Paramount is the official film studio of Optimus Prime and will soon add its library of films to Xbox Live’s Video Store internationally. Paramount was included in Xbox Live video rentals since the launch of the service in the US. But licensing issues prevented Paramount movies showing up internationally on Live. Now that the red tape seems to have finally cleared, the invitation to rent Paramount pictures now extends to Canada, UK, Ireland, France, and Germany.

Xbox 360 owners with an Internet connection can use the Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store. The video rental service allows you to browse a library of films, which will now include Transformers in HD, and download-to-rent.

The download-to-rent business is seen as the future of home entertainment for many online services including Microsoft. It allows the user to download a DRM protected copy of a movie to your local Xbox, it’s viewable within 14 days of downloading or 24 hours after you begin viewing.

Securing licensing contracts that make various studios library of movies available has been a longstanding hurdle to the practice.

Most movies on the Xbox Live video store are available in high-def or standard-def formats. Downloads are priced in Microsoft Points - 300 for SD and 440 for HD.

Alex Carloss, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Digital Distribution of Paramount Digital Entertainment (try fitting that title on a business card) had this to say:

"We’re excited to be involved in the acceleration phase of the European and Canadian launch of the Xbox LIVE…"

The HD downloads are limited to 720P and use a compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. Not bad but still no better than cable or satellite TV. It’ll pale in quality comparison to HD DVD or Blu-ray.

Tags: Culture, Internet

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.