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Comments: 153 + - Games: Sony Begins Selling HD Movies On Its PSN on Friday March 12 2010, @08:26AM
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by
Soulskill
on Friday March 12 2010, @08:26AM
from the pants-and-cheeseburgers-to-follow dept.
from the pants-and-cheeseburgers-to-follow dept.
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itwbennett writes "Sony on Tuesday 'rolled out the ability to buy HD movies from the PlayStation Network,' writes blogger Peter Smith. Sony claims they're the first service to offer HD titles to own from all six major movie studios. Smith runs the numbers on 'standard' pricing for titles ($19.99 for new releases; $17.99 for older movies), file sizes (ranging from 4 GB for Zombieland to 7.5 GB for 2012), and resolution (720P as far as he can tell)."
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Titles to "own" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but do any of the others give you the benefit of having your wallet and your ass both brutally violated directly by Sony at the same time?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
To "own"? Let's not kid ourselves here... there's no real ownership involved . . ..
"To watch as many times as you like but only on your PS3 and only for as long as you keep your PS3 and don't erase the file or the hard drive fails or something else goes wrong" does not sound as snappy as "to own." But, I don't mind the idea of paying for content with limitations and that won't necessarily last forever, as long as the pricing is in line with the limitations. This pricing scheme provides no reason to buy from PSN.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You can "back up" the file using the PS3's backup utility and restore it on a new drive. That will protect against a failed drive but not a failed PS3 since a replacement PS3 will refuse to restore any DRM'd content.
Also note: it won't protect you against false leap years as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Absolutely. There is absolutely 0 difference between this service and a movie-rental service. None.
Re:Titles to "own" (Score:5, Informative)
Pure and complete utter bullshit.
I have a 40" TV and you have to be close to blind not to see the difference between 1080p and an upscaled DVD from couch distance.
That being said, no chance I'm paying for a BR when I can get DVD for 1/3 the price.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Likewise for quality.
I tend to wait til the blu-rays are about £10-15 which is usually around twice the price of the DVD. It's well worth it for any movie that is 3D rendered, panoramic outdoor scenes or even just a nice soundtrack (as long as you have a decent 5.1 system). There are a few blu-ray bargains to be had on Amazon too. If a blu-ray drops under £10 I often just snap up immediately.
Re:Titles to "own" (Score:4, Insightful)
A common thing for people who don't want to admit they were ripped off.
Of course. If that were true I am not being forced to buy any more blu-rays, yet I keep doing so. I'll also point out that after being a devout Christian my whole life I recently changed my beliefs and no longer believe in any god. I'm now quite capable of letting things go in life if needs be.
The first two films I ever watched on blu-ray were Independence Day and Ratatouille (bought at the same time when I got my PS3).
Independence Day didn't look much cop at all. I was slightly disappointed.
Then I watched Ratatouille and it was truly stunning.
I have since realised that Independence Day was either a poor conversion or simply shot on very grainy film (it does have a lot of dark scenes so it probably did need a high ISO film).
I don't see how someone with a /. UID under 1000000 could not understand how having a higher resolution picture and uncompressed audio would not make a difference for a video recording. Obviously there will be a point where we are unable to make out extra detail and quality, but we have not yet arrived at that point. Go watch a Pixar or Disney 3D animation on blu-ray on a HDTV and you will definitely notice how fantastic it looks even without the DVD playing alongside.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a 40" TV and you have to be close to blind not to see the difference between 1080p and an upscaled DVD from couch distance.
I'd like to point out that "couch distance" varies for everyone. I have a 61" 1080p set and a long living room. While the difference between DVD and Bluray is noticeable to a small degree, there really doesn't seem to be that much of a difference to me. Both DVD and Bluray are miles ahead of the over-compressed and artifact-riddled "1080p" offered by Time Warner or Dish Network, but the difference between the two disc formats appears minimal to my 20/20 eyes.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There is a massive difference between DVD and blu ray on TVs a lot smaller than 72". On my 65" it's night and day, on a 50" (which is very common for HDTV) it's unquestionably noticable, hell even on a 42" you can definitely tell the difference assuming its 1080p. However, this service is most definitely not blu ray, and the difference between compressed 720p and an upscaled DVD is probably pretty minimal.
Re: (Score:2)
72"? 65"? 50"? 42"? They're not "televisions" they're "room dominating behemoths equivalent to a home cinema screen"! Sizes in the 20s and low 30s are TVs ;)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I always love those graphs. For our "reasonable sized" TV (26" in a ~12'-14' room, which is fairly standard in a UK terrace and includes a 2' extension) we need to be sat stupidly close to hit the "visibile difference" distance.
I do sometimes watch things like House on standard-def Sky and wonder why, when I can already see enough apparent individual hairs, I'd need to go high-def. It always just seems like overkill.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a 46" TV, and there's a noticable difference between an upscaled DVD and a bluray at 1080p.
Maybe you have a crap TV that only goes to 720p, or is 50hz or something, I don't know.
I'm also not sure what is dumb about buying a PS3; I've been very happy with mine. A combo bluray player, game console, media player, browser, etc. Its been well worth it.
Sony is being very carful not to undercut themself (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's see:
-Lengthy download instead of a trip to the store.
-Price comparable to a Bluray off of Amazon.
-Quality less than Bluray.
-Limited to watching it on my PS3.
Sounds like a real winner, Sony!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Lengthy download instead of a trip to the store.
A trip to the store can take more than a day if you happen to want a movie on a day when the city buses are not running. In some cities, buses don't run on Sundays or about six major holidays.
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:5, Funny)
Lengthy download instead of a trip to the store.
A trip to the store can take more than a day if you happen to want a movie on a day when the city buses are not running. In some cities, buses don't run on Sundays or about six major holidays.
That's nothing. A trip to the store could take weeks if you get taken hostage by an arm gang on the way and released later after lengthy negotiations by Jimmy Carter. Of course we always take this sort of scenario into account when deciding whether to download or buy from the store.
Parent
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:4, Funny)
Ha! That's nothing. My dad went out to buy cigarettes 20 years ago and still hasn't comeback... At least, that taught me not to smoke.
Parent
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:5, Funny)
Lengthy download instead of a trip to the store.
A trip to the store can take more than a day if you happen to want a movie on a day when the city buses are not running. In some cities, buses don't run on Sundays or about six major holidays.
That's nothing. A trip to the store could take weeks if you get taken hostage by an arm gang on the way and released later after lengthy negotiations by Jimmy Carter. Of course we always take this sort of scenario into account when deciding whether to download or buy from the store.
That's nothing. It could take months if you have your PS3 in your boat and you are traveling near the cost of Africa while testing your new satellite Internet link. While you might think that a short trip to the coast to take some pictures, meet some people, sightseeing and buying that new BluRay you heard about in some store could be interesting, you can also get kidnapped by one of those pirates gangs and spend months while someone put (a lot of) money on the table to take you back. This could specially apply also if you ship oil for a work on a large boat, or move large amounts of people around, or you do some high level fishing.
Of course we always take this sort of scenario into account when deciding whether to download or buy from the store at the shore.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
If public transport is such a mess in your town, you should invest in some form of personal transportation. I suggest a bicycle.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You wouldn't last a day in Copenhagen [copenhagencyclechic.com]
Re: (Score:2)
The only weather that stops a bicycle is hail*, and even then just invest in a suit of plate armor and that won't even matter.
* OK, a hurricane or tornado might also make matters difficult.
Re: (Score:2)
The only weather that stops a bicycle is hail
Would you recommend cycling in a thunderstorm?
Re: (Score:2)
So how did you manage to get hold of a PS3 then?
Re: (Score:2)
So how did you manage to get hold of a PS3 then?
One buys a console far less often than games or movies for that console.
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:4, Funny)
And your point is what precisely?
Surely the purchasing mechanism that you used for your PS3 is scaleable to the point where it can be used as a similar mechanism for the purchase of games and movies?
I also find it difficult to believe that anyone wakes up in the morning in their own bed and says "Oh shit! I just realised that public transport links to my home are not suitable for my lifestyle."
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
We have similar bad transit in my city. I'd make a day trip to buy a Console because I only have to do it once. I wouldn't take the same day or half day to go rent a movie for a couple of reasons.
1) You never know if the movie you want is going to be at the store. Wasting a half a day, a few hours there and a few hours back, to go to the store just to find out the don't carry or don't have the movie you wanted in is a major frustration. Before I spent more time downloading then renting I'd try to call ahead
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:4, Insightful)
You can't download snacks.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
And even if you forget the snacks and only notice it after you slipped the DVD in, you can still go out and get them, and be back just in the nick of time after the unskippable ads have rolled.
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I don't buy movies anymore - I rent them. I know it's a (slightly) different comparison to what you were complaining about, but renting HD movies from PSN makes a ton of sense. I hate going to the rental store to pick up a movie, only to have to drive back a day or two later to return it. My wife & I prefer to pick a movie on Thursday evening (when new stuff gets posted to PSN) and if anything looks interesting, we rent a movie to watch on the weekend. It's like $4 to rent an HD movie from PSN, about th
Re: (Score:2)
Points 2,3 & 4 I completely agree with. I'd add that the potential for the DRM to self destruct at some arbitrary point in the future further devalues the purchase.
I disagree with your first point, though. If they sort out DRM issues and pricing I'd find downloads to be a very convenient way of purchasing movies. Even going on a 7.5GB file size and allowing for network congestion that's a 30 minute download on my connection, and 50Mbps is not that unusual any more. Even living in a big city you're doing
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, for most of us, this is a limitation common to Bluray as well.
Comparable to Blu-Ray? (Score:3, Insightful)
At $17.99 for older movies, it's WORSE than buying a Blu-Ray.
Most older movies have gotten down to $10-15 at Wally World, and I managed to even find some 2-packs (admittedly of made-for-TV movies) for $10.
I worry that this might affect Netflix streaming to the PS3 though - Netflix's prices blow Sony's "rental" prices away. A 2-disc Netflix sub is only slightly more expensive than two "old release" HD "rentals".
Re:Sony is being very carful not to undercut thems (Score:5, Insightful)
But wait, there's more!
-Quickly fill up your PS3 hard drive.
-Wonder what happens if your hard drive crashes or if you want to switch to another console.
-No more saving money by selling a movie or by buying movies used.
-No more borrowing movies among friends.
Parent
Pricing (Score:2, Insightful)
The pricing is way off... (Score:5, Insightful)
You can get Zombieland on blu-ray at Amazon for $23.49. It's yours, you can loan it, sell it, make backups (shhhh), etc. Plus it's in full 1080p. Who the frick would buy a "virtual" copy for nearly the same price?
Re:The pricing is way off... (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed, it's strategies like this that made me stop working for Sony.
Oh, that and the regular shafting by management.
The irony is, management will email you and say "please tell us how to be a better company" and you tell them to try selling things that are a good value proposition and they don't want to know.
For instance, I emailed the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and told him that no-one would ever buy a UMD movie at that price/quality, but did he listen? Did he fuck.
Sony needs to get rid of the morons in upper management and start listening to the people making the products.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Great suggestion! Why don't you just email that to upper management, and they'll get right on it!
Re: (Score:2)
Who the frick would pay $23.49 for Zombieland (or any other movie for that matter)?
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. I would put what they are offering, at under 5 bucks. Truthfully. Since I'm paying for the bandwidth, and the storage, and they will most likely still own it, and probably be able to delete the damn thing remotely or something... 5 bucks is about all it's worth.
Shipping and handling (Score:2)
You can get [some movie] on blu-ray at Amazon for $23.49.
The disadvantage there is you wait a week for "super saver shipping".
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
What a clever little "Dick Whittington, highwayman of the Internet" you are - with the emphasis on "Dick"!
Unfortunately, your miniscule intellect fails to grasp the concept that you're only able to download the movie from "TPB" because lots of other people have actually gone out and bought it in the first place - thus subsidising your entertainment.
So close your fat mouth and go grow a backbone. If you think shit is overpriced then don't buy it and don't copy it. Then honest people like me don't get DRM res
Mod Parent Up (Score:2)
Cruel, but ultimately fair.
Post-PS3? (Score:2)
Of course, then there's the matter of downloaded content on other systems like the Xbox 360...
Awesome. (Score:2)
Re:HD? (Score:4, Insightful)
The best thing of course would be to have a choice! I still think the old Russian AllOfMP3 site set the standard for media webshops in that regard: a choice of compression rates and file formats, or the raw uncompressed file, priced by the MB. I'd like online movie stores to offer downloads in formats suitable for portable players, DVD, HDTV (720p and 1080p), with or without compression, etc. And of course, no DRM and download to own. If they offer that, I'd stop bothering with Usenet or torrents, and I'd happily pay close to the full price for movies ($20-25).
Parent
H.264 vs. MPEG-2 (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
When it cuts out the shipping and manufacturing cost for them
Internet bandwidth and server maintenance still cost money.