With the popularity of those new Netlix-playing Roku devices and this week's news that Xbox will also work with the Netflix Watch Instantly service and yesterday's launch of the documentary site SnagFilms and the fact that everyone including your grandma has a site that streams movies, it's no surprise that Amazon has finally also launched a stream service called Amazon Video on Demand. And it's got its own special Roku-type device to be manufactured by Sony, only it's much more expensive at $300 (compared to $99 for the Roku). And it seems you also need a Sony-made hi-def television to use it. The good news: eventually Sony's Bravia TVs will cut out the middle man (aka that $300 device) and Amazon may be able to work out future deals with other TV manufacturers.

Because it comes a little too late in the game, and because iTunes will likely forever keep its rival from offering Disney and ABC titles, I don't see Amazon Video on Demand being hugely successful. But the service at least sounds better than Amazon Unbox, which sold movie downloads. Because everyone and your grandmother subscribes to Netflix, if anyone wants to stream a movie they're going to just go with Watch Instantly and Roku. And because the main downside to that service is that it doesn't transfer to portable devices nor does it allow offline viewing, movie consumers are better off with iTunes for their non-Netflix needs. Hey, at least Amazon is still the preferred place to buy books, whether in paper or digital format.

[via Cinema Tech]

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a Netflix Player by Roku -- a little box that lets Netflix subscribers watch the company's video-on-demand selections on a TV set. We already had a media computer hooked up to our TV, but it runs on a Linux platform so we couldn't use it to Watch Instantly on Netflix, which is Windows-only. The Roku player was priced at $99, which is a little steep for a gamble on whether the quality would be acceptable and whether we could make it work with our increasingly bulky TV/media setup, but we decided to give it a shot.

The box, which is about the size of a large paperback, arrived last weekend while I was at the farmers' market, and by the time I returned with tomatoes and peaches, my husband had hooked the box into our TV setup and activated it through our Netflix account. He tells me this was a very easy thing to do, although we're talking about someone who spent time the night before creating a fancy diagram of our devices and cabling input/output so he'd know exactly where and how to hook up the Roku box. (We also have a digital TV tuner, two DVD players, a VCR, and the media computer.) Here are the ups and downs we've discovered so far about the newest addition to our home's TV/media setup.

Less than one month after introducing a set-top box that allows "instant" viewing over a broadband connection, Netflix says that the current supply of devices has sold out. CEO Reed Hastings did not disclose any sales figures, but he told Bloomberg News that the company is pressing their supplier, Roku Inc., to step up production. The backlog of orders will reportedly take six to eight weeks to fulfill.

As I've mentioned before, I think this is a good option for indie film lovers, who'll find a decent selection of docs and foreign-language films available. Netflix "is working with three other consumer electronics manufacturers to build Netflix software into products and game consoles," Hastings said. Rumor has it that Microsoft is one of their potential partners; Hastings is a Microsoft director, according to Bloomberg News.

I'm exploring other possibilities, too; a friend just gave me an original Xbox modified with the Windows Media Center software, and I'm finally setting up a proper wireless home network so I can better manage a growing collection of boxes and media. I'm not technically-minded, so all this is very daunting to me. I'd love an easy solution that allows me to watch more movies rather than wade into DNS setttings.

Did you nab one of the new Netflix boxes? if so, how did it work? Are you planning to invest any coin into a set-top device? Or are you content to watch downloaded and streaming movies on your PC?

Apparently we're in a home entertainment transition period in which we're gradually being shoved from DVD to downloading movies, with Blu-ray and streaming video only temporary stops along the way. At least, that's my impression, but it still seems like a good time to survey three recently-introduced models that may benefit indie film lovers.

Netflix generated a fair amount of comment when it announced a new set-top box made by Roku that will allow their subscribers to watch about 10,000 movies and TV shows (10% of their total available) "instantly" on a television over their broadband connection (wireless too). Engadget has more information and a round-up of reviews. (We wrote about Netflix's plans in January.) Though some have complained about the paucity of titles available, I was impressed by the number of documentaries and foreign-language films that are available. The box retails for $99 and, as of now, no additional monthly charge by Netflix. If you're already a subscriber, that could be a boon. I don't like to watch anything longer than a trailer on my laptop, so I am sorely tempted to pick one up so I can watch on my TV.

On the other hand, if you are comfortable watching movies on your PC, two other companies are trying out new models for online viewing. Last November I wrote about the difficulties that distributor Halo-8 Entertainment had in getting online retailers such as Amazon to stock the excellent doc Your Mommy Kills Animals.

Now this was a strange little discovery: If you're a Netflix member then you get to watch movies online for free as part of your membership fee, which is great for people like me because one never knows when he'll suddenly need to watch My Blue Heaven or The Mask of Zorro or six consecutive episodes of Heroes S2. It's not like you'll ever find any "buried treasure" on Netflix's 'insta-watch' list because if they're on that list ... they're also available on DVD! To own if you like!

So I thought it was a little bit weird that, as I was scanning through Netflix's latest online offerings, I noticed a flick called Rolling Thunder. Hmm, I vaguely recall that movie NEVER being released on DVD, so what gives? Well heck, it sure looks like Netflix has released some "instant watch only" titles that are simply not available on Region 1 DVD yet. (Just a reminder: Rolling Thunder is a 1977 action flick that's built up quite the cult following over the years. Apparently it's one of Tarantino's favorites too.) So there you go, movie freaks: If you belong to Netflix already, here's your chance to check out Rolling Thunder -- which I'll be doing later tonight. They're even using the old VHS cover, ha!

Today I'm glad to be cheaper than cheap. Had I not been so frugal, I would have bought myself an HD-DVD player this past weekend after seeing a commercial advertising one for less than $150. And then, I would have been excited about renting HD-DVD discs from Netflix, to which I've been a very happy subscriber for more than four years. But then I would have received an email (like the one seen here), stating that Netflix has just decided to exclusively support Blu-ray as its sole hi-def format. Thankfully, I am cheaper than cheap and have no plans to purchase one of those expensive Blu-ray players. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I no longer plan to spend the $20 a month on Netflix.

Actually, my cheapness combined with my laziness will probably keep me a Netflix customer, but I can't imagine others will be so loyal. Apparently Blockbuster's online rental service still offers both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so perhaps a number of HD fans will be switching over. Of course, also considering how significant a player Netflix is, this could be a heavy hit on the coffin nail for HD-DVD. The decision made by Netflix comes soon after last month's moves by Paramount and Warner Bros. to also go Blu-ray exclusive. It may only be a matter of time before Blockbuster, which primarily rents Blu-ray at its stores, will dump HD-DVD itself.

According to the Netflix emails going out today, any "Saved" HD-DVD selections in your rental queue (meaning for releases not yet out) will be switched to regular DVD by the end of the month. However, it seems you will still be able to rent HD-DVD discs that Netflix already currently offers throughout the year.

WalMart may have floundered as far as video downloads are concerned, but Netflix is certainly picking up the slack. Earlier this month, Peter Martin posted about Netflix's plan for a box for your television that would stream movies from the Internet to your HDTV. Now the company is adding a fully on-line option to the mix -- one that I imagine will be strengthened by this whole TV box plan. Reuters reports that Netflix Inc. will offer their subscribers unlimited access to movies and television on the Internet.

The company currently offers a limited number of online hours for their subscribers, but for those who already have unlimited rental plans, they will soon be able to watch flicks online to their heart's content -- approximately 6,000 films and shows so far. Right now, this will only be tasty to those with fast connections and decent enough monitors to watch them, but assuming this box idea goes through, Netflix could very well be the frontrunner of the Internet film push. I would hope, however, that the future boxes would have some sort of temporary recorder in them so that there's an option to capture the whole movie before it starts playing. If, for some reason, the film was to stall, or the connection was too slow for an immediate HD film, that would make for one heck of a crappy and annoying movie experience.

But even without the box, and on your smaller monitors, it'd be a great way to fill in the less-pressing holes in your viewing history. Personally, I'd hit every movie I've been mildly interested in seeing, but completely uninterested in paying to see.

Downloading movies to watch on your personal computer has been a viable option for several years, but getting those downloaded flicks to play on your TV has been problematic. I thought Apple TV would provide an easy solution, but it's been described as one of the worst tech products of the year and even its defenders acknowledge that it's limited in its capabilities -- it's more for piping your own music, images and videos to play on your TV. That may change if Apple makes it possible to rent movies directly from the device, but the battle for control of your TV is just heating up.

Online rental power Netflix has announced that they are working with LG Electronics to "develop a set-top box for consumers to stream movies and other programming from the Internet to HDTV's." Delivery is expected in the second half of 2008 with more details expected to be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. The statement claims that more than 6,000 movies and TV episodes will be available to be "delivered instantly" over the Internet, but also indicates that high definition content is a future component of their plan. In reporting on the press release, the Associated Press notes that similar devices from Apple and Vudu run from $299-$399, but no prices have been announced for the Netflix/LG box.

To my mind, the competition for Apple TV and Netflix/LG is more with set top boxes from cable and satellite providers than with personal computers. Apple TV and Netflix/LG both require up-front payment for still another box in your living room, while cable and satellite providers do not. Netflix says subscribers will have a certain amount of access, depending on their subscriber plan, while everyone else appears to have a pay-per-view model. Potentially, though, Apple and Netflix could offer much greater choice of content. Still, no one's talking much about offering more high-def content this year. Will that wait until the great "analog to digital switch" next year for broadcasters and content providers?

I've just recently hit that spot in my Netflix queue reserved for "films I've always wanted to see but never got around to it." I'm sure everyone does something similar; when I look at my friends' queues, they're filled with older flicks -- random movies, the kind you know they want to see for the hell of it. Either they read about the film, someone told them about it or they discovered an old gem all on their own. And it's so much fun to stumble upon a wonderful film that you, for one reason or another, never watched. For me, this weekend, that film was Amelie. For those that have never seen it, Amelie is fantastic -- one of the best films I've watched all year (even though it's six years old), and one I'll definitely be watching again. The colors, the characters; my friend and I were both in agreement in saying it felt like a French Wes Anderson film.

Not sure about you, but I've found myself skipping the majority of theatrical releases lately (with the exception of films I'm assigned to review) in favor of catching up with older flicks. So instead of talking more about the writers strike, I thought it might be fun to ask which random films you watched this weekend. Is your Netflix queue filled with new releases, old films you've never watched or movies you're dying to see again? Did anything surprise you? Did you queue up something you thought would be great, but it turned out to suck? Or vice-versa?

So, I ask you: What was your random movie rental this weekend, and would you recommend it to others?

The documentary Running with Arnold has been landing distribution deals left and right, and not just in the U.S., according to Variety. Distributors in other countries also seem to think that a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career will be a box-office and home-entertainment draw. I caught the movie during its world premiere at SXSW this year. I found it entertaining, but as I noted in my review, relying a little too heavily on cheap shots to make certain points. You might remember that at least one of those cheap shots caused some difficulties between director Dan Cox and Alec Baldwin, who asked to have his voiceover work removed from the film. Baldwin's narration appears to still be intact.

Netflix's distribution arm Red Envelope Entertainment has bought the U.S. distribution rights for Running with Arnold. The movie will be released in theaters starting on Jan. 18, 2008, with Lantern Lane Entertainment handling the theatrical distribution. No date is available yet on a DVD release. In addition, Latido has sold distribution rights for the documentary about the Governator to media outlets in Japan, Canada, and Denmark, as well as to a Scandinavian TV channel. Deals for distribution in Germany and the UK may be in the works, but there's no word on Austria, where actor/politician Schwarzenegger was born.

[via Matt Dentler's Blog]