n glorious high-definition,all ordered up from the comfort of your couch.
Well, it's almost that easy. The services require you toshell out several hundred dollars for special hardware first;they also demand a bit of set-up, and rely on a fast Internetconnection.
"Now there is sort of this battle for what the nextgeneration of device is going to look like, and for some peoplethat device is not really based on optical disks but isoptimized for downloads," said Michael Gartenberg, an analystwith Jupiter Research.
"There are lots of merits but the question is how muchcontent can we get on these devices?"
If you're someone who sees Apple as a lifestyle, you'reprobably aware of Apple TV, the latest multimedia product fromthe folks who brought you the iPod and iPhone.
Apple TV went on sale a year ago, but it only acted as abridge for video and music to cross the gap between yourcomputer and television. Sluggish sales led to Apple founderSteve Jobs taking the wraps off "Take Two" in January.
The upgrade unshackles Apple TV from the computer andallows users to browse Apple's iTunes online store directly ona TV set. The addition of rentals quelled complaints about theprevious buy-only service.
In true Apple fashion, the Apple TV box is a stylish pieceof hardware, wrapping a processor, hard-drive and wireless linkin a minimalist white box.
Apple says it has nearly 1,000 movies for rent, with about175 of those in high-definition.
One selling point is that you can transfer Apple TV movieand TV show purchases (but not rentals) to a computer, iPhoneor some video iPods.
"The shows you purchase from Apple are going to floatfairly seamlessly to other screens. You've got all the screenssomeone might be interested in watching something on covered.That's a huge strength for Apple," Gartenberg said.
Apple TV costs $229 for 40-gigabytes of storage that canstore 50 hours of video, or $329 for quadruple the memory.
If you're one of the nearly 10 million people in the UnitedStates who have bought Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console,you have a video-on-demand service right at your thumbtips.
In late 2006, Microsoft beefed up its Xbox Live service --previously simply an online hangout for gamers -- with moviesand TV shows for download.
Microsoft offers more than 300 movies for rent, about halfof which can be viewed in hi-def. Including TV shows, Microsoftsays it has more than 4,000 hours of content.
The selection is more limited than other services partlybecause not all studios have struck deals to put their contenton the service, though Microsoft says it's hopeful that willchange soon. Microsoft also says it picks movies that appeal toits core audience of young males, which explains thepreponderance of teen comedies and horror movies.
Xbox 360 prices range from $280 to $450, but the cheapestmodel does not include the hard drive you'll need to store thevideos. The $350 Premium model has a 20-gigabyte hard drive andthe $450 Elite ups that 120-gigabytes.
Microsoft reckons that expanding the service will make itsmachine more attractive to potential buyers than Sony's rivalPlayStation 3 console, which has a built-in Blu-ray drive.
"One thing we think about is how to add features to a videogame console to broaden its appeal. We realize that an Xbox isprobably firstly, secondly and thirdly used for games," RossHoney, senior director of Microsoft's media and entertainmentgroup, told Reuters.
"But by saying, 'By the way, you can download hi-defmovies,' that may in fact make the difference in a purchasedecision, especially when a wife or girlfriend is involved,"Honey said.
TiVo, the popular digital video recorder already in manyhomes is another device that can be configured to act as avideo store in a box.
A deal with online retailer Amazon.com lets some TiVo usersrent videos from Amazon's Unbox service. Since last July, TiVoowners have been able to use their machines to downloaddirectly from Amazon's library.
TiVo owners do need to configure their machines to syncwith an Amazon.com account, and some older machines won't work.Unbox also can't be used with TiVo service offered through theDirecTV satellite provider.
Amazon has thousands of movies and TV shows on offer. Asearch for "unbox" on the site returned more than 11,000results. None are in hi-def yet.
TiVo boxes come in many configurations and price points,from less than $200 to more than $600 depending on the numberof tuners, the size of the hard drive and whether it supportshi-def. There is also a service fee that can be paid monthly orin a lump sum up front for the life of the product.
There is remarkable price uniformity among Apple TV, XboxLive and Unbox. Newly released movies cost $4 to rent, withhi-def versions going for a dollar more.
These three services are by no means the only options fordownloading movies to watch on your TV. Cable companies havegrowing on-demand services, a start-up called Vudu makes a boxto rent or buy thousands of movies, and there are ways to tweaka Windows PC to watch movies downloaded from the Web.
"The one thing that's clear is that in a couple of years,movies themselves are going to be downloaded and consumeddifferently than they are today," Jupiter's Gartenberg said.
And in the event you still can't find anything to watch,you can always get off the couch and head to the video store.
(Reporting by Scott Hillis; editing by Gunna Dickson)
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