Authorized P2P Video Seen Going Portable
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 7/17/2006
Saratoga SpringS, N.Y. — Authorized P2P file-sharing service Peer Impact has launched authorized rental downloads of select movies and TV programs from three major studios and hopes to make the downloads portable.
“We are currently in discussions with all the major device manufacturers and working toward being able to offer portable video in the near future,” a spokeswoman said.
Movies and TV shows from the libraries of 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal and Warner Brothers are available in WMV format using the Windows Media 10 digital-right-management (DRM) technology.
Peer boasts “several hundred” movies and about 60 TV episodes.
In 2005, Peer Impact launched the first authorized P2P music-sharing network with music from the big four music companies and independents.
TV shows are available for as low as 99 cents, and current and library titles from $2.99 to $3.99, all for 24-hour viewing periods.
The movie files are encoded at a 1.6Mbps data rate, exceeding the capabilities of current Microsoft-based Portable Media Centers (PMCs) supporting 800Kbps maximum decode rates. In 2006, however, Microsoft's Vista OS will enable automatic down-conversion of WMV files to 800Kbps.
