As reported by Variety (and just about every tech site on the planet), Steve Jobs' keynote address at MacWorld 2008 on Tuesday morning included details on Apple's new movie rental plan. The gist of it is that Apple TV users will be able to rent and download movies from all the major Hollywood studios directly from iTunes. The details, though, are where things get squiggy.

As our sister site Engadget promptly pointed out, while the firmware for Apple TV is changing, the hardware is not, so built-in limitations remain. Example: HD resolution is limited to 1,280 by 720. Also, DD 5.1 sound is not available with all HD rentals. In addition, HD movie rentals will only be available through and on the Apple TV, and the rental price only covers playing the movie on the Apple TV -- no moving it to your iPod for free.

The "new releases" rental price is $3.99 for standard-def and $4.99 for high-def; "library" titles are a dollar cheaper for each format. About 100 HD movies will be available for rental starting in February. You'll have 30 days to watch the rental, but once you start watching, you have to finish within 24 hours. New releases will not be available until 30 days after the DVD release date. Still, Apple promises "instant movie gratification" because downloading starts immediately and with standard-def movies you can start watching "in seconds."

To me, this is very much Apple's version of "On Demand" programming for cable and satellite systems. On my local system, I pay $3.99 for standard-def movies, $4.99 for high-def and $1.99 for "library" titles (older films in standard-def). The rental period of 24 hours starts immediately. In order to get that, I have to pay a monthly equipment rental fee for a cable box. With Apple TV, you pay your hardware fee up front: $229.00 (for a 40gb box) or $329.00 (for a 160gb box). If you rent a limited number of movies and don't have/want cable or satellite, this could be a good deal.

Is the idea of renting through downloading sounding any more appealing to you now? Or will you stick with an online rental service or the good old neighborhood video store?

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?

Come Tuesday, if Santa pulls through, I'll have my first real iPod (I don't count that Shuffle marked with my old employer's logo, which I got for free). It isn't that I couldn't afford one before; it's more that I'm finally caving in. But at least I'm caving in at a good time. There's talk that iTunes movie rentals could finally be arriving in early 2008, and if they are somehow allowed to be transferred to iPods, then I'll be a very happy subway rider. Sure, we've been hearing about the possibility of iTunes rentals all year, and back in September, Engadget even pointed out an error made by Apple that was evidence that it was coming soon. Three months later, Video Business is passing along the rumor that Apple may announce the service at MacWorld next month. Apparently the developments have been slow going because Apple has been trying to get more of Hollywood's studios on board (currently iTunes only offers movies for purchase from Disney, MGM, Lionsgate and Paramount). We can expect to hear about new additional distribution partners at MacWorld, too.

According to Video Business, the iTunes rentals are likely to only be watched on a PC or via Apple TV, for which Apple is to introduce a software update that will allow rentals to be downloaded directly to the machine (making it like a DVR, sort of). However, considering the new iPod Touch (this is the one that made me cave in) features the iTunes store and can directly download movies from the web via Wi-Fi, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to play movie rentals, as well. If Apple does it right, this could be the new Netflix -- of course, iTunes would have to have some kind of monthly plan, which I doubt they'd do, at least not at first. Last summer it was reported the prices for rentals would be $2.99 each. That's still a whole lot better than the $14.99 for new release purchases. Santa, if you read Cinematical, please don't fail me. And if you happen to know Steve Jobs, tell him not to fail me either.

Last week I attended the Macintosh love-fest known as Macworld Expo and was one of the thrilled spectators at the infamous keynote where Apple honcho Steve Jobs told us all about the new iPhone and Apple TV. As I looked around the crowded room I noticed several people that I recognized -- including a couple of TV execs and Disney CEO Robert Iger.

At the time, I also wondered at the absence of other movie studio execs. Usually, when Jobs announces something big, as he did with the iPhone and its deal with Cingular, he brings out a bigwig from the company in question to talk about it and say how great it will be working with Apple -- as he did with Cingular CEO Stan Sigman.