I have streamed quite a few HD movies through my xbox, using Zune. The xbox is connected wirelessly to my router and Zune reports it as having a full 1080p signal. I installed Zune on my Win7 PC for the first time tonight, which is connected to the router by a cable. For some reason, Zune tests the bandwidth and reports the Win7 PC as only being capable of SD streaming. Annoyingly, it seems that one Zune has Decided, you can't override it. I have nothing else using bandwidth, and the xbox streams the movie fine in HD. Is this just a Zune thing, or is there something I can tweak? Edit: Should maybe add that I can watch BBC iPlayer HD no problem. And their speedtest reports 12.5Mbps for downloading and 8.5Mbps for streaming. My PC monitor is better than my TV, with better sound, hence my wanting watch it on the PC instead of the xbox/TV.
You're completely right; mine's not even offering an HD download despite the film's item page clearly saying it exists. Might be worth tweeting @zunesupport tomorrow if you can't find out?
Do you have wireless G or N network and how about your XBox? It might go with that to decide the streaming. And how far away are you from your router. It could also be that the Zune server are under load when you tested this.
I'm having the same issue on a wired university connection with a 95Mbp/s download speed; the issue seems to be with the software in that it'll happily let me download an HD version of a film for a Zune device, but not if I tell it I'm watching it on the PC.
So having spoke with Zune support, and giving lots of info (what I did, speedtest results and BBC iPlayer speedtest results) and some screenshots, their response ended up being: "It appears that the video is only available in SD format" This after my providing a screenshot showing it offering HD and SD to buy or rent (yfrog.com/kksxw9j if you care). I pointed this out, as well as my watching it in HD on the xbox: "The format of the may one be available on one platform but not the other" ...So no idea then.
