^ Click to view in full 1080p… which then scales to fit your screen, so you might wanna open it in a new tab for the full effect ^

Earlier this evening (about 18:30 BST), Microsoft held their annual E3 press briefing, highlighting their newest advances in home entertainment. Amongst these announcements, Microsoft gave us more details about the Zune service on Xbox LIVE. Here’s the lo down:

The existing Xbox LIVE video store is being merged into and replaced by Zune Marketplace, which will offer TV shows, films and music videos to Xbox 360 customers.

Zune will offer instant-on 1080p HD streaming video on your Xbox 360, with full 5.1 surround sound. No discs, no waiting for downloads and no delays. Get the selection of a video megastore, the best video clarity available and the convenience of on-demand, only on Xbox 360. (Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be hitting the PC or any other Zune service for the time being).

Thankfully Microsoft announced it will more than double the number of markets where it offers TV shows and movies through the new Zune branding, by adding Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland to its existing list (which includes the United Kingdom!)

Here’s some additional details for you:

• Video startup is as close to instantaneous as possible by seamlessly transitioning between many different bitrates and resolutions of video
  • Video playback will start at a low bit rate for fast download time and then ramp up to a higher bitrate and quality
  • This process enables delivery of up to 1080p with 5.1 surround sound
• Xbox LIVE party mode let you watch movies with your friends even when you’re sitting in different locations
• Enhanced search functions within Zune video on Xbox LIVE let you find your favourite film at the touch of a button

So, all is good now it seems. Of course, video quality will vary depending on your connection speed, and don’t think that a minute that your 1MBp/s connection will be getting the full 1080p connection, you’re going to need a very fast connection to fit all that high-definition goodness down your pipe. In fact, Microsoft say at least an 8 MBp/s connection is required. Also, bar the rebranding to Zune, it doesn’t seem yet that any of these features will be shared with the existing Zune ecosystem.

  
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