HD movies, TV shows coming to Xbox Live
On November 22, the anniversary of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft will be offering high-definition television shows and movies for download. The offerings span a large demographic, from CBS and Nascar to Adult Swim and MTV (yes, "Pimp My Ride" will be included). Movies include, Nacho Libre, Superman Returns, and the original Jackass: The Movie. The TV shows will be download to own, while the movies will only be rentals.The move is impressive, though we can't help but worry about the disk space -- our tiny 20 GB HDD is not going to hold that much. The press release talks a lot about downloading, but what about streaming? Can we watch part of the program while we download it? And, most important of all, how much will these cost? We'll kidnap our trusted sources and let you know what we get out of them. You can view the current list of upcoming titles here.
Microsoft is bringing HD-quality movies to the 360 without requiring the purchase of the external HD DVD drive. Will Sony follow suit or keep all HD cinema / television bound for Blu-ray?
[Thanks to every single person who sent this in!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JJ @ Nov 6th 2006 10:53PM
yeah with this announcment they're definately going to need to come out with a larger HD. 20GB for HD content is NOT going to be enough
Vlad @ Nov 6th 2006 10:54PM
anyone surprised? didn't think so.
Optimus Prime @ Nov 6th 2006 10:58PM
Good move on MSs part. Now, bigger HDD and make this available to everyone, not just Goldmembers.
otakucode @ Nov 6th 2006 11:00PM
My guess based on current offerings from other companies...
The movies will be between $5 and $10 to 'rent'. Possibly even different rates for SD and HD content.
TV shows will be between $2 and $5 per episode, and the extent of your 'owning' it will be a license to only watch it on your Xbox 360. And if they're real bastards about it, they'll start the trend of dynamically inserted advertisements... though I doubt they'll be the ones to pioneer this, the cable companies on demand services are much more likely to do it first.
And yes, the 20GB limit will be extremely harsh. You're not going to stream HD content... you're just not. Even if they compress the bejesus out of it using the latest H.264-based codecs, it will be too much data to stream. XBLA downloads don't show you their speed for a reason - they're dog slow. I have a 9mbit connection, and my firewall shows me Live Marketplace rarely breaking 1mbit on downloads. I doubt these offerings will do anything to decrease the bandwidth load on MS' end.
I'd say there is about a 50/50 chance that the content MS offers will be compressed to such a high degree that the quality comes in at less than DVD quality. Doubtful though as their trailers and such thus far are quite nice quality.
BTW, is mine the only Xbox 360 that sometimes stutters on playback of 720p content? It's only certain content, and usually in the same spot on each playback. It makes me wonder if they ever test the things before they send them out, or if maybe my 360 just has something wrong with it.
Louis S. @ Nov 6th 2006 11:03PM
If any of you actually, you know, READ the article, you would know that a 20GB HDD would be enough. It's more of a rental of a movie, not actually purchasing it. You download the movie/show and you have it on your HDD for up to 14 days. Once you watch it once, you can watch it as many times as you want for 24 hours, then POOF! It's gone.
No streaming, just downloading a movie for a limited period of time.
Sean @ Nov 6th 2006 11:04PM
woah, you can't buy the movies???
Patricio @ Nov 6th 2006 11:05PM
Superman Batman and Matrix, will be great in HD, but how is a 2 1/2 hour movie like superman in HD fit on my xbox hard drive?
Lit Bomb @ Nov 6th 2006 11:13PM
Kick ass!!
nick @ Nov 6th 2006 11:13PM
There was a promotional video on Xbox.com not an hour ago (since pulled) that had point value equal to $4-5 per download for some content such as rentals.
According to Major Nelson he'll discuss more this Sunday on his podcast. I'm assuming his address the hard drive space question (when will a bigger drive be available?) that everyone has been asking on his blog.
Optimus Prime @ Nov 6th 2006 11:14PM
For movies, its more like video on demand, except that you need to download the entire movie first in 720p 6.8 mbps and 5.1 sound... 720p will be fine for a lot of people. But, having to download 4-5 gb of data before being able to watch should be an interesting experiment.
Even with a larger drive, everything will be heavily compressed, they need to accommodate the lowest common denominator and its good to save bandwidth anyways.
And, not everything will be in HD. Some are in SD (to accommodate SDTVs) with the HD equivalent offered at a premium.
localpirate @ Nov 6th 2006 11:17PM
A high bitrate 1080i 2hr film encoded in h.264 will just barely fit in the 12gb the 20gb drives have free. I'm guessing these moves will be bitstarved.... they have to be.
James @ Nov 6th 2006 11:18PM
I envision microsoft like an explorer in the jungle cutting through a bamboo forest with a machete. Only the bamboo is the profits of other companys...
nick @ Nov 6th 2006 11:18PM
his = he'll
Also, I think this is related to the upcoming Zune, where you'll be able to download content to go. I wonder if/how the Zune will interface with the 360.
zebwinz @ Nov 6th 2006 11:20PM
Note to Optimus - The documents say that these shows and movies will be available to the free silver accounts as well.
mountain_rage @ Nov 6th 2006 11:23PM
This is going to cause problems with internet service providers , the reason I say this is that isps are already complaining that file sharing is sucking up all their bandwidth. Because of this alot isps are completely blocking file sharing, with most atleast limiting transfer speeds. This is with content of about 2 gigs so 20 gig movies are gonna raise eyebrows. So the same restrictions will probably land on the Microsoft service. Also I don't know how many dark lines Microsoft owns but unless they have a very large allotment of fiberoptics expect to pay quite a bit for this content. Bandwidth isnt cheap and the cost is going to come down on the consumer.
Regula Oblique @ Nov 6th 2006 11:24PM
Im guessing sony has the same thing planned even with blu-ray, they have already alluded to this serveral times, and I wouldnt be surprised if it was available in the sony store on launch as well.
Tyler @ Nov 6th 2006 11:26PM
OK for more info see:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/744/744355p1.html
So Xbox Live Silver (free ) members can also download the stuff too. And from the looks of it, the prices will be pretty competitive also. As long as they keep churning out content, I think this is awesome. Microsoft can own my living room, and that's fine by me.
Andrew @ Nov 6th 2006 11:29PM
11, The 360 downloads are 720p. The file sizes they announced are comparable (a tad bigger actually) than scene releases of HD content. Scene releases are typically 4.35GB (DVD-R sized) for a full movie, 550MB for a half hour show (22min minus commercials) and 1.1GB for an hour show (44 min minus commercials).
DeezNuts420 @ Nov 6th 2006 11:33PM
Theory: Transfer content to Zune via wirelss connection.
-Isn't the PSP sopposed to connect to the PS3 by Wireless connection.
-It's also an attempt to battle itune's.
gameclu @ Nov 6th 2006 11:47PM
It's an interesting idea. One I will certainly try out at least once. However, I believe Comcast has really positioned itself to be the streaming HD content provider of choice with their On Demand.
hey alex @ Nov 6th 2006 11:49PM
I hadn't thought about purchasing a Zune until now, but if you can download and take shows with you, that would be pretty cool.
And hey the Zune has a 30GB HD. Hmm...
RUSKULL @ Nov 6th 2006 11:51PM
As a home theatre lover and gamer, this is incredibly sweet news. Can't wait to burn these downloaded movies to my attachable HD-DVD burner...oops, did I let that slip? :P
Frosty22 @ Nov 6th 2006 11:57PM
This is bigger than it seems. This is one step towards making HD-DVD and Bluray obsolete. Why would I need a bluray-capable PS3 for bluray movies when I can just download movies from Microsoft? And frankly... whenever I bought movies, i'd watch them maybe 2 or 3 times. That does not justify spending $30 on a cd. I'd rather spend $4 each time i want to watch it instead.
Granted this isn't 1080p but it is good enough in my book. I love my 360! No need for ps3 anymore.
Louis S. @ Nov 6th 2006 11:57PM
Hey, even more good news!
While movies with be restricted by the watch for only 24 hours during a 2 week period, but TV shows will be your's to own.
So, Movies RENTAL,
TV Shows YOURS TO KEEP.
w00t!
mountain_rage @ Nov 6th 2006 11:58PM
gameclu alot of cable providers have that service its nothing new. The reason that works so well is that they use local servers and don't need to travel through other companies lines. If you did a little research comcast restricts the most from their broadband service.
larsoncc @ Nov 7th 2006 12:33AM
Great, another device that doesn't work with anything ELSE I have. Welcome to the "wonderful" world of broken HDTV.
So, I buy the content on 360. But then I can't record it in HD to anywhere else. I can't take it with me on my iPod Video, unless I rerecord it in standard def, re encode, etc etc. I can't go to my brother's house and show him the movie I rented.
**Oh, and I can't even watch it on my computer.**
Hey look - we solved these problems like, 25 years ago with VHS. As a consumer, I'm not asking for a lot - I just want the content, and I want it transparent on all my devices.
MAYBE I'll get some of this content when those issues are solved.
mprobins @ Nov 7th 2006 12:45AM
larsoncc, you've got a VHS player built into your computer? Your iPod plays VHS tapes?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
9mmPreacher @ Nov 7th 2006 1:01AM
Alls I can say is TAKE THAT SONY!!
http://reviewsblog.sonsofgodclan.net
jaysins @ Nov 7th 2006 1:08AM
$4 to rent a movie and around $3 for show but I'm hoping that's for more than one show because that sounds expensive. $4 to rent a HD movie sounds great. Less expensive than blockbuster, 14 days to keep. Purchased content ie not renting you can download as many times as you want to different boxes. Also dedicated movie servers so hopefully downloads are a tad faster. I think this service is great but with a few hitches. HDD space obviously. MS needs to give the people (or at least me :) ) what they want, USB attached HDD. 500 Gbs would do nicely. Keep prices at least as low as itunes and no more. Make it work very well with the zune. Give me a hdmi cable for the love of god :(. componet isn't bad by any means but hdmi sounds sexier. I see so much potential in this especially with zune coming out. MS is really coming out guns ablazing and I can't wait to see if they can pull it off or come short. I think they'll fall short but man have they been on a roll these last couple years. With vista, zune, xbox they are really aiming at the entertainment market in a way no one else has or can. It sounds cool if they do it but scary. Skylab anyone?
AzaMcWazza @ Nov 7th 2006 1:33AM
I've thought for a while now that the HDDVD vs BLURAY war is moot. We'll be downloading movies before either of those get a real good foothold and win any "war"
computer gamer @ Nov 7th 2006 2:45AM
While definitely a positive move on MS part, I have said in the Rumour post about this that it's flawed. Apart from the disc space which is paltry, I have yet to experience even a short HD Demo video streaming from my 360's drive without minor hiccups and some jerks. The fact is the DRIVE is too SLOW and too SMALL for HD streaming. Maybe with a defrag it would be super-smooth but you are going to need to do one of those after every deletion of a movie, and the defrag is hidden away and not without faults.
Nice but ultimatley the system needs a better drive (and ideally HDMI) to make it really worthwhile.
ZeroCorpse @ Nov 7th 2006 2:50AM
This even challenges Netflix. If I can download a HD movie in an hour, that's better than waiting one or two DAYS for a new movie to arrive in the mail.
And if they get Battlestar Galactica on there in HD, they'll have iTunes, DVD, and most other providers of that show (SciFi included) solidly beat in the quality department (and thus sell a crapload of episodes).
Microsoft took Apple's idea and ran with it. Lets see how they do. I think this may break any hold the optical formats might have had in the market.
ZeroCorpse @ Nov 7th 2006 2:56AM
@ 32
My movie previews and HD downloads have all worked fine. No jerking, no hiccups. I'm not sure what your problem is, but it's definitely not the default situation.
And once and for all, HDMI does not deliver any better quality (especially at 720p). It only enables more copy protection and pairs the audio stream with the video stream. The VGA-HD cable and optical audio is the same quality as an HDMI cable unless you're going over incredibly long distances. Please stop buying into the hype for HDMI. It's not a magic cable that makes HD suddenly "more" HD. It's just a different way to get data from point A to point C.
computer gamer @ Nov 7th 2006 3:14AM
@34 >
QUOTE
"And once and for all, HDMI does not deliver any better quality (especially at 720p). It only enables more copy protection and pairs the audio stream with the video stream. The VGA-HD cable and optical audio is the same quality as an HDMI cable unless you're going over incredibly long distances. Please stop buying into the hype for HDMI. It's not a magic cable that makes HD suddenly "more" HD. It's just a different way to get data from point A to point C.
"
Right, I'm not buying into any hype. I USE HDMI daily with my upscaling DVD player that also can output to component, HDMI is cleaner because I get *INTERFERENCE* on the component due to shoddy house electricals. That is one point in HDMI's favour.
You already mentioned the other points to HDMI's advantage but missed the main reason I said it, it's extremely handy to me and many like me who have bought HDTVs because we have multi HDMI sockets going spare (I have 2 on my tv and a lot of sets are now coming out with 3) however most (if not all) have 1 component only. If you have other gear (legacy) that needs that component you then have to use splittle boxes which also introduce some more pick up points for intereference.
Never said HDMI is essential, I said "PREFERABLE" and if you don't believe that it is then you obviously don't use it in every day use and you don't have component problems or legacy gear needing it.
meddow @ Nov 7th 2006 6:37AM
BOOM, Headshot to sony!
Angel @ Nov 7th 2006 6:38AM
@27 larconcc - Technically if you really wanted to share a movie rental with your brother, you could just take your 360 to his house and watch it there. Better yet, if he has a 360 you could just log in under your gamertag and re-download it. You might even be able to just take your hard drive over if he has a 360. I've never heard of anyone sharing a movie rental though. Usually, if I rent a good movie, I'll recommend to friends and families to rent it. I've never encountered anyone who was so cheap that they wanted to "borrow" my rental.
It's funny how everyone's favorite complaint about downloading content from the various companies is that no one likes to be restricted to viewing a movie on their computer monitor. Now you're crying because you're being restricted to every TV and computer monitor in your home. Quite frankly, I don't have a problem with renting an HD movie for a couple of dollars on the weekend and ONLY being limited to my HDTV or my 24 inch computer monitor during that time period.
Hawkes @ Nov 7th 2006 8:04AM
Don't be too surprised if the downloads can BEGIN on your PC, then be streamed/copied to your Xbox 360.
cone @ Nov 7th 2006 8:24AM
Ha,Sony said the PS3 store will have movies weeks ago lol.And guess who is the #1 movie studio?Sony!!!!!
Sony owns so much TV/Movie/Music content!!!
ms=brickbox 1.5 analog
Peter Chapman @ Nov 7th 2006 8:51AM
The movies are a 24 hour rental that you must watch 14 days after download. They cost about $4 and you can choose either HD or SD. You actually buy the tv shows and they are mostly in either HD or SD and cost $3. You can download either as many times as you want on to as many consoles as you want, but only onto the hard drive. So, you can just download it again if you want to watch it again and a bigger hard drive isn't really neccessary. All this info is available on xbox.com and Joystiq should have had this in their orignial article. Both use the very high quality VC-1 format. Movies will be about 4-5GB and TV shows about 1 GB+. Downloads should be faster than your demos because Microsoft is going to have another server for this stuff. Why buy an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player when you can do this for 1/8th the price? Digital distribution is here. Watch out iTV, watch out Sony.
Angel @ Nov 7th 2006 8:56AM
@38 - I addressed YOUR comment about showing your brother a MOVIE RENTAL. So no, I've never shared a movie rental. And I've never lent someone a tape...I'm a little too young to have been in the generation of swapping VHS tapes. Even if you're talking about DVDs, loaning out my DVDs is not the primary reason why I purchase them. I purchase them for MY enjoyment, not someone else's (if you're really that hellbent on watching a TV show with your brother, he could come to your house). With this service, I have the option of enjoying it on any TV in my home or any computer monitor. That's plenty good for a movie rental or a TV show that I will watch TWICE at the most. I understand your dilemma if you're the type of person who likes to watch a TV show ten, twenty times and then take it with you to different homes to watch. So I apologize...could you tell me what show you're watching, it must be VERY good.
As far as the computer being flexible...as I said earlier, that's not what tons of people on the internet having been crying about. That's not what the average Joe Schmoe thinks when you tell him that he can hook up his computer to his TV and watch content he's downloaded.
Jason @ Nov 7th 2006 9:04AM
"$4 to rent a HD movie sounds great. Less expensive than blockbuster, 14 days to keep. "
try 24 hours. yah, not so hot, huh?
Jason @ Nov 7th 2006 9:04AM
"But, having to download 4-5 gb of data before being able to watch should be an interesting experiment."
Agreed - if you can't start watching it half an hour or so after you start downloading, they may as well not bother.
Anyone else think the selection is a little thin? I guess iTunes was thin too when it started...
Jason @ Nov 7th 2006 9:04AM
"BTW, is mine the only Xbox 360 that sometimes stutters on playback of 720p content? It's only certain content, and usually in the same spot on each playback. It makes me wonder if they ever test the things before they send them out, or if maybe my 360 just has something wrong with it."
Now would be a good time to check your warranty status - mine did the same thing right before it died.
devi8i @ Nov 7th 2006 10:02AM
Ok so I can buy a tv show which is mine to keep for $3 per show....most seasons are 26 episodes long so it will cost me ~$78 to buy the whole season which I can only watch on whatever I have hooked up to my 360. If a half hour show in HD is ~2.5 gig then an entire season will be ~65gb or considerably larger than my 360 HD. So in addition to the cost of the shows I also have to pony up for an additional HD....to eventually be released...
Actually, I prefer teh digital download of content I use already..Directtv to my tivo which I can transfer any show, pay-per-view or not to my computer and even send them formatted to other devices or send it to other tivos in my house. No download time required
Captain Obvious @ Nov 7th 2006 10:53AM
When will they let me sign up for a netflix-style subscription service? I don't want to pay for individual rentals. I want to pay $14.99 to download as many movies as I want each month. When I watch one and delete it, I can download the next. Now THAT's what MS needs to do. If they do that, I think I might not purchase that HD-DVD drive that I was going to get to rent HD-DVDs from Netflix. Come on, MS!
@larsoncc, the movies are rented, so you don't own the content anyway. But I agree with your comments as to the TV shows; hopefully MS will allow us to d'l the shows to a Zune or other PlaysForSure device. **crosses fingers**
gameclu @ Nov 7th 2006 11:03AM
mountain_rage: "gameclu alot of cable providers have that service its nothing new"
Which is exactly my point.
I'm willing to bet that there will be many more cable boxes with "on demand" like services in circulation than 360s for many years to come. I just don't see the game console business being able to successfully take on the cable industry in terms of streaming HD content. On top of that, if cable can expand their services quickly enough, they'll be able to give HD media (blu-ray and HD-DVD) a run for its money.
iconmaster @ Nov 7th 2006 11:31AM
Somebody put Crazy Ken on suicide watch, stat!
Matt. T @ Nov 7th 2006 3:47PM
I was replaying PDZ on Perfect Agent for achievement points while pointing a gun to my head out of frustration. My game froze for loading a checkpoint, I then shot the gun, but alas, I missed.
I then saw this ad that said 11/22, I thought he maybe this was about the rental service,but I didn't bother to post it.
I am happy, Maybe a music service now, Put Xbox Live Anywhere and sync my Zune to my Xbox 360 via Wi-Fi and I 'll buy a Zune too MS. Even better if you allow Wi-Fi streaming of of PC
GunForHire @ Nov 7th 2006 7:25PM
But the question that needs to be asked is;
"HOW ARE THOSE OF US IN EUROPE GOING TO GET SHAFTED OVER THIS?"
There's no way this announcement applies to Live globally, us Europeans always get screwed when it comes to TV and movie content (they either get massive delays or never make it out here at all), so I'm just waiting for MS's next announcement telling us what ISN'T coming onto Live over here.
Deezul @ Nov 9th 2006 8:07AM
I've considered picking up a second 360 before, so I don't have to move it around the house. With Vista coming and being able to stream, and now download movies, it's more incentive to get a used one from Gamestop. Since I paid for a warranty at Best Buy, and they didn't record the serial number, how will they know which one I returned? :-) Plus, since the HD-DVD drive is small enough to move around, I pick up one of those now and wait for a 5 disc HD-DVD player in a year or two!