Microsoft today rolls out the Xbox Live dashboard update that brings - at long last - Movies On Demand to the Xbox 360 console in Australia. Have you checked it out yet?
Some of you will have had access to the dashboard preview for the past few weeks. And as with all beta tests, we understand if things are a little hit and miss. Personally, I was unable to stream in HD due to my useless connection, but HD downloads worked fine, as did SD streaming.
One concern out of the beta is the limited selection of movies available, with only around 100 titles - many quite old - to choose from. Speaking to Screen Play this morning, Xbox Live product manager Andrew Jenkins promises we'll see a steady flow of new weekly releases.
"By the end of November you will see things like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hangover, State of Play, and by the end of the year you'll see Transformers 2, Star Trek, all these huge blockbuster titles are coming to our service... I'm excited that Harry Potter and The Hangover, those are things that we are getting day-and-date with DVD."
But now that the service has launched to the general public, how does it perform? If you've tested it today, let us know your experience.
UPDATE: Looks like I jumped the gun a little. It'll hit at 9pm AEDT tonight.
Comments
How do I even get this update onto my 360? I've booted it up but can't seem to find anything that will allow me to use these new features.
its pointless if it uses up your bandwidth in my opinion. till they sort out a deal with isp's i wont be using the service.
hey ummm iinet has a deal that you get completely free unlimited download with your xbox. So it won't cost you anything in bandwith to download :)
except that this shiznit isnt free
check it out before you bust your download cap
An iinet rep was quoted as saying (on the whirlpool forums) that "Movies on demand is currently not in the freezone DESPITE xbox live being a freezone area".
He mentioned how it's difficult to "unmeter" the data that is already being sent to and from their servers, let alone High def streaming. They apparently have had 3 crashes by unmetering xbox live in the past year or so.
They have their reasoning, but i also have mine, and i simply won't use something that will eat my monthly quota for breakfast. I'm prepared to wait for their capabilities to be expanded
"day-and-date with DVD.”? But Harry Potter is out today...
This has been no doubt answered many times, but due to iinet not counting downloads to the usage are the HD downloads also not counted?
The iinet website says:
"In partnership with Xbox, iiNet is now offering unmetered Xbox LIVE content (excludes all paid for content such as movies etc) on all iiNet broadband plans. This means you can download all the free game demos, trailers, arcade games and console updates without it affecting your monthly quota."
Dude, Westnet.
Westnet is the same as iinet.
Hmm, I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation before. Westnet offer unmetered Xbox downloads for everything, even paid-for content. I rang them to confirm and you even went so far as to say something like "Viva, Westnet!".
Yeah, I remember that. But their description of their Freezone content on their website is (almost) identical to how iinet describe it. I remain sceptical.
Righto. I'll be over here. Enjoying free HD downloads.
In imagination land?
I'm rather skeptical also.
If that includes game downloads, which are "paid for content" then the unmetered service is pretty useless.
If that's true the service will fail. I'm with iinet and will consider paying for this service BUT only if it's not part of my quota.
What Jarrard said - until it gets bundled into some kind of deal with one of the ISPs, I can't see me using it very much.
I gave it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised. Though 1500k wont do HD stream SD worked with out a hitch.
I was about to say Ive been waiting all day and it still hasnt come up.
Do you know whether or not that movies will be added at the same time as its DVD release date or will it solely depend when M$ chooses to add them?
The launch dates of each movie are at the discretion of the film studio, not Microsoft.
Stream movies in Australia? Bitch you must be crazy.
Does it tell you how much download it is before you commit to it?
Yes.
How much do they cost?
The current selection ranges from 240 to 420 Microsoft Points (ie. $4 to $7), depending on age and whether it's HD or SD.
That's reasonable. I still rage at MS point "change" though.
I wanna see "Harry Potter and the Hangover".
I'll check it out tonight. If it works okay, even in SD, that sounds good to me.
I wonder if Sony will refuse distribution rights for any SPE/MGM titles on the service as a way to boost the equivalent services on their console?
What does it cost per movie? I'm very interested if the price is right.
I have been using it a little in the beta phase, and I can confirm it still uses your quota on iinet. Having said that, SD streaming is gold. Went to try HD, but my internet speed varies from day to day, and that day it was having a hissy fit, so it wouldnt let me.
Also, they asked us all to watch the same movie on the same night a couple of weekends ago, so streaming still works even when there is load on the system. I was a bit shocked to see the size of the HD download though.. 11.8 gig for harry potter and the goblet of fire, which is precisely 1.8gig more than my peak allowance gives me. which pretty much blows any chance I had of HD movies straight out of the water. As soon as it is quota free though, I am in. and it is on. like donkey kong.
Won't be using it till bigpond lift their game and increase monthly quotas and make all xbox live content free..
Bigpond lift quotas? Good luck with that.
Won't be streaming or downloading expensive, stale movies that disappear in 14 days..
..I'll just be lamenting the fact that Last.FM is missing from today's update.
@ Wildgoose.
lol
How big is an HD download?
It's basically a worthless update for Aussies. Do you really want to use Twitter and Facebook from your 360? Not me. And like everyone else says, the bandwidth usage negates the movie streaming. You might as well just torrent a movie that you can keep if your bandwidth is going to be used up getting it.
it is now 6:57pm on november the 17th and i don't see any shitty updated anything, no facebook no nothing.
9pm EDT.
Its 9pm just turned on my xbox and still no update.
9:10 still no update........ Anyone...?
It's now 9:17PM.
WHAR?!
9:20 no update
9.30 no update???
I will point out however that Major Nelson did suggest it would vary based on where you live, but then again this report was 9pm AEDT. Eitherway, we will get it when we get it!
Join the discussion!
Comment Voting
Up Votes
Down Votes
Only logged in users may vote for comments!
Please log in or register to gain access to this feature.
Get Permalink