Lionsgate signs up for Xbox360 downloads

[partridge]

sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Lionsgate has signed up with Xbox360 to offer its movies to download, including titles just announced for blu-ray like Saw II & III

With the deals MS is doing, are they creating a console that could hit blu-ray hard? If you can download titles otherwise only available on blu-ray, but buy and watch HD-DVD then the 360 is cornering the market.

Sony - let's have a response please! I'd like to know that by the end of the year I too, as a PS3 owner, will be able to watch, rent or buy movies and tv progs.

[ProvenFlipper]

I don't think downloads are that big of a deal. They aren't going to offer the audio, interactivity and picture quality that a real disc can offer. Plus the downloads are like rentals, so it might even push people to go buy the BD if they like it. The people who support BD are going to continue to support BD by buying discs.

[Casey]

plus think how long it would take to download 50gigs worth of movies

[blitz6speed]

I believe the movie downloads happen in March during the Euro PS3 launch. There is going to be a huge update for the PS3 software wise (1080p24, DTS-HD MA, etc etc) and the online movie downloads will go active right then and there. Along with music and other goodies.

[partridge]

Actually, that's a funny thought - an Xbox360 owner downloads a movie and thinks "I loved that, I'm gonna buy it on HD", then discovers it's blu-ray exclusive. Maybe Lionsgate have a sly sense of humour...

[Blubaru]

I would much rather watch a movie in 1080p that 720p. If i wanted to watch a movie in 720p i would just get it on pay-per-view.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by Casey

plus think how long it would take to download 50gigs worth of movies

Forget how long try HOW Much. I think nearly all ISP's have a max download a month and get pretty expensive. At max compression a HD movie would be about 15-20GB that woud have chewed my ISP account to shreds.

[Jaren613]

Not to mention use up more than all of the 360's current harddrive space.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by Blue

Forget how long try HOW Much. I think nearly all ISP's have a max download a month and get pretty expensive. At max compression a HD movie would be about 15-20GB that woud have chewed my ISP account to shreds.

blue, here in the US you have a lot of unlimited access accounts (i haven't been limited except my first year in the dorms in college). i guess that is different there. however, if most of the world limits ur data amount, that is another issue.

[phranctoast]

blue, here in the US you have a lot of unlimited access accounts (i haven't been limited except my first year in the dorms in college). i guess that is different there. however, if most of the world limits ur data amount, that is another issue.

my ISP in New York (Cablevision) monitor uploads. I recently had my spare pc running a ut2004 server and they capped by upload speed. When I called they said that it violates their term od service, and that even running bit torrent gets noticed.

Theres a couple of things that I need to find out before giving an opinion about the MS download service.

1. If you download a movie how much does it cost?
2. How long can you keep the movie for?
3. Can you re-download it for free (since you already purchased)
4 Why only 720p. cant we get 1080p?
5. When is a larger HDD coming out for the 360?
6. Can oyu transfer the files to a PC for storage or later viewing.
7. If you can transfer them to another device, do the files expire after so many views or after a certain amount of time?

Downloads are good for somethings, but some people (inlcuding me) like to own their purchases. What happens to all those movies when the xbox720 (whatever) comes out. Will they still function? Will they support that with the same ethusiasm as the original xbox format, and simply forget about it after something new comes out?

[partridge]

North America is lucky if the norm is uncapped broadband, in the UK it is commonplace to have a monthly cap. Which means under that model it is unlikely these downloadable services will take off.

Maybe that will change over the next couple of years, but right now I'm on an 8Gb cap which is more than enough, but if I start regularly downloading tv progs and movies... yikes!

[theknub]

8Gb a month? damn, i can go through that in a day and a half

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by partridge

North America is lucky if the norm is uncapped broadband, in the UK it is commonplace to have a monthly cap. Which means under that model it is unlikely these downloadable services will take off.

Maybe that will change over the next couple of years, but right now I'm on an 8Gb cap which is more than enough, but if I start regularly downloading tv progs and movies... yikes!

Dude you need to switch to cable (NTL:Telewest) for reasonably priced uncapped service, at home I get 10Mb for £22.50pm reduced from £35 (we are good customers and have been for the last 5 years), but you can get 4Mb uncapped for £25pm. I also hear that there are speed bumps coming soon to remain competitive with the latest ADSL2+ offerings from Be and UK Online. After May there will be a big rollout of 30,40 and 50Mb services across the cabled areas of the UK.

You don't even want to know what we students get at uni, to my room I get 100Mb LAN across all UK unis, and the outside connection to the rest of the internet is 24Mb.

[partridge]

No cable in my area "dude".

Not bothered what students get, you won't be a student forever, so enjoy the bandwidth while you can!

Fact is, capped services are common in the UK and this means that any online delivery system for tv and film will cause problems to most.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by partridge

No cable in my area "dude".

Not bothered what students get, you won't be a student forever, so enjoy the bandwidth while you can!

Fact is, capped services are common in the UK and this means that any online delivery system for tv and film will cause problems to most.

You must live out in the sticks if you can't get cable . I really did think it covered 50-60% of the UK. Oh and BT are introducing new network over the next couple of years, FiOS all over the country is what they are aiming for, but they might cherry pick the cities and towns like Verizon do in America for a while before they get to the countryside in the westcountry and the north.