Sony Qriocity on-demand movie service coming February 2010

Say hello to Qriocity, Sony's first step toward building an Online Service to rival iTunes, Netflix and anything else that makes money by selling you downloadable content. Headed to your nearest XMB in February and getting a dedicated remote control button on Sony's future TV sets, this service will allow you to stream movies in SD or HD, and Sony Insider reports that with a strong web connection you'll be able to get a solid 720p output. A large roster of film publishers have been recruited, while Sony promises "hundreds" of films will be available at Qriocity's launch. Come past the break to scope out the UI.

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[ryanplusplus Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:19AM]

Sony *Qriocity on-demand movie service coming February 2010

[beyondthetech Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:20AM]

Most clever use of the letter Q yet. Let's see if their service will be just as clever.

[Davo Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:21AM]

Lol @ sony for typo

Curiosity has an S in it.

although they are spelling it with a Q so they dont give a damn

[Almo Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:25AM]

@Davo

Dave has an E in it.

[Davo Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:27AM]

@Almo

Congratulations.

now.. who is this dave you speak of?

[etrnldrk Posted Jan 12th 2010 12:57AM]

@Almo You spelled lmao wrong.

[Sieg Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:31AM]

@ Davo + Almo ... I lawled xD

so... when do they start adding this to the PS3?... this could be interesting if Sony added this to the PS3 Premium Membership service they keep talking about. free movies on demand would not be a bad trade off at all. (though i know that would most likely never happen >.

[cdpage Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:43AM]

@Sieg
Agreed, they really should start rewarding people for points earned with the trophies some how.

[archie4oz Posted Jan 11th 2010 3:26PM]

@Sieg

The PS3 already has a video on demand service. Qriosity is just the extension of it to a Bravia (and eventially the PC).

[morikaweb Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:33AM]

cool but let me guess Canada will be left out again?

Youll never be able to compeat with iTunes when whole nations like canada are only allowd to buy from iTunes.

[Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:48AM]

@morikaweb actually this is going on Sony TVs as well....sure it may be a lag in terms of when it pops in in various territories but I'm sure its coming....

[Leerolph Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:33AM]

I bet it will be another year before it available in the UK.. if at all

[Muhammad Oli Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:35AM]

God damn it Sony! The letter U always comes after a Q!

[trevorno Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:31AM]

@Muhammad Oli
Not Always.
qabab
qabalah
qadarite
qadariyah
qaddish
qadi
qadiriyah
qaf
qaid
qaimaqam
qalamdan
qalandar
qanat
qanun
qasida
qat
qawwal
qawwali
qazi
qepiq
qere
qhat
qheche
qhom
qhythsontyd
qi
qiana
qibla
qibli
qigong
qin
qintar
qinah
qindar
qinghaosu
qipao
qirsh
Qittaus
qiviut
qiyas
qoph
qoppa
qorma
qre
qwerty

[ndukyh Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:33AM]

@trevorno Maybe he meant in English? Though you got me once, I didn't realize qwerty was actually a word in the dictionary

[AnastasiosAntoniosToulkeridis Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:40AM]

the name reminds me the sad story of Qrio

[Robotbling Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:20AM]

@AnastasiosAntoniosToulkeridis

My first thought as well. Perhaps they'll have a virtual QRIO as the service's mascot?

[Balbasour Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:40AM]

PS3?

[endgadget Posted Jan 11th 2010 8:41AM]

I suspect that Sony considers itself to be the cat amongst the pigeons (CE companies). And it knows that curiosity killed the cat. The survival instinct kicks in - and so it is called Qriocity.

A more sober explanation - The Q comes from the netflix Q. The "c" in the city tells you where it works best.

[ndukyh Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:32AM]

Hmm, "hundreds" of films. So just about as many films as I already have on my hard drive? I hope that number picks up quickly. This would be a good addition to the PS3 but why did it take them so long to embrace Netflix on the PS3 if they had this up their sleeves? Sony seems confused to me sometimes..

[josejrp Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:35AM]

One thing I didn't see (and that Sony still does not offer in the PS3 video store) is the option to watch trailers for the movies... kind of a nice feature when you are trying to decide whether to watch a movie or not.... and Apple/Amazon both offer it.

[archie4oz Posted Jan 11th 2010 3:27PM]

@josejrp

Actually trailers have been there from the very start of the service, just not all movies have trailers (hence no option to view).

[jon Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:40AM]

And people said Zune was a stupid name.

[Robotbling Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:21AM]

@jon

The "QRIO" part comes from their canceled humanoid robot project (along with AIBO), which was short for "Quest for Curiosity". I like it.

[jon Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:37AM]

@Robotbling

Oh it makes sense, though I don't know what a VoD service has to do with curiosity or robots.

I still think it's a stupid name for this particular product.

[etrnldrk Posted Jan 12th 2010 12:59AM]

@jon It's an ode more so than a namesake.

[credo Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:56AM]

1st. is it query-ocity or curiosity?
2nd. Is that really the best name they could come up with?
3rd. Does this mean we will be relegated to using that dammed CD when watching Netflix on the PS3?
4th. How will the company who owns the media and distribution framework (hardware) and who directly sells it affect other content providers (Google and Knol argument...)? I mean all Sony has to do is make it more difficult to use Netflix on its devices than this Qriosity service, and voila!, new leader. (Think TVs, Blu-Ray players, etc).

[VICinCLT Posted Jan 11th 2010 12:11PM]

@credo
I like Sony, but the names they have been coming up with lately are just baffling. Case in point, the bloggie which replaces the aptly named webbie hd camera.

[VICinCLT Posted Jan 11th 2010 12:12PM]

Sorry, meant to include the link...
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666073219

[Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:07AM]

this is also a direct competitor with MS and its "Instant on 1080p" Zune Video....

[SMB Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:50AM]

Queer-e-ah-city?

This is the worst name since Cingular and Zune.

[Duke Posted Jan 11th 2010 11:18AM]

The interface looks pretty slick and if it's being placed in the PS3 XMB, I like it a lot more than the store for looking at movies.

[RiversideGuy Posted Jan 11th 2010 1:24PM]

I too wondered about the relative lack of HD movie trailers in PS3-land. They sell and rent movies. They sell games, but there are a TON of HD game trailers.

Now Apple has a very good and significant number of HD movie trailers. BUT, most of them are h.264, BUT wrapped in a .mov container format. So the PS3 DOES support h.264, but just NOT when wrapped in .mov.

Will Sony ever wake up?

[archie4oz Posted Jan 11th 2010 3:29PM]

@RiversideGuy

What's to wake up to?

[Bash23 Posted Jan 11th 2010 2:32PM]

Man why do the Americans get everything. In Canada we still don't have a video store or even a place to download HD trailers. :mad:

[Bash23 Posted Jan 11th 2010 2:32PM]

@Bash23 Video store for PS3.

[etrnldrk Posted Jan 12th 2010 1:01AM]

@Bash23 Can't you just set your region to US? I did this for the Asian store content (from the USA) and giveaways.

[Bash23 Posted Jan 12th 2010 3:02AM]

@etrnldrk Nope everything in the US video store is IP locked.

[fastm3driver Posted Jan 11th 2010 5:26PM]

If it is $10 a month unlimited viewing of new HD movies or $2.50 per HD rental then it will be a win. Otherwise Netflix has them beat by a long shot.

[edesw88 Posted Jan 11th 2010 5:26PM]

Playing catch up with Xbox360 big time.

The Zune Marketplace on 360 streams 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound already. Sony's got a way to go.

[spaz1 Posted Jan 11th 2010 5:54PM]

So hang on, I can connect my Bravia XBR8 to the router and get movies streamed to my TV? And this will work outside of US/UK/Japan?

[therealmusashi Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:21PM]

Welcome to the party Sony. Netflix has been around for about, um, 10 years, and I know the whole "Internet" thing has thrown you for a loop, but come on in and have a drink. You'll be "innovating" again, in no time.

Maybe another robot dog will help.

[shetaan819 Posted Jan 14th 2010 6:58PM]

Anyone know if this will support 5.1 surround ?

[tricky2000 Posted Mar 1st 2010 8:16PM]

So its March 1st 2010. Where the hell is this?