You can tell a lot about a company by the parties they throw. Sony clearly know parties, as demonstrated by the following checklist: cool venue, free food, free booze, celebrity DJ, hands-on tech, and the obligatory glamorous people. Did I have a good time? Yes. But more importantly, is the Playstation Video Store any good? Yes. Yes it is.

As I sat down in front of a ludicrously large Sony Bravia TV set, a very bubbly PR lady walked me through the new EU Video Store. Let’s deal with the important information first:

• When does it launch: November 19^th (or today / tomorrow depending on your time zone)
• What can you see: 800 movies from launch (125 in 720p HD)
• Content will be updated with 50 new movies per week (a mixture of buy and rental titles)
• Content is stored on your PS3 for 14 days once purchased. Once you start watching you have 48 hours to finish before it auto-destructs Mission Impossible-stylee (well, not really…)
• You can buy SD or HD content, but rent HD only (for now)
• Pricing will vary per title. This depends on a number of factors such as release date, format (SD or HD) or how much the movie studio wants to fleece you…

Having spent some time playing with the new Video Store (and firmware 3.10 incidentally) there is a lot to like, along with a couple of “could do betters”.

What rocked –

Ease of use: Accessing the Video Store couldn’t be easier. You go to the PSN Store from the XMB as usual and then select “Video” from the appropriate button. Choose your movie of choice and away you go.

No time delay: Movies will be released day-on-day. So if it’s out on DVD it will be out on the Video Store.

Enhanced search: As well as the usual filtering topics such as “New Releases” and “Genre”, you can also search by specific filters such as Movie Studio. This will come in handy if you’re a big Paramount fan, obviously. Alternatively you can search by “Collection”. For example if you pick “Superheroes” from the listing it will display all the spandex-suited masterpieces on offer for your delectation. Neat.

Cinema in your pocket: That’s right, you can access the Video Store from your PSP as well. Trying it out with a PSP Go was quick and slick, and movie playback looked good on the screen. As with other PS content you can transfer movies downloaded via your PS3 onto your PSP for on-train Hollywood action.

What sucked –

One two one two: From what I saw the movies on offer were only in 2 channel i.e. stereo sound. Not a deal breaker of course but disappointing for those of us with sweet 5.1 / 7.1 set ups hooked up to our PS3s.

PSP SD: Unfortunately you cannot download HD versions of movies to your PSP. More disappointingly, if you download an HD movie via PS3, you cannot download an SD version of the same movie to your PSP without paying twice. Not cool.

Overall then the Video Store looks and feels like another great addition to the PS3’s media credentials. Whilst not perfect the launch offering is strong and easily compares with its main competitors on the market. What will separate the wheat from the chaff over the coming months will be the quality of content and the update path on offer from the major players.

As for Sony? Well, those of you in the US have already got the Netflix streaming disc, but a little PR bird tells me that TV content a la Apple TV is on its way. Evolution over revolution perhaps, but just as welcome nonetheless. If you’re keen, check out the website for more info:

http://videostore.uk.playstation.com/

Filed under: Europe News, Main, Playstation Store, Software Updates, Xmb