WSJ: Sony prepping plunge into video download service

Lets see now I've got Comcast, Netflix, Xbox360, and PS3 all trying to get me to rent movies online.

This is an overcrowded space for a feature I tend to use once every year.

In the words of Cole:

"Watch where ya shootin' man! SOOO HOT!"

sinking more money into a lost cause =(

Are other content producers going to want to put their movies and shows into a service created by a competitor?

There is no way in heck I'm going to buy anything from Sony that's DRMed up the wazoo and could disappear at any second. I guess if it works like a rental where you pay $2 and you know it's going away in 24 hours that's fair enough, but any 'lifetime' buy would just be a lie.

Bring back DIVX! That was good, and so is this! You like it or die!

At least you won't have to stand in a long line at the video store. Besides, some discs I've rented from blockbuster were very dirty, buger encrusted almost. So although the choice on Sony's download might be slim, and the wait for a download may take a really long time, as least your downloads won't be caked in snot. Then again, mabey the ps3 is so high tech it will manage that too.

Let's think about this guys. Microsoft is a third party which makes movie demands so much better, but Sony has it's own movie company which means that any other movie company that releases is funding Sony. Sure most of the money goes to to the company, but a portion of that money will go to Sony which will be split into a smaller part with part going to the moving department. Any competitor of Sony that releases their movies on the Sony service is in fact aiding a competitor. I wouldn't be surprised if the only movies on their service were movies made by Sony. That's why I think that Microsoft has it good. They don't own a movie studio, and in that way the money earned won't go to a competitor.

I'll come right out and say it, I don't really care for the Playstation line, never had, and probably never will. I just never got one, and thus never got into it.

That said, I would really like to see them tussle with Apple over the digital music player thing... Who better to do this than the makers of the original Walkman, an electronic product I've probably used more than all of my consoles combined?

But, but, but Bluray...Does this mean Bluray doesn't Sony undivided attention? Just pretty much like how games are secondary to PS3...

It just gets worse and worse. were getting more announcements on friggin movies than we are games.

Nice feature, as long as the purchased video files are transferrable: when the PS3 goes obsolete, I don't want my video files to go down with it (or really if you're just paranoid about your console crashing and losing all data).

As said many times before me, the PS3 is a media hub with great bang for its buck.

"-- but Sony's considerable library of films should give them a solid start in content."

Sony's considerable PS1 and PS2 game library should be giving them an advantage in downloadable games, but it isn't. Week after week Nintendo adds classics from not only their old consoles but now from Sega, NEC and SNK systems. Meanwhile the PSN store is a barren wasteland in comparison. Sony already has too many cooks in the kitchen as it is, getting the movie and television studios more involved is only going to serve to exacerbate the situation.

Gasp!

Sony's online music store failed. What makes them think the video version will do any better.

This is typical Sony. When something fails, they try the same thing again. Their PS2-based DVR failed in Japan, so what do they do? They are launching a PS3-based DVR in Europe. Their last movie-disk format (UMD) tied to a game system failed, so what do they do? They launch another movie-disk format (Blu-Ray) tied to a game system. The only time Sony changes their strategy is when they succeed... The PS2 is successful because it's a moderately priced game system with wide appeal, so what do they do? They launch a high prices game system with hardcore appeal.

The PS3 has been on sale for about 10 months. I'm pretty impressed with all that they have accomplished and have in the works such as the DVR and movie service. I wonder where they'll be in another 10 months?

How is this a bad thing Evan? I'm sure it'll be as successful as XBLVideo Marketplace or any other on demand service out there.

Granted i dont use XBL very much and i doubht i'll use PS3 on demand service much, but i dont see this as a bad thing.

I mean companies fail at ventures all the time, even microsoft has some big failures on their books, doesnt stop them from steaming forward does it?

and its not like their launching a whole new DVR console like the PSX was, this is just a service piggybacking on the current system, Not so hard to see where they can make money they'll try. it already has internet connectivity and the necessary HD space so why not?

and last i checked you can play blu ray movies on things OTHER than the PS3 just like you dont need a 360 to watch HDDVD movies, the problem with UMD was that it ONLY worked on the PSP

Hey! whookid just nailed it! approx. .0002% of gamers actually really give a rat's ass about movies-give us some good games.....where's the love, SONY??

Sony owns a crap-ton of films. The problem is their fingers are in so many pots, that to go forward with one business model, is to step on the toes of another. If HD digital downloads doing well hurts blu-ray and vice versa. Mylo sales are hurt when Vaio UX sales go up and vice versa. Sony has its hand in so many fields that its hard to go in one direction without hurting something else.

Sony and Microsoft would have one advantage that Apple does not - their devices plug straight into the TV, would download straight to the box and do not require you have some PC where you do all your purchases are downloaded to, held and synchronized from. Apple's iTV offering is pretty stupid really. Worse for Apple is that it costs almost as much as the 360 and PS3 which do far much more than an iTV aside from playing movies.

Microsoft have shown the model works well, and in some ways Sony has an advantage - the PS3 has an HDD in every model and most of them are 60 or 80Gb. In addition, the PS3 has wi-fi making it far easier to hook up to the net and allows users to rip and play their own H264 encoded content. If Sony would only pull their fingers out, they could be in a position to make a lot of money from this service and round out what is already a very capable multimedia center.

It's good in some respects that there is so much competition in the market because it means Sony can't go into greed mode as they did with UMD and ruin a promising service by charging too much.