EPIX for Xbox 360 Review December 26, 2011

While I was at the New York Comic Con I was fortunate enough to sit in on a panel for the upcoming documentary A Liar’s Autobiography, about the life of the late Monty Python alumni Graham Chapman. The panel was moderated by Lloyd Kauffman, the guy in charge of Troma Studios and director of The Toxic Avenger (and a really nice guy to boot). It turns out that this documentary is going to be released exclusively through the channel and on-demand service EPIX, and this was how I first found out about the program. When I saw it was available on the Xbox 360 app marketplace, I decided to give it a download.

As per usual I must make this disclaimer. This is ONLY a review of the Xbox 360 EPIX program and not a review of the channel or any other platforms the EPIX program may be on. However the reason why this is that way is because I do not own any other devices EPIX support, like Android Phones and Google TV. Oddly, there’s no iPhone/iPad app (That is listed as coming soon on their website). Also, even though I am paying a small fortune for a full HDTV cable service in my house, my cable provider (*cough* Comcast) does not offer the EPIX Channel.

You can download the EPIX program in the apps section of the new Xbox 360 dashboard. In order to watch any EPIX content you will have to link your gamertag to an EPIX account, which you can do on their official website through your computer and phone device. Setting up an account is free, but if your cable or sat provider does not support EPIX (which Comcast still doesn’t, regardless of the small fortune I’m paying them a month for full HD service on many tvs) you will be restricted to a free 14 day access to the service. Like with Hulu, tell the site you want Xbox 360 access and it will give you a simple 6-digit code to redeem on your 360, and you’ll be immediately granted access.

First off, I was tremendously impressed by the unique content offered. Sure you can watch movies on it like Iron Man 2, Star Trek, and Jackass 3D, but what I found myself watching most was its unique featured content, like William Shatner’s documentary The Captains, and Lewis Black’s newest stand up. They also had Kevin Smith’s Too Fat for 40 show. People have been talking about all these features for quite a while and only now have I been able to see them for myself.

Full Xbox 360 Kinect support is in this program. As par to the course you can control the menus with a wave of your hand. Pause, stop and all the other voice commands can be given as well. It’s still faster than picking up a controller or 360 media remote. If I had one complaint about the interface it’s that in order to play the content, you have to select the picture of it in the movie statistics menu, there’s no option that clearly says PLAY MOVIE, and if you didn’t know clicking the picture starts the video you may be at a loss.

As per the course for most of the other video services the Xbox 360 provides, the content is completely uncensored, exactly as it should be. A nice difference between this and other services is there is no advertising at all in any of the content I watched, be it movies or exclusives. This is exactly as it should be, and it further begs the question as to what is Hulu’s excuse for advertising in what is clearly a paid premium program.

How do you know you have a good service? Well, my account access will expire soon and I don’t want to give it up!