Something rather massive will happen on November 22nd...
QuoteThis may sound a bit familiar to those paying close attention, but on November 22nd -- the year anniversary for the Xbox 360 -- Microsoft is announcing something fairly momentus, not for the gaming community, but for the CE industry. The Xbox 360, along with Akimbo, will be among the first mass-market devices able to download high def television programs -- and the first we know of in the states able to download HD movies. The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros., Paramount, and so on. We're still a little in shock, ourselves, that Microsoft was able to in one fell swoop hit TiVo, Apple, Netflix, and a handful of others, but looking at Live over the last year, the move isn't that massively surprising. Of course, not even the vision of on-demand HD movies and TV downloads in six million homes at the flick of a switch could be without its variety of niggling concerns; being that we all know the devil's in the details, click on to get the particulars of the service.
Microsoft has not yet disclosed pricing for downloads, but it will be in Microsoft points.
Movies will be "rental" only, TV for "purchase" only.
At launch there will be over 800 hours of SDTV, and 200 hours of HDTV.
Neither TV nor movies are streamed; they are only downloaded, although you can stream short preview clips from the Live interface.
You can only download content to your Xbox 360 drive -- not to an external drive.
Your "purchased" TV programs can be downloaded an infinite amount of times to an infinite amount of consoles; you may also play them back on friends' 360s with your removable drive.
Deleted TV shows can be re-downloaded later; HDTV shows can be re-downloaded in either HDTV or SD.
Movies can be watched an unlimited number of times the first 24 hours. Plays after that period will cost the same as the initial download, although the movie data isn't necessarily deleted. You can keep the movie data on your drive up to 14 days without re-downloading it.
Downloads are in VC-1 (aka WMVHD) at 720p, 6.8Mbps video with 5.1 surround.
An average HD movie download should be between 4-5GB, and a two hour SD movie would be 1.6GB.
An average 1 hour (44 min) HDTV download should be about 2.2GB, and an average 1/2 hour (22 min) HDTV download should be about 1GB. A 1 hour SDTV download should be about 600MB, and a 1/2 hour SDTV download should be about 300MB.
This service will not be available for MSN TV users, Vongo subscribers, or any other Microsoft partners. It is Xbox Live only.
You cannot download programs through the Xbox Live web interface -- they can only be transported to your 360's removable drive.
There aren't any drive announcements being made, so if your puny 20GB Xbox drive is near or at capacity, you're out of luck, kid.
Launch titles
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Batman Forever
Breaking Bonaduce
Carpocalypse
Chappelle's Show
CSI
Hogan Knows Best
Jackass: The Movie
Jericho
The Matrix
M:i:III
Nacho Libre
Nicktoons Network Animation Festival
Numb3rs
Pimp My Ride
Race Rewind (NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races)
Raising the Roofs
The Real World
Robot Chicken
Skyland
South Park
SpongeBob SquarePants
Star Trek (original)
Superman Returns
50 fights from Ultimate Fighting Championship, and some episodes from The Ultimate Fighter
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Pretty damn huge news.
This will only get bigger as Microsoft puts more Xbox 360s into homes
Is the Star Trek the real original or the gussied up with computer graphix version?
Nice, an alternative to shaws crappy video on demand, and in HD Too! I hope they keep up with new releases, eliminating the need to ever visit a video rental store, no offence to your woman shanye, i just hate paying late fees, which i do all the time, often a $5 rental turns into a $10 or $15 rental. Part of the reason why i just buy movies now, even if im just slightly interested in seeing it.
720p though? wonder when they will break out the 1080p content?
The only thing that could hold this back is their point system, having to buy cards is a pain. They better setup a credit card option.
Engadget has a hands on, with screen shots
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/07/xbox-live-video-hands-on/
Looks like standard def trek, maybe the new remastered one will be the HD option.
Quote from: TheDruid on November 06, 2006, 09:39:42 PMI hope they keep up with new releases, eliminating the need to ever visit a video rental store, no offence to your woman shanye, i just hate paying late fees, which i do all the time, often a $5 rental turns into a $10 or $15 rental.
She doesnt work for Rogers any more, and Rogers/Blockbuster no longer have late fees.
Quote from: TheDruid on November 06, 2006, 09:39:42 PM720p though? wonder when they will break out the 1080p content?
I am guessing size. Doing some rough math, 1080p is over double the resolution of 720p, so these 4-5GB downloads could end up being 10GB+? And with the itty bitty small 20GB drive in the 360 could be a factor, though Engadget is reporting that an 80GB is coming asap (though seeing as how expensive the 20GB is in retail, the 80 is probably like $400 :P).
Quote from: TheDruid on November 06, 2006, 09:39:42 PM
The only thing that could hold this back is their point system, having to buy cards is a pain. They better setup a credit card option.
Or bigger cards. $50 for say 3500?
(http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/11/xbox_vod_08.jpg)
So, 240 points for SD and 320 for HD given that a card of 1250 points is $21.19 (after GST), it will cost you $4.07 per episode in SD, or $5.42 per episode in HD
(http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/11/xbox_vod_01.jpg)
Robot Chicken episode is 11 minutes long but still costs $4.07 so you will be paying $0.37 per minute.
In comparison, TV from iTunes is $2.00
Quote from: Shayne on November 07, 2006, 09:16:11 AM
In comparison, TV from iTunes is $2.00
Arn't those at crappy iPod resolutions though? Yes you are paying for they same content, but I think there is a difference in the quality.
Ya, there is. XBL stuff, even SD is of a better quality, however there are 24 episodes of CSI:NY in the second season. XBL would have you pay $97.68, you can buy this very set on DVD from Future Shop for $59.35
If they can get brand new episodes online the day (heck even same time) or initial viewing for shows like Lost or Heroes or even CSI (big with the rednecks), then I could see that being a little more valuable. Though, recently allowing WMV to stream from any windows xp machine makes the $4.00 hard to swallow when i can simply download the avi and transcode it.
I want to know how much the DVD rentals are. Cant seem to find that in any of the pictures.
It is also hard to say if this price model is the final one, these are pre-release images are they not? Pricing could also change based on demand.
Quote from: Shayne on November 06, 2006, 07:38:43 PM
Something rather massive will happen on November 22nd...
Quote
The Xbox 360, along with Akimbo, will be among the first mass-market devices able to download high def television programs -- and the first we know of in the states able to download HD movies. The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros., Paramount, and so on. We're still a little in shock, ourselves, that Microsoft was able to in one fell swoop hit TiVo, Apple, Netflix, and a handful of others...
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Breaking Bonaduce
Carpocalypse
Chappelle's Show
CSI
Jackass: The Movie
Jericho
The Matrix
M:i:III
Nacho Libre
Numb3rs
Pimp My Ride
Robot Chicken
South Park
Clearly they know well their target market (i.e. "early-adopter retro-geeks/esoteric-animation-lovers") 8)
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