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Currently in HD only on Blu-ray or via Xbox Live Marketplace
Microsoft signs Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films

One part of Microsoft’s E3 news is the announcement of its deal with Disney to release the house of mouse’s properties onto Xbox Live Marketplace. Beginning today, Xbox Live consumers in the U.S. will have access to a growing catalog of new and classic movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films.

“We’re always looking for more ways to let people experience our films,” said Dan Cohen, executive vice president of pay television and interactive media for Disney-ABC Domestic Television. “With the millions of Xbox 360 consoles in living rooms today with a direct, high-speed Internet connection, Xbox LIVE really has become a terrific device for the delivery of digital entertainment content.”

As a result of this partnership between Microsoft and Disney-ABC Domestic Television, an array of current and library titles will be available this July, with more to come in both standard and high definition.

“Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE Marketplace truly offer something for everyone of all ages, gender or personal taste,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “With this partnership, we are able to feature blockbuster new releases as they become available, as well as an incredible array of classic family films that made Disney the icon it is today.”

Xbox 360 owners will be able to rent popular Disney films on demand as they become available, such as “Bridge to Terabithia,” Miramax Film’s “The Queen” and Touchstone Pictures’ “Déjà Vu.” For Xbox 360 owners without a Blu-ray Disc player, this could be the only opportunity to view Disney films in high-definition. As Disney is a Blu-ray Disc exclusive studio, its movies are not available on HD DVD.

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By Netscorer on 7/11/2007 11:28:38 AM , Rating: 1
So far all I saw was an option to buy a movie with prices so high I wonder who would ever want to do that, especialy considering those miniscular HD sizes MS provides with Xbox.

I did not see 'rent it' option.




By zombiexl on 7/11/2007 11:35:09 AM , Rating: 1
Its always been renting. You can buy TV episondes, but most (if not all movies) are a 24-hour rental.


By epsilonparadox on 7/11/2007 11:39:32 AM , Rating: 2
Actually you have 14 days to watch the movie but once you play it, you can only keep it for 24 hours.


By Netscorer on 7/11/2007 11:41:29 AM , Rating: 3
So you tell me guys that $10 for HD version of the movie was only to rent it? Wow, that is pricey!


By dmbainbridge on 7/11/2007 12:24:52 PM , Rating: 2
It is actually $6 to rent in HD. 480 Microsoft Points.

It costs $12.50 to 1000 points.

$12.50/1000*480=$6


By Hotdogah on 7/11/2007 1:31:51 PM , Rating: 2
When the video marketplace started last year it was real bad... now movies are almost on demand, after 2 min I can watch a SD movie, it takes 20 mins to buffer a HD movie however. I have a 5mb dsl connection so not overly fast but it is faster than I need for most cases. I would love to see more movies come to the marketplace as ther is not to many yet. You can also bu microsoft points on sale or with coupons at retail so full price is not true unless your lazy or rich.


By alifbaa on 7/11/2007 3:01:22 PM , Rating: 2
Netflix's service is instantaneous and included in your monthly fee. I have an old computer hooked up to my HDTV, and it is an excellent setup that doesn't restrict me to the windows media file formats like the 360 does -- thus allowing me to view movies that I've backed up onto my network. From everything I've read about the 360's service, this seems like a much better setup to me.


By darkpaw on 7/11/2007 1:52:52 PM , Rating: 2
$6 to rent one movie is nuts. Thats just under half what the 2 movie unlimited plan is through netflix.


By dmbainbridge on 7/11/2007 2:57:32 PM , Rating: 2
The $6 is for HD movies. It is usually either $4 for new movies or $3 for older movies in standard definition. I don't think the price is too outrageous as it costs me just about the same ($3.99 or $5.99 for HD) to rent a movie over my satellite dish. It's actually cheaper that Dish Network's On Demand movies. The difference here, of course, compared to Netflix is that you don't have to preselect the movie and then wait for it to come up in your list and be sent to you in the mail. The movies are somewhat "on demand". As someone stated in a previous post you have to wait for the marketplace to download a buffer of the movie on your system's hard drive. For SD movies I usually only have to wait about 30 secs and HD movies are about 5 to 8 minutes but that depends on the day of the week and other traffic on my home network.

Of course, for the patient, Netflix is probably a cheaper way to go with more selection but I don't know (since I don't use it) how they do high definition movies. That and I really think that digital distribution is the future of movie rentals.


Good News..
By zombiexl on 7/11/2007 9:54:01 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe I wont need to buy a PS3 or dedicated BR to watch some of the movies I want to see in HD. Of course that assumes I don't want to own those movies.

Of course I guess I could always wait for a movie to hit OnDemand or PPV to watch HD versions.




RE: Good News..
By Samus on 7/11/2007 1:10:50 PM , Rating: 2
It's relatively inexpensive considering the convenience.


RE: Good News..
By OxBow on 7/11/2007 1:41:11 PM , Rating: 2
Ok, beyond trying to deal with confusion of how many microsoft points = dollar or that you can only buy points in chunks that don't divide even by the offered content, I still don't think this is that viable of a system yet. It may get there, but not for me right now.

Netflix (and Blockbuster to a lesser extent) just make more sense to me. With the live download service I still have to go online to order the movie (and Netflix has just a few more titles available) and I still have to wait to watch the movie (1 day with Netflix, several hours with Live. Then I only have two weeks to watch it, and I've got to watch it in one showing? I don't think so. All for $6+! Heck, for two rentals I could watch 15 movies from Netflix (or even more from Blockbuster).

I got turned off of pay per view when I shelled out $20 to watch the Tyson/Spinx fight with my friends back in college. This seems to be a waxed and polished retread of the same system. Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me.


Interesting
By rklaver on 7/11/2007 7:15:12 PM , Rating: 2
What also makes this interesting is Steve Jobs is on the board of Directors for Disney.




"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." -- SCEA President Jack Tretton











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