Tabulator: Xbox Live Video Marketplace vs. Apple TV

by Christopher Grant { Jan 16th 2008 at 8:00PM }

Up until yesterday, the living room set-top box was simply a "hobby" for Apple; its fumbled Apple TV product did little to unseat the HD video rental download champ, the largely uncontested Xbox Live Video Marketplace. With a fresh splash of software for new boxes and a free upgrade for current users, Apple TV Take 2 is giving it another shot.

Of course, for an audience of gamers (that's us!), Apple's product has a particularly severe handicap but, on a strictly video entertainment scale, it manages to best the Xbox Live Video Marketplace in just about every category. Now we realize this is, in many ways, an apples to oranges comparison (sorry), but Microsoft isn't just competing for gamer dollars anymore and competition is growing (in fact, the at-home-rental set-top box industry will see another entrant later this year with Netflix).

To get to the bottom of which service provides the most bang for your e-buck, we ran some data through our handy-dandy (and patent pending!) Tabulator and it spit out the table found after the break. Be sure to let us know in the comments if there's anything ~~we're~~ it's missing.

	Xbox Live Marketplace	iTunes / Apple TV

Hardware
Price	$349.99	$229.99
Hard Drive	20GB (120GB for $449.99)	40GB (160GB for $329.99)
Pricing
New Release Rental HD	$6	$4.99
New Release Rental SD	$4	$3.99
Classic/Library Rental HD	$4.50	$3.99
Classic/Library Rental SD	$3	$2.99
Movie Purchase SD	NA	$9.99 - $14.99
TV Show Purchase HD	$3	NA
TV Show Purchase SD	$2	$2
Studio support
Paramount Pictures	Yes	Yes
Warner Bros.	Yes	Yes
Lion's Gate	Yes	Yes
Walt Disney Pictures	Yes	Yes
MGM	Yes	Yes
Touchstone	Yes (Updated)	Yes
Miramax	Yes (Updated)	Yes
Fox	No	Yes
Universal	No	Yes
Sony Pictures	No	Yes
Rental Details
DRM Rental Rules	14 days from purchase / 24 hours from start	30 days from purchase / 24 hours from start
Rental Codec	WMV + DD 5.1	MPEG-4 + DD 5.1
File Sizes (HD/SD)	~ 6GB / 1.5GB	~ 4GB / 1.2GB
Platform Support	Xbox 360	Apple TV, Windows, Mac OS, iPod, iPhone
Max HD Resolution	720p	720p
Rental Catalog	312 films currently ("number fluctuates")*	1K films by March
Rental Delay	"Majority" are 30 days from DVD release, "some" day and date	30 days from DVD release
Miscellany
DiVX / Xvid Streaming	Yes (MPEG-4 Part 2 ASP & SP)	Nope
DVD Playback	Yup (but it can be noisy!)	Negatory
Video Games	TONS	Eh, not so much

Like it? Check out our other Tabulator-enhanced tables:

Tags: Apple-TV, iTunes, Tabulator, Video-Marketplace, Videos, XBLM

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Samuel Axon @ Jan 16th 2008 7:57PM

The unfortunate verdict here is that HD TV and movie downloads still have a long way to go before they're practical or worth it to most people.

The1 @ Jan 16th 2008 9:57PM

This is a moronic comparison, since the XBOX can stream music, play video games and dowload movies. The Apple TV does nothing but movies. How is this a comparison? When the PS3 is able to download movies over the PSN, then we can compare the XBL to PSN.

Mike Cosentino @ Jan 16th 2008 10:29PM

The1, AppleTV will play music, movies, tv shows, music videos, photos, podcasts, and youtube. Not just movies.

Mike Jenkins @ Jan 17th 2008 8:56PM

Mike, the Xbox will play music, movies, recorded tv shows, downloaded tv shows, music videos, photos, podcasts, and HD DVDs. The media can stream from your pc, download things from the video marketplace, or it can be on any external storage device. With an Apple TV you can only stream or download. The only thing you don't get is Youtube, which doesn't look that great blown up on your TV anyway.

OTAM @ Jan 16th 2008 8:04PM

I still prefer to own the physical media that the movie is on.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 16th 2008 9:31PM

Yeah it's gonna take a while to convince people to ditch hardware they've become accustomed to after 20 years.

OTAM @ Jan 16th 2008 9:43PM

Having everything on a hard drive doesn't make it easier for me to make a backup or able to take it to other people's houses to watch a movie.

baby sea tuna @ Jan 17th 2008 8:47AM

Screw that. As the owner of some 400 or so DVDs, I'm losing space for them daily. I'm done with having to "own" physical media. With the exception of a few TV shows and a couple of Hi-Def movies, I haven't bought a DVD in a long time, and with on-demand, XBLM, and Netflix, I don't need to.

That collector mentality lost its meaning to me the day that I realized that I could only get about $.50 apiece for all those VHS tapes I'd spent 15 years amassing.

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jan 16th 2008 8:09PM

I'd be all over it if I wasn't required to spend $299 on Apple TV to watch them on my HDTV. I'm just going to stick with my 360+HD-DVD, HD-Cable, PS3 & my constipated Netflix queue for my HD fix.

superberg @ Jan 16th 2008 8:35PM

Double-check that price. AppleTV is now $229.99 for a 40 gig, $329.99 for 160 gigs.

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jan 16th 2008 8:45PM

My bad, but still it's $200+ I don't want to spend just to rent HD movies.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 17th 2008 11:23AM

I like that you can "buy" movies on AppleTV. The only way to make it better is if I could then "backup" or "burn" them to disc so I wouldn't have to worry about a cluttered HDD.

Obie @ Jan 16th 2008 8:12PM

Ya know what I like about Apple TV? It allows me to download movies wherever I travel since it checks my US credit card. XBL checks the IP of where I am, so if I travel I can't download shit. In that case Apple has my money thankyouverymuch.

Rob @ Jan 17th 2008 1:09PM

What a completely lame,stupid, and hypothetical argument. How many people actually would lug around their Apple TV or XBOX's into their hotel rooms while on a business trip to another region? Get yourself a laptop, moron!

Justin @ Jan 17th 2008 4:49PM

Rob, take a vallium, or tell your mom to come down to your basement bedroom and give you a hug.

xbird @ Jan 17th 2008 6:40PM

LUG an Apple TV? LUG?! Have you even seen it? It's barely the size of 3 CD cases...

Fox318 @ Jan 16th 2008 8:12PM

My experience with the 360 has only been pleasure. Hopefully Microsoft will lower the price of HD downloads a little because of apples decision( or at least give gold members a discount). But I guess hell would have to freeze over in order for that to happen.

Stephen @ Jan 17th 2008 5:00PM

Not gonna happen until Apple cuts into their market share. When Apple TV is in a few million living rooms, I'm sure they'll think about it. As for now, I think Xbox has, what, a 17 million living room lead. Come on Apple TV! I'm rooting for you! Bigger market share for you means lower prices for me. Now, let's talk iPod Touch updates...

a ham sandwich @ Jan 16th 2008 8:14PM

i actually prefer xbl's larger file sizes because that means that the bit rate is higher, and thus the quality is better. i love me some high bit rate!

unfortunately, this chart speaks well in that apple seems to have nailed it, especially with studio support.

superberg @ Jan 16th 2008 8:48PM

It's foolish to say that higher bitrate = better. An AAC at 128 kbps is universally regarded as better than an mp3 at the same bitrate.

Now, one can argue the quality of MPEG 4 vs WMV, but if it's anything like h.264 vs. VC-1, then I'm siting with MPEG 4.

James @ Jan 17th 2008 12:54AM

Superberg, that's exactly what it is: VC-1 vs. h.264. Those are the codecs used.

audioeric @ Jan 16th 2008 8:15PM

I've had AppleTV since it came out and I welcome the additions. So far I've used it to play music over my surround sound and to watch some TV shows and movies.. I also have an Elite 360 and a PS3 hooked up to the same TV.. If Apple ever got rid of their DRM I could just listen to it over my 360 or PS3; but until then I have to use the AppleTV..

The addition of movie rentals for a price better than the 360 might be a swaying factor. The nice thing is not having to deal with that whole MS Points thing..f

The Fuzz 53 @ Jan 17th 2008 8:58AM

That's why you should just pirate it. Until we reach the day where I can do anything I want with the media I purchase, which means play it on any device I choose, copy it to any form a physical media, and chop it up and create ringtones with it or whatever, I will continue to be a Limewire user, instead of a legitimate consumer.

Grant @ Jan 16th 2008 8:18PM

i hope this forces the HD movie rental prices down.

Since my 360 is the only way to get HD movies since i don't have a the HD-DVD add-on, it's my cheapest option for HD content...

Os @ Jan 17th 2008 12:04AM

dude you should use google more. Google is your friend.

Grant @ Jan 17th 2008 2:28AM

google?
how is that going to give me cheap HD movies to my TV?
i can find a myriad of options if i wanna sit in front of my PC, but options are limited if you don't have a HD disc player or other sort of set top box.

Dirt @ Jan 17th 2008 9:28AM

No man, you type in "google" and ~*BAM*~ instant HD to your TV. Even if you don't have the hardware, it just magically appears! It's so cool...

I am waiting for the HD library on the 360 to grow.. Still waiting for Chronicles of Riddick and Lost Highway in HD. Saw both of these on TV in HD, but no where else since. They looked great!

jsn @ Jan 16th 2008 8:18PM

apple products blow. They are LCD (lowest common denominator) products and nothing I find interesting at all...

Christopher Grant @ Jan 16th 2008 8:22PM

Thanks for sharing!

jsn @ Jan 16th 2008 8:24PM

right back at ya.

rkell @ Jan 16th 2008 9:15PM

If you have to type out what your acronym means, it kinda defeats the purpose of using it.

Mike @ Jan 16th 2008 9:17PM

Fortunately, Apple don't market their products at retards such as yourself. That is why you THINK they blow. Either that or you don't know anything about computers.

Scott @ Jan 17th 2008 10:39AM

Are you the type of person that finds editing your registry to "fix" problems to be oh so delightful?

Antonio @ Jan 25th 2008 9:57AM

Yea I love the Apple LCD screens, too :)

Edog Lost @ Jan 16th 2008 8:19PM

I don't know if I'll buy an apple TV yet. With Connect 360, I can stream iTunes content onto my TV. It looks great.

Fristle @ Jan 16th 2008 8:41PM

Except by iTunes content, you mean only "unprotected iTunes content" -- so as far as movie rentals you're still stuck with whatever XBL Marketplace can provide. Gotta love DRM -- it's only good for one thing, vendor lock-in.

Edog Lost @ Jan 16th 2008 8:45PM

If I buy a movie on iTunes I can watch it on my tv through connect 360.

RUSKULL @ Jan 16th 2008 8:21PM

I'd actually like to rent a movie off of the marketplace right now, too bad there's nothing worth downloading on the Canadian marketplace. Guess it's back to pirated movies for me!

Obie @ Jan 16th 2008 8:36PM

I do hate the 24 Hrs playback window...who the hell came up with that? Give people 2 days or 3 so they can watch it, and if they like it, share it with friends?
I mean even Blockbuster does that and they suck!

Philip @ Jan 17th 2008 1:21AM

I think the best would be to extend the time limit to 30 hours so then you have 2 evenings to watch the movie not just one.

ill trooper @ Jan 17th 2008 3:54AM

"Amid the frenzy, it’s worth noting that Apple did not get Hollywood to change the key restrictions it had placed on Internet downloads. Once people start watching their rented movies, they can only see them for a 24-hour period. (Apple does allow a movie to be started on one device and finished on another.) The studios want to keep this restriction so Internet rentals have the same terms as cable pay-per-view movies." - Saul Hansell, New York Times

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/itunes-movies-a-tuna-sandwich/index.html?ref=technology

jake18oly @ Jan 16th 2008 8:41PM

I don't know if I would use the Apple TV service. It is easier for me to download whatever I want and stream it to my 360. Granted it isn't always the best quality but it sure beats having to spend another $229 and trying to find space to plug it in on the back of the TV. I don't have any HDMI ports or Component ports left!

Louis @ Jan 16th 2008 8:41PM

I didn't realize how small the XBL Catalog was. I think that eventually I may buy a AppleTV, but right now I really only have one main viewing/living area, and I can't justify $229 for a slight advantage over my 360.

This will be a good product for people who don't already have a 360 or TiVo (Amazon Unbox).

superberg @ Jan 16th 2008 8:42PM

Since I prefer h.264 to WMV (and even VC-1), I am all for this Frankly, I was not AT ALL impressed with the visual quality of the 2 hd movies I downloaded from XBL (Black Snake Moan and Brothers Grimm). Furthermore, my 360 has barely enough room for one movie, which means I can't queue a movie or two while I watch another. I'm not spending $180 for 120 GB drive, thanks. This isn't 1998.

Of course, seeing as Blu-Ray offers higher-quality video and audio, the bulk of my movie viewing will still be through my PS3. Just the same, this could mean the end of driving to blockbuster for a late-night movie fix.

Mark @ Jan 16th 2008 8:44PM

AppleTV blows. All it gives you is itunes on your tv. nothing more. The 360 gives you everyhing apple tv has, plus games, divx/xvid playback and DVR capabilities with a media center pc. Sorry, but apple's products are all over hyped, over priced crap.

superberg @ Jan 16th 2008 8:51PM

Mark,

You have no idea what you are talking about. Apple TV can now operate as an entity separate of iTunes, and there is plenty of "Media Center" software for Macs that integrate with iTunes, and therefore the Apple TV.

It still doesn't play games, so I guess you're not all wrong.

Keep that Fanboy rage alive!
-superberg

Brandon @ Jan 16th 2008 8:44PM

Even though I have Itunes and XBLM I preffer XBLM. Just for the convience. I don't have apple TV so my 360 is just that more convient for me.

Steve K. @ Jan 16th 2008 8:47PM

Connect360 is the ticket if you have a Mac and a 360. It rules! Yeah, Apple has more movies right now. There have been rumors of a Netflix "blade" coming to the 360 which would be great. I hope to see that!

One big omission from the list. The 360 plays DVDs!!!

So if you use Netflix, you're set. If you have a big library of DVDs you're set. I know one thing I do NOT want to do is spend all that time ripping and converting DVDs for use with an AppleTV. I like having the DVD drive right there.