DIRECT DOWNLOADING OF MOVIES and other digital media advanced another step during the past ten days.  Firegeezer readers already knew this was coming because we’ve been talking about it.  Now we are watching it happen.

Netflix announced last week that they will immediately begin selling a set-top box that will allow their subscribers to stream videos directly from Netflix’ website to their television set.

The device is about the size of a paperback book and you plug the output connection to your television.  It is WiFi compatible, so you don’t need to hardwire it to your computer for the streaming of the program.  Netflix is initially offering 10,000 movies and tv episodes from its library for the service.

There are two financial expenditures needed by the subscriber.  First is a mandatory purchase of the “box” for $100.  Next is the “unlimited” subscription of $8.99 a month to use it.  But there are no other charges.  People who already have the unlimited service from Netflix can plug right in and play…. it’s the same service, just skipping the snail mail part and no returns necessary.

The box is made and sold directly by Roku and really is quite small, 5 in. by 5 in. and is HD-ready, once Netflix decides to download the HD versions of its library.  Within a year there will be other brands of receivers on the market which will bring the price down a bit.  Netflix is already working with four other manufacturers that are getting ready to enter the market.

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Blockbuster unveiled on Wednesday their new in-store kiosk that will download movies onto the customer’s own portable storage device.  Their pricing structure is similar to Netflix’ at $10 monthly, but initially you have to visit the store to download your movie, which will take about two minutes.  However, Blockbuster expects to get that down to 30 seconds shortly.

It’s advantage over the downstreaming service is that you can carry the movie with you and view it whenever and wherever you choose, such as when you are away from home on a trip.

Blockbuster will soon be introducing its own version of the at-home streaming service that they are calling Movielink.  So there will be two choices available for downloading delivery.  Beginning in June they will operate the kiosks in a select number of stores to smooth out the kinks before going nationwide with them.

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