Xbox 360 - HD TV Shows & Movie Downloads Start November 22nd

Not exactly stellar news. For the TV shows your usually better off just buying the dvds as you get it for much cheaper then $2-3 per episode. Also lack of HD space doesnt help and what the heck is up with only allowing 24 hours for a movie rental? Would 72 hour rentals have killed them???

I mean its a nice feature for those who have to drive 100 miles to a movie store or can't use a service like netflix which gives MUCH cheaper prices. Plus d/l on xbox live gives you 0 re-sell value. Once you buy em you can't do anything with them.
 
Basically all this is, is a chess move by MS at Sony.

Microsoft knows Sony intends to sell video content through whatever bastard online service they end up putting together. And Microsoft just said "We already have the infrastructure, we will start doing it now, so whatever announcements you have about video downloads in the future now has no steam.... Check"
 
I wonder if this is the "surprise feature" MS said they would reveal on the 360's first anniversary? Eh, just a move to 1up Sony.
 
Sounds good, but I don't think I'll download any videos. I have my tivo which I can stream tv shows on to my pc, convert them and burn to discs if I want. Then I have itunes for other shows.

I guess Wombat forgot to call me, yea thats it he lost my number. :cry:
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Not exactly stellar news. For the TV shows your usually better off just buying the dvds as you get it for much cheaper then $2-3 per episode.

I mean its a nice feature for those who have to drive 100 miles to a movie store or can't use a service like netflix which gives MUCH cheaper prices. Plus d/l on xbox live gives you 0 re-sell value. Once you buy em you can't do anything with them.[/QUOTE]

I hate to bring this up but you are forcing me to. Lost has been announced for BluRay and is rumored to be $199 per season. The $3 per episode is competitively priced when compared to the $8.50 on next generation formats. (I am only bring up lost because it is the only TV season that I know of that has been announced for HD.) This is more geared for HD content if you don't have HD yet this service isn't going to cater to you. Sometimes you also don't want a whole season but just a few episodes and this is nice.

I have yet to see any HDDVD or BLURAY at the local movie stores yet and Netflix is one of the few options that us HD whores have. I'm holding off to buy HD players until I can easily rent HD movies.

Also lack of HD space doesnt help and what the heck is up with only allowing 24 hours for a movie rental? Would 72 hour rentals have killed them???
Click to expand...

24 hours is more then enough time to watch a movie from the time you start it. Once you download the movie rental you have 14 days to start the movie and 24 hours to watch the movie once you hit play.

[quote name='deadite76']Eh, just a move to 1up Sony.[/QUOTE]
MS has been stating digital distribution for a few years now. How does this have anything to do with Sony? This is a win / win situation for all of us. If you don't like HD digital distribution buy a PS3 or the HD DVD add on, if you like it buy away.

As you can tell I'm all about digital distribution and I have wrote a letter or two to my cable company for HD on Demand in the past. This is for people like me not the normal CAG that has and likes shelves and shelves of media. This is also more HD content for us that can't get enough HD.
 
Key word is rumoured, i'll wait and see what the prices are as we don't know what blu-ray seasons will cost OR HD downloads from microsoft.

And my 24 hour point is still valid. No reason they couldnt do 48 hours or 72 hours. I know I always have stuff pop up while watching movies and it will suck to waste money because i couldnt finish a movie because real life called.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Added this to the OP:

Wombat got the following freebies from the event:

Gears of War
Wireless Headset
Xbox Live Unplugged disc
"Achievement Whore" t-shirt.


He's leaving the event now to go home and play GOW.[/quote]

Holy SHIT those are amazing freebies. Thats like $160+ of stuff:drool:

I am going to make an acheivement whore tshirt.
 
So what is the best way to connect the xbox to the LCD television?

i have a 40" samsung and i don't know if i should purchase the VGA cable..

Does VGA cable provide better graphics??

thanks
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']Microsoft HAS too offer what they just showed to stay current with the comapetion or they will get left behind.[/QUOTE]

Left Behind? How? The 360's core business is video games. This new content, as others have pointed out, is nothing more than a chess move by MS to show the world that Sony isn't the only company offering this. "Me Too" Syndrome anyone?


[quote name='thrustbucket']You guys seem to forget that the major 4 networks are really the only channels that air HD. Many other shows all over the cable spectrum are filmed in HD, but not broadcast in HD for various reasons (for example, everything on sci-fi channel) . If Xbox Live ends up being the only place to get HD versions of these shows without waiting a year for the disk press, then that's worth it alone

There is no show broadcast on a major network in HD that I really want anyway, except MAYBE heroes. The rest of my TV watching is on Cable, where it's rarely broadcast in HD.[/QUOTE]

So what you are basically saying is that this new content will appeal greatly to a niche market...

Sorry my friend, but none of this new content will be worth a shit until Hi-Def becomes mass market. That will not happen during this generation of consoles.
 
[quote name='daphatty']Left Behind? How? The 360's core business is video games. This new content, as others have pointed out, is nothing more than a chess move by MS to show the world that Sony isn't the only company offering this. "Me Too" Syndrome anyone?[/quote]

I disagree. Microsoft has admitted that the entire reason they got into the gaming market was because they saw the future as direct download media in the living room. They knew that Sony was blazing it's way to be the main source of this in the future because of the Playstation and they had to stop it.

If you honestly believe the 360 was intended to be just a game machine and now Microsoft is just trying to slap on new features to play catch up with Sony, you are seriously mistaken.

Microsoft has planned even before the first Xbox, that their foray into gaming was to suck all media known to man into the living room and provide it. Xbox 1 - was just to get their foot in the door. 360 is to start rolling out other Direct Download content. Whatever is next will be massive all in one device of some type, to try and take over nearly every entertainment device in your house.

Of course, you would agree, the timing of all these announcements are far from accidental. They are very much to take the wind out of Sony's sails. But it's been in the planning for at least 6 years.


So what you are basically saying is that this new content will appeal greatly to a niche market...

Sorry my friend, but none of this new content will be worth a shit until Hi-Def becomes mass market. That will not happen during this generation of consoles.
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Maybe. All very relative. But you are right, the only real useful purpose in this announcement is for more HD content.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']If you honestly believe the 360 was intended to be just a game machine and now Microsoft is just trying to slap on new features to play catch up with Sony, you are seriously mistaken.[/QUOTE]

No, I don't believe that at all. I believe that video games are the core (i.e. primary) business of the 360 and so do a majority of the people who currently own one.

Personally, I have enjoyed downloading HD content from XBL Marketplace but only because it was free. I refuse to pay for any content that does not come in a tangible package that I can do with it whatever I please, whenever I please. But I digress...
 
291353275_3f07ed33b9.jpg


Meh. It's not as cool as I thought.
 
[quote name='daphatty']
I refuse to pay for any content that does not come in a tangible package that I can do with it whatever I please, whenever I please. But I digress...[/QUOTE]


Hm. Well the future of pretty much all media is going to be pretty bleak for you then. Every studio, production company, cable provider, and media empire on the planet are praying to their gods nightly to hurry in the era of digital distribution only. Sucks, but that's the future.

Mark my words, it won't be long before direct download purchases of movies etc will be cheaper than buying the disk. They will intentionally gouge you if you want a disk, until all disks are gone.
 
Sounds pretty cool. I have the Comcast HD-DVR box and they only offer maybe 10 movies in HD, some free, some pay. It is extremely convenient to just press a button and start watching a movie. Sounds like this could be a cool service for movie rentals.
 
[quote name='spoo']I hate to bring this up but you are forcing me to. Lost has been announced for BluRay and is rumored to be $199 per season. The $3 per episode is competitively priced when compared to the $8.50 on next generation formats. (I am only bring up lost because it is the only TV season that I know of that has been announced for HD.) This is more geared for HD content if you don't have HD yet this service isn't going to cater to you. Sometimes you also don't want a whole season but just a few episodes and this is nice.
[/QUOTE]

Key word there. If it was HD-DVD it would be cheaper for it. Also "The Sopranos" is coming down the pipe for both I think.
"The Promise", "Shinobi" and "Volcano High" I'd take for the HD movie downloads if I could OWN them instead of this rent crap.
 
Movies and TV shows are up now.

Standard Def movies are 320 pts and HD movies are 480 pts. TV shows are 160 pts. for standard definition and 240 for HD versions.
 
So, $5+ for a HD movie....I'll pass. The rentals last a week right?

Still a great idea though...no knock to the service, just seems a little pricey
 
[quote name='doubledown']So, $5+ for a HD movie....I'll pass. The rentals last a week right?

Still a great idea though...no knock to the service, just seems a little pricey[/QUOTE]

480 points = $6. Not bad, but the Xbox website seems to imply that "rental" videos (which it is early, but safe, to assume will include all movies) can only be viewed one time.

You have 14 days from purchase to view it; once the program starts, you have 24 hours to watch the whole thing.
 
yea kind of expensive.. dont see how they can make money but who knows...

i rather put that cash toward the purchase of the actual movie..
 
I'm gonna look and see if movies purchased from iTunes ($4 more than XBLM) can be played on the PS3 via memory card. I know you can play video from the memory card on PS3, but if it plays videos from iTunes, you have a marginally more expensive, but more importantly, permanent, means of watching movies.

iTunes movies are, lamentably, 480p at best, I think. Dunno if the HD movies from XBLM are 720p, but my guess would be that they are.
 
This is great for someone like me who watches a movie once then puts it on his shelf for who knows how long. That's the reason I stopped buying movies. Now I can rent HD quality movies without buying a added drive.
I'm going to order one later when I get out of work.
 
And don't forget that if you rent/buy HD content you also get access to the SD as well.

I'm really going to use this for tv shows, especially if they get BSG. I'm very curious how the 'streaming' works. They said you can start watching a download before it's finished.

Edit: browsing that website.... It just displays what tv shows are available, but which episodes? Just this season? All seasons? Classics only?
 
I am happy with the prices On Demand movies are about $5.50 for SD movies after the crappy high taxes through my cable company.
 
I'm happy about the price structure too. When they said competetive, they actually meant it this time. And they have a lot more variety in movies than I had anticipated. mykevermin said it best: Pootie fucking Tang!

I'm definitely taking advantage of this. V for Vendetta will be my first rental in HD. The Hunger will also be cool to see in HD.

Wow! I'm impressed!

Jeremy
 
I can't see this till tonight, can someone tell me how many tv shows there are? Say for aqua teen hunger force? Do they have every season or just recent episodes?
 
[quote name='jrutz']I'm happy about the price structure too. When they said competetive, they actually meant it this time. And they have a lot more variety in movies than I had anticipated. mykevermin said it best: Pootie fucking Tang!

I'm definitely taking advantage of this. V for Vendetta will be my first rental in HD. The Hunger will also be cool to see in HD.

Wow! I'm impressed!

Jeremy[/QUOTE]

I just checked it out on Live and the now I am disappointed, not because of the lack of movies but the lack of HD movies. I know this isn't MS fault but the studios have been dragging their fucking feet with HD movies.
 
Ok here's what they have up so far. If Cheapy could add this to the front page that would be cool.

All content available in HD is bolded.

Movies:
9 1/2 Weeks
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Analyze This
Art Of War
Ask The Dust
ATL
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
Batman Forever
Chariots Of Fire
Chinatown
Clash Of The Titans
Congo
The Core
Crandle 2 The Grave
The Dead Pool
Deep Blue Sea
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Failure To Launch
Gallipoli
The Hunger
The Lake House
Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World
Mad Max 2
The Matrix
National Lamppon's Christmas Vacation
Natural Born Killers
Patriot Games
The Perfect Storm
Pootie Tang
Poseidon
Rat Race
Rebel Without A Cause
Romeo Must Die
Rosemary's Baby
The Shining
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Star Trek VII: Generations
The Sum Of All Fears
Superfly
Tequila Sunrise
Three Kings
THX 1138
Timeline
Unforgiven
Untouchables
V For Vendetta
We Were Solders
Zoolander

TV Shows:
Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Season 4)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Seasons 1-2)
Beavis And Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection (Seasons 1-3)
Breaking Bonaduce (Season 1)
Carpocalyse (Season 2)
Chappelle's Show: Uncensored (Seasons 1-2)
CSI (Seasons 7-8)
CSI: Miami (Seasons 4-5)
CSI: NY (Seasons 2-3)
Daybreak (Season 1)
Drawn Together (Seasons 1-3)
UFC Fights (4 single fights listed)
Frisky Dingo (Season 1)
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law (Season 2)
Hogan Knows Best (Season 1)
Invader Zim (Seasons 1-2)
Jackass (Seasons 1-3)
Jericho (Season 1)
Mind Of Mencia (Seasons 1-2)
Moral Orel (Season 1)
Muscle Car (Season 1)
NCIS (Seasons 2-4)
Pimp My Ride (Season 4)
Punk'd (Seasons 1-7)
Raising The Roof: Uncensored (Season 1)
Robot Chicken (Season 1)
Sealab 2021 (Seasons 3-4)
Skyland (Season 1)
South Park (Seasons 1-4, 10)
Space Ghost: Coast To Coast (Random Episodes)
Spongebob Squarepants (Seasons 1-4)
Star Trek: The Original Series (Season 1)
Studio 60 (Season 1)
Supernatural (Season 2)
The Adventures Of Chico & Guapo (Season 1)
The Andy Milonakis Show (Seasons 1-2)
The Nine (Season 1)
The Real World (Season 17 - Key West)
The Venture Bros (Season 2)
Veronica Mars (Season 3)
Viva La Bam (Season 1,5)
Wildboyz (Seasons 1-4)
Wonder Showzen (Season 1)
Xtreme 4x4 (Season 2)
 
Wow that's really not much selection of HD.

Well what I find upsetting most, is that the price for tv shows is across the board. The cost of a 40 minute CSI episode is the same as an 11 minute Aqua Teen. I hope they adjust that.

Edit:

WTF happened with Star Trek? I thought the remastered HD versions would be up, isn't that what they've been advertising?
 
[quote name='guyver2077']your fucking kidding. fuck that[/QUOTE]

Check my list I posted.

Only HD movies up so far are ATL, Clash Of The Titans, The Perfect Storm, Poseidon, Unforgiven and V For Vendetta.
 
I'll more than likely be renting V for Vendetta in HD, just to see if I really need a HD-DVD drive.

I'm quite impressed with the selections available, just wish the prices were cheaper. I'd probably be buying more shows if they were $1, versus buying none at $2.

I like the fact that even the latest episodes of South Park are up there, like last Weds. episode. I wonder when/if they will put tonight's episode up.
 
[quote name='zewone']

I like the fact that even the latest episodes of South Park are up there, like last Weds. episode. I wonder when/if they will put tonight's episode up.[/QUOTE]

I think I heard somewhere that the plan was to put them up the day after the air date.
 
Still too much for me.....for $9 you can own the HD-DVD or just rent from blockbuster.com I can probably get 20-30 movies a month for $20 through them...HD and normal DVD.

Basically, once you get 3 HD rentals from XBOX LIVE you are at the cost of a Blockbuster.com membership (or Netflix)
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Prices in general are just way too high IMO. Hopefully this service flops and they chop the prices in half.[/QUOTE]

They aren't that bad but the UFC fights are outrageous.

160 for standard definition/240 for high definition per fight.

Griffin vs. Sinosic (9 minutes)
Leban vs. Silva (5 minutes)
Diego vs. Karo (22 minutes)
Riggs vs Lytle (13 minutes)
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Prices in general are just way too high IMO. Hopefully this service flops and they chop the prices in half.[/QUOTE]

I don't know - isn't iTunes priced the same way for their TV content? Isn't it a straight $1.99 for every episode regardless of length?

[quote name='doubledown']Still too much for me.....for $9 you can own the HD-DVD or just rent from blockbuster.com I can probably get 20-30 movies a month for $20 through them...HD and normal DVD.

Basically, once you get 3 HD rentals from XBOX LIVE you are at the cost of a Blockbuster.com membership (or Netflix)[/QUOTE]

I don't know where you are getting HD-DVD movies for $9 each, but more power to you. The reason I want to download V for Vendetta is because I don't have to drive to the store or wait for the movie to arrive in the mail (let alone wait for it to become available in the queue), but also because $6 is a lot better than paying $20 for something I'll probably watch once anyway.

[quote name='Sporadic']Check my list I posted.

Only HD movies up so far are ATL, Clash Of The Titans, The Perfect Storm, Poseidon, Unforgiven and V For Vendetta.[/QUOTE]

That sucks. MS made it sound like every movie would be available in HD and SD. I'm surprised more new movies aren't available in HD, like Failure to Launch. I was going to use that to show my wife how great the Xbox 360 really is (and why we need another one).

[quote name='thrustbucket']Wow that's really not much selection of HD.

Well what I find upsetting most, is that the price for tv shows is across the board. The cost of a 40 minute CSI episode is the same as an 11 minute Aqua Teen. I hope they adjust that.

Edit:

WTF happened with Star Trek? I thought the remastered HD versions would be up, isn't that what they've been advertising?[/QUOTE]

Wait - are you Brian Crescente? He just said the same thing on Kotaku...

And it's weird that Star Trek isn't the HD version. MS might have meant it's the new version which has been enhanced in HD but widely syndicated in SD.
 
[quote name='jrutz']

Wait - are you Brian Crescente? He just said the same thing on Kotaku...

And it's weird that Star Trek isn't the HD version. MS might have meant it's the new version which has been enhanced in HD but widely syndicated in SD.[/QUOTE]


Hehe, no I'm not him, no idea who that is.

I haven't been following that closely but I was under the impression all the hooplah with the new star trek was you can watch it in HD and see the new effects and shit. And since it was going to be on live, you could get it in HD. I would happily pay $3 an episode to own, of my favorite star treks in HD.
Effers.

This leads me to another point though, can anyone verify if you can download tv shows you bought on another persons xbox?
 
I love how they are doing this with points instead of money. Stocking up on points cards whenever there is a deal really helps out now. All I need is another 1600-for-$5 deal and I'll have enough points to buy anything I'd want on there.

V for Vendetta and Unforgiven in HD! The two movies I'd WANT to watch in HD! The two movies I JUST BOUGHT for my HD-DVD drive...

...sigh. That's ok I guess, I prefer having the physical copy anyway and both those movies are good enough to warrant as "keepers."

Anyway, as long as they get off their ass and start putting more HD movies up, I won't bitch. Using the "I got points cards for $5" conversion, those HD movies are only $1.50. Only $4.50 if you get in on a more common 1600-for-$15 deal.


[quote name='Sporadic']They aren't that bad but the UFC fights are outrageous.

160 for standard definition/240 for high definition per fight.

Griffin vs. Sinosic (9 minutes)
Leban vs. Silva (5 minutes)
Diego vs. Karo (22 minutes)
Riggs vs Lytle (13 minutes)[/QUOTE]

240 POINTS PER FIGHT? Please tell me that I read that wrong.

Wow, I remember back when the UFC content was my reason for wanting to use this service. Seems like ancient history now.
 
Is it going really slow for anyone else? Like I tried downloading some of the preview clips for Conan and they wouldnt start at all. It just went really slow till it got to the progress bar and it would never go above 0%. Im hoping its just because alot of people are on.
 
[quote name='Undertaker4eber']Is it going really slow for anyone else? Like I tried downloading some of the preview clips for Conan and they wouldnt start at all. It just went really slow till it got to the progress bar and it would never go above 0%. Im hoping its just because alot of people are on.[/QUOTE]

MS responds:

[quote name='http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/microsoft-responds-to-slow-movie-download-issue-216788.php']
Due to the overwhelming popularity of the new full-length content following the launch on Xbox Live Marketplace we are aware some gamers are experiencing temporary difficulties accessing content, due to the volume of demand. Download times will vary depending on broadband speed and size of content, and we expect the current issues some gamers are experience will be resolved soon.[/quote]

And
The rep went on to tell me that in a perfect world a two-hour HD movie would be about 5.85GB and, with a 6Mbps connection, should take about 2 1/2 hours to download. Fortunately, the service's streaming technology should let you start watching the movie in about ten minutes or so. Of course all of that is based on a bunch of variables, so experiences won't be the same for everyone.
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