Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
CinemaNow launched its Disc to Digital Service in downtown Toronto earlier today. The event, sponsored by Best Buy and Future Shop, feature a panel that included Loveena Chera, Director of CinemaNow Canada, Brian Humes, Executive Vice President - Canada & United Kingdom 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Edward Han, Vice President, Digital Account Management, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, John Melluso, Vice President, Sales, Universal Studios Canada Inc and Aksel Lielmanis, Executive Director, New Release Marketing Warner Bros. Entertainment Canada Inc.
The panel of studio executives were moderated by film critic Richard Crouse and discussed the latest trends in content and how CinemaNow, which brings movies to streaming customers before or at the same time as they come to theatres, can offer Canadians another option to consume movies.
Elliot Chun, Communications Manager of Future Shop demonstrates disc to digital using the Batman Begins DVD
The disc to digital service also allows users to take their existing DVDs, sign up on the service and, for a fee, get a cloud-stored digital version of the DVD they own in either standard definition or high definition that is easily accessible on thousands of mobile devices and PCs.
When asked how CinemaNow stacks up against subscription-based streaming services like Netflix, Loveena Chera said that CinemaNow's advantage is that it has access to all the new content as it is made available, sometimes even before Blu-Ray and DVD releases. To celebrate the launch, CinemaNow sponsored a free public screening of the recent Star Trek: Into Darkness film at 8:30 on September 3 at Yonge and Dundas Square.