Amazon Video on Demand in HD

The options for HDTV movie viewing keep growing. Some might say it’s been a long time coming but finally Amazon’s Video on Demand service is offering some HD movie titles. The service goes out to several consumer devices including IPTV by Panasonic. 

Amazon’s VoD service has launched up to 500 TV shows and movies in full HD glory with more to be added shortly. You can rent your Amazon vide HD features through your TiVo HD or Series 3 PVRs, Roku Digital Video Players, Sony Bravia Internet Video Link and those new Panasonic VieraCast IPTVs. HTPC users via Windows or Mac will also get the HD movie treatment via the Amazon.com website. 

No big surprise with pricing. It’s a bar that’s already been set with HD movie rentals running $3.99 or $4.99 depending on how recent a feature. TV shows purchases will cost $2.99 each. At this time HD movie purchases aren’t available. 

Several studios have jumped on board including Warner, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount and Universal Pictures. The video resolution depending on your device will be up to 720P. The one drawback is that the audio is only 2.0 stereo. TiVo has said that a majority of titles will playback in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound its boxes. 

While this makes Amazon even more competitive against Netflix, for the fussy seeking movie perfection it’s still far from the pristine quality you get from a Blu-ray disc.