Euro PSN Video Store Impressions
Today the European PlayStation Store updated to include over 2000 movies across the UK, France, Germany and Spain, among the list of top films came blockbuster titles such as Star Trek, Bruno, Wolverine and Crank 2. The service provides movies to rent (from €1.99) or to buy (from €7.99), with many in both High Definition and Standard Definition. The store already has the backing of all the major movie studios, including 20th Century Fox, MGM, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros as well as local content from publishers such as ContentFilm International, E1 Entertainment UK and Optimum Releasing.
For a service that has only just launched, the library is truly incredible and surprisingly broad, offering a far larger selection than the majority of digital film content providers. The number of films available is set to grow exponentially, with SCEE‘s President and CEO, Andrew House, telling GI that he expects “about an additional 50 movies per week” to arrive on the store. The US Video store grew 700% from its launch one year and three months ago, a promising trend which House intends to emulate.
Price wise the store is fairly cheap, but could do with more competitive prices in some cases, for example Star Trek costs £11.99 on the UK PSN store, compared to £10.99 on iTunes. The rental service is equally leniant, allowing a whole 14 days to watch the movie (with 48hrs given after the movie is watched).
One of the advantages of the PSN video store over other legal digital distribution channels is how the content can be shared with the PSP, allowing both remote play or physical transfer, meaning that you can watch the movie on the go, wherever you are, or the films can, of course, be watched at home on the PS3.
Another advantage for the service is the fact that all videos are progressively downloaded, meaning that if you have downloaded half the movie you can watch half the movie. If your internet is good enough you can instantly stream movies to your TV, but generally a wait of around 30 minutes will give sufficient time to start watching the film.
The European PlayStation Store is by no means perfect, it still needs to roll out across most of Europe, the DRM is too restrictive, and SCEE hasn’t even begun adding TV shows, but considering that this is only the first day of the new service, and that Sony is already working hard to bring updates and new content to the PSN, the future is bright for the store.
What do you think of the Video Store? Tell us in the comments below.
14 Responses to “Euro PSN Video Store Impressions”
i’m glad us brits have finally got the movie store now, but what annoys me is the fact that most of the newer films arent available to rent in SD or HD, and some of them are a bit pricey just my honest opinion
Yeah, it is nice to finally have the vid store, with this and the comics coming next month the PSN store will be the ultimate digital shop
@John-83
Totally agree with you, would much prefer to rent HD movies as i find i can normally find Blu-ray and dvds for much cheaper at brick and mortar stores.
However i am glad the option is there, all the best to Sony!
I’m glad that it’s here, I probably won’t buy any movies but I’m sure I’ll rent a few here and there.
What I’m most looking forward to is the inclusion of some TV shows that I’d like to catch up on. There’s a lot of content in there on day 1 and am looking forward to see how it evolves….a rental subscription package would be awesome.
Does this cover Canada as well?
@Joshstork
Yep thats true, i mean you can go to certain shops these days and get them on blu-ray at cheap enough prices these days, i was hoping star trek in HD would have been available to rent cos i wanted to know if it is worth me buying it on blu-ray.
Im wondering why its not on the Irish PSN yet, Usually these things come to Ireland the same time as the UK,
By the looks of it Ireland won’t be getting the store today, it wasn’t announced as an initial area for release, sorry about that
@mytth
Yeah you’re right we usually get stuff the same time as the UK. My PS3 is in the repair shop (4th time in 2 months…dreaded YLOD) do we still not have the movie store on Irish PSN yet!?
can you check the Canada video store status?
It seems that Canada won’t be getting the store this year, Sony listed it as “coming soon” along with several other regions, which are also listed for early 2010. Hopefully you will get it rather soon, good luck!
Personally I don’t think many new TV shows from the US will be on the EU Video Store. That is where the companies make their money from by selling it to TV channels outside the US. Perhaps after the show has aired or it is available on DVD/Blu-ray will it be available on the store.
Its daft is this movies thingy! All the best films are in SD. I have no interest in watchin SD quality movies on my PS3.
Bad show Sony, bad show!
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