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Playstation 3 Now Offers Movie And TV Downloads
In terms of multi-media offerings, the Xbox 360 found itself at a disadvantage to the Playstation 3 due to the fact that the Playstation has a built in Blu-Ray HD player and the Xbox 360 had… well… nothing. Trust me, I’ve talked to several people who said that was their determining factor in choosing a PS3 over the Xbox.
A few days ago however Xbox announced that they would soon be streaming the Netflix Instant service (something you can currently only do on your computer or with the Roku set top box (which I totally love by the way). It was a great move, that Sony is now trying to counter by announcing digital downloading movies and tv shows will now be available for rent or purchase over your PS3 (including some in HD). The news release says this:
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today launches the company’s new video delivery service on PLAYSTATION®Store for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3(TM)) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems in the United States. Consumers will have the ability to download full-length movies, television shows, and original programming accessible through the PLAYSTATION Store on PLAYSTATION®Network. With nearly 300 full length movies and more than 1,200 TV episodes, many available in both standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD), PLAYSTATION Network’s video delivery service makes PS3 the ultimate entertainment platform and enhances PSP’s status as a portable entertainment marvel. PLAYSTATION Network’s video delivery service will become available later this evening.
20th Century Fox’s “Jumper”, Lionsgate’s “3:10 to Yuma”, MGM’s “Rocky”, Paramount Pictures’ “Cloverfield”, Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man”, and Warner Bros. Entertainment’s “10,000 B.C.” are a few of the titles available for electronic sell-through on the video service at launch. Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” will also be available for rent.
Consumers who rent a movie from the video delivery service have 14 days to watch the content. Once content playback is started, consumers have a full 24 hours to enjoy their rental. Pricing for rental movies at launch ranges from $2.99 to $5.99, and pricing for purchased movies ranges from $9.99 to $14.99.
Another nice little feature is that you’ll be able to transfer your media from the PS3 to your PSP (although for the life of me I don’t know why you’d want to).
This is a smart and inevitable movie for Sony. I still prefer the Netflix Instant model to a flat rental model, but others may think differently than me… and the HD option is a nice one too.
You can read the whole press release here.
You have been able to do the same thing with your 360 since like Nov. 2006. You can rent TV shows or Movies through the video store on your marketplace. Microsoft took that a step farther with the Netflix partnership.
And still not in Canada.
Buggers.
Seeing as how an HD tv displays SD content worse than a SD tv… they better have tons of HD content.
I hope digital wars don’t develop, where sony, only plays certain sony movies, and xbox only plays some selected movies from Netflix.
on a side note 14 days to watch is better than comcasts deal i think, not to sure cause i never bought a movie from comcast.
“systems in the United States.”
we Canadians are always the afterthought….
Xbox/Netflix plan is a way way way better deal, that’s for sure. 360 had movie/tv downloads for a long time already, almost from the start actually. Sony took way too long to introduce this. They have their own TV/Movie studio, thus their own library is easily available at all times. why it took them this long is really weird.
Yeah you have been able to get movies and tv shows via the 360 for close to two years.
anyway – unrelated but John what is going on with the podcast feed? I know I am not the only one having troubles but odeo and itunes both have not had new episodes in about a month.
What gives?
Everyone except John knows that you can already do this on the Xbox 360 and that the content on the 360 is in HD.
“Another nice little feature is that you’ll be able to transfer your media from the PS3 to your PSP (although for the life of me I don’t know why you’d want to).”
Because you can copy the content to your PSP if you want to watch it while you travel or if you want to stream movies from your PS3 hard drive to your PSP through the internet while you travel. Pretty sweet.
I know the 360 has had the rental model, but are you able to buy the movies on the 360 like you can with PS3 setup? I think the fact that you can buy the movie, and having the ability to take it with you with the PSP are what make it different from what 360 already had.
But yeah I like the netflix option better. Just hope maybe sony will rethink there pricing model (for rentingl), since this is the system I have. Making the renting subscription based like netflix, would seem like a better way to compete head on with the xbox/netflix idea.
Like all the others who have said this:
Sony is just now catching up to what Microsoft has been doing for years.
Owning a PS3 I have een quite dissapointed with how behind it is on having updated technology. As people of said this rent/buy movie feature has been for a long while accessible to XBOX so this is nothing new. And the netflix thing, while not HD, is far and beyond what sony is doing because it offers unlimited watchings for a monthly fee– $3-$5 dollars to download a movie, yeah right, Ill just stick to my monthly subscription to the online netflix/blockbuster.
The only reason i would buy/rent a movie in this fashion is because of the psp-ps3 capabilities. With the right router* you can access your ps3 from your psp over any internet hotspot over the world and stream videos/music/ps1 games, which is awesome for me becuase my job always has me traveling.
*had to try several different routers before it worked, and when I asked sony they said they had no information on which routers this remote play works with
Oh my Jon, please stick to what you do best….Movies. This may be “The official Home of Correct Movie Opinions” but please stay away from the game consoles because seriously I see you have not a clue. As far as multi-media features goes the PS3 has never been close. This announcement by Sony is close to two years behind the XBOX and now this Netflix offering just puts the icing on the cake.
And don’t get me started about Blu-Ray, I wasted $499 on what is now a black paperweight in my video cabinet. I too purchased a PS3 for the Blu-ray player because as more of a gamer I thought it would be nice to see some HD movies to boot, but i tell you, with the upscaling capabilities of the 360 the only bonus Blu-Ray ofers is all the extra crap(most of the time) that they throw in.
I dare you to find a reputable source that gives the PS3 an edge in multimedia functions. Okay you may find one but I doubt it.
Sorry about the rant, I usually just troll around here, but for some reason this argument sets me off all the time. Keep up the excellent work guys.
14 days to watch rented content is a good deal… however, that isn’t the deal. I downloaded a movie for my kid to watch, or rather I tried to… it was fast to download the first 10%, so we started watching. After about 10 minutes the movie started buffering and we couldn’t finish watching it for the entire evening it was downloading until the next day… So, it’ll be a week or so before we have the opportunity to sit down and finish the movie. BUT, according to Sony, since we STARTED watching the movie, we have 24hrs to finish. That is total bullshit and the last time that I’ll use their service unless they change the policy.
this is stupid why are people saying the xbox 360 is better its not even in the same league ps3 wont be out of date for years the xbox already is and notsogood it does clearly say once you start watching you have 24 hours to finish maybe you should be more patient and waited for it to download