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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ken F @ Nov 3rd 2006 12:55AM
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft worked out some deal with Warner and/or Universal for an Xbox360-based high-definition download service.
Sony is creating a massive library of 1080i MPEG-2 encodes, but it's hard to see how a 30+Mbps encode of Click could have much application outside of Blu-ray in the next ten years. In contrast, Warner and Universal's latest VC-1 encodes for HD-DVD are running 12Mbps ABR for video (Batman Begins, a reference title, is just 12Mbps. MI-2 runs about the same). In other words, the latest 90-100 minute movies from Warner and Universal are running about nine gigabytes with 1080p VC-1 video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, excluding lossless audio, foreign language tracks, and extras.
Delivery of ~9Gb high-definition 1080p movies seems entirely feasible...with a larger hard drive. Microsoft demo'd a 100Gb add-on drive for the Xbox360 at Korean X06 last month, so that would have be a part of the offer.
Warner and Univeral both have high-quality quality content that is ready TODAY for such a high-definition download service. Because Sony has stuck with the older and far less efficient MPEG-2 format, it's transfers for Blu-ray are ill-suited for a high-definition download service.
Such a download service would achieve several things. First, it would be service that Sony could not match any time soon, because it's authoring all its titles in MPEG-2. Second, it would present a compelling argument for other studios to use VC-1. Just think what Microsoft will tell studios -- "take advantage of VC-1's superior efficiency to master your titles for HD-DVD, and you can also offer those titles to 6+ million Xbox360 users."
Rick @ Nov 3rd 2006 4:08PM
Since the new dashboard allows WMV files to be streamed from an attached PC, wouldn't it be logical for Microsoft to create a new PC download service for Xbox 360 users? That way capacity is only limited by the size of the user's PC hard drive.