The Met Opera begins streaming “in HD”

Next Wednesday (October 22), the Metropolitan Opera will begin streaming performances online, on a pay per view and subscription basis.

Of course, we love the idea, and wish them nothing but success. We do see their approach as a mixed bag, however.

On the plus side, they’re using the Move Networks player. Regardless of the occasional glitch that will inevitably happen when live streaming an event, we have been undoubtedly impressed with Move’s solutions, and consider their player to be the best on the market. Hands down.

On the down side, we hate that they’re calling it HD. Just because something is 1920 X 1080, doesn’t mean its in HD. Sure, it might be plausably HD quality on a 13″ screen, but try porting it to a 40″ and watch the pixels magically appear. Let me reiterate: there is no true HD streaming.

More important will be the portability of the content. Will it be downloadable? Can a business traveler burn the performances to a disc or hard drive, and bring them on a plane? How good will the music quality be, really?

We’re hopeful for the Met’s success in this endeavor, yet cautious in our optimism.