http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/ Engadget HD Comments for Microsoft's Xbox Live Video: HDTV and HD movie downloads for your 360 http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 6th 2006 9:20PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 6th 2006 10:18PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 6th 2006 10:24PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 12:15AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 12:47AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
This news is huge and could have major repricussions for MS competitors.

I first am thinking of Apple and not Sony. Apple announced their own version of a Media Center Extender. It looks like they will be far behind MS to market and are too busy trying to restrict the Media company's that only Disney is willing to co-operate.

I also think of Amazon's video store and Itunes video sales. Will those two flounder as they don't offer a way to view videos in your living and also they don't provide anywhere near Hig Def resolutions.

And of course Sony...looks like they have been caught with their pants down. This week we find out that Sony was jiving us on the promise of key features that make Xbox Live so special and now Xbox Live has moved far far out of Sony's scope. http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=20792

The crazy thing is...I have a pre-order for the HD-DVD add on. Now I'm not so certain I'll need it. I may hold off on purchasing it as I'd much rather buy $200 worth of games, shows & HD movie rentals if this new service gives me the High Def experience I'm looking for. ]]>Nov 7th 2006 2:28AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
If so...I honestly think I would buy one. I previously was put off by the lack of Plays For Sure compatibility...but if the Zune will play nice with my 360 and I can easily download stuff onto the 360 and then over to the Zune...I'm sold.

Maybe the $200 towards the HD-DVD drive is better spent on a Zune!

Damn...I swear I don't work for MS]]>Nov 7th 2006 2:34AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/I guess Microsoft needs to add a larger hard drive option for holding HD downloads. I don't care about 1080p. 720p is good enough and compatible with all HDTV's. First the HD-DVD add-on and now HD downloads. Apple needs to get moving or get left behind and now why pay so much for a blu-ray PS3?]]>Nov 7th 2006 7:31AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 8:38AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Also there is absolutely no reason why MS could not offer 1080p downloads in the future once the service has started to take off and the customer or user base starts to demand it. If this service was to become that popular and customers are willing to wait for the download then I'm sure they would add it, but only when it becomes very much feasible. It's feasible now, but I'm betting MS is going to wait for when it would just make more sense to implement. ]]>Nov 7th 2006 9:12AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 10:18AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Microsoft MUST be bringing out a bigger drive for all this, surely!]]>Nov 7th 2006 11:41AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 11:21AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 11:44AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Also keep in mind that there design means that you're central computer stays exactly that way, no need for a different device to hook up to the TV. You do NOT need to change the center of your computing world like you would with a M$ product (notice their cleverness? They sucked you into the big rig on the desktop, now they're getting you to have another rig). Design excellence got them the music player market that nobody has even put a dent in, this product is totally the right way to do it IMO.

AND I think you guys are really underestimating iTunes. I did a little experiment among Apple fanboys... how much video sales has iTMS done? All missed the mark by miles. 45 million! In less than a year, going to that tiny screen iPod, at very low resolution, they have sold 45 million TV episodes.

Indeed there are issues with downloading and storage. I for one see little issue with overnight downloads. 320G drives run around 90 bucks. Off hand, that's about 120 h.264 encoded 1280 x 720 HD movies.

Indeed I've watched it all, there is NO need for 1080p here. Most folks are clueless about the fact that fixed pixel display are ALL progressive (they all have deintelacers). Well encoded, properly done 1280 x 720 h.264 content is going to be just fine (don't believe me, they have a ton of trailers in both resolutions, see how much difference you see' make sure you do it as 100%, not scaled to another resolution)]]>Nov 7th 2006 12:21PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Also... why does everyone think the Zune has such a big screen!!! They said they were making a WHOLE LINE of Zune players and I would imagine if they wanted to have the Zune steal market from Apple they would have made something that went after the Nano/Shuffle market... I am sure that the 30 GB iPod is not the HUGE seller for Apple... it only makes sense... the Zune was designed to be launched with this Video feature for the XBOX!!!

What a fantastic move my Microsoft... like them or not... if you connect a DAP with a great screen like the Zune has with a service like this you hit several different markets at the same time!!!

And with HD-DVD / Blu-Ray up in the air why not take the chance to introduce the REAL FUTURE PROOF HD media format to the world!!! and if it works out the Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 is just a waste of money!!!!!!!]]>Nov 7th 2006 12:56PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Jon, I here's a clue. Feel free to use it. You could not possibly have this situation more backwards. The media companies are the ones that want to load on the restrictions. That's why so far you've only seen RENTAL movie downloads, because that's all the studios will allow. The studios require the DRM, the studios want to restrict when and where you play you media, because the studios want these movies to ADD to their sales, not replace DVD/CDs. Disney cooperates because Jobs is there to lend them the same clue I lent you.

Also guys, no one outside of folks reading this blog gives a damn about picture quality. Period. YouTube is proof. The video codec they use is nearly a decade old, but they are wildly successful. Function is what matters to most people. The fact that this is HD will mean nothing outside a small group of fanboys. Hell, most people outside of this group are probably using S-Video to connect their 360s to their TVs in the first place.]]>Nov 7th 2006 1:44PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 7th 2006 2:59PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
MPEG2 is a very old codec that is not very efficient, that is why it requires so many Mbps. One can say much about Microsoft, but their codec, VC-1, is awesome! Beautiful picture quality at very low Mbps.

PS! This is one of the reasons why HD DVD movies (VC-1) look so good compared to Blue Ray (MPEG2) movies, for now.
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First off Blu-ray is NOT limited to just MPEG-2, they are capable of displaying MPEG-4 AVC as well as SMPTE VC-1. It is up to the makers of the disk as to which format will be used.

Second problem with your post is that the spec for HDTV broadcast quality is 25mbps so the copression quality of VC-1 is pointless if all they can allow is 6mbps. This should show that these are probably NOT streaming movies.

Also I think I should point out that MPEG-2(what current Blu-Ray Titles use)has a max bit rate of 19mbps and this is why they look below quality to HD-DVDs as of right now. ]]>Nov 8th 2006 11:16AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
And I thought I read somewhere, that even though you have to download movies, you can start watching them while it's being downloaded. Is that true?]]>Nov 7th 2006 11:30PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 8th 2006 2:45AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/Nov 8th 2006 12:26PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/http://hd.engadget.com/2006/11/06/microsofts-xbox-live-video-hdtv-and-hd-movie-downloads-for-you/
Let's talk bitrates.

Broadcast ATSC using 8-VSB modulation can transfer up to 19.39 Mbps.
Cable systems using QAM-256 modulation can transfer up to 38.78 Mbps.

As far as HDTV goes, your typical broadcast HDTV show is encoded to 10-13 Mbps MPEG-2. On-demand HD on cable, as well as high-quality HD cable such as Discovery HD Theater tend to hit 16-19 Mbps MPEG-2.

Now, let's talk VC-1. The primary showcase of VC-1 is, of course, HD-DVDs. What we've seen thus far in this area is 1080p24 encodings falling between 8 and 18 Mbps. Batman Begins is largely considered the best HD-DVD -- really, the best HD offering ever available to consumers. Due to extras and other things that Warner wanted to fit on the disc, the bitrate was limited to 12 Mbps. It's known that Batman Begins took a lot of personal hands-on time with MS compressionists to hit the 12 Mbps rate, but it was met and the result is amazing. Not all titles will get this treatment, however. Nonetheless, 12 Mbps VC-1 can look stunning, even with 1080p24 material.

What we're seeing here is 720p30 video encoded at 6 Mbps. Compared to 1080p24 (1920x1080x24 pixels/s), 720p30 (1280x720x30 pixels/s) is around 55% less data. That doesn't mean that the encodings will be 55% smaller, however. Afterall, compression is about finding redundant data and the less data you have, the less you may have that is redundant. Nevertheless, 720p30 at 6 Mbps VC-1 has the potential to look as great as the Batman Begins HD-DVD. No matter what, however, it blows broadcast and cable HDTV out of the water. For shows, it makes a great deal of sense. For movies, just grab HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

Of course, too bad it's a 360 thing. Would be great on a PC, but I'm not owning a 360 anytime soon.
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