YouTube’s movie rentals trial brought in just over $10,000. But rather than the failure some are describing it as, this is surely a big enough success to warrant a larger roll-out of the service in the future. But as usual, content is key.

YouTube Trials Rentals

YouTube has now officially entered the market for movie rentals, having offered movies from the Sundance Film Festival for $3.99 apiece for the ten days that the festival lasted.

YouTube has had a relationship with independent filmmakers for a while now, as it offers another opportunity for them to get their work out there and in the eye-line of a bigger audience. And audiences don’t come much bigger than YouTube’s.

The trial run has now ended and the results are in.

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Netflix’s streaming service, ‘Watch Instantly’, is becoming a bigger part of the company’s offering all the time. It’s adding 300 independent films to its lineup and boasting that almost half its subscribers now use this part of the service.

Watch Instantly

Netflix’s ‘Watch Instantly’ is the streaming service that comes free as a part of the DVD-by-mail subscription. And it’s a growing entity, becoming more popular and being added to more devices all the time.

Netflix’s ‘Watch Instantly’, with its 17,000 movies and TV episodes, is now available through a number of source, including the PS3 and Xbox 360 games consoles, and it could be coming to the Wii soon as well.

The last we heard of the service was early in January when Netflix announced a controversial new deal with Warner Bros. that sees DVD releases delayed by a month but more titles offered up for streaming. Which suggests where the future of Netflix lies.

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It took years to arrive, and months to be announced, but Apple has finally unveiled its new tablet PC, the iPad. But what does this device, targeted between the iPod Touch and Macbook, mean for online video. The jury is still out on that one.

The Apple iPad

Steve Jobs unveiled the new Apple iPad at a special media event on Wednesday. The iPad will comes in a number of different flavors, with 3G and HD capacity options. The basic spec list is below.

• 9.7-inch screen
• 0.5-inches thick
• 1.5 lbs heavy
• 802.11n Wi-Fi
• 1GHz Apple A4 chip
• Speaker & microphone
• Accelerometer & compass
• 10 hour battery life, one month in standby
• Starting price of $499

The bigger issue, and the reason this first-generation iPad has disappointed so many tech fans, is what it not included. You cannot multitask, there is no camera, no Flash support, and no USB or HDMI ports. Some of which will affect its abilities in regards to video.

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Is the free online video ride coming to an end? After months of hints and speculation, YouTube is experimenting with its first paid content. And Hulu is strongly rumored to be preparing to roll out a metered subscription service for some shows in the near future.

Paid Content

It would appear all media industries are starting to realize Web advertising dollars will only go so far, so the newspaper industry, music industry, and TV and film industries are looking at alternative ways of making the Internet pay.

Both YouTube and Hulu have been rumored to be seeking to add paid content to their line ups for a while, and while the Google-owned YouTube is now experimenting with this in a small way, Hulu is making bigger, more longterm plans.

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The ZeeVee ZvBox allows you to watch streaming online content from your computer on your home HDTV with a remote control.

What the ZeeVee System is All About

ZeeVee ZvBox allows you to stream any HD content from your computer to your HDTVs. It’s a clever system in which the computer broadcasts into the television via an unused cable channel.

Once running, you can basically sit on your couch and use the ZeeVee remote to view online content from your PC. Various sources of ZeeVee ZvBox content from your computer can include:

• Streaming television content from major networks, most in HD (e.g. shows from ABC online like ‘Lost’)
• Movie download services, like NetFlix and iTunes
• The computer’s DVD player, that can be controlled by the remote with any of your HDTVs
• Content from YouTube and BitTorrent peer-to-peer sites
• etc.

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There’s a definite move away from physical media to digital media. And a number of devices and delivery methods are contributing to the growth of this trend.

However, while Netflix is hoping to add another device to its distribution network, it’s still confident that physical media will last for another 20 years, with DVDs being mailed out until at least 2010.

Netflix Streaming

I’ve covered Netflix’s streaming service, ‘Watch Instantly’, quite extensively here on WebTVWire, because I believe it’s going to prove to be a major part of the online video sector going forward.

Netflix has recently caused controversy by forging a new deal with Warner Bros. which sees new releases held back on DVD by a month but more of the company’s titles being available to stream. Thus proving the way the company sees things going.

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Sherwood is better known for its high quality audio equipment, but it has recently crossed over into the Internet set-top-box space mixing high quality audio and high definition internet TV.

As an amplifier the Sherwood box packs the goods with 700 watts of amplification, a pair of coaxial audio inputs, three HDMI 1.3 inputs, one Toslink input, and support for Dolby Volume, Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD Master high-res audio formats.

Hate those excessively loud adverts? Well the Netboxx also has Dolby Volume which eliminates volume fluctuations between channels, commercials and between Internet sites.

It also has an FM radio tuner built in.

So it’s got sound covered, but what can it play?

Internet TV

The Netboxx can connect directly to the internet via Ethernet or wireless connection and gives you access to a suite of online video content.

• Search and watch videos from the major video sites including YouTube, Daily Motion and Myspace.
• Rent and buy online movies to download from Cinema Now
• A variety of video and live stream from various websites.
• Shoutcast support for online radio.

PlayOn Support

That’s not a bad round-up of online video content to start with but the NetBoxx also supports PlayOn. For an extra $40 for the third party PlayOn service you can get access to Hulu, Netflix, CBS, CNN, ESPN, and Amazon Video On Demand.
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