However, theater owners are unimpressed with the proposal, concerned that premium VOD will eat away at attendance figures. “These plans fundamentally alter the economic relationship between exhibitors, filmmakers and producers, and the studios taking part in this misguided venture” the National Association of Theater Owners argues, though the studios behind Home Premiere have said they will delay any titles still performing well at the box office beyond the initial 60 day period.

On the other side, DirecTV and other providers have been arguing for even shorter periods between theatrical release and on-demand access, though at least one theater chain has supposedly threatened to not to screen films should that happen. Paramount is not taking part in Home Premiere over what is believed to be concerns over potential piracy.

Cox won’t be offering its subscribers TiVo DVRs as an option, but it will make its entire streaming catalog available via the TiVo Premiere DVR starting in early 2011 in all markets it serves. This is the first time that a cable firm has integrated on demand service with a third-party device.

Reports clam that out of the 6 million Cox customers around the country only about 45,129 cable cards are in use inside TiVo units. The agreement between Cox and TiVo will see the DVR as an optional set-top box. Only Cox subscribers will be able to get access to the VOD content.

Dilithium network claimed their DCA requires no addition software installed, and permits on the fly video services via EDGE, WiFi, or 3G networks, depend of the capability of the handhelds. It supports a wide range of mobile devices from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

The tuning device support advanced video codecs from H.263, H.264, MPEG4, MPEG2, MJPEG, and popular audio codec’s though RTSP, HTTP; which includes the progressive download media streaming formats.

PETALUMA, Calif. –(Business Wire)– Jan 20, 2009 Dilithium, the global leader in high-quality multimedia delivery over mobile and broadband networks, announced the availability of live video and Video on Demand (VoD) streaming support for Blackberry handsets utilizing the Dilithium Content Adapter (DCA).

The DCA is the only product on the market that supports Live and VoD streaming for a wide range of mobile devices, including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. The DCA solution is an infrastructure offering that can be deployed by operators and service providers enabling their customers to access live or on demand video content through the standard players and handset browsers.

DCA supports the most live and pre-recorded video formats and performs on-the-fly and on-demand transport, media formatting, and codec and bitrate adaptation. Customers do not need to install a special application on their handset, and can access the video services via EDGE, WiFi, or 3G networks, depending on the Blackberry model.

The DCA live and VoD media adaption capabilities are based on Dilithium’s patent-pending technologies and architecture that delivers best quality on-the-fly media adaptation. It supports the widest range of phones and devices through RTSP, HTTP (including progressive download), and MPEG2/H.264 TS. It supports codecs such as, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, MPEG2, MJPEG, and popular audio codecs. The DCA features a PHP-based high level API that offers easy integration in operator and service provider frameworks and workflows. DCA has the most advanced built-in caching feature allowing significant reduction in unnecessary adaptation while providing support for ad-insertion.

The VOD expansion and company’s Movielink rental service are an effort to counter its rival, Netflix, in the increasingly popular online video rental and digitally download service. To be honest, it’s awfully crowded at this point. The addition of Sonic Solutions, which includes the established CinemaNow services and partners, would offer an instant boost of more than 10,000 premium films and 40,000 digital titles for rent and sale to PCs, Macs, handhelds, set-tops boxes, portable media players, Blu-ray disc players and Internet-connected TV sets.

The numbers of digital titles are far from reaching Netflix has to offer, not counting the availability of HD streaming contents such as Tivo boxes and Xbox 360, but Blockbuster is asserting on much refreshing title selections according to Tom Adams, of Adams Media Research.

“Blockbuster’s selection will be better than what Netflix is offering,”

I will give it a shot whenever Blockbuster decides to throw in free downloads for existing online rental customers. Some of us are paying $37 per month subscription after taxes!

These are not the first TiVo VOD services; the company has already in bed with Amazon VOD services to deliver major Hollywood studios though Unbox, since last year. With additional of CinemaNow, Tivo fanatics will get to watch movies from most Hollywood titles with prices starting at $2.99. The service will be available next week.

As for Jaman, most titles including a broad category of Indie and Film Festival Favorites, Best of Bollywood and Documentaries, can be rented for in between $1.99 and $4.99 in 24 hour or 7 day rentals. The content is available as of today.

The company already have more than 50 films available for the new format at the same price as standard HD titles. Most HD library starts at $4 or lower, and $6 for new releases. But unlike the standard HD format, HDX does not allow instant viewing, and because of its relatively large file size; HDX requires about 3-4 hours to download prior to start watching. Ok, so the wait time blows but does the quality measure up to Blu-ray standard?

A typical Blu-Ray MPEG-4 AVC are compressed at an average bit rate of 20-30 mbps, with peaks over 50mbps is possible. HDX titles are encoded at variable bit rates of 9-9.5 mbps , with peaks of up to 20mbps. On the account of bit rate, HDX is at least half of Blu-ray quality. That’s a tough sell considering the long delivery time, twice as hard if you live in bandwidth-cap’s town like Beaumont, Texas.

Starz films are available at no additional cost to Netflix’s unlimited plans subscribers. Netflix unlimited plans start at as $8.99 as a month and they also have an opportunity to watch a live feed of the Starz TV network on their PCs. For now, customers can browse about 1000 Starz’s goodies and remain of the 1,500 tittles to follow soon.

Netflix’s streaming service is looking more attractive every day. They are adding significant selection of streaming contents at no extra cost; then you have the $99 compact Roku’s set-up, LG Blu-ray player and Xbox 360 to come this fall for hardware selection.

LOS GATOS, Calif. and ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 1, 2008 – Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, and Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the U.S., today announced an agreement to make movies from Starz, through its “Starz Play” broadband subscription movie service, available to be streamed instantly at Netflix. Access to the Starz Play service at Netflix will be included with Netflix members’ current monthly subscription fee.

The deal adds significantly to a growing library of over 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly at Netflix. Netflix members who have unlimited subscription plans, which start at only $8.99 a month, will have full and unlimited access to approximately 2,500 additional movies and other choices from Starz Play as part of their current monthly subscription. That includes the opportunity to enjoy a live feed of the Starz TV network on their PCs and does not impact the number of DVDs members receive as part of their monthly plans.

The first of the Starz titles – approximately 1,000 – are available now at the Netflix Web site, where they are presented in a distinct area accessible by clicking on the “Watch Instantly” tab on the Netflix member home page. More titles will be added in the coming weeks.

Starz Play, Starz’ collection of programming content for online distribution, features a wide variety of first-run hit movies, independent films and well-known movie classics, in addition to extreme sports, concerts, anime, Westerns and more. “Spider-ManTM 3,” “Ratatouille,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Superbad,” “No Country for Old Men” and “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” highlight the movie offerings now available to be watched instantly. Starz Play also features new original content from Starz, including episodes of the upcoming dramatic series “Crash,” from the producers of the Academy Award®-winning Best Picture “Crash,” which remains the most-rented DVD in the history of Netflix.

Beginning today, Netflix and Starz Play will offer a sneak preview of the first full episode of “Crash” in advance of the Starz primetime premiere on October 17 at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. “Crash” will remain a staple in the Starz Play programming mix and new episodes will debut day-and-date with new episode premieres.

“The coupling of Starz Play with our growing library of streaming content is an important step forward for both companies and for consumer choice,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “Our deal reflects the creative ways we are working with content partners to expand the profile and the number of choices our subscribers can watch instantly over the Internet, in addition to the 100,000 titles we offer on DVD through the mail.”
Netflix also said that as part of the deal it will offer a Starz Play-only subscription for $7.99 a month.

VOD content is usually made available after one month the same movie released in DVD, it will be old news by the time it hits the VOD slot. The studio is about making more money out of any deliverable formats as long as it’s well secured. VOD content is time sensitive and viewers do not get to own the content once the time frame is expired. If the movie roused their interest, they are more likely to claim ownership with physical disc, just like rental. But you can’t put the theory into test unless you make them the same day they are released on DVD.

Four new movies scheduled to release in DVD this month including The Brave one starring Jodie Foster, No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rendition starring Reese Witherspoon and Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton starring George Clooney, will be also available on Comcast VOD in HD with same-day DVD service. Cablevision also launched their DVD-VOD service with similar same-day feature on coming soon American Gangster and Elizabeth: The Golden Age with the exception that it’s on SD.

[via reuters]