You can expect movies a few weeks after they arrive to DVD from current participating studios Paramount, Universal Pictures and the Weinstein Company. The rentals are good for anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days.

Streaming a trailer, the quality wasn't super high (framerates, especially, took a hit). Plus, with iTunes rentals running only $4, it's tough to imagine mSpot taking over (iPhones, at least) entirely.

But a little competition never hurt anyone. [NYTimes via Engadget]

Its location is top secret and its building disguised; its employees are mostly female, and unusually old; its atmosphere is silent, and its decor depressing ("a hasty mismatch of promotional posters taped to its walls like college dorm decor — a poster for Atonement alongside a poster for the direct-to-video Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief.") Workers start at 3am, and do calisthenics throughout the day, presumably to help circulation, and to distract them from the fact that their customers are insane. That's why the center's address cannot be divulged, ever—people would apparently endlessly insist on dropping their DVDs off there, like it's a Blockbuster—and why the workers' near-mechanized jobs sound bearably interesting:

Customers stuff things into the envelopes. Scribbled movie reviews, complaints, pictures of dogs and kids.

How charming! Full account at [The Chicago Tribune]

Yesterday we rented 300 and started playing it only 5MB into the download—it was fast and smooth. Very nice. But now I've only got 9 hours left to experience the magic. With time running out, I closed iTunes, set my clock back and restarted the program to see if it does bestow a Lazarus effect. Sure enough, it did. I even got a little mad with power here, turning the clock back to 2003 to see just how potent this elixir is. iTunes yelled at me:
But when it started back up, check it out: That's right. iTunes knows I was playing God and messing with time on a massive scale. But I got three years to watch my movie anyway! Unfortunately, this trick does not work to revive already dead flicks—once they expire, they're automatically dumped. I know, because I launched my computer forward in time by a day and got this:
So, this is a great way to extend the life of movie rentals by a couple of hours if you're running late on finishing it, but it's not really a practical way to steal movies, since your would have to live in the past every time you fired up iTunes.

Another idea was to set the computer's time up before we rented, thinking you could then set it back to normal and have as much time as you wanted. Being adventurous, we tried to set the clock ahead 50 years. The homemade XP Pro computer we used in testing wasn't built for serious time travel, however. The 50-year shift made everything go kablooey. So we tried the more modest jump of one year. It worked.

Giz-Certified Best Method
Take your system into the future (but not too far) before you click play for the first time, which starts the 24-hour clock. Start the movie. Then exit iTunes and return to the present. We did this with the second movie we rented, playing it for the first time in 2009. We came back to 2008, and now we have a whole year to watch it. This method obviously doesn't require as much careful time-shifting back and forth to extend your movies' life span as it does if you start playing around after you've started the 24-hour countdown. Mac Test
We figured it would work on a Mac, but wanted to be absolutely sure, so Benny Boo gladly dropped $4 (which we may or may not reimburse) to test it on his MacBook. As you can see, it works: The bad news is that it doesn't seem to work with iPod/iPhone, however. Benny's year-long rental is apparently too much of a time paradox for the iPhone to swallow, so it kept spitting it back up despite a restart and repeated attempts: If you've gotten it to work on your portable, let us know in the comments.

With automatic system-time updates, there's a chance any time you set will be corrected. In that case, you'd wake up to a long list of expired flicks. Frankly, don't count on this hack working for too long anyway since Hollywood is uberprotective of its content and someone's bound to lock this hole down tight within days. We don't know of a similar trick for Movielink or CinemaNow rentals—maybe you do—but our guess is that it's not doable.

Alright so it appears to no longer work. Here's what happened on our end. Before, we had set our computer date to 2009, and started playing Ratatouille (and Benny started playing The Simpsons) to start the 24-hour timer in 2009. Came back to 2008, everything was gravy. We go to play it again just a few minutes ago, and it tries to connect to iTunes, and then gives us a 5103 error. Benny gets the same deal.

So we delete the busted file and try a fresh download, this time with our computer dated to Jan. 24, a mere week ahead. Download starts, we click play and get the 5103 error—we couldn't even get it start in the future, which was the basis of the original trick. Adrian tried to extend a movie he rented last night by throwing his computer back a week. 5103 error, though coming back to the present he got it to play. We figured it wouldn't last forever.

We're still playing with it, so we'll let you know what other tricks we come up with as we confirm them. For now, feel free to go and play Jobs with time for yourself, and by all means report back. [Apple iTunes]

Also interesting is the pricing scheme that Apple's unleashing. Movie rentals will be somewhere between $2 and $5, depending on the newness and goodness of the movie (they decide, not you) and will only be valid for 24 hours. That's it? Even Blockbuster lets you keep a movie for two days before slipping into their "no late fees late fees" period. And, to top it off, they've got movies from Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. as well. [Variety via Valleywag]

And this is only for the 3 DVDs, $17.99 plan. If you have the 2 DVD plan, you'll get 3 exchanges. The 1 DVD plan only gets 2 exchanges. The reason for this? Blockbuster's saying this will be a $38 value when you factor in the exchanges:

Value Message:Based on a member renting and returning two sets of DVDs in one month on the 3 out plan (with 5 in-store movie exchanges) for a total of 6 online rentals. Five (5) online rentals are then exchanged in-store for a free movie rental under BLOCKBUSTER Total Access, valued at the average in-store movie rental price of $4.00 each, totaling $20 in one month. Adding that to the base membership fee of $17.99 for the 3 out plan gives you a total monthly value of $38.

That doesn't even count the fact that they throttle your online mailers if you rent too many movies too often, which means you're getting less in-store exchanges anyway. Our tipster says they're taking down every sign that advertises the Total Access plan in store. Thanks, Blockbuster, for making it that much easier to recommend Netflix.

Thanks Jake!

Update: Looks like Blockbuster sent out an email yesterday saying they were changing plans on the 26...which is yesterday. Fortunately for me, I'm what they call a "preferred customer", and still get unlimited in-store rentals. (I still get the 2 free games or movies a month as well). So my plan doesn't change. Too bad for everyone else though. But if I make any changes to my plan, it'll move me to the new gimped rate plans and I'll lose my preferred status.

Dear Jason,

We want to let you know about some changes to our BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™ subscription plans. This information is provided for your reference only - your subscription plan will not be affected by these changes.

Beginning July 26, 2007, there will be a price increase on your current unlimited plan. We will also begin to offer plans which limit the number of in-store exchanges available each month.

As a preferred customer, your plan will not change at this time. Please continue to enjoy your exclusive subscription plan, including no monthly limit on free* movie rentals or discounted game rentals when you exchange in-store, at today's price - far below the published rate available to new subscribers.

At any point, you can log in and review your current subscription plan or see all available plans. Keep in mind that if you want to change your subscription plan at any point after July 26, 2007, your new plan will be subject to prices and terms available at that time.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

However, HD DVD diehards have a slight bit of hope left. Blockbuster will still continue renting HD DVDs in the original 250 locations, so there could be a possibility in changing the decision if customers start renting a lot more of the HD discs or studios start pumping out a lot more movies on that format. We wouldn't count on it. – Jason Chen

Blockbuster to favor Blu-ray high-definition discs over rival HD DVD format [Pittsburgh Live]

Given that the movie download market is still in its relative infancy, Hollywood believes that they don't "need to rush into a deal with Apple." Fools rush in, true—but look at what came of the music industry's reticence to embrace new avenues of distribution.

Moreover, that ever present fear, cannibalization, is also at play, with the studios wringing their hands over the possibility of losing the coin that trickles in from standard PPV. Not to mention that at $2.99, the fee would undercut pretty much everyone else in the game.

What to do, what to do? If Apple wants a rental store, the smart money would point in its favor, though the terms might not be as favorable as we initially heard. On the other hand, smartly leveraging Apple TV (perhaps with a few other tricks up its sleeve) might make the deal too tasty for Hollywood to pass up. What do you guys think? – Matt Buchanan

Hollywood balks at Apple online movie rentals [Yahoo!/Reuters]

The move marks two major breaks from Apple's current offerings, which are download-to-own only and come solely from Disney and Paramount—a rental store with several major studios would not only shift the way users can view movies using iTunes, it would dramatically expand Apple's catalog. Not to mention the number of people using VOD, which is a boon for studios, and no doubt their incentive to come to the table.

Moreover, it makes current digital rental plans, like Xbox Live's Video Marketplace, look like they're giving customers the shaft with their comparatively measly rental windows and higher prices. Can we expect a swift reaction? The hopeful fall debut of Apple's service leaves a lot of leg room for others to step up. Perhaps more importantly, we will finally see the jump to HD on Apple's part? More details as they come. – Matt Buchanan

Hollywood studios in video talks with Apple [Financial Times]