M
ost readers will be familiar with the
BitTorrent peer-to-peer fi le-sharing
protocol, which earned a somewhat
notorious reputation as the tool of choice for
people sharing large copyrighted fi les—par-
ticularly Hollywood movies—over the Internet.
Bram Cohen, the programmer who origi-
nally created the protocol, has since founded
BitTorrent, Inc. to exploit legal applications for
his product. Movie downloads are one.
The beauty of the BitTorrent protocol is
that no one person needs to bear the entire
cost of hosting huge fi les, such as movies;instead, each existing recipient
of the fi le supplies chunks of the
data to newer recipients. That
model works exceedingly well
for those who need to host the
fi le, but we’re not quite sure how
consumers paying for download-
able content benefi t.
BitTorrent offers a broad
mix of movies, TV shows, and
other content for rent or purchase; it also
offers some advertising-supported con-
tent. Purchased titles can be viewed on
up to two computers, but rented titles can
be viewed only on the PC they were origi-
nally downloaded to. Purchased movies
can be burned to disc, but the disc can be
played only on PCs that you’ve “activated”
by signing into your BitTorrent account.
BitTorrent does not permit purchased fi les
to be transferred to portable devices, which
we view as a major shortcoming.
What’s worse is that the BitTorrent user
interface is not integrated into either version of
Windows Media Center, which makes it nearly
impossible to browse the site’s content from
the comfort of your couch. In fact, the only
way to search the service’s library is to use the
primitive tools on its website. This matters little
if you’re watching movies on your desktop
PC, but it’s a real pain if you’re using a home-
theater PC or streaming content to a Media
Center Extender.
BitTorrent offers downloadable videos
in both SD and HD and in WMV, H.264, andMPEG-4 formats, but the Hollywood offer-
ings we sampled were all SD WMV fi les (with
all the image-quality issues inherent to that
format). We also found BitTorrent’s prime
movie library to be thinner than average, with
only eight of our 25 new-release searches
available for rent and nine available for sale.
We found only two of our favorite cult fi lms in
the library: Offi ce Space (for rent and for sale)
and Reservoir Dogs (for sale only), but we did
encounter some great horror fi lms offered for
free , which can be moved and burned to disc
without restrictions.
It’s defi nitely worth searching BitTorrent’s
library for unusual and free content, but the
service has nothing to offer over the other
services reviewed here.24 MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC | MAYMAYMAY 08 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
Netflix is legitimately awesome. For a few bucks a month, you get
all the movies you want delivered straight to your door, and if you’re
committed to a monthly subscription plan costing $9 or more, you get
access to Netflix’s streaming service at no additional cost. This gives
you instant access to hundreds of movies, ranging from direct-to-DVD
releases such as Superman: Doomsday to cult classics like A Boy
and His Dog.
But the service isn’t perfect. Netflix relies on WMV, so its video
quality suffers many of the same problems as the other WMV-based
services we tested, namely, soft edges and resolution limited to
640x480. The service is included with the company’s existing disc-
rental subscription plans, so they don’t offer newly released feature
films (and they’re contractually barred from streaming any older filmsthat Vongo has the rights to).
You can use the freeware program MyNetFlix (the author accepts
donations) to browse Netflix’s offerings within Windows Media Center,
and the program will even allow you to stream movies from another PC
on your network using a Media Center Extender, but the software is
Vista only. Netflix says it plans to build a set-top box in partnership with
LG Electronics, but that announcement was way back during CES in
January—the hardware is looking pretty vaporous right now.
Still, the convenience of having access to a large online catalog of
back content, while simultaneously getting new releases on DVD—or
even Blu-ray for the same price—renders Netflix a compelling solution
in our eyes, even if you do have to wait for snail mail.CONSPICUOUSLY MISSING
Netfl ix offers a movie streaming service, so why aren’t we reviewing it alongside the others?
BitTorrent
Not ready for prime time
VERDICT4
Movie rentals: $3 to $
Movie purchases:
$10 to $
TV episodes: $
http://www.bittorrent.comBitTorrent offers a plethora of free movies, including
the 1969 lesbian love film The Tender Touch.BitTorrent isn’t integrated with Windows
Media Center and the service doesn’t offer
a 10-foot user interface of its own, so it’s
best experienced on a desktop PC.DOWNLOAD
SERVICES
MOVIE GUIDE