So what kind of connection do you need for the 1080p instant-on streaming Zune Marketplace?

[Queasy]

8mbps

For the full instant on 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound experience, Microsoft recommends at least an 8 Mbps broadband connection. The beauty of the technology however, is that movies and TV shows on Zune video will automatically scale to the best possible resolution based on the speed of the users connection. So if a consumer has a 6 Mbps connection, they will still get 1080p and a great audio experience, but may not get 5.1. And as a back-up, Microsoft says anyone can have a 1080p/5.1 experience, but they may be required to download the content instead of streaming it if they don?t have an 8 - 10 Mbps broadband connection.

Well, I don't meet that criteria (6mbps) but it is good to know that I'll have the option to download instead of streaming...of course I have no idea how long that would take...or if it would fit on my 20GB (only 6GB free) HDD.

 

[zerocool84]

I wonder how many people other than here have 8Mbps or greater connection? I bet not that many. Seems very few people would be able to stream the movies.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I wonder how many people other than here have 8Mbps or greater connection? I bet not that many. Seems very few people would be able to stream the movies.

Yep, you are primarily talking about the FIOS markets and some of the cable markets there. DSL users that aren't using AT&T U-verse (like me) are SOL on getting full 1080p/5.1. At least it scales down accordingly. I wonder if that is configurable.

 

[blurredvision]

I have a 10/1 cable connection, but I'm lucky if I ever get it in a real world scenario. I can speedtest it all night from good servers and get well beyond 10Mbps down (their server in D.C. gives me around 25Mbps down consistently for some reason), but downloading stuff is always much slower. Whenever I watch Netflix over the 360, I get 4 bars almost every time, but then 9 times out of 10, it'll stop about 2 minutes in and tell me my connection has slowed and it has to renegotiate. I rarely see much of a difference in PQ, but it's still annoying.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I wonder how many people other than here have 8Mbps or greater connection? I bet not that many. Seems very few people would be able to stream the movies.

Yep, you are primarily talking about the FIOS markets and some of the cable markets there. DSL users that aren't using AT&T U-verse (like me) are SOL on getting full 1080p/5.1. At least it scales down accordingly. I wonder if that is configurable.

I would hope so. I wouldn't mind streaming something then letting it sit for a while to let it load it all up.

 

[blurredvision]

Is it safe to assume that 1080p content will be playable over HDMI connections only? I'm still on components since I have an early 360 with no HDMI port. I don't guess it really matters, though, because there's no way I'm going to pay the $6+ they are going to charge for a 24-hour rental fee.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: peritusONE
Is it safe to assume that 1080p content will be playable over HDMI connections only?

I wouldn't assume that. It hasn't been true for anything else, excepting DVD playback (which was a CSS problem anyways).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: peritusONE
Is it safe to assume that 1080p content will be playable over HDMI connections only?

I wouldn't assume that. It hasn't been true for anything else, excepting DVD playback (which was a CSS problem anyways).

HD-DVD was only playable in 1080p over HDMI. Component was restricted to 1080i/720p.