies in 3GP format (QCIF) are 176x144 I believe--PDA phones will probably stretch them to fit the screen, creating a horrible downgrade in quality, effectively kicking the PDA-advantage out the window.

The advantage to most PDA phones being that you can easily play MPEGs, AVIs and all that jazz (at least with Windows Mobile devices--been YEARS since I've used a Palm device). Files are just larger, but with expandable memory slots that's not much of an issue. I believe you can also convert your movies to 320x240 and watch in landscape mode, right?

[Glenny7467]

Yes, you can laursifer... The whole point is how small it can be and still play movie/video. If size of the machine/product wasnt an issue we would all stay home and watch our high def tv's. But its pretty damn neat when you can grab a beer at the local pub and pull your cell to watch your favorite movie/and or tv channel. And BTW, I can get through a whole movie just fine with battery to spare. On a side note even Sprint announced with this briefing that users will most likely not watch a whole movie. So here is the cool part... All of the movies you get will be in chapters like a dvd! :Popcorn2:

[dfwtxpatrick]

Zoovision.com....its free, but there isnt mcuh to choose from. We watched the "night of the livivg dead" movie about a month ago. There is a few more older movies, but I can only assume that because the copyrights expired.

Anyone know why I can't view the Zoovision.com on my 7400? It loads the site w/o a problem, but won't play a movie, video or anything. I keep getting error codes.

Anyone know if I can play these on my 7400. Pls let me know what I can do to make this work.

[laursifer]

On a side note even Sprint announced with this briefing that users will most likely not watch a whole movie. So here is the cool part... All of the movies you get will be in chapters like a dvd!


Unfortunately, those chapters are in 5-minute segments from what I hear, just like their content on the SprintTV applications. Total overkill. *le sigh*

[Glenny7467]

You think its easier to have one whole file? As long as next chapter loads and you can ff, rv chapters its the best way. I like watching whole movies on my tv but on my phone I tend to go to the best parts (way to hard to do in single 2 hour feed.) Don't like the chapter your on just hit the next button or go through the playlist. ;)

[laursifer]

You think its easier to have one whole file? As long as next chapter loads and you can ff, rv chapters its the best way. I like watching whole movies on my tv but on my phone I tend to go to the best parts (way to hard to do in single 2 hour feed.) Don't like the chapter your on just hit the next button or go through the playlist. ;)


Oh no, no, no... I just think 5-minute segments for a whole movie is ridiculous. Fifteen... now that's more like it. I suppose it's a matter of preference. I make my own videos, chop them into 15-minute segments and it's been perfect for me.

[Glenny7467]

Gotcha, your the kinda chick that likes things to last longer than 5 minutes... Thats hot! :cool:

[laursifer]

Gotcha, your the kinda chick that likes things to last longer than 5 minutes... Thats hot! :cool:


:lol: LMAO! Now that was slick...

[giovinetto]

Gotcha, your the kinda chick that likes things to last longer than 5 minutes... Thats hot! :cool:

Very nice Mr. Wordsmith.

I still don't think this is going to be 1) very useful, 2) popular or 3) financially wise given current limitations on cellphones that've already been mentioned. Perhaps Sprint is just trying to get in on the ground floor with legal rights and such for the day when we finally get decent South Korean-style phones here. :fingers:

[cyclical]

new here...

I recently purchased a PPC-6700, and have the Sprint Power-Vision Access Pack.

Still lookin around for sites with free streaming videos... (not in 3gp format)..

[lgmayka]

I believe you can also convert your movies to 320x240 and watch in landscape mode, right?
Some PocketPCs (not phones, though) have 640x480 screens. There are (legal!) programs to convert almost any commercial DVD into 640x480 DivX format. You can then play such movies in 640x480 on the PocketPC.

[Glenny7467]

Very nice Mr. Wordsmith.

I still don't think this is going to be 1) very useful, 2) popular or 3) financially wise given current limitations on cellphones that've already been mentioned. Perhaps Sprint is just trying to get in on the ground floor with legal rights and such for the day when we finally get decent South Korean-style phones here. :fingers:

Actually the overseas high-speed standard CDMA2000 runs slower than EVDO. Granted coverage of CDMA2000 is better seeing sprint just officially launched this new network a little over a month ago. But In areas of EVDO (which is pretty decent here in Michigan) streaming is excellent. I personally disagree with...

1) Not very usefull - How many people do you see in public playing with their ringtones... Imagine when movies on EVDO are more accessible!

2) Not Popular - People pay $2.50 - $7.00 for a 20 second ringtone, Imagine what they would pay for whole movies!!!

3) Not Financially wise given current limitations - These phones are built and optimized for a network to stream multimedia!!!

Its just a lack of perception. Its a very reasonable, profitable, and ground breaking service being offered by sprint. Showing wether you purchase or not your 'carrier' is cutting edge. I mean... come on, verizon is still playing prerecorded clips (no live tv!)
I agree you gotta start somewhere, but before sprint starts they usually do their homework. Sprint just launched EVDO and its already larger than Verizons EVDO. Verizon launched over a year ago.

***Also***
By the time this is released it should be on its own proprietary bandwith just for streaming via qualcomm. Making streaming and normal phone use independant from one another. And Korea is just now dabbling in a standard not better than 3gp, just expanding its size capabilities. Instead of 176x144 they are developing a qvga 3gp standard also known as KSWIF or .k3g. Even though equipment is out overseas faster, the .3gp standard is still the same and not going anywhere for a while. As long as a phone can play the content it just takes network speed and bandwith.

And that was EVDO/3gp content 101 ;)

[giovinetto]

Sigh. Ok, I'll do this once, but I don't want to start a flame.

1) "playing with ringtones" is a lot different than watching a 90 minute feature film on a tiny screen. I've tried watching a tv show on my pda at 320 by 240 when commuting and the experience is painful (holding the player in one hand, craning your neck, details too small). I think PMPs(portable media players) are on their way up in popularity (check out the Nokia 770) and with things like the psp and ipod with video, I think they are a lot more likely to capture the movies on the go market. and maybe I don't get out enough, but I don't usually see people playing with their ringtones. (your financial interests are noted)

2) Just because "some" people pay that doesn't make it popular. Although I'm biased because I think paying that much for a ringtone is silly, I also believe that as the technology develops people will stop paying that. Does anyone who has a newer phone that can connect to their pc in mass storage actually pay for ringtones rather than making their own? In time I can see phones being able to be programed to play any 30 second clip from a phones mp3 library, which I expect to grow quite large. But maybe people will continue to pay that, or maybe with the ability to just rip your DVD with someting like mactheripper and programs like video9 to port it to your ipod or psp, people will just do it themselves. I dunno as this is all just speculation.

3) Maybe you're right. I might just be too old fashioned and not that into streaming media.

And over all, I wasn't really refering to the network when referencing Korean, but rather their higher end phones that have screens more comparable with PMPs and thus easier on the eyes when watching something as long as a movie.

So maybe it will work out even though I'm highly suspicious (no stock transfers to Sprint anytime soon). I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[ZiggyZ]

I see that battery life would be an issue with this but I suppose it will still be fine seeing as they would be offering segments and such of a full movie that you can download or get streamed so as not to scare away the masses at offering the full length movies at full length.

[Glenny7467]

This is a grown up forum no flames intended... :cool:

Basically, what I am getting from your argument is that it may not be successfull because people can simply make their own. Actually, that is what makes them so efficient. Sprints network is non-brew, and open ended allowing users to create their own products! The ironic part is they lead other carriers in ringtone sales.

First off, you cant store ringers on a memory card via mass storage (unless its a short clip video ringtone.)

Second off, I still would like to understand what 'overseas' cell phones (non PDA) your talking about with better screens than qvga??? Im guessing you mean swivel screens and or flip/widescreens that are still qvga but give a landscape aspect ratio kinda like the Sprint PPC-6700? I agree they look excellent for watching movies, but they are too 'big' for the mass who just wants a cell phone.

As much as you say you are old fashioned... The movies I rip are addicting, hard to not watch during downtime. I am just excited because I can offer a way better product for a better price! I am the owner of the website in my sig, and video streaming could be a possibility in the future. I noticed you have the blade... PM me for a free ringtone!

(Thanks for a responsible conversation, as do alot of these turn to flames!) :clap:

[lgmayka]

I think the references to Korean QVGA have to do with the sad fact that all of Sprint's video (both live and clips) are only 176x144 in resolution or less. All of Sprint's phones can only play videos of resolution 176x144 or less, even though the phone's screen resolution may be much greater. You can easily see this by switching the Media Player's setting from Enlarged Size to Original Size.

It would be wonderful if Sprint eventually provides an over-the-air firmware update to enable EV-DO phones to play QVGA video (320x240 in landscape mode) or even just 240x180, but it's highly unlikely. Right now, the best quality in pocket video is on a Toshiba e800 PocketPC, which has a 4" diagonal, 640x480 screen and can use all of it to full benefit in playing movies converted from DVD.

[giovinetto]

I think the references to Korean QVGA have to do with the sad fact that all of Sprint's video (both live and clips) are only 176x144 in resolution or less. All of Sprint's phones can only play videos of resolution 176x144 or less, even though the phone's screen resolution may be much greater. You can easily see this by switching the Media Player's setting from Enlarged Size to Original Size.

It would be wonderful if Sprint eventually provides an over-the-air firmware update to enable EV-DO phones to play QVGA video (320x240 in landscape mode) or even just 240x180, but it's highly unlikely. Right now, the best quality in pocket video is on a Toshiba e800 PocketPC, which has a 4" diagonal, 640x480 screen and can use all of it to full benefit in playing movies converted from DVD.

Thank you. That was the main point I was trying to make. I even feel that QVGA is a little small for comfort. Something around 3 inch diagonal would IMHO be the minimum for comfort. People are complaining about the ipod with video and that's sure bigger than a our cellphones. Shrug. I guess we'll wait and see.

[Glenny7467]

igmayka the reference has to do with wether korea, canada, usa, voda phone, or whoever/wherever the standard is 3gp which is for right now 176x144. Well, granted if your phone takes CIF video you can go higher for 3gp but that standard is far from regular (being one phone in the US that does it.)

And by the way that 1 phone that does it, samsung t809, movies look superb for a tiny phone. 320x240 .3gp in a landscape mode! Only problem is clarity is not gonna get better than a well made 176x144 3gp. Bigger the .3gp, harder it is to stream and keep at a small size.

[lgmayka]

Only problem is clarity is not gonna get better than a well made 176x144 3gp. Bigger the .3gp, harder it is to stream and keep at a small size.
If the video is on a miniSD card anyway, size is not such an issue. For over-the-air transmission, Verizon and Sprint are looking at solutions that are more like true broadcasting/multicasting (e.g., Qualcomm's MediaFlo).

[renizay]

why would ANYONE waste there memory on their phone to watch a movie on a TINY screen, im saying tiny as in comparison to watching a movie on ur tv at home or in the movies... doesnt make sense to me.. but hey i guess whatever ya like, rite?!

[Glenny7467]

If the video is on a miniSD card anyway, size is not such an issue. For over-the-air transmission, Verizon and Sprint are looking at solutions that are more like true broadcasting/multicasting (e.g., Qualcomm's MediaFlo).

The topic of this thread is reffereing to streaming. And flo is not a solution its an enhancement for once this takes off (dedicating bandwith to only streaming, not expanding coverage.) EVDO streaming right now is flawless, of course when your in good EVDO zones. Sprint's network bandwith for EVDO streaming right now is sufficient. This is just a future precaution for when they add libraries of BIG movies, and have millions accessing them.

Movies on a microSD or MiniSD are excellent I already have a ton made! Size for 3gp is the same wether its on a card or streamed, 176x144 is the standard no matter screen resolution/size. As I said before the only phones that can go beyond that size have to capture CIF video (Only one phone in the US, and not many overseas.) This is why any 3gp content as of right now actually looks better on vga screens (176x220.)

Oh and Renizay, it doesnt use internal memory. It will be a fee you pay to veiw the streamed EVDO movies when you like. Prices are actually going to be reasonable too!

[lgmayka]

I just got my 1GB miniSD card, and copied an entire movie (about 360MB, close to 2 hours of video) onto it. It plays well, but...

It is totally impractical without any way to skip to where you previously were! At the least, we need a button to skip 5 minutes at a time.

I know the proposal to divide every video into 5-minute chunks, but it would be a lot simpler just to provide a 5-minute skipping button.

[laursifer]

I know the proposal to divide every video into 5-minute chunks, but it would be a lot simpler just to provide a 5-minute skipping button.


I agree... or at least have it actually FAST forward while holding down the button. My 940 kind of accomplishes this. Kind of.

[lgmayka]

Actually, my experiments indicate that on the MM-9000, a 3GPP2 file created by 3GP Converter will not fast-forward or fast-reverse at all, but an MPEG-4 file carefully created by DVD Catalyst does indeed fast-forward and fast-reverse quite well! (I use the left and right directions on the joypad.)

But there is another pitfall to watch out for. The video must be exactly 176x144 in order for the phone to enlarge it to fit the screen. Otherwise--e.g., if the video is 176x128--the phone simply plays it in an appropriate subwindow, with no option for enlargement. So with DVD Catalyst, I shave 5 pixels off the sides of the original 4:3 movie; this is sufficient to tell DVD Catalyst to produce 176x144 instead of 176x128. (A 4:3 aspect ratio actually corresponds to 176x132, which is not a standard movie resolution.)

[Glenny7467]

On any of the above phones I've never had a ff/rv problem. I also directly rip chapters and put them in the same folder. Not only can you ff/rv, skip chapters forward or back, but you can also bring up the channel select without blocking vision to skip to a particular chapter.

[nickle]

Why would anyone want to watch a full-length movie on their puny cell phone screen. I pity anyone who can't atleast get to a portable dvd-player.

I feel like this is like those dudes back in the 1940's saying "a man on the moon?! IMPOSSIBLE!"

Yeah that was a terrible example, but if you haven't heard of DMB I think you'll be quite surprised.

I'm in korea right now and the DMB tv service (some kind of wireless broadband or something that lets you view tv, live tv on a DMB device, either a phone, a DMB player, or even a GPS navi system) is amazing. I see people watching world cup games on their phone, live, and the quality is stunning.

I always think how nice it would be to have these back in the states, but then again, TV in america sucks these days. But yeah, the these phones make the a900 look like technology from years ago, like it really is... we just dont see it in the states.