As I mentioned yesterday, internet movie channel Epix launched this weekend. The TV channel is available to Verizon FiOS customers, who can also login to the EpixHD web site to watch dozens of movies including new releases such as Iron Man and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as well as older, more obscure titles including Bubba Ho Tep and Son of Rambow.

If you don't have Verizon FiOS you can request a 3-day weekend trial of the service, but I'm not entirely sure what the point is, since Epix doesn't plan to launch a web-only version anytime soon. Perhaps they're hoping you'll contact your local cable, satellite, or other TV provider and request they add Epix to the lineup.

If your invitation hasn't come through yet, you can take solace in the fact that I did score an invite. OK, that may not be much comfort, but I did manage to grab a bunch of screenshots of the user interface. It's kind of a mixed bag right now. The search function works quite nicely and you can click the watch button from the drop-down menu that appears when you're searching for a movie -- if the movie is available. Unfortunately, there are a ton of listings for movies that you can't actually watch yet, including Star Trek, GI Joe, and The Godfather I, II, and III.

You can also browser for movies by most watched, newest, genre, or other collections. You can also see all the movies from A to Z.

Browsing is sort of a cumbersome task though, since you have to scroll through thumbnails of movie posters. If it's not clear what movie you're looking at, you can mouse over the cover to see the title, but it may take a moment for the title to show up. And in the genre section, many movies are listed more than once (for example, the same title might show up in comedy, award winners, and action). And it's clear the web site wasn't really designed for geeks, because the sci fi category is dead last, which means you have to do a lot of scrolling before you get to it.

On the bright side, video quality was pretty good and you can even click a button to check your bitrate and other settings, which are automatically adjusted based on your internet connection settings.

Three movie studios have banded together to launch a new premium movie channel called Epix. The project was first announced in January. Eventually the network will be available from cable and satellite providers, but today Epix launched in private beta as a web site. Which makes sense, because the idea behind Epix has always been to offer HD video content both through the TV channel and over the web, Hulu-style.

Epix is a partnership between Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. The goal is to offer the network for a low fee to cable and satellite providers so that Epix can be included in your basic programming package at no extra charge. Subscribers will then also have access to the movies online. In 720 resolution. Ad-free.

NewTeeVee reports that there are about 100 films available to private beta users today, including Iron Man. The video player is based on Flash and streams content at up to 3Mbps. There's also a social element to the video player that lets you schedule simultaneous viewings with up to four friends over the internet.

Incidentally, Epix never got around to purchasing the Epix.com domain name from its current owners. Instead, the site is hosted at EpixHD.com.