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Monday - February 19, 2007
Bye bye Blockbuster
Previously, I mentioned that you can now rent movies (and television episodes) straight from your Xbox 360. Over the weekend, I decided to give it a shot. I picked up Employee of the Month, in HD.
First I'll comment about the technology. The 360 interface is very easy to use, and you can watch the trailer of the film if you're on the fence. It uses MS points, which is the payment system used for all Xbox Live transactions. If you've never bought anything, then you would need to setup your payment method or use a prepaid card from your local electronics store. I've had mine setup since day 1, so no problems there. I downloaded the 5GB movie overnight, but I've heard you can start watching the download once a certain percentage is stored on the drive. You have 14 days to begin watching the movie, but once you start playing it, you only have 24 hours to access the content. The video was beautiful and crisp in 720p, and the sound was in Dolby Digital 5.1 (sadly doesn't support DTS). Also, for the video purists, this film was displayed in 16:9 resolution which fills the HDTV screen. Unfortunately this does mean some cropping of the source 2.39:1 (scope) material. Some people may actually prefer this though since it doesn't require letterboxing. The only negatives around the whole experience, are 1) They need to release a hard drive >20GB, and 2) I would prefer the cost to be a little less, as the SD version is $4 and HD version is $6.
Now on to the movie. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this flick. Of course it's not exactly an Oscar winner, but it's entertaining. Of course seeing Jessica Simpson and her assets in HD is never a bad thing, but she actually does a decent job of acting. She's at least as good as any other stereotypical romantic comedy actress. Dane Cook and Dax Shepard are both very funny as they compete to win her love. The supporting cast is also good, especially Efren Ramirez (aka Pedro from Napolen Dynamite). The movie actually reminds me a little of Office Space. It's not quite at that level, but if you enjoy one, I think you would enjoy the other.
Posted by jcraven at February 19, 2007 3:06 PM