Xbox 360 movie download service launches today

[HEXUS]

Today, December 11th 2007, sees the launch of the Xbox live movie store in Europe, a service which allows consumers to hire out the likes of Superman III and 300 by downloading them straight to the console's hard drive.

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[Sinizter]

So what does it cost then ? Around £4 for 300 in HD ?

[Steven W]

So what does it cost then ? Around £4 for 300 in HD ?

£4.59 to be precise.

[Parm]

I think it's too expensive for a rental service. Once you've watched the movie, it expires within 24 hours.

I think postal rental services such as LoveFilm are much better value, they do HD-DVDs too if HD is a must.

[YorkieBen]

will try some of these but its still a bit pricey.

Im far more interested in getting TV programs...

come on MS!!

[Steven W]

will try some of these but its still a bit pricey.

Im far more interested in getting TV programs...

come on MS!!

yeah, I'm more interested in TV progs. Children's classics would be good - Rentaghost!

[Skinleech]

Thought it was supposed to be £.20 or so for an HD film and £2 for an SD one? Accoridng to the press releases I say anyway.

[[GSV]Trig]

Well overpriced imho, like has been said, there are places like LoveFilm etc that are cheaper, plus you dont have to wait for the film to download.
Also better from the mobility POV, you wanna watch a film but the missus is watching Americas Next Top Model reruns on the big TV in the livingroom where the xbox is plugged in, simple, take it upstairs, stick it in the dvd player in the bedroom and off you go.
The idea in principle is good but the cost needs to come down and it'll work better in 10 or so years time when we all have a games/multimedia console under the tv and a home server setup, request from console to server, server downloads content, then you can watch it on any of your home server remote devices...

[Skinleech]

You do have to wait for the DVD to arrive though... Downloading is probably quicker over all, but online rentals will still be cheaper. However, with the 360 you're limited to SD or HD-DVD, so the MS market may well start to focus on HD titles that are Blu-ray exclusive, if they can.

I've been told by a mate that's had a look that only newer titles in HD, like 300 are over £4. Older HD films are cheaper.

[Knoxville]

Whats the quality like? heard it was sub par due to the compression used on both the sd and hd films.

[Skinleech]

I expect they'll all be 720p and wmv9, which isn't that bad a codec. The US T2 specioal edition had a WMV-HD on the disk, which clocked in at 6.5gb and looked great. With the mroe advanced versions of wmv that are available now, there should be no reason for subpar quality.

[Bonnie]

The quality is really really good, I had to try in spite of the price, but I won't do it regularly as the terms are slightly harsh when thinking of the price and the fact that you only have the movie for 24 hours.
It is a good option for when you invite friends over for a movie night so you can enjoy the advantages of the movie's qualities.

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[Butuz]

Yeh downloaded I am Legend @ 720P on it last week and was very impressed with the picture quality! Blows SKY HD out of the water easily enough.

Shame about the cost though - I think you should have access to it for longer than 24 hours - e.g I couldnt show my mate coz he couldnt get here in time.

Quite fancy downloading The Matrix 1 just to see what that looks like in HD

Butuz

[TheReaFireblade]

Blows SKY HD out of the water easily enough.

I'm surprised you think they're that good!?
Have you watched Sky HD programs - or any HD film for that matter, on a (good quality) 1080p screen?

[Butuz]

I'm surprised you think they're that good!?
Have you watched Sky HD programs - or any HD film for that matter, on a (good quality) 1080p screen?

Yep. Had SKY HD for a year before cancelling it - still have the SKY+HD box which I use to watch the freeview channels including BBC and C4 HD. Thats on a Sharp 40" LCD @ 1080p (1080i on sky)

Gonna download the Matrix 1 off the Xbox to watch this weekend methinks. That will sort the men from the boys! If MS Started offering 1080p films I would be in heaven.

Butuz