This week's installment of How Would You Change over on Engadget Classic involves the first dedicated set-top-box to enable Netflix streaming right to your TV. Did you pony up $99 for one of these things? If so, head on over and let the world know if that was a good move.

[Via Slashdot]

DVD rental kiosks have been lighting up pharmacies and supermarkets across the US, but it seems that UKers and Irish lads / dames will soon have the great, great privilege of interfacing with Movie Booths in the near future. This particular unit doesn't seem all too different from other variations we've seen, boasting a simple touchscreen display and a built-in android tasked with fetching your selected title and spitting it out for a nominal (read: undisclosed) fee. Apparently, trials have been deemed a success in outlets like Tesco, Centra and Applegreen, thus paving the way to see these pop up everywhere by the year's end. Any chance we'll see a Blu-ray Disc or two popped in there?

[Via Pocket-lint]

Given Netflix's blatant plunge into the world of online content delivery, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the outfit's execs understand that physical media is at risk. Sure, DVD rentals far outnumber online rentals today, but Netflix is assuming that its DVD business could peak in around five to ten years. In a brief interview this week, CEO Reed Hastings told investors that "everybody peaks sometime," but he did note that Blu-ray was apt to make the "DVD ecosystem stronger." Even though the company is definitively moving at least some of its attention to online streaming, it's still quite aways from delivering a "standalone streaming service." On a slightly different note, we also learned that Intel-based Macs would be able to tap into the firm's "Watch Now" service "later this year," but unfortunately, it didn't get any more specific than that.

[Image courtesy of ANPark]

Thanks to the fiber optic connections that connect nearly 12 million of Japan's 48 million households, video rental giant Tsutaya is probably laughing at Netflix's silly set-top box as it launches its Tsutaya TV HD download-on-demand rental service. Based on the acTVila service (a joint venture supported by Sony, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi, movies can download directly to connected HDTVs. Transformers, Heroes, Lost and Desperate Housewives will be among the first titles available in a library expected to grow to 2,000 titles by year-end, targeting older customers between their 40s and 50s, as opposed to the company's main in-store customers in their 20s. Full-length flicks run 735 yen (about $7), with a 48-hour rental period. Sure would be nice to have a standard feature set for digital downloads on this side of the Pacific, our jealousy threat level is: high.

Read - Japan's top film rental chain offers high-definition downloads
Read - Tsutaya To Offer 2,000 Video Titles On Demand Via Internet TV

We'd love to tell you all of this is simply a bad dream, but unfortunately for us, it's not. For whatever reason, Staples has agreed to start stocking 24 to 26 different newer DVD releases at a time "in standalone displays at the front of its stores." We're not talking about your standard discs, however -- we're talking about those Flexplay units that vanished completely years ago (or so we thought). For those who need a refresher (that's just about everyone, right?), these time-limited discs only function for 48 hours after they've been removed from their sealed packages, creating coasters after two days. This go 'round, Flexplay is pushing the recycling aspect while Staples is hoping that business owners pick up a title or two next time they come in looking for pens and paper shredders. Even more absurd? The $4 to $6 price tag on each.

[Via PCWorld]

One thing's for certain: VUDU doesn't let a firmware update get stale. Just two months after v1.3 hit the scenes, v1.5 has already been detailed / spotted. The big hitter in this update is the Discounted Extended Rentals, which enables users to extend the viewing window of a 24 / 48-hour rental within seven days after the conclusion of the original rental. Once extended, you get the same "privileges" as before -- you can store it for up to 30 days with 24 / 48-hours to watch it once you've started it. The rub is the pricing: you only get $2 off when extending $5.99 HD rentals, $1 off most everything else and $0.50 off of $0.99 rentals. Oh, and you can only extend once. Other changes include full-screen trailers, parental controls for browsing and revised sort functionality. Check the read link for the full changelog, and feel free to twiddle your thumbs waiting for the update to be passed on to your STB.

[Via Yahoo]

When Blu-ray hits the food mart, you know it has gone big time. DVDPlay just coined itself the "first rental kiosk operator to offer Blu-ray Discs," as it laid out a plan to shove BD flicks into its machines as early as June 10th. Vanilla DVDs will, of course, continue to be offered alongside the newcomers, and best of all, the rental fee for Blu-ray Discs won't be a penny more than what is already charged for DVDs ($1.49). Those with DVDPlay kiosks around can inspect their local machines for Untraceable and Men in Black in under a fortnight, as those two are specifically noted as titles that will likely be offered up early on.

[Via TheManRoom]

Blockbuster hasn't purchased Circuit City yet, but that's not stopping it from trying out the electronics retail market. The company's running several different kinds of test stores in the Dallas area, one of which offers technology for watching movies, like new HDTVs. According to the CEO, this effort is separate from the proposed CC buy, and includes test stores that open early so people can rent movies on their way to work, include coffee and soft drinks, or entertain kids with Rock Band (win). Beyond just its upcoming download service and PS3 Blu-ray kiosks, expect to see changes coming to your neighborhood video rental spot very soon.

Details surrounding Netflix's upcoming set-top box partnership with LG are still scarce, but that hasn't stopped it from announcing similar plans with four other unnamed hardware manufacturers that it expects will sell "millions" of devices per year. Feel free to guess, but the only details available are that the fourth company is a small one likely to launch sooner than Q4, while the other three (including LG) will turn on Netflix functionality in some of their devices in the fourth quarter. It's unlikely to wash away the bad taste of an HD price hike, but we like imagining that all the hardware needed to connect Netflix's all-you-can-eat streaming movie service to our HDTV is already in the living room (Xbox 360 & PS3, we're looking at you).

We're not exactly sure what Blockbuster's saying here outside of what's already been said -- after all, the rental chain chose to back Blu-ray eons ago -- but nevertheless, a new release from the company is trumpeting the expansion of Blu-ray all across the US and Canada. As of this week, BD Discs will be available in every single corporate store in the US and Canada (along with select franchise locations), and to entice you further, it's setting up more Blu-ray kiosks featuring a 42-inch HDTV and a PlayStation 3. Additionally, the firm's by-mail service has had a BD preference option added so users can "automatically indicate that they want to receive all available movies in the high-definition format." We certainly dig the sound of that last part.

[Image courtesy of Portfolio]

Buy a new HDTV / projector for the big game(s)? Pssh. Why do that when you can just rent your way to impressing those fair-weather friends of yours? Hot on the heels of Selection Sunday comes fresh PR from Projector123, which is hopping on the rental bandwagon in hopes that jazzed up fans will want something more than they've got right now in order to enjoy the upcoming March Madness. Best of all, the bulk of these games will be broadcast in HD over the air, so picking up an HDTV with a built-in tuner or a projector with a standalone tuner would enable you to catch most of the action without forking out for HD service (or going into debt for a swank new display). 'Course, we'd suggest putting the cash you'd spend on a rental into an entirely new set -- after all, how will you honestly ever look at that 19-inch CRT after watching the Final Four on an 82-inch projection screen?

IFC Entertainment has entered a two-year exclusive rental agreement with Blockbuster. What's interesting is that it shows the new face of media today: Blockbuster gets a 60-day exclusive rental window covering both physical and digital rental, and the new title will not be available for retail sale in any format during this period. After the first 60-days, Blockbuster retains exclusive physical rental rights for three years. Sounds like a great deal for Blockbuster, and it should definitely give them a shot in the arm in their independent offerings. Meanwhile, those of us hoping see a raft of indies up for rent via other mechanisms just cried a little.

Granted, Netflix did warn us that renting HD DVDs from it would become a lesson in futility in due time, but we're receiving multiple reports that the company has already began switching queued HD DVD titles to vanilla DVDs. If this is going on en masse, that's a pretty quick changeover, to say the least. So, dear readers, have any of your HD DVDs mysteriously morphed into regular DVDs overnight? Sound off below!

[Thanks, Chris and Aaron]

In the aftermath of yesterday's blockbuster (ahem) move by Netflix to only stock Blu-ray titles in the future, we heard quite a bit of ranting that contained words like "finished" and "canceled." Still, we're interested in utilizing our super-duper scientific polling mechanisms to truly get a gauge on how many cancellation e-mails Netflix can expect thanks to its decision. Don't be left out!