Very impressed. We'd known the release date for the European Playstation Video Delivery Service (which we'll refer to as the "video store" for convenience) for a while, but we had no idea exactly how much content SCEE would pump into it before launch. We had the titles of just five or six movies when we got told the date, and assumed any number around the 50 mark would be impressive. Try 2,000.
Yesterday, SCEE essentially made the PS3 Europe's one-stop shop for movie downloads. While Netflix rules the roost over the pond, few on-demand services here in Europe can quite deliver the wealth of content on the Playstation's video store. And with over 50 movies promised every week, the service could be very lucrative for SCEE.
Pricing seems fair for rentals, with SD movies ranging between £2.50 and £3.50 and HD movies costing £4.50 or less. Purchasing movies outright seems a bit steep, at anywhere from £6.99 to £11.99, but at least the functionaltity is on offer.
We tested out the service with a £2.50 download of Johnny Depp's From Hell. Quality is actually rather good in SD, with an HD alternative not on offer for this particular movie. At just under 2GBs, the movie took around 80 minutes to download. However Sony allow you to stream the movie as it downloads. We found the streaming to work adequately, but ocassionally found ourselves catching up with download progress. We recommend setting the movie to download, cooking some food for 30 minutes or so, and then watching the film while the rest downloads seamlessly in the background. That way, the movie will never buffer and you can enjoy the film uninterrupted.
With reasonable pricing, a great range of content and fairly adequate download speeds, the European video store should become a big selling point for the Playstation 3. After all, there's very little else of its quality available.
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