Microsoft's highly successful Xbox 360 game console has expanded beyond gaming into the home theater arena. Last week Microsoft launched Xbox Live Marketplace Video Download Service in both HD and SD formats. With this new download service, anyone with an Xbox 360 can use it to download both movies and TV shows to watch on their TV or HDTV. With this launch, Microsoft has essentially beaten other services to the punch when it comes to HD Internet movie downloads to a set-top box. In general, we think their move is smart and the implementation is reasonably satisfying.

Read more for details and comparisons to other movie formats. 

Xbox Live Marketplace Video Download Service

When the Xbox Live Video Download service launched on November 22, Xbox Marketplace was inundated with downloads and had serious performance problems, but Microsoft had the situation resolved in a couple of days. Given these launch hiccups are unlikely to recur, our full review began with their resolution.

As we've previously written in reviews of the iTunes movie downloads and Amazon Unbox, the following are key elements to a successful video download service:

Home Theater Video Download Must Haves

• Anamorphic DVD video quality: like watching an enhanced DVD on an HDTV connected with either a component video connection or DVI/HDMI (theatrical aspect ratio and progressive scan video)
• Audio that is 5.1 AC-3-compatible (Dolby Digital and possibly DTS)
• Videos can be stored on a network drive
• Videos can be stored on a data DVD or other removable media
• Videos can be played on more than one computer and on portable devices by moving the movies across a home network, all without having to re-download the video for each computer
• DRM (digital rights management copy protection) and player must not be too intrusive. While we all know it's there, it shouldn't smack us in the face.
• Rentals must allow unlimited plays over at least a 24-hour period
• Purchased videos can be burned on a video-formatted DVD (as opposed to data DVD) and are playable in a standard DVD player (with the right service and hardware device support, this could be a 'nice to have')

Home Theater Video Download Nice to Haves

• Video playback can begin before the full video is downloaded
• Videos can be pushed to another location (an example of this is buying a movie from work and begin downloading at home immediately)
• Rentals can be played an unlimited number of times on multiple machines over a one week period
• Playable on portable devices

The New Xbox 360 Experience

We like the Xbox 360 as a gaming platform, and Xbox Live is one of its many strong features. The new Xbox Live Marketplace has been nicely updated to include movie rentals and TV show purchases.

Xbox 360 As A Player

The Xbox 360 interface is excellent and works equally well from the Xbox 360 controller or from the media/DVD controller. The fast forward works great, but occasionally the rewind function causes an error that requires you to restart playback. Our favorite method of moving around a video is to use previous chapter (10 seconds back) and next chapter buttons (30 seconds forward).

Fan Noise

Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 is louder than we'd expect for a movie playback device. Granted, it's not as loud as when playing a DVD or using a game disc, but in quiet scenes it's louder than the dead silent TiVo Series 3 and most DVD players. For comparison, at one inch from the front of the device, the Xbox 360 registers 50 decibels, where as the TiVo Series 3 registers 33 decibels and a decent Pentium 4 PC registers 48 decibels. While not a deal killer, the Xbox 360 has noticeable fan noise where the TiVo Series 3 does not.

Xbox Live Marketplace Stored Value Points

Xbox Live uses a stored value model to purchase content. It's not dollar based, but uses points instead – 80 points per $1.00. Xbox Live points don't expire; even so, we're not wild about points purchasing systems. It is, however, the Xbox way.

Pricing

The Xbox 360 is the most compelling platform for digital movie delivery we've seen so far, but pricing is a bit higher than we'd like to see. Movie pricing isn't likely to drive additional sales of Xbox 360s when good options like Netflix and Blockbuster deliver to your door. We'd prefer to see movies $1.00 cheaper and TV shows $0.50 cheaper per format. Also, TV series seasonal purchase options would be a welcome addition.

Downloading

Renting or purchasing a selection is easy enough. First, be sure you have enough points to make the selection or purchase them if you don't. Next, confirm the rental (movies) or purchase (TV shows) selection and the download begins. Depending on the length of the video and the percentage complete, video playback can begin before the download is done.

There is no easy method to re-prioritize movie downloads. While we were able to pause movie downloads by canceling them, it's a bit disconcerting because you only get a couple of download tries before you have to call Microsoft support to get back your points. So, the ability to easily re-prioritize downloads would be a welcome addition. This isn't an issue for TV shows because they tend to be smaller and can be downloaded an unlimited number of times – canceling a TV show download poses no risk.

Download Time

The network we used for testing this service consistently registers download speeds of 10-12 megabits-per-second from servers in Seattle. However, our download speeds from the Xbox Live Marketplace generally registered between 2 and 3 megabits during our test. Given those numbers, if your broadband connection can sustain 3 megabit speeds or more, you'll see download times as follows.

At $6.00 per HD movie, Microsoft should be dedicating the necessary bandwidth to sustain a 5-6 megabit download speed. That would cut download time in half and make HD movie rentals a much easier impulse decision. Obviously, a technology like BitTorrent would improve the download experience significantly. Perhaps recent studio annoucements to use BitTorrent technology in other areas will push Microsoft to use it for Xbox Live.

Digital Rights Management

As expected these days, there's no shortage of Digital Rights Management (DRM) in the Xbox Live movie/TV service. In general, it didn't encumber use on the Xbox 360. However, the fact that it's not possible to store movies on network drives or other computers (even if playback is limited to the Xbox that downloaded the video) is a severely limiting factor – especially when the Xbox 360 has only a 20GB hard drive.

Xbox Live Movie Rental DRM Model

Movies are rented with rules for playback. Microsoft uses DRM to assure the rules are maintained. While those rules can differ per movie, in general, the rule is that movies must be watched within 14 days of download and once a movie playback begins it will expire in 24 hours. That means you need to watch movies within two weeks from download and have to finish it within 24 hours after you start. DRM on Xbox 360 movies is less trouble-prone than on Amazon Unbox. But, be aware that downloading problems can occur and there may be times you'll need to request a credit from Microsoft because your movie didn't download properly, you ran out of space, or some other problem. Since Xbox 360 movies are rental only, the fact that you can't burn to DVD is not a serious issue.

Xbox Live TV show Purchase DRM Model

TV shows are purchased with no expiration. Because the Xbox 360 has a minuscule 20GB hard drive, Microsoft allows you to re-download any previously purchased TV show. In fact, if you purchase an HD TV show, you can download both the HD and SD version unlimited times. Even with the limitations mentioned above, Microsoft's approach to TV show DRM is reasonable.

Xbox Live Marketplace Selection

As is often the case with new service launches, the selection is pretty slim. Most people can find something. However, for the Xbox movie/TV service to remain relevant, the selection of content most grow – and FAST!

Example Movies include:

• Chinatown, Star Trek VII: Generations, Patriot Games, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Sum of All Fears, The Untouchables and We Were Soldiers from Paramount Pictures
• Perfect Storm, Poseidon, The Shining, Strange Brew, Three Kings and V for Vendetta, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Example TV shows include:

• CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, NCIS and Star Trek from CBS
• Chappelle's Show, Drawn Together and South Park from COMEDY CENTRAL
• Pimp My Ride and Punk'd from MTV
• Avatar: The Last Airbender and SpongeBob SquarePants from Nickelodeon
• Skyland and Invader Zim from Nicktoons Network
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frisky Dingo, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Sealab 2021 and The Venture Bros. from Turner Broadcasting
• Fights from Ultimate Fighting Championship
• Breaking Bonaduce and Hogan Knows Best from VH1
• As well as The Nine and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip along with the CW show Veronica Mars from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment 

Movie Playback Quality

HD

Currently only eight HD movies are available, however, they are of very good quality. They equal most cable or TV HD broadcasts, and depending on the transfer come close to Blu-ray or HD-DVD quality. Most users will be pleased and find few faults with the picture quality of HD movies. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio on HD movies is excellent.

SD

Our experience with SD movies is that they're at least as good as upscaled DVDs, and in most cases exceed upscaled anamorphic DVDs in sharpness and dynamic range. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of SD movies. Many SD movies include Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

TV show Playback Quality

HD

Like HD movies, only a few of the TV shows are available in HD. The various CSI series dominate, with only a few other options. Like the HD movies, the HD TV shows hold up well against HDTV broadcasts and most users will find no fault with the Xbox Live HD version video or Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

SD

Our downloads of SD TV shows didn't give us quite the performance that the SD movies did. We're not sure why that is. The SD TV shows were softer, exhibited aliasing and more false contouring than one would expect from a good DVD transfer. Many SD TV shows include Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

Overall

Pros

• Given that the Xbox 360 is connected to a TV, it's an excellent distribution channel for digital movies
• HD (720p) movie and TV show quality is excellent
• SD (420p) movie quality exceeds most DVDs
• Ability to play SD TV shows and movies before download is complete
• 5.1 audio sounds great
• Movie rentals make sense
• Unlimited downloads per TV show, a welcome feature
• Movie playback can begin before download is complete
• Interface is easy to use and clean and we like the Dashboard Blades concept
• Buying experience is very easy
• Xbox 360 is designed to be in the home theater

Cons

• Movie selection is far too small with only a few 2006 movies available and even fewer in HD
• TV show selection is far too small
• TV show series passes are needed
• SD movie prices should be a bit lower, especially with all-you-can eat options like Netflix
• SD TV shows don't exhibit DVD quality as we expect
• No download re-prioritization feature
• DRM on movies, while better than some services, still may cause problems
• Xbox 360 hard drive is too small
• Movies and TV shows cannot be stored on network or external drives
• Download times slow
• Some titles expected to be in HD are only SD
• The fans in the Xbox 360 make more noise than we would like for movie use

Our Take

Overall, we're more excited about the Xbox Live Marketplace Video Download Service than we expected we would be. The fact that many people have Xbox 360s already connected to a TV (often HDTV) for gaming, makes the concept of renting movies using their Xbox 360 an obvious next step.

While we can't recommend buying the Xbox 360 solely as a movie player, as a game machine that can also download HD movies, it's win-win.

Despite slow download speeds and very limited content; the overall quality of the HD movies and fast growth potential makes Xbox Live a movie/TV contender. Microsoft has definitely drawn a line in the sand.

Grade: Recommended

http://www.xbox.com/

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gino said:

so slow downloading is something that happens alot???

April 26, 2007

TechDigs.net said:

Gino: We've noticed that MS has had trouble keeping up with demand. Clearly, this activity is not yet an impulse download. Just like with any other download option you have today, it's probably best to plan a few hours ahead. Hopefully soon they'll make this better.

April 26, 2007

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