Bugs Plague New Xbox 360 Video Service

eldavojohn writes "The BBC is running a story on problems with the Xbox 360's HD video service that went live a few days ago. I have wondered quite a bit how Microsoft runs the proxy caches for this service and how they are ensuring that their end consumers are not creating high amounts of internet traffic while downloading HD video." From the article: "Gamers can buy TV programmes but the movies are rented and are automatically deleted from the console's hard drive after a fixed period. 'We've made progress over the past 24 hours, and the team is dedicated to fixing the issues and continues to work as fast as they can around the clock to get the service running as seamlessly as you have come to expect,' wrote Mr Hryb, who is Xbox Live's director of programming, on his Major Nelson Xbox blog.

Comments

arg

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

I'm surprised there aren't a million "Zomg! Microsoft is teh sux, x rullzz" (where x is the name of their console of choice) comments already. The troubling thing is that Nintendo seems to have the same problem, and I bet once Sony has stuff to sell in their online PS3 stores they'll suffer from it as well. It is obvious that there is a demand for online movie/ television sales, but this raises a damn fine question, are ISPs really able to dish out enough bandwidth? I think that while we are entirely ready to receive these services it is evident that our ISPs and Microsoft's/Nintendo's/Sony's server farms are not ready to provide us. I see in the news all the time that in the UK and Japan 10MBit/S connections are fairly common, but here in the US and Canada a 1 to 3 MBit/S connection is fairly uncommon. (Keep in mind I'm talking about home connections, not business or corporate)

It's like our ISPs are keeping their services low, their profits high, and their pockets lined. . . But that's a whole other ballgame. . .

Bandwidth and Hard Disk

[AKAImBatman]

The God's honest truth is that the general bandwidth available and the 360 hard disk size conspire against downloadable HDTV content. If you're using this service, you're basically trying a beta service that going to have difficulities until the consumer infrastructure is updated.

That said, this is the future. Pure and simple. IMHO, Bluray and HDDVD disks will not gain traction in this generation, and will end up losing to download services like iTunes and 360 Videos. So keep an eye on this space, but expect a few bumps until the technology is ready.

(Not that Bluray and HDDVD isn't without their own bumps...)

but..

[Ender Ryan]

But.. if this was another one of Sony's screwups, they'd be vilified as being "evil" here on /. at this time. Or if it was Nintendo, people would be claiming that Nintendo's screwups just make things more fun or some such nonsense.. =P

Yeah, so this does in fact suck for people wanting to use this service. OTOH, it's a hard problem, and I don't see any other company offering a similar service. I didn't expect this to go off without a hitch.

So, I take it you'll give Sony an equally easy pass when their HD movie download service has similar growing pains?

Re:Why have a 'Fixed Period'?

[Anonymous Coward]

Currently most rental places have eliminated late fees (with a small restocking fee after a week)

Please explain how a "small restocking fee" after returning a movie after a fixed period of time isn't a "late fee." Just because they're calling it something else doesn't change what it is.

Re:Not so good... :)

[RichMan]

I wonder when the time out starts:

1) pay for movie, expiry time set to 4 days, download begins
2) .... downloading ....
3) .... 5 days later ....
4) download complete.
5) Your movie has expired. Would you like to renew your rental for 4 more days?

6) Profit X 2