Online Home Video Delivery - Who Will Win? Part 2 - Microsoft
By David Walker |
January 23rd, 2008
Comments (1)
No matter what technologies come along, our fascination with television shows and movies is virtually endless. Whether it’s the acting, stories or visual eye candy that grabs us, there’s no denying that we’re as fascinated with video as we’ve ever been. As we enter 2008, the ability to get to that video is becomingly increasingly easier. Several key players are entering the online video delivery marketplace and though choice is growing, it’s going to be important that consumers pick the provider that suits them best and that has the best long-term potential to get them the content they crave. Over the next few days, we’ll be taking a look at the major players, what their capabilities are and ultimately, who we think has the best shot of winning in this space. Today, we take a look at Microsoft.
What They Have
By now, most media enthusiasts are familiar with the highly polished Windows Media Center. The latest release polished the program even more, while adding some key functionality. Part of the Media Center offering is built-in support for IPTV, which is still in its infancy, but has some potential. Movie sites like Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow and MovieLink make purchasing or renting movies and television shows very doable and highly compatible with MCE because of their use of the Microsoft WMV movie format.
Not to be ignored, however, is the Xbox 360. Though a game console, it has media capabilities that make it a definite competitor in this space. It’s entry price of $279 is a bit high, and considering you need a hard drive to store movies and tv shows on, you can really consider the true entry price to be $349. The Xbox Live Marketplace also offers the option of buying television shows (some in HD) while also being able to buy or rent movies, with some of those also being available in HD. Since the 360 can also play DVDs (and HD-DVDs with an add-on, not that you’d want to) and act as a media center extender - and a good one at that - it’s hard to ignore the complete package the 360 has to offer.
Advantages
For starters, Microsoft’s WMV format has support from multiple providers as mentioned above. This ensures that videos you get from Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow, MovieLink or others will work on your MCE PC or your extender. Even though it’s not the greatest video codec, or even the defacto standard (is there one?), it is a standard that you can count on.
Also, if you’re an HD fanatic, you can download many movies and tv shows in HD format on the 360. Download times may vary, but getting to HD content is easily done on the 360 and if you’re one that likes to own HD content, this is one of the only venues currently available (other than physical formats).
Finally, the fact that Microsoft has two different venues to getting video into your living room says something about their strategy. If they can’t get you with MCE, they’ll try with the 360 and vice versa. Of all the competitors in this space, they appear to be one of the only positioned with multiple fronts of attack.
Disadvantages
For starters, a decent MCE computer is going to cost you a good bit. At the least, you’re probably looking at an investment of at least $500 if not more. And though the 360 is not the most expensive game console on the market, if gaming is not your thing, it is a somewhat costly media device, although it’s price will likely drop over time.
Also, if you go to download your shows or movies on the 360, on the 360 they will stay. No transferring the shows to a Zune or other media device. No transferring back to your MCE. This extremely closed environment is a bit too stringent and inflexible. Also, while HD content is available on the 360, not all studios are on board. If you want content from all the studios, you’ll have to go to one of the movie sites listed above. And then, you’re not getting content in HD.
Outlook
If you consider HD movie and tv show downloads the future, Microsoft at least has one of it’s feet in the water. Although they’ll probably get more studios on board in the future, it’s a near certainty that their main rival - Sony - will not be lending their staple of movies to the 360 marketplace. However, if Amazon’s head-dive into digital downloads is any indication, don’t be surprised to see HD downloads soon available via Unbox. If that happens, that directly benefits Microsoft and them alone.
Overall, Microsoft has to be considered a front-runner in this space. There are still some hurdles to overcome, but with their resources, MS will almost certainly be making waves in online home video delivery in the coming months and years.
Previous Articles:
Part 1: Apple
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I’d add that the X360 servers as a pretty competent stand-alone media device. It’s made even more powerful with the Media Center edition of XP/Vista, but is pretty good as a stand-alone device.