Good news for film buffs. A new movie network is coming up where you can watch over 3000 titles, from black and whites to the latest releases, anytime of the day and in any order. Best of all, you can access it from anywhere in the world. But to actually see the movies, you need a lot more than just a television set and a cable connection. You should have a computer with a sound card, a fast modem and an Internet account. Called PMTV at pmtv-india.com, this site is an advanced version of its counterpart in the West, Hollywood. com. PMTV offers much more than trailers and Bollywood trivia. It gives full length movies as well. The site will have its own Top-20 countdown show, and will beam rock shows and concerts live. And, with a touch of supreme foresight, PMTV will show live footage from the other arena of melodrama - politics. The website has been established by Rajiv Chaubey, an ex-journalist and film-maker. " Internet is the only medium which offers two way communication and reaches all countries," he says. He adds that over 85 million people in 200 countries have access to the Net, and consequently, to his site. But, would someone in faraway Japan or Latin America be interested in Hindi movies? Chaubey believes so. "Movies have an universal appeal. You can understand a Japanese or Swedish movie without knowing a word of the language," he says. While other services will be given free, subscribers will have to pay for the movies. The rates will vary from two to five dollars depending on the grade and demand of the film. Payments will be made through credit cards. PMTV will also premier Vimal Kumar's Tarazu on July 25. "This will be a world premier in the true sense of the word," says Chaubey. There are also features like resizing the video display window and fast forwarding or rewinding almost instantaneously. The downloading is real-time and the film can be viewed without interruptions. That is, if the telephone lines do not play truant. Also if the display area is increased from the default quarter screen size, the resolution drops and motion becomes jerky. Sound lags behind and the result is hardly worth watching. CVO , In Mumbai's movie channel, too is planning to establish its movie network on the Net. "The quality is not watchable though, as the technology is not there," says J S Kohli, President, Incablenet. They have hired a software house to work on better video compression. Yet Kohli is sceptical about the industry response and the advertisement possibilities. "The idea is interesting, but the producers won't latch on to it as their main market is in India," he says. While CVO, with its bank of movies, has an edge, Chaubey does not feel any competition exists. "Internet is a vast ocean. We are the first and will remain the first," he says. That is, if the movie buffs decide to upgrade from movie halls and video players to computers.
