What's taking DVD-On-Demand so long?

I've been waiting patiently for Netflix/Blockbuster to unleash a simple way to search their vast libraries, select a movie, have it download to your hard disk, and let you watch it as if it were a DVD -- all for a reasonable price of $15/month. Imagine the simplicity: you get three movies at a time, but you never have to leave the house. We already have all the software out there for mounting a DVD image, we already have plenty of devices for watching (high-def) movies on your television, and we have many options for broadband service at reasonable prices. We also know that Blockbuster and Netflix are looking into this right now.

So what's taking this DVD-On-Demand (DOD) system so long? The answer is licensing: the big whigs who own the rights to these DVDs don't want anyone to have access to their selections for fear of copyright issues. But what, I ask you, is the difference between downloading a DVD to your TiVo versus getting the DVD in the mail and pirating it on your computer? The answer to this question is time. It takes more time for the DVD to arrive, to put it into your computer, and to rip it to another DVD that you might ultimately keep in your vast collection of dust-gathering discs. But the people who are willing to do this are in the minority when you get all-you-can-eat for $15/month.

Why does my dad rip Netflix movies as they come in? Because he wants to have a vast selection of movies ready to go anytime. Would he go through that effort if he could have his online queue readily accessible to him at any time? Absolutely not! Why waste time with physical media when it can all be stored electronically? The simplest solution is partnerships with Netflix and Tivo (already supposed to be done) and then perhaps Blockbuster and Microsoft. Tivo/Microsoft update TiVo/Media Center to allow for the downloads (perhaps using bit-torrent type technologies to enhance performance of popular recently-released movies) and Blockbuster and Netflix provide the content. The software puts some sort of magical encryption over the movie so you can't hack your disk and put it onto a DVD.

Now in reality, of course you could do that: everything can be cracked. But most people who are paying for this service probably wouldn't go through the effort of doing it, and if someone really wanted to make a living selling pirated DVDs he obtained for $15/month from Netflix or Blockbuster, he can do it nowadays anyway -- he just has to wait a little bit longer for the mail to arrive. Besides, I'm sure suspicious content providers might be alarmed if one household is watching 15 movies/day. That's something you can investigate and determine in a case-by-case basis.

I'm frustrated. I really want to get whatever movie I want for $15/month, downloaded directly to my computer. No DVD media to get scratched. No lag time for mailing. No computer-mail-TV interface. Everything should be accessible with a few clicks of my remote control.

Perhaps I'll do an alternative solution: set up a data center somewhere in an off-shore community that has not restrictions on pirated content, get as many DVDs as possible and make ISOs of them, then provide my service over the internet to mainland subscribers. $15/month for any movie you want. We'll even build bit-torrent right into it for more popular downloads. Now if only I can figure out which islands would allow this...