So last week when Sony announced that you would be able to buy and rent movies through the Playstation Network I was estatic. Direct delivery of HD content to my box and it get charged to my credit card? Good bye trips to the video store. Then when it showed up just a couple of days after the announcement, I was ready to go.

Or so I thought I was. For some reason, I can’t get over this hurdle of actually purchasing or renting a movie. My reason for not purchasing is very clear. After I download a movie, I can only watch it on my PS3 or my PSP. You can’t burn it to DVD to watch anywhere and the prices are about equivalent to a DVD. So the lack of portability to any DVD capable player is keeping me away from that.

Rentals should be a no brainer. $2, get it in HD, 2 weeks to start watching it then 48 hours of viewing time. Ok, all fine and good but having the terms spelled out like makes me actually think about the terms of the rental. I start doing things like comparing it to Netflix which will let me keep a movie rental out as long as I want and won’t send me my next one until after I send the ones I have back. Or even my local video store where all rentals are $3 but you get to keep them for 10 days with as many re-watches as you like. Because of the built in accounts it seems to me that Sony could adopt the Netflix model and really give the XBox360 a run for it’s money.

Here is a couple of suggestions for Sony that they should be able to easily apply to the video store today to make it better and get people over the hump of purcasing.

1) Change your rental policies to match Netflix. You are going to be competing with them on the XBox360 so match their terms.

2) Allow me to burn a limited number of copies of a movie to DVD. I am not totally sure on the best way to accomplish this. Sony branded DVD burner for the PS3 perhaps? But allow me to burn at least 1 copy of a movie I purchase to DVD for archival purposes or to bring to a friend’s house so I physically own the movie instead of having it sit on a hard drive somewhere.

3) Give all current PS3 owners a free rental/purchase. Many of us have owned the system for a year and half going through some adoption pains. Say thank you by giving us a try at the video store before putting down duckets. You know once we see the process of how it works we will be hooked.

4) Offer up a trophy for purchases. The new trophy system doesn’t have to be limited to games. Give out one to your repeat buyers and offer levels of trophies. This way you can show off your best customers and offer them rewards based on their trophy levels.

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