Microsoft launches online video service for Windows Mobile devices

**hnelson59** · 03-30-05, 03:22 PM

Microsoft launches online video service for Windows Mobile devices

Microsoft Corp. is launching the MSN Video Downloads service, which will provide daily television programming, including video content from MSNBC.com, Food Network, FOX Sports and IFILM Corp., for download to Windows Mobile-based devices such as Portable Media Centers and select Smartphones and Pocket PCs running Windows Media Player 10 Mobile.

Since the launch of the Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center last fall, more than 20 new content partners, including CinemaNow Inc., MLB.com, MSNBC.com, MSN Music, MTV Networks Music, Napster Inc., SnapStream Media Inc. and TiVo Inc., have agreed to make video available online specifically formatted for Windows Mobile-based multimedia devices.

Rest of article.

Credit:Geekzone

Diezel · 03-30-05, 03:58 PM

I would love to try this, yet I have tried to sign up for an account since this was in beta and can never do it. If I go to the first page of the free setup and click "Next", a pop-up tells me to download WMP10 or higher. Problem is, I have WMP10 or higher. It won't let me go any further.

I thought it was a firefox problem, but I tried right from my AX with PIE and got the same.

Even better, when I tried to click on the customer service link, I got a nice big error on that also.

Has anyone been able to get a free account? I have a passport, but signing in with that seems to get me nowhere.

grizgza · 03-30-05, 04:33 PM

It is a firefox problem. You need to use Internet Explorer on your desktop computer. I did the same thing, switched to IE 6.0 and it worked.

I got the free account and tried it, from what I have seen so far it the service is really crappy. It loads up a "playlist" of low quality short video clips that download and you manage it from a web interface that is miserable. When you play them in WMP10, most of the time a license popup comes up asking for a username and pass... which aren't you're .NET logins, they are something else (??). So it doesn't work.

I thought this was going to be some kind of streaming TV channels that I could watch straight from my PPC. Not download crappy clips one at a time and synchronize (slow) to my PPC.

Am I missing something?

03-30-05, 04:37 PM

its a great idea, but their selection downright sucks! when i first read it i was ready to subscribe to a pemium membership, then i saw the samples of videos that they offer and its nothing that intrests me. i would pay $5 or $10 for a real TV show like "ER" or "24", but that's probably unlikely becuase of copyright stuff.

grizgza · 03-30-05, 04:42 PM

Yeah, if you could download full TV Episodes, straight to your PPC and stream them after a few % had downloaded, it would be great. Assuming the selection was sufficient.

Similar to Starz Real Movie Ticket, I use that on my desktop. Off hours the movies download fast enough that I can stream the whole thing after a couple minutes wait. They are divx quality too. Too bad I can't use my PPC with this.

BTW, the videos from this Microsoft service look pretty good on my VGA PPC after synchronizing them over. They look crappy on my 1600x1200 PC monitor though.

Diezel · 03-30-05, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by grizgza

It is a firefox problem. You need to use Internet Explorer on your desktop computer. I did the same thing, switched to IE 6.0 and it worked.

I got the free account and tried it, from what I have seen so far it the service is really crappy. It loads up a "playlist" of low quality short video clips that download and you manage it from a web interface that is miserable. When you play them in WMP10, most of the time a license popup comes up asking for a username and pass... which aren't you're .NET logins, they are something else (??). So it doesn't work.

I thought this was going to be some kind of streaming TV channels that I could watch straight from my PPC. Not download crappy clips one at a time and synchronize (slow) to my PPC.

Am I missing something?

Thanks, I will try it with IE. Although I am not as enthusied as I was now that I read the comments here. I was also thinking of getting the membership, if I could get real shows synched. Maybe if the service catches on, they can roll in some better content.

03-30-05, 05:45 PM

>> Users subscribing to the premium service will be able to select the content they want to receive from the Web site. Digital videos are downloaded daily to a Windows Media Player 10 library, ready to be synchronized with Portable Media Centers and other devices. The video content is compliant with PlaysForSure devices that play video, and is optimized for Portable Media Centers and compatible with Smartphones and Pocket PCs that support Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. <<

Does WMP10 Mobile even exist? My Axim that I bought just two weeks ago comes with v9..

Vric · 03-30-05, 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by d_jedi

Does WMP10 Mobile even exist? My Axim that I bought just two weeks ago comes with v9..

X30 and X50 come with v10 (nearly every WM2003 SE device have it)

03-30-05, 07:33 PM

$19.99 a year? It's not bad but it's not great.

This reminds me of that SPOT service for watches that Msn put out. I mean, did anyone REALLY buy that?

I'm not sure how this will fly, though. Especially with Orb introducing their streaming services for free.

03-30-05, 08:39 PM

I have WMP 10 on my Axim X50v, not certain how I got it. It must be available

03-30-05, 09:38 PM

x50's have always come with wmp10, while the x30 has had it come with it since around the beginning of December i believe. also, if you have an x30 without wmp10, you can upgrade you ROM to version A05, which includes wmp10.

cnycompguy · 03-31-05, 05:32 AM

20 bucks a year is about 20 bucks too much for the crap they had on there.

03-31-05, 08:00 AM

well. on the UP side. I had problems with the license aquisition. kept asking for a user name /password.
my passport account didn't work so I did the unthinkable. I emailed Microsoft for help via the link on their FAQ page.
I got a response with the correct action within 3 hours!!!
I'm sorry, but this was Microsoft I emailed wasn't it?? WOW!

sorahl

Diezel · 03-31-05, 10:42 AM

Well, I finally got it all worked out, but I still haven't got a single video onto my Axim. After fumbling through the horrible navigation, I got a playlist downloaded onto my PC and selected a few files to synch and ran into the license issue that seems so common. I tried 25 different files and not one of them could get a proper license.

If you are going to offer up the files for free, why can't you get this license situation fixed?

It's a shame, because this could be a good service. I often use my Axim for quick entertainment during lunch and other down periods and short 3-5 minute clips would be a lot better than watching 20 minutes of a movie than having to shut it off.

But they need to fix the navigation, ease of use, licensing issues and get better content before this becomes useful at all.

03-31-05, 01:08 PM

the username and password for the licenses is CES

sorahl