However, users are complaining that High-Definition downloads take too long, sometimes several hours for one movie.
That's according to an article by The New York Times.
Since last November, Microsoft has allowed XBox 360 owners to download movies and TV shows using its online XBox Live Marketplace. The rates vary from $1.99 to $5.99, but the lineup includes high-def movies and shows including a free high-def episode of South Park.
“We allow a consumer who’s
very engaged in games to shift, with the same box, to watching
The Departed,” Ross Honey, senior director of the media
entertainment group at Microsoft, told The Times.
Microsoft says the HD South Park has been downloaded almost
400,000 times.
But The Times reports that some users say the high-def programs
take too long to download. One XBox 360 owner said he tried to
download a few high-def movies and "it took hours. I don't think
the Broadband technology is there yet."
The criticism is not new.
Video Business reported in March
that a XBox 360 high-def download of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven
took 10 hours and 5.7 gigabytes in system space. In addition,
the download shut off after six hours.
The publication's writer had to resume the process the next
morning, although the device picked up the download at the six
hour mark.
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Phillip Swann is
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News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The
Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at
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