Microsoft has now taken another step toward making its Xbox 360 video game console a multimedia hub. It has namely announced a film and TV show downloading service will be available through Xbox Live, both features movies and TV shows. The TV episodes can be stored on the local harddrive while the movies are rented for a limited period of time. The files can not be burned to a DVD or be played with any other unit, but by logging on to your account on another user’s console you will be able to watch there too. The material will be made available as both regular standard and high definition, which is also reflected by the prices.
The prices of high def material will up to par with the 1.99 USD Apple charges for TV episodes at iTunes Store. While high-res movies will cost more, simply because they are larger and thus the costs for handling the material increases. As usual all of the shopping is done via Xbox Live through Microsoft points.
“The video downloads, especially those in high definition, will take up a lot of space. Microsoft says a one-hour television program in high definition will take up about 2 gigabytes of the console’s standard 20-gigabyte hard drive. Microsoft says the Xbox will play both movies and TV shows as they are being downloaded, although with larger files there will be a delay before playback starts, in contrast to the video-on-demand services offered by cable companies.”
It’s pretty obvious that only those with harddrive will be able to enjoy Microsoft’s new service which will be launched in the USA on November 22. But with a capacity at 20GB (about 13GB is free space) Xbox 360’s current harddrive is hardly a good choice. Therefore it was not surprising that the following system was displayed at the launch event for Microsoft’s new Live download service.
The rumored 100GB harddrive looks to be a 80GB model if we’re to believe this picture, but there is still no official confirmation from Microsoft.
