Just saw this!

http://gizmodo.com/5025507/ps3-gets-video-downloads-and-rentals-tonight

Wow. Should be pretty neat..

I welcome video downlaods but I am REALLY disapointed that they did not come in any lower than MS here. $6 for a HD rental SUCKS!

Why bother? Concast HD OnDemand movies are cheaper, and I'd rather use the $6 towards a Blu-Ray movie that I'd own rather than rent, with lossless audio and 1080p video.

Why bother? Concast HD OnDemand movies are cheaper, and I'd rather use the $6 towards a Blu-Ray movie that I'd own rather than rent, with lossless audio and 1080p video.

Can you copy the psn rentals to the psp? If so, that is the difference for me..

Can you copy the psn rentals to the psp? If so, that is the difference for me..

I will find out tonight

$6 for a HD rental SUCKS!
*Family guy mode on* You thought that was bad? Remember the price for Cloverfield SD (!) purchase? I can get it for less on BD...

It's cool, but they should lower the prices.

Can you copy the psn rentals to the psp? If so, that is the difference for me..

Don't think you can do the rentals but if you purchase the movie then yes you can transfer.

can it transfer to my ipod video or itouch....

I asked this in another thread but here goes:

What's the word on the quality of HD downloads from the video store? I can't find any info on this. I'm assuming both the audio and video is going to be compressed... but to what extent? Are there any specs?

What's the rental term? For how long and how many times can I watch a rental?

I asked this in another thread but here goes:

What's the word on the quality of HD downloads from the video store? I can't find any info on this. I'm assuming both the audio and video is going to be compressed... but to what extent? Are there any specs?

No. We'll find out tonight.

Can you copy the psn rentals to the psp? If so, that is the difference for me..

http://gizmodo.com/5025507/ps3-gets-video-downloads-and-rentals-tonight

And you can transfer them to your PSP via USB, and have them on multiple devices at once!

Wow, so it costs more for me to rent over PSN than it does to rent from Blockbuster, and I get worse video quality and a poorer selection?!?! After this years E3, I'd say Sony is more than dumb enough to think people will use this service.

Wow, so it costs more for me to rent over PSN than it does to rent from Blockbuster, and I get worse video quality and a poorer selection?!?! After this years E3, I'd say Sony is more than dumb enough to think people will use this service.

Its the same price as MS, and they're making money on it so somebody is using it.

I'm most interested in the actual high definition movie CONTENT available.

If they have a lot of 1080p downloads of films not available either on Bluray or XBOX live then I'm totally psyched. I mean if they had all six Star Wars films, the original Indiana Jones Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, all the Pixar movies, Jurrasic Park, & E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial available for 1080p download I would not be displeased.

Anyone know what time this is supposed to go up? I'm prepared to be dissapointed.:(

Wow, so it costs more for me to rent over PSN than it does to rent from Blockbuster, and I get worse video quality and a poorer selection?!?! After this years E3, I'd say Sony is more than dumb enough to think people will use this service.

Are you kidding? I'd love to see your post in the Microsoft forum for the same thing.

And, how exactly do you know you get worse video quality than Blockbuster?

Sorry, your troll is not up to your usual Sony bashing.

I can see myself doing some renting but I prefer discs for things I'd want to buy and keep. I'll probably check out something tonight, I'm really behind on my movie viewing.

I'm most interested in the actual high definition movie CONTENT available.

If they have a lot of 1080p downloads of films not available either on Bluray or XBOX live then I'm totally psyched. I mean if they had all six Star Wars films, the original Indiana Jones Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, all the Pixar movies, Jurrasic Park, & E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial available for 1080p download I would not be displeased.

Anyone know what time this is supposed to go up? I'm prepared to be dissapointed.:(

The HD downloads are 720p.

As far as "OMG it's more than Blockbuster!!!" There is a price for convenience. Some people don't want to get off the couch. :p Still, I think they could've at least beat Comcast's prices.

If it was $3 HD rentals I might have canceled my netflix and used it almost exclusively for my movie watching.

At $5 I would have used it instead of comcast on demand.

At $6, I can't see myself using it, ever.

It's a great idea and a step forward, but the prices do need a little work before I'm going to jump on board.

If you build it, people will come. The prices won't matter to some people. Good for Sony, I hope this service takes off so Sony will be out of the RED.

So, anyone actually able to access the store with video yet?'

The HD downloads are 720p.

Where did you learn this, haven't seen this info anywere regarding 720p only. You got a link?

With my PSN download speeds it could take a day to download a movie.:mad:

With my PSN download speeds it could take a day to download a movie.:mad:

may be they can bring blockbuster online

Sony needs to hook up with Netflix

With gas the way it is the timing of all these video download services is perfect. I love my BD's as well, but expect these services to flourish.

With gas the way it is the timing of all these video download services is perfect. I love my BD's as well, but expect these services to flourish.

Yeah, I figure it costs ~2 bucks in gas to drive to the local blockbuster 5 miles away. Plus it saves a half hour of my time.

However, I will still use TWC on-Demand for 4.99 HD rentals. If I want the disc to own, well that's what ebay is for.

The HD downloads are 720p.

As far as "OMG it's more than Blockbuster!!!" There is a price for convenience. Some people don't want to get off the couch. :p Still, I think they could've at least beat Comcast's prices.

Well w/ VOD you get tiling and compress pic. More so than their live feed.

The price of HD content seems to be high.

But I think nowaways everybody is factoring in the $4 gallon gas price, and raising their prices. Also, I currently have two PS3.

I assume if I wanted to watch the movie on more than one PS3, I would have to pay twice.

Yeah, I figure it costs ~2 bucks in gas to drive to the local blockbuster 5 miles away. Plus it saves a half hour of my time.

However, I will still use TWC on-Demand for 4.99 HD rentals. If I want the disc to own, well that's what ebay is for.

We need to factor in wear and tear on vehicles as well and even more now since prices of everything are going up dramatically.

Where did you learn this, haven't seen this info anywere regarding 720p only. You got a link?
The example shown today of Cloverfield was 720p. I'm sure I read it also, but I don't have a link. We'll find out tonight. ;)


I assume if I wanted to watch the movie on more than one PS3, I would have to pay twice.
Can you log in to both systems with the same PSN ID? I'd guess it's tied to that.

Comcast offers a pretty extensive HD OnDemand section, freebie and rental. Some of their freebie stuff is really good like City of Lost Children, Akira, Robocop, Starship Troopers, etc..

I also wonder if they will offer OAR/5.1DD content?

Depending on how this works, it might be very useful for PSP commuters with wifi access.

Price is a little steep, but if it's only for new content and they price older content accordingly, it will work.

This is a smart move by Sony. They are going to increase the value of the PS3 in the minds of consumers. Plus at $6 an HD rental v. $25 and up for a Blu Ray disk, I see there being plenty of demand for the rentals - how many movies are even worth watching more than once?

As for being cheaper at Blockbuster, can you order a movie on demand from your couch? There is the big convenience factor. Not every one likes to drive out to the store. Also, compared to cable video on demand, I bet the selection on PSN will be far better and the user interface will be 100x better.

Again. I believe Sony is doing a very smart thing here for the PS3.

i thought this feature was coming out tonight. it is now after 11pm and i do not see a movie download section.

i thought this feature was coming out tonight. it is now after 11pm and i do not see a movie download section.

That statement was made in a Pacific time zone. That means you may have to wait until 3am EST.

Bleh to HD-lite. I said the same thing about MS's service.

Good for some, but not the HT enthusist.

Bleh to HD-lite. I said the same thing about MS's service.

Good for some, but not the HT enthusist.

This service is not meant for the HT enthusiast. It is meant for the average joe.

I think the price for HD rentals should be $0. I would happily watch commercials to get this price.

If they must charge, then I would pay $10 a month for all you can eat HD downloads with no commercials.

This really too little, too late. It's not about the money for me. It's about the value. It has to be a better deal than Netflix. I pay $20 buck a month to get access to any DVD ever made, any BR disc ever made, and 10,000 back titles streamed.

oops i think that i missed the button saying video at the top of the screen

I just got access to the video section.

It's at the top of the screen and it gives you a choice between the game store or the video store.

They seem to have a bunch of content already. They even had the first thing I looked for which was "Firefly: The complete series".


Not all HD rentals are 6 bucks. Some are $4.50

This service is not meant for the HT enthusiast. It is meant for the average joe.

i seriously doubt that, or else sony's (and microsoft's) download strategy is deeply flawed. average joe is not about to sit around and wait 2-4 hours for a feature film to download with blockbuster around the corner. average joe does not have the bandwidth necessary to stream the content on the fly, and average joe doesn't know and doesn't want to know about "viewing windows".

that said, i've downloaded plenty of hd movies on the 360, and the quality is DAMN good. the ps3 movies should be comparable...

Does it say anything about resolution?

Service is up and most HD content (movies) are $4.50 and SD content is $1.99. The caveat is all HD content is RENTAL ONLY.

I was interested in that Xam'd trailer they posted from E3 and that's a PSN exclusive 26-part anime series they'll be running, each episode costing $4 to rent. So they're letting me look at the 1080p trailer for free, and then making me RENT the 720p 25min show for $4/ea? No thanks, I'll just wait for it to hit BD or not at all.

4.50 for new release hd? or catalog?

Prices look better then the 360 equivalent, but content is a little scarce at this point, although that's how the 360 was in the beginning as well. Let's see how this shapes up.

4.50 for new release hd? or catalog?

4.50 for catalog

6 for new releases

gotcha, so it's the same as Live. actually catalog is .50 more then.

Just looked at it.

The interface was nice. I liked the search option. Little low on content, but more will come. I liked seeing that Family Guy was on there, and same price as buying an episode on Itunes.

I thought it was funny to see the "top downloads" section completely empty, the only time that will ever be like that, lol.

$6 is for more than one day's worth of rental right? That is way too much, only 720p and I'm pretty sure Dolby Digital. Blu-rays are stil the way to go IMO, just find em cheap (pretty easy) or buy them used as their scratch-resistant coating makes it pretty much "New".

Does it say anything about resolution?

I'm downloading an anime called, "Xam'd: Lost Memories." Its 1280x720 but looks very good. Probably the best I've ever seen hand drawn animation look in high definition via any source.

There's only about 50 or so movies out of a few hundred available in HD but hopefully that'll change soon.

I would imagine it's 24 hours once you start viewing. that's the standard and what the studios want.

I hate that. I wish it was at least 72hrs if not 1 week to allow for a second viewing.

I must be blind... Are you guys accessing the video store from your pc or your ps3?

you need to press up from the initial screen and the right to get to the video tab. next to games under the playstation store heading.

PS3.

And supposedly you can access it on the PC store as well to put it directly on your PSP.

the interface is nice. I'll probably download something in a few days to test out the speed. If I get comparable speed to live, I'll probably do more renting on here since I can put in just enough for the movie and not have to worry about buying extra points. I'm not holding my breath though, my psn store speeds aren't very good.

the search feature is nice.

So what's the word on the quality on this stuff?

720p? 1080p? 5.1?

Are all SD movies fullscreen?

EDIT: Ha, posted at the same time :)

filesizes look similar to Live, so no doubt 720p. I'm not seeing any specifications on audio other than "english"

Rented Spider-Man 2 HD for $4.50

7gb so it's definitely 720p.
Audio is AAC :(

you need to press up from the initial screen and the right to get to the video tab. next to games under the playstation store heading.

It's not working for me. Pressing up brings me to "Store Top" and then going right gets me to "View Downloads". I don't see a video tab anywhere on the screen. Also, the psn store is taking 15-20 seconds to load up. Either I'm doing something wrong or there is a problem with this update.

I had the same problem but then quit the store and relaunched it. Then the Game/Video tabs appeared and the store loaded very quickly.

Rented Spider-Man 2 HD for $4.50

7gb so it's definitely 720p.
Audio is AAC :(

I hope it's better than that for new releases or I will 'never' use the service as that it way subpar for the money.

I downloaded 2 movies and while both finished downloading only one shows up in my list !
anyone else seeing this problem ?

I had the same problem but then quit the store and relaunched it. Then the Game/Video tabs appeared and the store loaded very quickly.

I've relaunched it over 10 times, but nothing changes (I even reset my ps3). Oh well, I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks for trying to help guys... good night.

Edit: apparently Canadians don't have the video store yet.

Can't help you with your problem, but that was quick!

(BTW, I haven't d/l any movies yet, so I can't compare.)

I hope it's better than that for new releases or I will 'never' use the service as that it way subpar for the money.

did you really expect blu ray specs for a downloading service? it's all about another option for content delivery. this isn't meant as a replacement, especially for people that demand the highest quality.

man AAC? what a joke. i was hoping for TrueHD or DTS HD but man, that sucks.

Are you kidding? I'd love to see your post in the Microsoft forum for the same thing.

And, how exactly do you know you get worse video quality than Blockbuster?

Sorry, your troll is not up to your usual Sony bashing.

Just yesterday I questioned why everyone is so excited about the Netflix on Xbox program because unless you're a really big fan of catalog titles and tv shows you don't particularly care for new releases, your selection is limited.

I guess you're one of the suckers born every minute you occasionally hear a reference to? I can stop at Redbox and get any new release I want for $1. I can stop at Blockbuster and rent a BD with better video and audio quality for just under $5. I can rent any catalog DVD from Blockbuster for $1. These are facts which cannot be disputed.

If you like the service Sony or MS provides that's just great, they're more than happy to take your money. However I think if you are interested in spending your disposable income more wisely you're better stopping off at a rental chain, or get a Netflix account.

Video store appears to not be accessible from Canada. Pretty lame if that is the case.

Cheers

man AAC? what a joke. i was hoping for TrueHD or DTS HD but man, that sucks.

The only thing funny is people expecting TrueHD or DTS HD on a freakin download service. You seriously think they'd put up movies that are 20+ GB? It would take the average person a week to download them. :confused:

If you have a PS3 then Blu-Ray is the obvious choice for people who want the best quality. Expecting this service to replicate such quality is laughable at best.

Video store appears to not be accessible from Canada. Pretty lame if that is the case.

Cheers
There's probably some legal stuff that needs to be addressed. I think Apple's iTunes Video download service wasn't available up here until about a year after the states.

The caveat is all HD content is RENTAL ONLY.


For me, HD rentals are the only benefit this service can provide. If I buy any HD movie it will be on Blu-ray. If Sony could lower the pricing structure ($1 SD rentals, $2.50-$4.00 HD rentals) or go with a subscription service (priced cheaper than netflix) they could really earn my business as well as eat away at Netflix and MS' market share.

Brandon

man AAC? what a joke. i was hoping for TrueHD or DTS HD but man, that sucks.

All I can say after reading this post is the word "IDIOT".

All I can say after reading this post is the word "IDIOT".

He just isn't aware of how much space HD audio takes up.

I have a feeling there's a lot of people like him.

man AAC? what a joke. i was hoping for TrueHD or DTS HD but man, that sucks.

DD 640 or DTS 1.5 I could understand, but you're talking about doubling the file size of the download if a lossless track is included.

Brandon

NONE of the "pay for keepsies" titles are HD. Fail. I probably would've bought two or three movies or TV shows tonight.

NONE of the "pay for keepsies" titles are HD. Fail. I probably would've bought two or three movies or TV shows tonight.

They want you to buy the Blu-Rays man.

Besides, a Blu-Ray will kick the crap out of those downloads in AV quality.

Oh yeah, I know- and I'm fine paying more for the higher resolution, better audio, and extra features. But sometimes I just want the movie, or maybe I just want to save some wear on my bluray drive or not switch discs so much. Meh.

the "preview" feature is pretty cool. loads up quick and, when switched to full screen, still looks good. i watched the "rambo" preview and it appeared to be in hd, but still suffered from some artifacting or macroblocking or whatever you technowizards call it. i wonder if that's the quality of a downloaded movie? somebody pull the trigger and tell us!

Whats the deal with DRM? Im surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. I'd be willing to buy a few videos even in SD format if I knew what DRM restrictions they have on them going in.

man AAC? what a joke. i was hoping for TrueHD or DTS HD but man, that sucks.

Expecting download movies to be 1080p or have lossless audio are the only jokes I see....

It seems quite a lot of folks still don't understand that the video service is about choice. The way I see it, I have 3 options:

1. Rent DVD movies ( lower quality )
2. Use download services from X.. and PS3 (medium quality)
3. Rent/Buy BD movies (Best quality)

Not sure how the ISP's work in the US, but mine is capped in Canada and I wasn't foolish enough to think they would offer Blu-Ray quality as well as TrueHD or some other high def audio format based on the file sizes.

I will use the service once in a while, but it definitely won't be my #1 service as I don't mind buying BD to get the best quality.

Whats the deal with DRM? Im surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. I'd be willing to buy a few videos even in SD format if I knew what DRM restrictions they have on them going in.

I believe you have 14 days from downloading it to start it, at which point you have 24 hours.

Do the movies have alternate soundtrack and subtitle? I like watching foreign films in their original soundtrack with English sub.

Very disappointed to not see any childrens movies available for purchase. Also no HD movie purchases. I was hoping to download a bunch of HD movies that my son could watch anytime he wanted. Then I could transfer them to the PSP so he could watch them on the go.

I believe you have 14 days from downloading it to start it, at which point you have 24 hours.

For a rental. Im talkin about actual purchases. If I buy a movie will I actually own it? Be able to take it off the PS3 transfer it to my PC and then transfer it to my Zen Vision "W" I have a PSP and as cool as it is it's crippled by the memory sticks. My Zen vision is my PMP that has 20 plus movies on it's 30 gig hard drive( along with about 1K Mp3's). If I buy a movie off the PS store, will I be able to use it as I want, or has Sony thrown in some DRM that locks it only to the PS3 and PSP? I'll wait before I spend my money.

where are the previews? kind of ridiculous to have a download service without a quick preview of what you're looking at

where are the previews? kind of ridiculous to have a download service without a quick preview of what you're looking at

It is?

:confused:

where are the previews? kind of ridiculous to have a download service without a quick preview of what you're looking at

I was wondering that too. I saw on the press conference that the movies had previews, but I couldn't find any for the movies I was looking at

Rented Spider-Man 2 HD for $4.50

7gb so it's definitely 720p.
Audio is AAC :(

What do you (or anyone else) think of the video quality?

I downloaded a couple episodes of Robot Chicken @ $1.99 to test it out. Download time was ehh... typical PS3 slowness, took me about 10 minutes for a 15 minute episode but I would imagine they had a ton of traffic at the time.

Quality is better than expected for SD, looked as good as an up-converted DVD playing in the PS3 though I had to "force" full screen through my TV.

You can't transfer the file to your PSP if you have custom firmware (yet) which was a letdown for me.

Not a bad service but obviously not as good as a Blu Ray.

Very good for spur of the moment downloads and I'm glad I don't have to pay monthly.

Anyone know if the rentals work on PSP? It would be pretty sweet to be able to download a movie or two when I go on trips.

It is?

:confused:

you don't think so? i have no idea what half of those television shows are or what the episodes are about. am i supposed to just blind buy them? same for the movies. a quick 30 second clip would be great.

NVM, Dark_Alex released a plugin so custom firmware will work with the video downloads.

Nice.

http://sceners.org/

With AppleTV and Blockbuster I don't think I will ever use this.
One thing I didn't hear about is how long do you have to watch the movie once you rented it?
That is the big downside of AppleTV, you have 24 hours to watch.
But at least they are a couple of buck cheaper to rent HD.
I'll just stay happy with my Blu-Ray rentals in the mail.

One thing I didn't hear about is how long do you have to watch the movie once you rented it?
That is the big downside of AppleTV, you have 24 hours to watch.


14 days to start it, 24 hours from that point.

you don't think so? i have no idea what half of those television shows are or what the episodes are about. am i supposed to just blind buy them? same for the movies. a quick 30 second clip would be great.

Well, I come from an era of movie rentals where we had no previews at the store. We just looked at the cover and read the box.

I don't see this being incredibly different than that.

I think the overall movie and TV show selection is pretty decent. A lot more up than i expected.

Previews are supposed to be there, they were demoed yesterday at E3.



Has anyone rented an SD movie yet? How is the quality? Fullscreen? Widescreen? Is everything encoded AVC?

I think the overall movie and TV show selection is pretty decent. A lot more up than i expected.

Agreed. They have a pretty impressive selection for the launch of the service.

14 days to start it, 24 hours from that point.

Meh, same as Apple.
Thanks but no thanks.

I think these service providers gave in a little too much to the movie studios. It can take me 3 or 4 days to watch a movie I rent depending on what comes up.
I don't like this gun to my head system.

If I am paying $6 or $7, I should have a week to watch it, same as going to the video store.

Well, I come from an era of movie rentals where we had no previews at the store. We just looked at the cover and read the box.

I don't see this being incredibly different than that.

it's important for online downloading. as it stands at this moment they're the only provider not offering previews. i expect they'll fix that in short order...

Oh yeah, I know- and I'm fine paying more for the higher resolution, better audio, and extra features. But sometimes I just want the movie, or maybe I just want to save some wear on my bluray drive or not switch discs so much. Meh.

One thing that makes me hesitant about HD purchases, even if they're of "good enough" quality, is that it makes the HDD in the PS3 all that more important. Right now I can easily back up my HDD for restore purposes if it ever fails. But being able to transfer movie copies and storage concerns give me pause.

Brandon

What do you (or anyone else) think of the video quality?

I was watching Spider-Man 2 on AppleTV (ripped at 2500 via handbrake from DVD) while PSN was taking forever to download. My GF came home while I was watching the AppleTV version and we watched that for like 20 minutes.

I stopped and went back to the PS3 version and she says, 'wow - the colors are really saturated!'.

In all honesty though it looks comparable to the downloads from XBL. Maybe a little more compression but only just a little. At the rate it was downloading it was going to take the whole night to download. I'm assuming last night their servers were getting hammered so after like 2 hours it only downloaded 12%.

For the price, selection and general lack of usability - descriptions are terrible: doesn't list actors, directors, year released, not to mention lack of previews, etc I think I'm going to stick with when I do want to rent something in HD AppleTV is still the better kid on the block.

That is the big downside of AppleTV, you have 24 hours to watch.
But at least they are a couple of buck cheaper to rent HD.
I'll just stay happy with my Blu-Ray rentals in the mail.

I'm starting to think these (and others) are stipulations required by the content providers. Otherwise I believe more of the services would be undercutting each other to steal away market share. They should make plenty of money off of $2-4 downloads as well as allowing 72-hour rentals. There's not many reasons why they shouldn't do it.

Anyway, if you already subscribe to AppleTV this service may not be beneficial to you.

Brandon

I'm starting to think these (and others) are stipulations required by the content providers.

they are, unfortunately.

did you really expect blu ray specs for a downloading service? it's all about another option for content delivery. this isn't meant as a replacement, especially for people that demand the highest quality.

No, but this is far from the highest quality. I would appreciate DD or lossless 5ch pcm for audio at least and 1080i wouldn't be bad either if they can't provide 1080p
I mean, an upscaled SD video shouldn't be charging HD prices.
-jmo

No, but this is far from the highest quality. I would appreciate DD or lossless 5ch pcm for audio at least and 1080i wouldn't be bad either if they can't provide 1080p
I mean, an upscaled SD video shouldn't be charging HD prices.
-jmo

I dont see how anyone could realistically expect Lossless PCM audio. or 1080i resoultion in a downloaded movie service. Nevermind the price, the size of the file alone would be enough to cripple all expcept those on a Fiber optic service. If you want lossless audio and 1080i or P resolutions. You're gonna have to go with the disc version of the movies. Downloading 10-15 gig movies just doesnt seem very realistic right now for the mass majority of people out there.

-Once you download a rented movie, you have 14 days to watch it.
-Once you begin watching the rented movie, you have 24 hours to finish it.
-HD movies are available for rental only.
-SD movies that have been purchased can be moved back and forth from the PS3 to the PSP.
-Rented SD movies can be moved to the PSP only once, and cannot be moved back to the PS3.

I dont see how anyone could realistically expect Lossless PCM audio. or 1080i resoultion in a downloaded movie service. Nevermind the price, the size of the file alone would be enough to cripple all expcept those on a Fiber optic service. If you want lossless audio and 1080i or P resolutions. You're gonna have to go with the disc version of the movies. Downloading 10-15 gig movies just doesnt seem very realistic right now for the mass majority of people out there.

D*'s PPV gives 5.1DD and 1080i for $5.
And I barely use that service as I can usually rent the same movie with 1080p and advanced audio codecs.

If the future of HD is streaming, I'm sure someone can send 1080i or maybe even 1080p with at least DD 5.1
No saying this isn't a nice feature, but it is not a good value and it lacks in quality. Why watch an HD movie on your HDTV and not get a copy 10x better? It's not like there aren't 1million channels of programming, so if it is a spur of the moment thing, check your guide....there will be something.

We need a upgrade to the DL service.

D*'s PPV gives 5.1DD and 1080i for $5.
And I barely use that service as I can usually rent the same movie with 1080p and advanced audio codecs.

In movie distribution, not all 1080 resolutions are created equal. True, D* is technically correct in saying they deliver 1080 movies, but to be able to send it to you it has to go through a compression scheme that affects the overall quality of the movie compared to an uncompressed 1080 image on Blu-ray.


BTW, whether (i)nterlace or (P)rogressive, it makes no difference on a 24 fps film. Compression schemes are important to those who send you the movie however, and they are used so companies aren't forced to send 30GB+ data over the air to your TV, but this degrades the quality of the image. Yes there are some Blu-ray movies that aren't exactly stellar (i.e. lots of compression artifacts and crushed blacks on a few) but that is a result of poor movie transferring to the format, not a problem inherent in the technology.

When you transfer a movie over a national network service, you currently can not get uncompressed video and audio like Blu-ray provides. Our country's current infrastructure does not support it in a time or cost effective way. That's the problem whether you go with any service (including full length PSN movie offerings), despite the HD claims made out of context by Apple or Netflix or VuDu or cable companies.

Maybe "Full HD" should be used, to indicate uncompressed 1080 resolution and uncompressed sound.

So is SD and HD quality much better than Comcast on demand or apple tv?

D*'s PPV gives 5.1DD and 1080i for $5.
And I barely use that service as I can usually rent the same movie with 1080p and advanced audio codecs.

If the future of HD is streaming, I'm sure someone can send 1080i or maybe even 1080p with at least DD 5.1
No saying this isn't a nice feature, but it is not a good value and it lacks in quality. Why watch an HD movie on your HDTV and not get a copy 10x better? It's not like there aren't 1million channels of programming, so if it is a spur of the moment thing, check your guide....there will be something.

I wouldnt say "the future of HD is Streaming" Certainly not with the current transport methods in place. Coax/Copoper just doesnt have the bandwidth to support it. They can send 1080P with DD 5.1 over Coax, (look at HDMI its copper, and supports 50-60 Mbps) but you wouldnt have anything else going over that coax, certainly not enough to support all the other channels that everybody else is the getting off that same piece of coax. Thats the problem the copper in the ground is being shared with other people, and the bandwidth just isnt there for everybody to have what HD video and Audio demands. Fiber to the home is limited to a VERY small percentage of people, and IMO the only thing that can support the bandwidth needed for HD Video and Audio for multiple users

are the movie downloads 5.1?

When you transfer a movie over a national network service, you currently can not get uncompressed video and audio like Blu-ray provides. Our country's current infrastructure does not support it in a time or cost effective way. That's the problem whether you go with any service (including full length PSN movie offerings), despite the HD claims made out of context by Apple or Netflix or VuDu or cable companies.

Maybe "Full HD" should be used, to indicate uncompressed 1080 resolution and uncompressed sound.

Thank you..I've been banging that drum for the past two years.

In movie distribution, not all 1080 resolutions are created equal. True, D* is technically correct in saying they deliver 1080 movies, but to be able to send it to you it has to go through a compression scheme that affects the overall quality of the movie compared to an uncompressed 1080 image on Blu-ray.


BTW, whether (i)nterlace or (P)rogressive, it makes no difference on a 24 fps film. Compression schemes are important to those who send you the movie however, and they are used so companies aren't forced to send 30GB+ data over the air to your TV, but this degrades the quality of the image. Yes there are some Blu-ray movies that aren't exactly stellar (i.e. lots of compression artifacts and crushed blacks on a few) but that is a result of poor movie transferring to the format, not a problem inherent in the technology.

When you transfer a movie over a national network service, you currently can not get uncompressed video and audio like Blu-ray provides. Our country's current infrastructure does not support it in a time or cost effective way. That's the problem whether you go with any service (including full length PSN movie offerings), despite the HD claims made out of context by Apple or Netflix or VuDu or cable companies.

Maybe "Full HD" should be used, to indicate uncompressed 1080 resolution and uncompressed sound.

Blu-Ray video is compressed, just at a higher bit rate and/or with more efficient codecs than ATSC "standard" HD.

The thing I am most disappointed with is the 2-channel AAC sound. 720p is fine for a rental, but no Dolby Digital 5.1?!?!?! That's a little weak considering the price.

Just wondering, is everything shown in it's original aspect ratio, whether it's TV or movies?

In movie distribution, not all 1080 resolutions are created equal. True, D* is technically correct in saying they deliver 1080 movies, but to be able to send it to you it has to go through a compression scheme that affects the overall quality of the movie compared to an uncompressed 1080 image on Blu-ray.

I agree with what you are saying but thought I should note that Blu-Ray also uses compression for video, the codecs used being one of MPEG-2 (same as DVD though at a higher resolution), H.264/AVC, and SMPTE VC-1:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Codecs

Cheers

No, but this is far from the highest quality. I would appreciate DD or lossless 5ch pcm for audio at least and 1080i wouldn't be bad either if they can't provide 1080p
I mean, an upscaled SD video shouldn't be charging HD prices.
-jmo

You do realize that PCM audio would be the single worst (and most unrealistic) option, right? For example, a Dolby TrueHD lossless audio track may take up 2.5GB of space, but the source PCM (uncompressed lossless) track would take up 5+GB of space.

The most realistic option is DD5.1 at either 448kbps or 640kbps.

Just wondering, is everything shown in it's original aspect ratio, whether it's TV or movies?

Also interested in this. I have no desire to rent a movie that isn't in OAR. I'd rather rent on Blu-ray.
Brandon

Do the movies have alternate soundtrack and subtitle? I like watching foreign films in their original soundtrack with English sub.

I was happy to see that the anime I downloaded was subtitled with original Japanese soundtrack. I hate when we're forced to watch a lousy English dub.

When you transfer a movie over a national network service, you currently can not get uncompressed video and audio like Blu-ray provides.

Hate to break it to you but Blu-ray is not uncompressed video, not even close. Why do you think digital projection in a movie theatre looks considerably better when its resolution is comparable 1080x2024?

Previews are supposed to be there, they were demoed yesterday at E3.



...

some have previews (rambo, for example) on the purchase screen. some apparently do not. maybe they're forthcoming. the rambo one looked good and loaded instantly.

Blu-Ray video is compressed, just at a higher bit rate and/or with more efficient codecs than ATSC "standard" HD.

The thing I am most disappointed with is the 2-channel AAC sound. 720p is fine for a rental, but no Dolby Digital 5.1?!?!?! That's a little weak considering the price.


Really? 2ch AAC for the HD rentals/buys? I thought it'ld be at least DD5.1 :confused:

Blu-Ray video is compressed, just at a higher bit rate and/or with more efficient codecs than ATSC "standard" HD.

The thing I am most disappointed with is the 2-channel AAC sound. 720p is fine for a rental, but no Dolby Digital 5.1?!?!?! That's a little weak considering the price.

They want you to buy the Blu-ray.

I am currently downloading an episode of Firefly to see how the SD looks. One thing I don't like so far is that you can't have both games and videos in your cart at the same time. Not a big issue, but still...I had to go back and grab The Who set after I finished with Firefly. I would think they'd want it easier to leave stuff in your cart after you've put it there.

53 HD movies right off the bat. Not bad. It'll be interesting to see how quickly they add a lot of content.




EDIT: I can confirm that Firefly is being shown in the OAR of 16:9 and it looks pretty good considering it's SD.

They want you to buy the Blu-ray.

Do the Apple TV and XBox live movie rentals have DD surround sound? This is a pretty big problem. No significant space would be required to include DD. I think they will regret this decision. I suspect this will be changed in the future. I bought one movie for my son. It will be my last until this is resolved.

Do the Apple TV and XBox live movie rentals have DD surround sound? This is a pretty big problem. No significant space would be required to include DD. I think they will regret this decision. I suspect this will be changed in the future. I bought one movie for my son. It will be my last until this is resolved.

It's not about space, it's about how much competition they want to create for themselves.

If they make the downloads too good, than they could inadvertently kill Blu-Ray. They don't want that.

Very disappointed to not see any childrens movies available

Yeah not even a single Pixar movie available, shame on you Disney...

It's not about space, it's about how much competition they want to create for themselves.

If they make the downloads too good, than they could inadvertently kill Blu-Ray. They don't want that.

You don't seriously think they are gimping the downloads because they are scared of killing Blu-Ray, do you? That's absolutely ridiculous.

You don't seriously think they are gimping the downloads because they are scared of killing Blu-Ray, do you? That's absolutely ridiculous.

It makes sense. Remember when the PS3 originally launched it didn't do upconvert until after a firmware like 6-7 months later. It was to not compare upconvert to BD

It was to not compare upconvert to BD

So, you've seen the memo, have you? :rolleyes: The truth is you don't know why it took them 5-7 months to include up-conversion. I suppose they didn't include DTS HD because they didn't want to compete with True HD? My guess is that they had a bloated operation system hogging memory--the same reason I think it took so long to get in-game music playlists. But, that's just a guess since I'm not on the internal mailing list.

Face it--the average person downloading content won't be able to tell the difference between matrixed 2 channel vs DD5.1. People who use forums like this will know, but those people weren't going to shy away from Blu-Ray to go with compressed 720p downloads, anyway, regardless of audio specs.

If anything, they are using 2 channel audio to shave down file size in any way they can since their downloads are so slow for so many.

FWIW, I just downloaded a 780MB Firefly Episode and a 460MB Afro Samurai episode in about 20 minutes with Comcast.

So, you've seen the memo, have you? The truth is you don't know why it took them 5-7 months to include up-conversion

You seriously think it took 7 months to implement what every other BR player was doing on the market when BR was first introduced? I am not saying that for a fact that is the reason but it would make sense at the time when people were saying the movies didn't have the jump of huge quality difference like it was from VHS to DVD.

Most HD movies (which are most that are a couple years old or older) are $4.50. I don't think that's too bad at all. That's cheaper than Blockbuster when you factor in gas and tax.

You seriously think it took 7 months to implement what every other BR player was doing on the market when BR was first introduced? I am not saying that for a fact that is the reason but it would make sense at the time when people were saying the movies didn't have the jump of huge quality difference like it was from VHS to DVD.

You're welcome to your opinion. I said up front that my guess was just that--a guess. At least in this post you admit that you don't know for a fact that the up-conversion was added later to not stifle Blu-Ray. Your other post certainly did sound...um....certain.

You're welcome to your opinion. I said up front that my guess was just that--a guess. At least in this post you admit that you don't know for a fact that the up-conversion was added later to not stifle Blu-Ray. Your other post certainly did sound...um....certain.

It was just a very odd omission to a feature that has been around for years before BR was available. I know that regardless that BR won I wasn't expecting 1080p movies and tv shows and lossless sound for the service. At least not now starting off. I was expecting it to be similar to 360's service with cost and quality of videos.

Thanks for the corrections everyone... I guess I should've said "less compressed video", but the main point still stands about the difference with transmitted video movies.

Is this accessible directly from a PSP over wifi, or do you need to download to a PS3 first?

Oh well despite not having surround sound the quality of the movie (SD Alvin and the Chipmunks) was very good. Much better than expected. Downloaded to PSP and it worked like a champ. Gotta get a bigger card. The file size was 1.5GB.

If they add DD then I would say for 14.99 I got my monies worth. But without it I will just rip my own. But that would be illegal so I would never think of doing that!

Oh well despite not having surround sound the quality of the movie (SD Alvin and the Chipmunks) was very good. Much better than expected. Downloaded to PSP and it worked like a champ. Gotta get a bigger card. The file size was 1.5GB.

If they add DD then I would say for 14.99 I got my monies worth. But without it I will just rip my own. But that would be illegal so I would never think of doing that!

Fellow Charlottean here, anyway...

No 5.1 on SD movies, thanks for letting us know, hopefully that is one of things they address soon with this service. I for one am really disappointed in the selection. Hope it changes soon so I can use my PSP on the lynx with legit content.

This may have been covered, but searching the thread found nothing.

Is there a "Play while downloading" option similar to game/movie trailers?

I would assume no the way some are saying the downloads are taking forever, but clarification is nice.

Thanks in advance.

This may have been covered, but searching the thread found nothing.

Is there a "Play while downloading" option similar to game/movie trailers?

I would assume no the way some are saying the downloads are taking forever, but clarification is nice.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can start watching a movie before it finishes downloading. One thing I think they need to add is preview trailers for every movie. Rambo has a very nice preview, but that was the only movie I could find with that feature.

I really wish there was an option to sort similar to the Xbox Live format. I'd much rather have the full list and be able to sort by year of release, rather than have to enter and back out of every letter in the alphabet.

Are the HD rentals in 5.1?

Is anyone having issues transferring video to the PSP?

I have custom firmware and downloaded and installed the USB faker plugin and have it running but I keep getting an error code 80023687 when I try to copy to my PSP.

Is anyone having issues transferring video to the PSP?

I have custom firmware and downloaded and installed the USB faker plugin and have it running but I keep getting an error code 80023687 when I try to copy to my PSP.


I had no problem downloading an episode of Firefly to my PSP, but I'm not using a faker anything, or custom firmware. It simply worked as advertised.

Do the Apple TV and XBox live movie rentals have DD surround sound? This is a pretty big problem. No significant space would be required to include DD. I think they will regret this decision. I suspect this will be changed in the future. I bought one movie for my son. It will be my last until this is resolved.

I don't do XBox live, but Apple TV offers 5.1 on many of their HD rentals. I believe it may be AAC as opposed to DD, but 5.1 nonetheless.

Hate to break it to you but Blu-ray is not uncompressed video, not even close. Why do you think digital projection in a movie theatre looks considerably better when its resolution is comparable 1080x2024?

You're being a little general there buddy. Theatres are absolutely not always "considerably better."

It makes sense. Remember when the PS3 originally launched it didn't do upconvert until after a firmware like 6-7 months later. It was to not compare upconvert to BD

I highly doubt this was the case. Some burden of proof would be required on your part for this assertion. It's just much more likely that it took them a while to incorporate that feature which falls in line with all of the other features they added at later dates...even simple ones.

Brandon

Can i transfer the file to any mobile device or only the psp...

You don't seriously think they are gimping the downloads because they are scared of killing Blu-Ray, do you? That's absolutely ridiculous.

Umm, yes I do.

Why is it ridiculous?

Sony has reluctantly joined the digital download era. They've invested a lot in Blu-Ray and want you to buy it. If downloads are too good or too easy, you won't buy the Blu-Ray. Pretty simple logic really.

wooosh, right over the top

Umm, yes I do.

Why is it ridiculous?

Sony has reluctantly joined the digital download era. They've invested a lot in Blu-Ray and want you to buy it. If downloads are too good or too easy, you won't buy the Blu-Ray. Pretty simple logic really.

I won't say it's ridiculous, but I think it's off-base. No digital downloads can kill Blu-ray. Not anytime soon, anyway. Think about this. There are already 2-3 other services that currently trump Sony's offering (although that could change over time), and there's no hint of it killing Blu-ray.

I do agree with you that they are being careful to who these offerings will cater to. This is simply another revenue stream for their platform as well as another option for the consumer that may eat at market share for the competitors. Also think about this...when a person doesn't buy a Blu-ray it's typically because they either have the DVD or they rent the Blu-ray from somewhere (or another service). With having a service of their own, they can instead take the dollars that were going to go to netflix/apple/On Demand/etc, and put it in their pockets...even though the consumer still didn't buy the Blu-ray.

This is simply form of product diversification.

Brandon

I won't say it's ridiculous, but I think it's off-base. No digital downloads can kill Blu-ray. Not anytime soon, anyway. Think about this. There are already 2-3 other services that currently trump Sony's offering (although that could change over time), and there's no hint of it killing Blu-ray.

I do agree with you that they are being careful to who these offerings will cater to. This is simply another revenue stream for their platform as well as another option for the consumer that may eat at market share for the competitors. Also think about this...when a person doesn't buy a Blu-ray it's typically because they either have the DVD or they rent the Blu-ray from somewhere (or another service). With having a service of their own, they can instead take the dollars that were going to go to netflix/apple/On Demand/etc, and put it in their pockets...even though the consumer still didn't buy the Blu-ray.

This is simply form of product diversification.

Brandon


I think you are both right. More avenues to sell and also more control over how it gets used.

You can have the Porsche of movie playback, BD's or you can have the convenience, lesser quality, cheaper price and in some ways with rentals, more limited uses.

The studios and all related CE companies are covering all the bases very nicely from a business perspective. They have us literally coming and going. Very smart. When consumers piss and moan about certain products that have issues (DRM in this case), but want them anyway companies have us and they know it. :D

As a consumer I want more, cheaper and to do what ever I want with it. :mad:

I won't say it's ridiculous, but I think it's off-base. No digital downloads can kill Blu-ray. Not anytime soon, anyway. Think about this. There are already 2-3 other services that currently trump Sony's offering (although that could change over time), and there's no hint of it killing Blu-ray.

I do agree with you that they are being careful to who these offerings will cater to. This is simply another revenue stream for their platform as well as another option for the consumer that may eat at market share for the competitors. Also think about this...when a person doesn't buy a Blu-ray it's typically because they either have the DVD or they rent the Blu-ray from somewhere (or another service). With having a service of their own, they can instead take the dollars that were going to go to netflix/apple/On Demand/etc, and put it in their pockets...even though the consumer still didn't buy the Blu-ray.

This is simply form of product diversification.

Brandon



Sony has to walk a very fine line here. They know the danger of offering something too convenient. Take a look at what happened to music.

MP3 is inferior in audio quality to the 25 year old CD, and yet people don't care about that. They care about convenience. Which is why MP3 has taken over as the majority music playing technology and CD Walkman got it's but whooped by Ipod.

Sony won't offer HD downloads that approach Blu-Ray in quality, at least not in the near future. They have to make them OBVIOUSLY inferior, otherwise download technology will kill yet another disk, but this time it will be Blu-Ray instead of CD.

Sony won't offer HD downloads that approach Blu-Ray in quality, at least not in the near future. They have to make them OBVIOUSLY inferior, otherwise download technology will kill yet another disk, but this time it will be Blu-Ray instead of CD.


HD digital downloadable movies are BR worse enemy. Everybody knows this, and Sony who has invested the most into BR.. absolutely knows this. HD downloadable movies are more convenient, cheaper, and provide immediate HD satisfaction without leaving your living room.

I support the argument that says this is why it took them so long to add the ability to download SD/HD movies and upconvert DVD's on the PS3. If people are downloading movies or using upscaled DVD to watch movies.. then they arent bothering to use BR. Upconverting DVD players and downloadable movies have been around alot longer than the PS3. Sony was forced to add those capabilities to keep up with the competition.

Anyone who cant see that point (or is pretending not to see) is only fooling themselves.

HD digital downloadable movies are BR worse enemy. Everybody knows this, and Sony who has invested the most into BR.. absolutely knows this. HD downloadable movies are more convenient, cheaper, and provide immediate HD satisfaction without leaving your living room.

I support the argument that says this is why it took them so long to add the ability to download SD/HD movies and upconvert DVD's on the PS3. If people are downloading movies or using upscaled DVD to watch movies.. then they arent bothering to use BR. Upconverting DVD players and downloadable movies have been around alot longer than the PS3. Sony was forced to add those capabilities to keep up with the competition.

Anyone who cant see that point (or is pretending not to see) is only fooling themselves.Yeah, if Sony had it their way, no one would have digital downloads and we would all use and love BR exclusively for our HD content.

But other companies couldn't give a crap about BR's success/failure and want to make money. And knowing that lazy Americans are all about convenience, digital downloads are it.

Sony can either jump on board or go down with the ship.

Since I think we can all agree that eventually digital downloads will take over optical media, from Sony's perspective, it is easier to stay with the times now than to play catch up down the road. There's still room for both BR and digital downloads now, and I think Sony realizes that and is taking advantage of it, but they have to realize that eventually one of them isn't going to be around.

Sony can either jump on board or go down with the ship.

Since I think we can all agree that eventually digital downloads will take over optical media, from Sony's perspective, it is easier to stay with the times now than to play catch up down the road. There's still room for both BR and digital downloads now, and I think Sony realizes that and is taking advantage of it, but they have to realize that eventually one of them isn't going to be around.

That about sums it up. Good post.

Word of warning, it seems that Sony's XMB uses the internal date of creation for a movie probably from metadata and therefore if (like me) you set your XMB (movie section) to sort by month, some of the movie downloads will not be in the month you think they are in (i.e. July 08) but in the date that the movie was made (e.g. May 07) as such It can seem as though the movie is missing.

I guess i could just delete all the trailers i got before which would make it easier to just show them all in the XMB (flat view).

So far however (unlike others) I am loving this service, but since i am down to my last 2GB of space it seems that i will be upgrading the disk before the end of the month.

Wow, I can't believe the 2ch thing on HD rentals.

To clarify, on HD rentals, AppleTV has real Dolby 5.1.
I would think the difference in file size with DD5.1 and AAC 2ch is minimal.
Face it, Sony just didn't want to pay the license fee to Dolby.
There is no excuse, they should at least use AAC 5.1 because the PS3 will output it if you have a HDMI receiver.
It looks to me like Sony could care less about this feature, they just want to add a bullet point that matches Xbox360.
I'm with you Sony, I could care less also.

Seems that Amazon has joined the VOD fray and announced there service today.
I really prefer their music download service and use it instead of Itunes (they never had DRM and Apple has not given a tool to unlock all my old songs).
While i am not sure how the business model would work,I would hope that somehow it will be made available to PS3 users and based on the details below I still have hope for that to happen:

Amazon also plans to bring the service directly to the living room through a deal with Sony (and others) which will ultimately embed store access into future Bravia TVs. For now, Amazon's VoD store will be available through Sony's $300 Bravia Internet Video Link device.

The Amazon VOD info link (http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/17/amazon-video-on-demand-store-streams-video-launches-today/)

HD digital downloadable movies are BR worse enemy. Everybody knows this, and Sony who has invested the most into BR.. absolutely knows this. HD downloadable movies are more convenient, cheaper, and provide immediate HD satisfaction without leaving your living room.

I support the argument that says this is why it took them so long to add the ability to download SD/HD movies and upconvert DVD's on the PS3. If people are downloading movies or using upscaled DVD to watch movies.. then they arent bothering to use BR. Upconverting DVD players and downloadable movies have been around alot longer than the PS3. Sony was forced to add those capabilities to keep up with the competition.

Anyone who cant see that point (or is pretending not to see) is only fooling themselves.

I disagree in so many ways. I don't see HD downloads as a thread to BD. I project that the majority of downloads(SD or HD) will be transient, temporary deals. I predict that people that choose to *own* the content will tend to choose a physical medium.

Also, what about extras? The movie studios absolutely believe in extras(although I do not). That was one of the selling points of HD-DVD over BD 1.0, and its also a vehicle that studios use to push re-releases and try to get buyers to double-dip. Apparently the cost of developing, producing, and including all of those extras is worth it for the studios, otherwise they would have died off long ago. And with downloads, you don't get extras.

And it didn't really take Sony that long to support dvd upconversion. IIRC, it was about 6 and a half months after launch(11/17/06 to 06/24/07). It came with version 1.8 of the firmware. In terms of functionality, it was the largest firmware update to that point. That firmware also included Remote Play over Internet, DVD upconversion, BD downconversion to 720p, BD 24p, upscale of PS1 & PS2 games, atialiasing of PS1 & PS2 games, ability to *write* ps1/2 data back through the memory card adapter, and the inclusion of DNLA and streaming.

That's a lot in one release. Each component of that release was internally developed, tested, and delivered at different times, and all of the features were delivered as one package. Who knows when the DVD upconversion was fully implemented? It might have been implemented as early as January of 07, and Sony might have chosen to include it in a more media-related firmware update. It's entirely possible.

I disagree in so many ways. I don't see HD downloads as a thread to BD...........................

I have one word for you.

mp3




5 years from now, we will know who argued the better point. downloads vs. BR

I have one word for you.

mp3




5 years from now, we will know who argued the better point. downloads vs. BR

MP3 certainly shows people are willing to sacrifice quality for convenience and cost. At this point in DD however the cost is just (IMHO) not there. Unless you are talking about avi and mkv. Both of which seem to be HUGELY popular.

It looks to me like Sony could care less about this feature, they just want to add a bullet point that matches Xbox360.
I'm with you Sony, I could care less also.

http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html

I have one word for you.

mp3




5 years from now, we will know who argued the better point. downloads vs. BR

Comparing a 3 minute song to a movie is silly. There are so many differences involved as to make the comparison moot, really.


And, 5 fives years from now you won't know who argued the better point. You'll simply know the details of what happened to downloads vs disc based media in the interim. You "argument" will have no bearing on reality whatsoever.

You're being a little general there buddy. Theatres are absolutely not always "considerably better."


Didn't say "always." Excuse me:cool::p, generally speaking, 90-99% of the time a digital theatrical presentation will be superior to what you can get at home using only a Blu-ray disc as a source. I mean we're talking 30-40 Mbit per second vs 200 maybe 300 Mbit per second.

so even the HD rentals only have stereo sound? major drawback.

I disagree in so many ways.

I do too, but it seems to be hopeless as many here appear to be deluding themselves. When the music analogy resurfaces (which is flawed on so many levels, not the least of which is on lifestyle alone), I know it's time to just let people think what they will. I wonder if they realize that means the studios who provide content are intentionally hurting their own home video sales by offering their movies to so many different services. I wonder how they reconcile that with the millions they're all investing in the Blu-ray format? Go figure.

Brandon

I agree that HD downloads will be the eventual death of BR.

The simple fact is the majority of consumers just want something cheap and easy to watch. They could care less about 720p versus 1080p or 5.1 versus 7.1. And the majority will dictate the future of BR. If the price doesn't drop for BR players and discs, the majority will continue to purchase DVDs and movies-on-demand.

Here's an example for laughs. True story. My friend buys a new 56" HD TV. I go to his house about a month later and he's raving about how awesome his new TV looks. He turns it on and switches to a HD boxing event. I look at the image and immediately notice that somethings wrong. I duck behind the TV and lo and behold he has the cable box hooked up to the TV with an S-video cable!! And all that time he thought he was watching hi-def.

How long does it take to download a HD movie??

Will the movie once watched remain on my Harddrive forever???

Reminds me of a survey they did a while ago where a surprising number of HDTV owners weren't even watching HD programming and never realized it.

How long does it take to download a HD movie??

Will the movie once watched remain on my Harddrive forever???

Dependent on your connection and the amount of traffic the store is getting at that time.

It will if you buy it :p Or are you asking if rentals auto-delete?

Interesting, people don't even know what constitutes a fact now.

Brandon

DRM issue. Well I went and spent 2 bucks on a Family Guy episode. It's DRM locked to the PS3 cant be copied to ANY external media. No Thumb drives USB Hard drive. CF mem stick.. Nothing. The only way to transfer it is to connect the PSP (if you have one) via USB it then will transfer the file to the PSP. You now can put the psp mem stick in a PC and the file comes up with some weird name and extension that isnt recognized by any media player that I have..and I have a few of them. UV0010-NPVA03287_CN-4401.MNV Was the name given to the file. Im sure somebody will come up with a way to crack the DRM that's on it. But as it stands It looks like these videos/tv shows are locked to the PS3 and PSP

How long does it take to download a HD movie??

Will the movie once watched remain on my Harddrive forever???

HD movies are rental only, so they will delete themselves after they have expired.

DRM issue. Well I went and spent 2 bucks on a Family Guy episode. It's DRM locked to the PS3 cant be copied to ANY external media. No Thumb drives USB Hard drive. CF mem stick.. Nothing. The only way to transfer it is to connect the PSP (if you have one) via USB it then will transfer the file to the PSP. You now can put the psp mem stick in a PC and the file comes up with some weird name and extension that isnt recognized by any media player that I have..and I have a few of them. UV0010-NPVA03287_CN-4401.MNV Was the name given to the file.

Don't you just love the convenience of digital downloads? The guy that doesn't even know he's watching SD on an HDTV or what cables to use is definitely going to be the death of Blu-ray because he's spending all of his money on a download service. Optical media is wayyy to cumbersome and inconvenient for these types.

Brandon

DRM issue. Well I went and spent 2 bucks on a Family Guy episode. It's DRM locked to the PS3 cant be copied to ANY external media. No Thumb drives USB Hard drive. CF mem stick.. Nothing. The only way to transfer it is to connect the PSP (if you have one) via USB it then will transfer the file to the PSP. You now can put the psp mem stick in a PC and the file comes up with some weird name and extension that isnt recognized by any media player that I have..and I have a few of them. UV0010-NPVA03287_CN-4401.MNV Was the name given to the file. Im sure somebody will come up with a way to crack the DRM that's on it. But as it stands It looks like these videos/tv shows are locked to the PS3 and PSP

DRM? Damn! I really expected better of this.

Has anyone that is using custom firmware on the PSP been able to transfer purchased videos?

And, 5 fives years from now you won't know who argued the better point. You'll simply know the details of what happened to downloads vs disc based media in the interim. You "argument" will have no bearing on reality whatsoever.

WTF?

5 years from now, one of us will be correct. The other will be wrong. Nobody is trying to: "have a bearing on reality whatsoever".

Rented Spider-Man 2 HD for $4.50

7gb so it's definitely 720p.
Audio is AAC :(

7gb? It'd probably take me a week to download a movie. There's only a two day turn around for netflix (from the day I put a movie in the mail till I get a new one). With the two at at time plan I have now I could get four BDs by the time I downloaded one hd movie. And netflix is much cheaper. No thanks.

WTF?

5 years from now, one of us will be correct. The other will be wrong. Nobody is trying to: "have a bearing on reality whatsoever".


Even if one of you argues his point better, the other person can still be right about what happened. The arguing has nothing to do with it. It's simply picking the winning choice.


Your mp3 comparison is still silly and irrelevant. So, there. :p

:D

Don't you just love the convenience of digital downloads? The guy that doesn't even know he's watching SD on an HDTV or what cables to use is definitely going to be the death of Blu-ray because he's spending all of his money on a download service. Optical media is wayyy to cumbersome and inconvenient for these types.

Brandon

I dunno if you are being facetious or not:p. I do like the convenience, and I kind of figured there would be DRM but to go so far as to force you to use the PSP to even move the file off the PS3 is kind of silly. Oh well The Download service is cool FWIW but like I said before the PSP is seriously crippled by the memory sticks, so it makes transferring these downloads to the PSP a novelty at best. To top it off the quality wasnt all that great when I watched it on the PS3. It looked ok on the PSP But I would hope so with such a small screen.
If anything DL services like this dont really please anyone except those who really dont care about the real HD experience. The people who want true HD with Surround sound. Those who really want to own and do whatever they want with the stuff the pay for. Those with slow internet. Wont be happy with it. Even me with my ADSL it would take me the better part of 3-4hours to download a 7-8gig HD movie. I personally dont see myself renting any HD movies via this service. And for the TV shows I'll go out and buy the SD DVD's and rip them to my HD and that way I can do whatever I please with them. Im off to Best Buy to get Arrested Development...NO TOUCHING!:D

online, or reusable memory cards instead of discs for HD, SD, CD is my vision of Green America! please give me memory card compatible car stereos etc. It hurts to trash a disc!

Despite the fact that I have argued against downloads in favor of physical media, I do actually want downloads. But I'm picky. I don't want limited downloads, chocked full of DRM. If I spend the money on the content, I want to effectively *own* the content. I don't want to have to worry about hard drives crashing or sectors getting crosslinked(happens to my mp3s all the time). I want to have some big online clearing house that knows I own the privileges to certain content, and allows me to download the content anywhere, anytime.

Until then - give me physical media.

Well digital downloads is the way to go, or streaming for that matter, no more discs!
now is up to the old farts in Hollywood to accept this and start to give permission to go this way for people that want to dl/stream movies, which i think is the hardest part.
The way this people think is that everyone is a criminal and is going to steal movies and rip the drm and burn it onto some kind of media and give it to your neighbor ...lol

Has anyone that is using custom firmware on the PSP been able to transfer purchased videos?

Dark Alex released a Fake USB Plug-in that can use to make PS3 think it doesn't. Go to Dark-Alex.org to download it.

Dark Alex released a Fake USB Plug-in that can use to make PS3 think it doesn't. Go to Dark-Alex.org to download it.

Yea, I used that. I think I also posted that in this thread. It still didn't work.

Have you tried it out?

DRM? Damn! I really expected better of this.

In the world of digital downloads the DRM will be pervasive and creative from all of the content providers. When the day comes that I start purchasing my HD movies online as digital downloads I want to at least be able to make 2 copies of it. One to transfer to another HDD for backup purposes and one to be archived on some sort of removable storage device that plays in a universal set top box (read: whatever form of optical media is mainstream at that time).

Brandon

I will use myself as an example against the argument that HD downloads will kill BD's.

I took a look at the video section of the PSN last two nights. I heard from posters here how the quality of downloads is. I might have jumped on some HD ones, BUT no 5.1 is a downer for me. I might buy some to transfer to my PSP, but that is about it.

I spent little or no time looking at the downloads. The whole thing is a turn off for me. Time of downloading even with my 7 megs is a huge factor and detractor. I have a killer setup and many people outside of AVS have 5.1. I have a Hollywood video a quarter mile away. They have everything I want with quality to boot. I have downloaded GT5 prologue and the quality of it is excellent, but unless movies can offer the same or better for downloads then I have little interest for home use.

While the downloads will appeal to many for convenience and to save money with gas being what it is, many forms of media will continue to thrive and that includes BD.

Just like the gaming industry has diversified and grown, many forms of watching movies will as well. It is simply the direction we are headed and BD will be part of that for years to come.

In the world of digital downloads the DRM will be pervasive and creative from all of the content providers. When the day comes that I start purchasing my HD movies online as digital downloads I want to at least be able to make 2 copies of it. One to transfer to another HDD for backup purposes and one to be archived on some sort of removable storage device that plays in a universal set top box (read: whatever form of optical media is mainstream at that time).

Brandon


For it to be truly worth it the industry is going to have to give us way more than a limited time to watch it. Even the average person will want to be able to hold onto content more than the day they are given with rentals.

IMO the who PS Video content store should be purchases only with way more reasonable prices and the ability to keep it.

For it to be truly worth it the industry is going to have to give us way more than a limited time to watch it. Even the average person will want to be able to hold onto content more than the day they are given with rentals.

IMO the who PS Video content store should be purchases only with way more reasonable prices and the ability to keep it.

TV shows (broadcast on TV) do not expire only movies that were out in the theater expire in 24 hours after watching. I would prefer 48 hours but even most pay-per-view on DirectTV or VOD on directTV (from other providers) expires after 24hours. So i think it is just the agreed industry standard.
The prices are about the same (if not slightly less) than Apple or Microsoft.

Yea, I used that. I think I also posted that in this thread. It still didn't work.

Have you tried it out?

No, but I figured that if it's on Dark-Alex site then it would work :p. Anyways
I remember him saying that he will not release a M33 version of the firmware.

No, but I figured that if it's on Dark-Alex site then it would work :p. Anyways
I remember him saying that he will not release a M33 version of the firmware.

I suspect running any firmware below the last PSP update 3.05 will not let you watch the movies you have downloaded from the store due the the 3.05 update specifically including code for the movie update. You'll have to wait for it to be made available by one of the CFW teams.

What kind of real world download speeds are you getting? Can anyone out there who's using a typical cable modem tell us how long it took to d/l a ~7gb hd movie?? Solid numbers, no guesses... Thanks!

Word is the audio option to get 5.1 audio doesn't work, at least not on all titles:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14324417&postcount=20462

Brandon

What kind of real world download speeds are you getting? Can anyone out there who's using a typical cable modem tell us how long it took to d/l a ~7gb hd movie?? Solid numbers, no guesses... Thanks!
I started Harts War at about 6:45pm and it didn't finish until just after 11:00pm and it is only 2ch by the way.
I have 18000kb/s down and 2500kb/s up cable internet.

I was disappointed, in a way, to see titles like Lars and the Real Girl, Dances with Wolves, The Princess Bride, and Wargames on there available in HD. Why can't these be released on BD? Lars was a recent release, so it would have made sense to release it along with the DVD, and Wargames just had a new special edition on DVD only. The other two were rumored for BD but pulled. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Fox distributes them, but it's annoying.

I hope this doesn't become a place to dump titles they don't see fit to release on BD.

I was disappointed, in a way, to see titles like Lars and the Real Girl, Dances with Wolves, The Princess Bride, and Wargames on there available in HD. Why can't these be released on BD? Lars was a recent release, so it would have made sense to release it along with the DVD, and Wargames just had a new special edition on DVD only. The other two were rumored for BD but pulled. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Fox distributes them, but it's annoying.

I hope this doesn't become a place to dump titles they don't see fit to release on BD.

they want to sell us SP EDITIONS one more time lol

I was disappointed, in a way, to see titles like Lars and the Real Girl, Dances with Wolves, The Princess Bride, and Wargames on there available in HD. Why can't these be released on BD?

I couldn't agree with you more. When I saw Princess Bride on there in HD I was pissed off. I pre-ordered that title back in late 2006 only to see it be cancelled on me...and never announced again. Now to see it surface in HD without even a release date is pretty upsetting. That's a day 1 purchase for me.

Brandon

I was disappointed, in a way, to see titles like Lars and the Real Girl, Dances with Wolves, The Princess Bride, and Wargames on there available in HD. Why can't these be released on BD? Lars was a recent release, so it would have made sense to release it along with the DVD, and Wargames just had a new special edition on DVD only. The other two were rumored for BD but pulled. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Fox distributes them, but it's annoying.

I hope this doesn't become a place to dump titles they don't see fit to release on BD.

Get used to it. Studios have been releasing HD titles on Xbox Marketplace for some that were not available in HD on blu-ray or hd dvd when it was kicking. PSN store is continuing the trend. Some movies for HD will be Download only it appears for some time.

There are movies being released constantly on DVD that are not available on Blu-ray and that doesn't look likely to change any time soon. Given the lower overhead to release as a download I'd expect to continue to see this.

If I spend the money on the content, I want to effectively *own* the content.

The thing is the studios own the content not the consumer even when they buy the movies on disks. When you buy a movie in a physical media disk the studios stand will probably say you just own the right to watch it. With downloads they just have to give us better portability of those rights.

Another thing I found out. The videos DL'ed from the PSN video store CANNOT be played via PSP remote play.:confused: Whats up with that? They are really forcing you to use those stupid lil memory sticks up for the PSP. :mad: Well my hopes for the PSP to be my PMP and my portable game console have always been rather small. Im done with the PSP as a PMP for now. I'll just stick with me Zen Vision W.