Where the 360 is concerned, it seems like good things come in spurts. Small Arms hit the arcade today, the Lost Planet multiplayer demo drops tomorrow, and now the Video Marketplace is online. We took a break from Small Arms to check it out. The Video Marketplace itself will be familiar to anyone who has used Marketplace before to download demos or videos. Getting there is easy enough, open up the Media blade, select Video Marketplace, and you're there.The videos are divided among TV, movies, music videos, clips, and game videos. From these selections, videos can then be organized by studio, download rank, etc. Not all videos are available in HD, but a handy "HD Available" image is attached to all videos that do, so you won't have to go all the way to the download screen to find out. Interestingly, the "standard definition" content is actually 480p, not 480i, though it's possible that the 360 merely recognizes what connection you are using (VGA in our case). We loaded up a preview clip of Borat in about 15 seconds. The preview clips show up in a small window and include sound, which was missing from our earlier preview. Movies are available to watch 14 days after purchase, or 24 hours after selecting the "play" option. Frankly, we think that's a little stingy. There really isn't any reason you shouldn't be able to watch your movies for the entire period, but we digress.
And the big issue we've been waiting for: the price. TV shows, it seems, are 160 points ($2) for standard definition and 240 points ($3) for high definition. It seems like these prices apply regardless of length, so you'll pay the same 160 points for an hour long episode of CSI or a 15 minute episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Movies seem to be divided into two categories: old and new. Older movies run 240 points ($3) for standard definition and 360 points ($4.50) for HD. New movies, on the other hand, are 320 points ($4) for SD and 480 points ($6) for HD. When compared with most movie rental chains, the prices seem fair enough, though it probably won't convince anyone to drop their online rental services.
The SD Borat clip we downloaded wasn't the best quality, but it was passable. The HD Eragon trailer looked much better (and way better than the game, amirite?). We haven't actually downloaded any HD movies or TV, because, you know, we're not wealthy. Overall, the Video Marketplace is pretty much what you'd expect, and a welcome addition to the Xbox 360's growing list of features.
Anybody out there downloading TV or movies yet? Does the quality live up to your standards.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-22-2006 @ 12:45PM
thepita said...
This service is very slow. Im trying to download the matrix but its been 10mins and its just now on 1%. I have 6mb cable so this is a issue on thee end. I dont think Ill be using it again unless the speed drastically increases!
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11-22-2006 @ 12:48PM
AF Fighter said...
So what is this other announcement they were supposed to have today? I'm ready for HDMI
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11-22-2006 @ 12:57PM
E8 Foe said...
I have to say, I think the service is incredibly impressive and slick. Prices are fairly reasonable - aside from the issues the article above brought up. Love the preview option...
All in all, it's something I plan on using, especially if we get a bigger hard drive!
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11-22-2006 @ 1:01PM
Tom said...
Is This not out in canada yet? because i cant seem to find it!
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11-22-2006 @ 1:08PM
nonrandomhero said...
we always get screwed on the marketplace end of things up here in canada, family guy pics, GOW vids.....
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11-22-2006 @ 1:09PM
Unrestricted said...
US only for now Tom
speeds will get better because not everybody will be downloading the same stuff at the same time like they are now. it happened when they had the 1st brining it home event and the market place speed was fine after a little bit
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11-22-2006 @ 1:14PM
Nick said...
well im actually in the UK, and obviosly it isnt out over here, however i have a american gold account they give u a month free trial when u make a new account at the mo, and i am about 56% through d/l the wraith of kahn coz i love this film i have 8mb bb and it seems to be d/l a bit slow but not to bad its been running about half an hour
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11-22-2006 @ 2:31PM
Pirate360 said...
Why pay to download to only have 24hours to view it , when you can download for free on torrent and watch it when you want , i can even convert it into WMV and boom is playing on my 360 , but why stop there when i can convert the movie into 360 format file and transfer it into the 360 HDD to watch it when i want!!
Another way would be to buy it and crack the time limit on the movie.
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11-22-2006 @ 2:33PM
Ed said...
I hope the speed increases because this is way to slow. I have been downloading a movie for 1 hour and it has 7%, come on Microsoft.
I hope this gets resolved soon. And the price seems to expensive, compared to Netflix. Microsoft is one of the richest companies in the world, so why can't they offer more competitive prices, dam.
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11-22-2006 @ 2:47PM
zenprism said...
I've been downloading V for Vendetta in HD for about 4 hours now. It takes awhile but I'd rather do this than go to my crappy video store or have to wait days for Netflix.
I'll download movies off this as long as they can keep the HD content new and relevant. I won't touch non-HD stuff, cause I didn't buy an HD set to watch SD content.
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11-22-2006 @ 2:59PM
bigiced said...
I tried to DL Perfect Storm HD.The first time it started then told me I needed to clear space. So I did, as prompted. It then wouldn't restart the DL through the resume instructions provided on XBLM. I tried to delete the space it said was occupying as an "incomplete DL" of PerfectStorm. I wouldn't let me delete the unfinished movie of the Hard drive but it wouldn't resume DL ing either!? So I rebooted the 360and poof..it was gone...as well as my M$ points I spent on it!!!! So I added more points and tried again...nothing...it tok my points but never started..again. Troubleshooting, I tried V is for Vendetta ...Which I don't really care to see...and it seems to be DLing @ a snails pace-1hr=9%. AND when you play Gears of War...on local campaign...the DL pauses ? WTF? I like the concept, but it really needs some polish/more content/and WAY FASTER DL. These movies are available on the torrent sites for free and faster, and on indemand cable/sat for cheaper....I hope they figure this out cause it could really be sweet if done right.
Pricing is a little iffy too. $6 for a new HD movie can work for awhile, but they need to extend the viewing period by a few days or lock it up with DRM for ownership on a locally networked Vista Harddrive for somewhere between 9.99-19.99.A subscription service would be the best solution in the long term to compete though...probably coming when they get more content.Figure the studios are saving a ton by not having to pacakge their content into a box or burn it to media. Maybe they will pass the savings on to us!?
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11-22-2006 @ 3:11PM
Verge said...
Any news on how you can purchase HD movies to keep instead of renting? I thought i heard/read that you have the option to rent/purchase.
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11-22-2006 @ 3:17PM
Josh said...
HOORAY FOR [ADULT SWIM] ON THE VIDEO MARKETPLACE! :D
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11-22-2006 @ 4:03PM
DCFC Fan said...
I've been downloading a 250MB episode of South Park for over and hour now. It's at 38%. Nice.
I realize they are probably having crazy server loads today and will be working out kinks, so I'm not suprised by the narrow bandwidth, but I hope this will even out in time. I'm getting antsy enough to watch it that I'm about to go find a torrent of it. It's like waiting for Christmas, times one.
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11-22-2006 @ 6:42PM
TheDude said...
Brilliant. You can only get it in the U.S. AND LIVE is slow as hell right now. I trust that they'll be adjusting pricing accordingly when it gets outside of the U.S. It seems that they've hit the price point, but that's in U.S. dollars. Elsewhere, if it costs more than the video store, it will fail and they need to be thinking of making a DRAMATIC change in available bandwidth for this to be a hit. Meanwhile, Viva la Bittorent.
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11-22-2006 @ 7:01PM
Joseph said...
I watched the matrix after a half hour of downloading.All in all this is the best service i have ever used and GO XBOX 360!!!!!
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11-22-2006 @ 7:09PM
Ciaran said...
Prices are good... if download speeds are good the video marketplace would come in very handy.
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11-22-2006 @ 7:41PM
xboxer said...
Crazy... a "24 hour" rental for $6? Like I have the space on my tiny 20 GB HD. Slow download to top it off.
No thanks....
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11-22-2006 @ 8:45PM
Mike240se said...
Well I just payed 480 points for V for Vendetta HD, it sat at the downloading screen for 3 minutes or so and then poped up on the left saying "DRM Not Able to authorize, Points WERE taken from your account, please call tech support" Can u believe this? My points are gone, I cant redownload again cause I dont have enough points and I am on the phone with complete morons for like 20 min now and they havent even understood the problem yet, this sucks. plus eberything is so damn slow and I am on 30 megabit cable.
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11-22-2006 @ 9:07PM
Cripple87 said...
I think that the previews are dumb, some play the opening scene which is just fancy shots, nothing of the plot. The streaming sucked on some(stopped half way, only sound, long wait...)
This is a great idea, but crappy for now.
i say give it time to grow and work out the problems and this will be awsome, prices are a little steap too
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