movies

Blockbuster streaming: Too late

Blockbuster and TiVo announced a deal Wednesday that will make between 5,000 and 10,000 films available to TiVo users. Customers will be able to rent ($4) or buy ($20) films, including current major titles. It's about time: Netflix and Amazon's on-demand services are already available on TiVo. Netflix offers approximately 12,000 older and less compelling titles on the box, but Netflix users don't need to pay anything beyond their monthly fee to access movies on the DVR. Those who want to use Amazon's service, which already offers most of the films Blockbuster will stream, pay about the same rental fees as Blockbuster will charge.

I've called Blockbuster to task on its late release of contemporary technology, but I wanted to give the company a chance to respond, so I discussed what I consider Blockbuster's shortcomings with its newly installed senior vice president of digital entertainment, Kevin Lewis.

Lewis contends that his company is more than just a movie rental chain. He says Blockbuster is an entertainment retailer, which is why it wanted to make its service available to TiVo users.

"We are the only entertainment retailer with the ability to serve you a movie where you want, when you want it, how you want," Lewis said. "Whether it's at one of our stores, through virtual kiosks, or via downloads on a box like the TiVo, we can provide you with the most robust service." He told me that unlike Netflix, Amazon, and any other competitor, Blockbuster has the opportunity to service its customers across multiple channels, making its deal with TiVo all the more compelling.

"We recognize that our consumers don't act the same way every time because their needs are different," Lewis said. "Because of that, we plan to go wherever the consumer goes. And although Netflix and Amazon are already on the TiVo box, when we get there, users will know that we're the only company of the three that can offer them a movie no matter how they want it. Our competitors don't have that multi-channel capability. It's our special sauce."… Read more

Warner Archive to offer on-demand DVDs of previously unavailable movies

Warner Brothers is releasing dozens of previously unavailable movies on DVD for the first time--but you won't be able to find them at your local Wal-Mart. Variety reports that the studio's new Warner Archive program will eventually offer hundreds of old movies and TV episodes for consumers to buy for $20 per title on an on-demand basis. Selected DVDs will then be manufactured, packaged, and shipped directly to customers within a week.

The program is launching with around 150 titles that were originally released from the 1920s through the 1980s. While some of the titles may not be … Read more

Samsung debuts iTunes rival for mobile videos

Samsung has launched a virtual store where customers in Europe can buy or rent movies and TV programs and download them to their mobile phones.

In its initial rollout phase, the Samsung Movies service will offer more than 500 films from studios such as Warner Bros., Paramount, and Universal. The service launched initially in Britain and Germany, but Samsung intends to open it up to other European markets later in the year. By the end of the first quarter, the company said it planned to double the number of titles it will offer to 1,000, and again to 2,… Read more

Top 10 movie recommendation engines

There are dozens of movie recommendation engines on the Web. Some require little or no input before they give you titles, while others want to find out exactly what your interests are. I've been using 10 movie recommendation engines on both sides of the equation. They're all different, but some are definitely better than others.

The Top 10

10. Netflix Netflix asks you to rate movies to determine which films you'll want to see next. And although it does make it easy to rate movies and it does return huge lists, there's too much duplication in … Read more

iTunes rolls out high-def movie downloads

As expected, iTunes customers (Windows|Mac) can now buy and rent films in high definition, Apple said Thursday.

Customers can buy hit titles for $19.99 and rentals will cost $4.99. Rentals will be available a month after a film is released on DVD. Prior to this offer, high-def films were only available for rental.

The high-def quality movies are compatible with Macs and PCs. But iPhones and iPods can still only play films in standard definition, the company said. Each high-def film comes with a standard-def copy to play on Apple's handhelds.

"Customers have made HD … Read more

Jinni searches Netflix better than Netflix

Jinni, a semantic search engine for movies, now works with Netflix. If you're a Netflix subscriber, you can link up your account and get custom-tailored search results and recommendations based on what you've watched and rated on the DVD rental service.

I've been giving it a spin over the past day and it's downright cool. If you've used Netflix's own search tool (which I find highly underpowered), you'll appreciate that Jinni gives you many more ways to sort out and hone the results.

Jinni organizes search results in a cloud with varying sizes … Read more

Scary shower curtain makes for bloody good time

Imagine your guests' surprise when they go to the use the restroom and encounter a blood-stained shower curtain. Good times! Or so reason the U.K.-based designers of the Blood Bath Shower Curtain. When scrunched closed, it looks like your standard shower accoutrement. But fan it open and you get an image straight out of "Psycho"--a curtain with bloody handprints. Eek, eek, eek...

But that's not all, horror movie fans. For $16, you also get a realistic blood-stained bath mat to complete the Hitchcockian scene. Bloody knife not included.

Now, we're not trying to … Read more

Official 'Watchmen' costumes hit Net--for better or worse

Last year, my friend Matt Hastings predicted that the coming Halloween would see a flood of people in unfortunate Joker costumes, inspired by "The Dark Knight." He was, of course, right. I'm hereby predicting that every un-creative person in the world will try being Rorschach from "Watchmen" this year. Mark my words.

These new officially licensed Watchmen movie costumes might make that easier. There are versions of all the major players in the film. A couple of them look pretty good, but the Nite Owl requires some imagination on the viewer's part.

The Silk … Read more

Report: Wii may stream movies

Nintendo's Wii may follow Microsoft's Xbox and Sony PS3 into the film market.

On Thursday, entertainment trade publication Variety reported that an executive from film studio Lionsgate said the Wii could be equipped to stream movies as early as this year.

"The thing that is clearly a force in digital are the game devices," Curt Marvis, president of digital media for Lionsgate, told Variety. "I think when we see the Wii come into the market with the ability to stream movies, which I think is maybe going to happen as soon as this year, I … Read more