Australian users will get their first taste of Sony’s new video download service when the entertainment giant launches the video store on PlayStation Network early on Thursday morning.
The service will allow users to register three PlayStation Portable (PSP) devices and one PlayStation 3 (PS3) console and rent or purchase movies for playback on those devices.
Sony says the service will launch with 600 movies to begin with, with 50 new titles added each month.
Standard-definition (SD) movies – with a 720×576-pixel frame size – are said to be around 1.5GB to download while high-definition (HD) videos at 1280×720-pixels (720p) will be up to 5GB to download.
Film rental prices are expected to be around $5.99 but will be as cheap as $3.99 for some titles.
Renting movies involves the movie appearing in your movie list and will stay there for 14 days. Once you begin watching a movie, you have 48 hours to complete viewing before it is removed.
Movies for PSP devices can only be purchased, where prices here start at $7.99 although new releases such as Inglorious Basterds will sell for more. Only PS3 consoles will support movie rentals.
Sony will now go up against the likes of Telstra, Microsoft and Apple, which all have a video download or video-on-demand service either through the PC or through specific hardware such as the Xbox 360 (Microsoft) and AppleTV (Apple).
Update: To find out more, visit: http://videostore.au.playstation.com/
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#1 by Bald Eagle on June 7, 2010 - 5:54 pm
Just had a rude awakening about the new rent movie capability from the playstation store. Downloaded the 1st movie (around 6 gigabyte) is just over 6 hours. Tried downloading another movie on Saturday night and by Monday afternoon it was still sitting at 56% completed. This was also 6 gig and my internet speed was the same speed as the previous download @ 2.048 Mbps.
I rang Sony to advise them that the download seems to freeze (was stuck on 32% for 1 day and a half) and that I only got to watch the very begining of the movie given it froze up. I was advised that because I had started to watch the movie, and you only get 48 hours from the time you 1st start to watch the movie, that they would not give me a refund or another 48 hours from the time it finishes the download. What a Joke. If Bigpond movies sends you a dodgy DVD they will not charge you rather send you out a new one. If you download a bigpond movie and have an issue like this … they work with you to have a good customer experience. This one of the worst examples of customer service that I have seen in these times.
Needless to say that given the poor customer service and the time it takes to download a rental movie, I will not be using this service again and quite frankly I wish I had’t bought the Playstation 3 at all.
Get real Sony
Put your Wine Online … MyVinesOnline.com