When we poo-pooed the announcement by Hollywood's big studios a fortnight ago that they were launching a video-on-demand system to deliver movies over the Internet, we had a number of emails arguing that we'd got it all wrong and were behind the times. DivX is already here, it's already being used and, most importantly, it's great quality at full screen, we were told. It is the equivalent of MP3 for videos and the world will never be the same. Hollywood studios are right to be worried and they may already be too late. We've checked out DivX before and were unconvinced that it possessed the full powers ascribed to it by its supporters. But what's the harm of another look? The Hollywood studios (all except Disney and Fox, who appear to be going off on their own route) have agreed to an "initiative", headed by Sony - the master of high-quality proprietary technology - to offer a service they claim will be available from next year. You will be able to go through lists of movies, select one, pay $4 and then download it in between 40 minutes to 4 hours. That file will then sit on your hard drive for up to a month and disappear within a day of you first opening it.
News source: The Reg
