Coolroom movies-download site now live but what a shambles

Plenty that doesn't meet the eye

What's not clear until you have a careful rummage on the Coolroom site is that what you're buying isn't just a download.

Yes, you are paying for a download to a PC that can be streamed over your home network to TV paired with a network media player but you get two other things as well - a download that runs on certain portable players, plus an original DVD that turns up in the post.

And those two additional features do partly even out the apparent pricing imbalance.

The only compatible portable players, though, are models that conform to the PlaysForSure standard.

You know, PlaysForSure - the standard that Microsoft created and tried to get everyone to adopt then effectively abandoned a couple of months back when it launched its Zune player in the USA.

No? Well, see the update at the bottom of this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline, Microsoft continues to tease with Zune media player revelations.

So, while the supported portable models do include Creative's ZEN Vision and ZEN Vision M, along with Archos's AV500 and AV700 and a few others, they don't include Microsoft's own Zune player - though, that's not even turned up in the UK yet.

One other anomaly might cost Coolroom some sales even among people who think they know exactly what they're buying. This is the fact that what you buy is wrongly described at the Checkout.

How would you react at that stage to be told that you were paying £17.99 - or even £7.99 - for a "film trailer"?

Yet, as you can see in the screengrab below, that is how a downloaded movie is described - without any mention of it being a full download or that you also get a second download for portables, plus a DVD that comes in the post.

D'oh!

Coolroom Cart/Checkout, whatever it's called

What we didn't mention (okay, we've only just noticed it) is that
the total value of the items you've chosen to buy is wrongly shown in the
Cart bar that sits at the top right of the Coolroom interface - whether
you are in the Cart or on another page on the site (click for larger image)

Although Intel says it's collaborated with Coolroom over the site, we reckon its input over the design must have been minimal.

The site, as you'll realise, has got a half-baked feel about it that is far from the norm with anything involving Intel.

Given all the gotchas described above, it's probably just as well that, as we supposed yesterday, there does seem to be no need to own an Intel Viiv PC to use the Coolroom service - whether for playing movies over the network or on the PC where they were downloaded.

At least, that's our interpretation of the FAQ below lifted from the site's Helpdesk page about download-to-own films,

You will need at least a 1MB Broadband connection, a PC running Windows 2000 or higher and Windows Media Player 10 or higher. The optimum set up is an 8MB Wireless Broadband connection, a PC badged with Media Center Intel® Viiv™ with a Digital Media Adapter like the Netgear EVA700 which plugs into an existing TV anywhere in the home enabling you to watch a film downloaded onto your PC from the comfort of your sofa.

But, we could be wrong. That little FAQ has a further link to more information but (wouldn't you know it?) the link doesn't work - and the same is true of other links on that page.

Also worth noting - and in places a little worrying - are these Q&A pairings,

Q: How many films and programmes are available to buy at Coolroom?

A: At present there are over 100 titles to choose from and this will continue to grow as all the major film studios make more titles available to buy and download online.

Q: What is Digital Rights Management (DRM) and what type of DRM does Coolroom use?

A: DRM protects content from unauthorised use. Video and audio files are ‘wrapped’ with DRM and, when purchased from Coolroom, a unique 6-digit PIN is generated linked to a customer’s payment transaction. Coolroom automatically unlocks video and audio content when it is downloaded to your PC. Each content provider, like Universal Pictures for example, has a set of DRM Rules that govern the usage of its content i.e. 1 DRM License issued, No Burns Allowed, 1 Sync to a Portable Device Allowed. Coolroom delivers files as Windows Media Video and Audio files and uses Microsoft DRM 10.1 at this time.

Q: What happens if the files I have downloaded from Coolroom get lost or corrupted?

A: You can download another copy for free by going to:‘My Account>Downloads>Download Title>Details Page>Re-Download You must do this on the same PC that you downloaded the original copy to as this PC holds the DRM License information. If you download it to another PC it won’t open. If you have any problems please contact us at: customercare@coolroom.com

Anyway, that's Coolroom as we see it after a few hours messing. We probably should have paid for a movie, seen how long the two downloads took, reported on the quality of each and then let you know when the DVD turned up and what sort of extras is had. But, in part because of that maddening player, we'd nearly lost the will to live, so hope you'll forgive us for not having gone that extra mile.

Have any thoughts or queries? Then feel free to comment in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.