If people notice, I guess. The DivX format movies will be available to download (and own) from Film Fresh for about $10 to $15. They'll also be "high-quality", though I haven't been able to get complete video or DRM specs yet. See the quote below for what's been said so far: [DivX]

Consumers have the freedom to transfer their DivX movies via DVDs, USB drives, SD memory cards, and portable hard drives, or streamed over a home network for playback on other registered DivX Certified devices they own-all on supported products from top consumer electronics brands such as LG, Philips and Toshiba.

Sonic (makers of Roxio) are bringing CinemaNow to the Wii. CinemaNow, in case you've forgotten, offers streaming movies (a catalog of about 14,000), short films, and concerts for rent or purchase. They haven't gotten much of a foothold here in the States despite being around since 1999, even after being bought by Blockbuster a few years back. They've got a decent catalog, especially for new releases, and have partnered with all kinds of software, so the Wii should be no problem for them.

It might be more of a toe in the water than a real balls-out jump, but we're glad Nintendo is open to expanding the Wii's media capabilities. Remember, it's Japan-only for now, but we wouldn't be surprised to see this kind of integration appear Stateside. Press release to follow. [CinemaNow]

Fujisoft Teams with Sonic Solutions to Deliver Hollywood Hits to

Nintendo Wii Game Console

Roxio CinemaNow Begins Streaming Movies from Paramount Pictures

Novato, California (June 25, 2009) - Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), today announced that it is partnering with Fujisoft Incorporated to deliver premium entertainment to the Nintendo Wii game console. Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow® will be providing Hollywood content, beginning with new releases and catalog titles from Paramount Pictures, for Fujisoft's video-on-demand service in Japan, called "Minna no Theater Wii" (Everyone's Theater Wii). The companies will continue to work together in order to expand the range of entertainment available for virtually instant streaming to the TV via the popular game console.

"Sonic is a key content partner, enabling us to greatly enrich the video entertainment options available to Wii customers," said Minoru Yoshida, Executive Managing Director, Fujisoft. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with Sonic and providing consumers trouble-free access to more great Hollywood entertainment at home."

"Increasingly, consumers are looking to access and enjoy movies via their connected entertainment devices, whether at home or on-the-go," said Alex Carloss, Executive Vice President, Digital Distribution, Paramount Digital Entertainment. "Therefore we are delighted to become the first major studio offering video-on-demand through the Nintendo Wii."

Roxio CinemaNow offers a broad selection of regularly updated premium video entertainment for rental or purchase, including new releases from major Hollywood studios often on the same day the DVD is available in stores. CinemaNow's cloud-based media services power devices from multiple manufacturers, forming a connected ecosystem that consumers can use to seamlessly choose, move and view video entertainment.

"Fujisoft is a renowned technology thought leader and major supplier of embedded software for everything from mobile devices to digital home electronics, so we are extremely pleased to be collaborating with them to bring Hollywood movies to the Wii," said Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy, Sonic Solutions. "Thanks to this new relationship with Fujisoft, consumers now have another convenient way to access high-quality entertainment from Roxio CinemaNow."

Premium entertainment from Roxio CinemaNow is currently available on a range of devices including Blu-ray Disc players from LG Electronics, Dell PCs, and Archos portable media players. As well as being available on a range of consumer electronics, Roxio CinemaNow is currently powering internet movie delivery for Blockbuster and is instantly accessible through Bestbuy.com.

Nobody's overly excited about Best Buy rebranding an existing service and building it into their website, because, well, it's just not very exciting. That said, it is interesting to see one of the biggest sellers of physical media, i.e. DVDs, throwing their considerable weight behind digital distribution. Those aforementioned "select devices?" Probably just be a few LG web-connected Blu-ray players, and maybe a new marketing pitch for the Xbox, which already supports it.

Sonic Provides Broader Access to Digital Hollywood Hits
Roxio CinemaNow, Available on LG Blu-ray Disc Players, Launching Soon at BestBuy.com

Novato, CA (June 5, 2009) - Consumers will soon have more ways to conveniently access premium digital video content, including new releases from major Hollywood studios often on the same day the DVD is available in stores.

On the heels of the announcement that its Roxio CinemaNow® service is live on Blu-ray Disc players from LG Electronics - providing consumers instant access to digital entertainment in the living room - Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), today revealed that Roxio CinemaNow will be available on select devices at Best Buy and instantly accessible through Bestbuy.com. These latest initiatives are part of a broader strategy to increase awareness for Roxio CinemaNow, build a compelling digital entertainment ecosystem and expand its reach onto a broad range of home and mobile electronics.

"The exposure Roxio CinemaNow gains through leading CE device manufacturers like LG and top retailers like Best Buy will help educate millions of consumers about the convenience and flexibility of digitally delivered video entertainment," said Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions. "Consumers will be captivated once they discover just how easy it is to stream their favorite movies to their CE device or PC."

Roxio CinemaNow offers a broad selection of regularly updated premium content, including new releases from major Hollywood studios for rent or purchase. As well as providing access to Hollywood hits, Roxio CinemaNow offers a rapidly expanding ecosystem of compatible devices that provides consumers a more flexible digital entertainment experience through extended multi-device access and playback capabilities. Sonic's device ecosystem, powered by its new Roxio CinemaNow SDK (software development kit), is helping streamline the integration of turnkey premium entertainment delivery, management and sell-through services in next-generation digital home devices including portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, mobile phones, Web-connected television sets and PCs equipped with Roxio Venue™ software.

Sonic is at the forefront of digital video distribution, offering high-quality Hollywood movies, TV shows and music videos to consumers across multiple platforms. Sonic has relationships with more than 250 content providers and a content portfolio of over 14,000 titles that include new releases from major Hollywood studios and entertainment from independent distributors as well as broadcast and cable television networks.

About Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC) is powering the digital media ecosystem through its complete range of Hollywood to Home™ applications, services, and technologies. Sonic's Roxio® products enable consumers to easily manage and enjoy personal digital media content as well as premium Hollywood entertainment on a broad range of connected devices. A wide array of leading technology firms, professionals, and developers rely on Sonic to bring innovative digital media functionality to next-generation devices and platforms. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.

That means that all of the new gear we saw with built-in CinemaNow support at CES (like LG's broadband TVs and BD decks), as well as the Xbox 360, will be able to stream Blockbuster's service, But here, again, is the rub (the same one that made their dedicated streaming box from 2wire a dud as well):

For now, Blockbuster intends to rent digital video on a pay-per-view basis or sell the movies to own. Keyes, though, said the company hopes to develop a subscription plan for consumers who want unlimited access to Blockbuster's digital library.

Blockbuster sees an opening focusing on new releases that Netflix Watch Instantly doesn't have. But without an unlimited subscription plan, why would anyone not inclined to leave the house simply rent them from their cable company's DVR at around the same price? Yeah, I don't know either. [AP]

LG has announced that their 2009 line of "Network Blu-ray Players" will not only include Netflix, but YouTube support along with CinemaNow downloads. They will unveil this new line of players next week at CES.

While many may interpret all this connectivity as a sign of actual home theater/internet convergence, a more skeptical onlooker may see LG hedging their bets on Blu-ray to entice consumers into buying new media players. Either way, I'll take it.

LG ELECTRONICS ANNOUNCES NEW STREAMING CONTENT PARTNERS FOR ITS NETWORK BLU-RAY DISC PLAYERS

LG to Offer Consumers Unparalleled Access to Streaming Entertainment from CinemaNow, YouTube and Netflix

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Dec. 30, 2008 – LG Electronics today announced the expansion of network entertainment options for its Network Blu-ray Disc players through new alliances with CinemaNow and YouTube™.

Available on new LG Network Blu-ray Disc Players in the first half of 2009, these new services complement LG’s instant streaming from Netflix and advanced Blu-ray capabilities to deliver consumers an exceptional entertainment experience. (In 2008, LG was the world’s first manufacturer to stream movies instantly from Netflix on a Network Blu-ray Disc Player.)

CinemaNow – an innovator in digital entertainment technology, delivering high-quality movies, TV shows and videos to users through online connectivity – and YouTube – a leading online video community for people to discover, watch, and share originally created videos – will be available in LG’s 2009 line of Network Blu-ray Disc players to be unveiled next week at the 2009 International CES®.

“As millions of U.S. consumers view and download movies or TV shows through the Internet, they are demanding easier ways to access content and more home entertainment options,” said Tim Alessi, director of product development, LG Electronics USA.

“From Blu-ray to instant streaming from Netflix to CinemaNow and YouTube, LG is bridging the gap between packaged media and video-on-demand services to provide entertainment solutions for consumers’ demand for content,” he said. “With these new alliances, LG continues its innovation leadership by allowing consumers easy access to multiple entertainment options in one device.”

CinemaNow: Instant Streaming of Hollywood’s Latest Hits

CinemaNow has pushed the envelope of digital video distribution, becoming the first Web site to offer Pay-Per-View movies from major studios and the first broadband distributor of high definition (HD) content. Collaborating with CinemaNow will enable LG Electronics to offer consumers access to more than 14,000 titles from the major movie studios, broadcast and cable television shows, more than 250 independent film titles and music videos from all major labels. Key benefits include the capability to:

* Browse the entire CinemaNow premium content catalog, including latest Hollywood hits,
* Instantly stream content to enjoy on compatible devices, and
* Access and watch movies purchased from other CinemaNow-powered stores.

“We are extremely pleased to be providing CinemaNow premium content services to these innovative new products from LG Electronics that are helping to drive convenient consumer access to digital entertainment at home,” said Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy, Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), parent company of CinemaNow.

YouTube: Original Streaming Video Content

Leading the way in providing unlimited access to online content, LG’s alliance with a prolific online video community, YouTube, will allow consumers to instantly stream millions of Web videos directly from the Internet to an LG Network Blu-ray Player for viewing on their television (without a personal computer). Key benefits include:

o Unlimited access to millions of videos on topics such as current events, instructional videos for hobbies and interests, comedic and viral videos and

o Easy searching, thumbnail previews and multiple screen size viewing options.

Netflix: High Definition Instant Streaming

Now available to consumers as a free on-line upgrade, LG’s first Network Blu-ray Disc Player (BD300) now delivers a growing number of Netflix titles in high-definition (HD). This new access to high-definition streaming content enhances the existing standard-definition streaming service that LG and Netflix first brought to consumers in 2008.

Future LG Network Blu-ray Disc Players will also offer consumers a variety of ways to enjoy more than 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes from Netflix. Netflix members owning these devices pay one low monthly subscription for unlimited DVD rental and unlimited streaming.

LG’s full line of Network Blu-ray Disc Players, additional new content alliances and other new products will be revealed at the LG Electronics CES press conference on Jan. 7, 2009 at the Venetian/Sands and will be on display at the 2009 International CES – Booth #8214, Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center.

1. Some of Cinemanow's content will be available in HD. (Unbox will soon be offering HD as well.)
2. TiVo is clearly not opposed to offering more VOD partners. (C'mon Netflix!!!)

A man can dream, can't he? Also of note, TiVo has confirmed that YouTube support will be coming this summer. Here's the full press release:

TIVO TO OFFER MOVIE RENTALS FROM THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS ON DEMAND

TiVo now offers movies from all major studios directly to the television set

ALVISO, CA - May 28, 2008 - TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from The Walt Disney Studios to their broadband connected TiVo® DVRs directly from the TV.

Titles will be available to rent through an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow, a digital entertainment provider of high-quality Hollywood movies and TV shows across multiple platforms, and the latest partner to join TiVo's broadband efforts. The companies will offer the movies for a 24-hour rental period in standard definition, with many also available in high definition.

"We are very excited to be working with Disney and CinemaNow. Adding Disney movies really delivers on TiVo's promise to offer the best television entertainment experience with unlimited content choices that are easy to navigate across broadcast, cable, and broadband using one device, one remote, and one user interface," said Tara Maitra, Vice President and GM of Content Services at TiVo Inc.

"TiVo has always delivered a superior experience," said Dan Cohen, executive vice president of pay television and interactive media, Disney-ABC Domestic Television. "We're pleased that their subscribers will be able to enjoy our extensive catalog of new releases and classic library titles."

The service is available to all broadband-connected TiVo Series2™ and Series3™ subscribers later this year. TiVo offers more than 30,000 titles through Amazon Unbox, Music Choice and more than 50 other content providers. The company recently announced that TiVo subscribers will be able to access YouTube videos directly on the TV via the TiVo DVR this summer.

Now when you buy or rent one a flick, your Vista or XP machine will be able to see your Xbox 360 as a connected machine (while using their Media Manager). Not only that, there's the Burn-to-DVD option on Vista, which lets you (obviously) burn your movies onto a DVD and watch them on any standard DVD player. Like your Xbox 360, for example.

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. — July 18, 2007 — CinemaNow Inc., (www.cinemanow.com) the premier online destination for downloadable Hollywood movies and TV shows, today released an upgraded version of its 'Media Manager', a proprietary software application enabling the download, management and playback of video content. CinemaNow video downloads are now directly accessible by networked Xbox 360™ users, and its Burn-to-DVD service is now compatible with Windows Vista™ users worldwide. This marks CinemaNow's latest effort to ensure that content purchased through the site can be viewed on multiple platforms - from PCs to portable devices to TVs.

"CinemaNow is on a mission to enable simple and fast integration into our customers' lives," said Curt Marvis, CEO of CinemaNow. "This upgrade alone makes our entire library of more than 7,000 videos available to the millions of Xbox users who are downloading movies online and watching them on their TVs."

To facilitate the downloading process, the Media Manager automatically downloads to a user's PC when a video is rented or purchased. It now has the ability to detect an Xbox 360 gaming console on a customer's home network. A customer can choose any video from CinemaNow's selection, download it to a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC and play it back on a TV using the Xbox 360 as a connective device. The new Media Manager also makes CinemaNow's exclusive Burn-to-DVD service available to Windows Vista users, so that they can choose select movies to burn a video to a DVD for playback in a standard DVD player

CinemaNow is integrating its service capabilities with more devices than any other online video provider to ensure that videos can be easily accessed via PCs, set top boxes (STBs), game consoles, and portable media players (PMPs), all with the ability to connect to TVs. The site is compatible with the latest WiFi PMPs from ARCHOS, which enable users to wirelessly download CinemaNow videos directly to their PMPs and stream them to their TVs. CinemaNow is also integrated with HP's upcoming line of MediaSmart LCD TVs, which enable customers to rent or purchase CinemaNow movies from their couch. The MediaSmart TV connects to a customer's home network either wired or wirelessly, so that a user can use their remote to purchase or rent a movie from CinemaNow, download the file to a designated hard-drive within their home network, and watch the video directly on their MediaSmart TV.

Their verdict...?

CinemaNow

CinemaNow is the most mature movie download site we've reviewed, and the only to let you burn DVDs of Hollywood content that will play in a regular DVD player.

MovieFlix

MovieFlix has no player/manager software that you need to download. It relies on its web site and RealPlayer to get you the movies you want.

Vongo

Lots of movies and shows included for $9.99 a month, but you can't purchase movies permanently and the selection doesn't include current DVD blockbusters.

Movielink

Does a good job of getting you recent, popular titles at decent resolution...but there's no subscription option to access a library of films.

Amazon Unbox

We found Unbox to be one of the best services we tested, in terms of ease of use, content selection, and picture quality.

– Louis Ramirez
Which Movie Download Site is Best [ExtremeTech]

The great diaspora online would make a whole lot more sense if all these companies would go nuts and offer HDTV versions of their content and distribute it all via BitTorrent. We would be willing to pay for that, we promise. – Charlie White

CinemaNow to offer Fox films, TV shows [Reuters]

Hollywood has been tiptoeing its way toward letting consumers buy a movie online, burn it onto a DVD and watch it on a living-room TV. While the studios hesitate, the adult film industry is taking the leap. Vivid Entertainment says it will sell its adult films through the online movie service CinemaNow, allowing buyers to burn DVDs that will play on any screen, not just a computer.

– John Biggs

CinemaNow Adds Disney... and Porn [ZatzNotFunny]