Online movie seller CinemaNow recently unveiled a new service that allows customers to legally download a movie from the Internet and copy it onto a DVD that can be played on any standard DVD player. This new service is a major step for Hollywood as more movie and television studios are looking to offer movies and TV shows to consumers via the Web for playback on TVs and portable DVD players.
The service will first offer only 100 older titles, such as 2003's "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and 1992's "Scent of a Woman." The service is expected to grow, with some industry watchers predicting downloads could replace renters and retailers such as Blockbuster and Netflix in the $24 billion home DVD business.
Priced at $8.99 and up, downloads will include the movies plus the menus, games or director interviews that were part of the original DVDs. To protect against piracy, the technology allows users to burn only one copy. Downloading and burning one movie should take a few hours depending on content, broadband connections and other factors.
