The Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 are advanced gaming consoles. Less understood is that these devices serve another function - they are gateways into the connected home; particularly targeting television-oriented entertainment.

Research by The Diffusion Group, however, indicates that movie watching through a game console may not be resonating with the public. In fact, only a minority does so, and even fewer have ventured online to purchase or rent a digital movie download.

Here are the numbers: of the households with game consoles in America, 80% have one capable of some form of DVD playback or online download. And of these, only 13% have used it to watch a movie. That is some eight million households. Among those, nearly three quarters have only used the DVD for movie viewing, while only a quarter have downloaded one to their games console over the internet. However, among those that own a game console connected to the internet, 42% said they have used it to watch a movie from the internet on their television.

This research is based on a survey of 2,000 broadband homes in the United States and is based on responses from the head of household.

On the use of game consoles for movie viewing, published by our partners at The Diffusion Group, is available for purchase from informitv.