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Sony has got the answer for those that can’t get enough of games and movies: a pay-per-download movie rental service for PS3 users. However, some analysts are worried that this will signal the end of traditional online DVD rental.

New Way to Rent Films

After a successful run in the USA, Sony has now brought movie downloads over to Europe, with the service being launched earlier this week in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

The service has finally arrived in Europe after a successful launch in the USA.

Prices start from £2.49 for a film rental or you can buy a flick from £6.99. With a catalogue of over 800 films, you simply download them directly onto your PS3.

If you want to take advantage of the PS3’s ability to play Hi-Definition films, users can also rent films for a higher price.

Users can rent films from 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony.

Any movies you rent will stick around for 14 days if you haven’t got time to watch it right away and remain valid for 48 hours once you’ve started to watch them.

The downloads will be stored on the PS3’s hard drive, but if you have a PSP, you can transfer them over for mobile viewing.

The films are available from the PlayStation Network, and as an incentive to new subscribers, if you sign up quicklky enough, you can get a free download of Transformers, and for existing customers, there’s a buy on get one free deal on Hanks’ films, The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Consequences

There may be consequences for online DVD rental services if the PSP service proves popular.

However, there are rumours that LoveFilm may be bringing a subscription service to the PlayStation family.

NowGamer have reported that online DVD rental leader, LoveFilm, has been discussing ways to bring its streaming services to TV. Let’s hope that we could soon be seeing LoveFilm DVD rental services through our television soon.

“It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that we have Europe’s leading mail service and have developed a streaming service, which is growing very, very quickly and all I can tell you is that we have very firm plans to bring that to the TV,” said Simon Morris, CMO of LoveFilm.

The end for Online DVD rental?

All this leaves an important question: Could we soon see online DVD rental pushed aside by console streaming?

Well, no. Not really. The idea is an old one. Microsoft have had a similar service running in the UK since late 2007 through XBox Live, and it really hasn’t made that much of a difference.

If it were to rival online DVD rental in any way, the prices would need to come right down, but we love to have a bit of variety and choice, so it might suit the occasional movie renter more.

About the Author:

Helen Storey has been a writer for the website Choose ISP for a number of year and is their resident mobile broadband expert.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – PSP Movie Downloads Could Signal Death of Online DVD Rental