AppleTV and Vudu are going to have to make room in the online-movie boxing ring for two more rivals offering similar services. Strangely enough, they're both gaming consoles.
Sony on Tuesday announced that an online movie rental and purchase system would be available on PlayStation 3 by end of day. The move is in direct competition with Microsoft's recent announcement that users with Netflix accounts will soon be able to stream Netflix movies from their Xbox 360 consoles.
But here at Gadget Lab we wonder, do Sony and Xbox know what they're getting themselves into? Dedicated TV set-top boxes face enough challenges as it is in terms of movie-studio bureaucracy, imposed time windows and maintaining the video-downloading service itself. While compartmentalization of digital devices is certainly trendy (*cough* iPhone), will people really opt to rent or purchase movies on their video game consoles rather than on a dedicated video system?
Sony and Microsoft already have to worry about the gaming networks on their consoles. It's difficult to believe they'll be able to handle something as bandwidth-heavy as video services on top of that.
As for the user experience, have you ever really enjoyed watching DVDs on your video game system? Using a game controller (wireless or not) as a remote control is downright funky. You can buy a remote control designed to work with the console, but there's still something off about it.
And then there's video quality. The PlayStation 3 is a fantastic
Blu-Ray player, but that's the rare standout in a field of game consoles that have historically been poor media players. For instance, playing a DVD on
PlayStation 2 looks terrible compared to watching it on an actual DVD
player. It's rare that a "jack-of-all-trades" is stronger in a single area than a standalone device itself. And an online movie service on either of these two video game consoles just doesn't sound promising.
Since these two announcements are so close to one another, one can't help but think Sony is rushing to get their service out the door before
Microsoft's. And rushing a product is never good in the technology world.
There's one positive point to extract from this story. With these vastly popular video-game consoles entering the online movie market, maybe Hollywood will open its eyes and realize it's time to loosen up on its rules.
With the studios' imposed time windows, currently you can't rent a new release on AppleTV or Vudu when the titles are truly new. Whether or not they offer quality services, Sony and Microsoft might give that extra shove to get Hollywood to deliver the true convenience of online movie renting that we all want.
PS3 Gets Video Store and Rentals Tonight (Gizmodo)
Netflix on Xbox 360 Quick Impressions (Gizmodo)
(Photo credit: drmemento/Flickr)
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