Euro PS3 video service on Thursday

By Robert Purchese Published 18 November, 2009

Rent from €2 and buy from €8.

The European PS3 video store opens on Thursday, 19th November, in France, Germany, Spain and the UK and presents over 2000 films for rent or purchase.

Hiring costs from €1.99 and buying costs from €7.99 per title, but initially HD films will only be available to rent.

There are special offers for early birds: buy Angels and Demons and you will receive a complimentary copy of The Da Vinci Code. Or don't bother. Alternatively, anyone registering a new PSN account tomorrow or Friday will be given a free copy of Transformers.

You'll be able to find the video delivery service in the Video Store section of the PlayStation Store.

Incidentally, renting means you have the film for 14 days but only have 48 hours to watch the content once you press play. Films can be transferred to PSP for viewing on the train or while walking to work and crossing busy roads.

There are some eye-catching and recent films among the launch line-up: Star Trek, Public Enemies, Valkyrie and Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • HandOfBeadle #1 2 years ago

    Porridge the movie to start with methinks.

  • Vitor #2 2 years ago

    Is the free copy of Transformers a rental and is it for people registering for the Video service or for an actual PSN account? Questions, questions...

  • Ryze #3 2 years ago

    48 hours to watch!!!!

    It's just beaten the 360 service in one fell swoop!

  • owl #4 2 years ago

    Incidentally, renting means you have the film for 14 days but only have 48 hours to watch the content once you press play. Films can be transferred to PSP for viewing on the train or while walking to work and crossing busy roads.

    this actually sounds really promising (apart from the crossing the roads bit : )

  • awb83 #5 2 years ago

    can't wait, it sounds pure excellent as anyfink this service

  • belziah #6 2 years ago

    HandOfBeadle

    A man of rare taste and distinction......XD

  • legendarytomuk #7 2 years ago

    Transformers? Tempted me too make another account, then I remembered it's actually the worst film ever made .

  • lcmnick #8 2 years ago

    "Alternatively, anyone registering a new PSN account tomorrow or Friday will be given a free copy of Transformers."

    And boom! Sony's PSN numbers suddenly take another preposterous increase...

  • danathjo #9 2 years ago

    is it wrong to make a new account just to get something free even though i've already got it on DVD?

  • Milk #10 2 years ago

    1080p?

  • davisorle #11 2 years ago

    Well Sony was bragging about the PSN account that were triple the number of PS3 consoles they had sold. Was that about a year ago? After this , which is a good way to atract ppl to check out the service i admit, they will be saying that their online service has got multiplied the users when we all know that we would make a new account for the freebie. Nothing wrong with it. It would actually be wrong to not make the account if you dont own the movie already.

    Personally im not interested since Ive never used the service either on the 360.

  • hilts #12 2 years ago

    Yes questions questions!
    Why only new accounts?
    Surely the freebie is just a rental?
    1080p?
    Who would buy these ( or download games) when you can buy a cheaper boxed copy then resell??
    I think this could be pretty good for renting HD films given the price of blu-rays... But how loong would they take to download??

  • MistMeUK #13 2 years ago

    looks good to me

  • ScarboroughKID #14 2 years ago

    If you read the EU Playstation Blog about the offer, the Transformers is a HD purchase, not a rental, and it's a new, registered console, not account.

  • Wildsleven #15 2 years ago

    when it says uk does it include ireland? :o

  • Accordi0n #16 2 years ago

    Anyone know how the rental 48 hour availability is affected by a PSP transfer? Im assuming that saving it to the PSP starts the 48 hour period so it cannot be exploited into giving you two 48 periods to watch the film?

  • SteveB #17 2 years ago

    Any word on the sound ? Is it DD 5:1 or stereo like the 360 ?

  • The_Programmer #18 2 years ago

    "who needs a pc/dvd/bluray player/photo browser/music center/karaoke machine/video chat/entertainment hub/GAMES MACHINE, all seperate when you have it all in one box of tricks lol"

    Only a fool would put all their eggs in one basket. If your PS3, applies to the 360 as well, goes down then you lose all of your home entertainment in one go. With seperate units then if your DVD player goes down then it doesn't effect any of your other entertainment units. Same applies if you've got a Sky or Freeview box.

    I've also got a Cyclone (MKV) HDMI network media player adaptor which plays all my video, pictures up to 1080p & audio files as well. Only the loss of the TV would stop me from losing all of my entertainment.
    Edited by 2 at 18/11/09 @ 21:34

  • Arwin #19 2 years ago

    I just discovered today that the Zune service was also released in the Netherlands. Not many new movies, but still pretty good - hopefully Sony won't lag too far behind in my country, also still waiting for vidzone et al.

  • Pedrolot #20 2 years ago

    Blockbuster's in trouble..

  • sugapunk #21 2 years ago

    "Any word on the sound ? Is it DD 5:1 or stereo like the 360 ?"

    On the US store the surround tracks are in AAC format. However, the PS3 does not convert this to DD5.1 so unless your reciever supports AAC 5.1 decoding directly, you won't get surround on an optical connection. If you've got a HDMI receiver though, it'll just convert it to PCM so no problems.

  • b00n #22 2 years ago

    Well, when you're not living in one of those countries, then Zune on 360 is beating this. And it's 1080p, 5.1, streaming, so will be interesting to see what happens. First batch of movies on 360 however isn't very impressive nor uptodate.

  • Xerx3s #23 2 years ago

    "Alternatively, anyone registering a new PSN account tomorrow or Friday will be given a free copy of Transformers."

    Ah, so we can expect a statistics dick swinging soon then?

  • spiny #24 2 years ago

    Sweet - poops all over itunes from a great height :)

  • canIdoyabombsforya #25 2 years ago

    Sounds good and better than the 360 service. So how much are they really relying on Blu-Ray sales? not much I hope.
    Nothing wrong with buying movies and storing on a media center, my prefered option if the price is right.

  • NotSoSlim #26 2 years ago

    Blu ray and digital downloads can co exist quite easily as people like physical items to add to there collection!!

    Sony have helped blu ray penetrate the market so job done

  • M_of_the_sys #27 2 years ago

    @The_Programmer

    Perhaps you should keep everything in separate buildings. What if the place burns down? :o

  • miiiguel #28 2 years ago

    "who needs a pc/dvd/bluray player/photo browser/music center/karaoke machine/video chat/entertainment hub/GAMES MACHINE, all seperate when you have it all in one box of tricks lol"

    Drop that "lol" and send the sentence to Sony's marketing department. You have something there!

  • Felwyn #29 2 years ago

    "Only a fool would put all their eggs in one basket."

    go back to the 20th Century where you belong.

  • Yodith #30 2 years ago

    €1.99 is an excellent rental price, even if it is "Starting from...".

    Keep the rental prices down and you can be sure I'll be availing of this service from time to time.

  • Shane86 #31 2 years ago

    This isn't in Ireland is it?

  • freakzilla #32 2 years ago

    The pricing seems reasonable, I might get hooked if I find good films on a regular basis. Is this service capable of netflix style "instant streaming"?

    Is it capable of streaming iplayer HD level picture quality?
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 06:40

  • woodnotes #33 2 years ago

    No streaming at all. Except the previews/trailers.

  • electrolite #34 2 years ago

    Strange plusses and minusses on this one. Are some people desperately offended by people not wanting one box for all their entertainment formats? Them marketing people told you good that's what everyone wants eh?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #35 2 years ago

    Great prices for the rentals.

    Am I right in assuming that these are not streamed and are instead downloaded to your PS3 before you can watch them?

    Because it will take me longer than 48 hours to download an HD movie using my ISP with my 1920s telephone exchange :(

  • SeesThroughAll #36 2 years ago

    The rental price is very reasonable. I would have preferred rentals to allow us to watch a movie as many times as wanted throughout the entire 14 days, but it's a decent deal nonetheless...

    :)

  • Pedrolot #37 2 years ago

    @ lord

    Who WOULDNT buy from the service? This is the whole reason why i got myself a 500gb HDD...

  • WiseGuy #38 2 years ago

    So how much space are we talking about for one movie here as space is very much at a premium in my launch 60GB?

  • betahoven #39 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • parablax #40 2 years ago

    Are there any online listings of available titles for those of us stuck at work?


    @wiseguy, I have play tv - 1hour of video equates to 1.6GB for SD. I would guess at least 2-3x more for 720p/1080i.
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 09:27

  • Nylz #41 2 years ago

    That sounds great Mike, but when will it be available in the Netherlands?

  • flaming.carrot #42 2 years ago

    @wiseguy

    Just install a larger HDD is you are running out of space. You can get a 500Gb drive for about fifty quid these days.

  • BigE0n #43 2 years ago

    @Ryze

    Last Time i rented off Xbox Live this was the same deal, i.e. 48 Hrs after starting the movie you had to have watched it (Although you could watch it as many times as liked in the 48 Hrs period) and you had 14 days to start the movie after the initial download.

    Has this change recently? Are the terms different for the new ZUNE service and the Movies on Demand?

    I'm glad Sony is also implementing a similar service as this will hopefully force Microsoft to rethink some of there pricing on the movie rental service.

    I stand corrected it is withing the 24hrs of starting the movie that it must be watched.
    Edited by 1 at 21/11/09 @ 08:51

  • BOBBYLUPO #44 2 years ago

    Pretty good starting selection, with some interesting choices (Exorcist 2, Dracula 1972!) That said £4.50 for a new rental isn't going to make me fire up the PS3 on the *ahem* rare occasion that TV is filled with unwatchable crap. HD or not.

  • G-Money #45 2 years ago

    "Only a fool would put all their eggs in one basket. If your PS3, applies to the 360 as well, goes down then you lose all of your home entertainment in one go"

    The exagerated gravity of this statement is piss yourself funny... What's the name of the comic-shop guy in Simpsons again???

  • dr_faulk #46 2 years ago

    What's the quality? Stats please. H.264 et al?

  • TonyHarrison #47 2 years ago

    Disappointing, you can only rent certain movies, the newest release available for rent as far as I can see is Watchmen.

    I was under the impression we'd have the option to rent/buy everything...

  • Ryze #48 2 years ago

    @BigE0n

    No Mr. Fanboy, stop lying. It's 24hrs now, and it's always been 24hrs.

  • BigE0n #49 2 years ago

    @Ryze

    I stand corrected you are right it was / is watch within 24 hrs of starting the movie (Although you can watch it over and over again in this period, why any one would want to is another matter) , more to my point was you did get 14 days after the inital download to start the said movie, so yes you do get a slightly better deal on PSN video as you can watch the movie over two days if required.

    I have not tried the new Zune service yet for the ON Demand video and Im guessing that is going to be a watch once and that is all you get service? (which i think really sucks, if that is the case).

    Please don't call me a Fan boy I may be many things but I'm not that.

    I was just trying to inject a little perspective, and as I made in my final point hopefully with both services competing against one another it should help lower the inflated rental costs.

  • Jelly_Head #50 2 years ago

    @Pedrolot: "Blockbuster's in trouble.."

    True, but this has been the case for a few years now and whoever calls the shots at Blockbuster seems content to carry on burying their head in the sand while their stores (and staff) get ever scruffier.