Today Microsoft is rolling out the Xbox Video web service and anyone can access the service heading over video.xbox.com using a Microsoft account. The functionalities are pretty much identical to the Windows 8.1 Xbox Video app and it aims to be the Zune video service successor.
The only catch… You’ll need to install Microsoft’s Silverlight plug-in to stream any content from the browser, which is a bit strange the company using Silverlight, when the future is HTML5 video. And there is one big issue, Microsoft says that the Xbox Video web service doesn’t stream in HD. This feature is only available for Windows 8.1 and Xbox One owners.
Movies and TV shows are front and center in the site and the service behaves in the same way as the app do. You can stream content purchased from the Xbox One or Windows 8.1 app and vice versa. In other words this is just another way to access the Microsoft’s Xbox Video service, which is more beneficial for those using other operating systems, such Windows 7 and Apple OS X, which don’t have an Xbox Video app.
Additionally, Microsoft is also getting ready a Xbox Video app for the Windows Phone, but apparently it will also be limited to standard definition streaming. Release date is yet to be announced…
Source Xbox Video via The Verge
