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.

The Internet Movie Database turned 19 yesterday. If you're scratching your head wondering how the IMDb can be older than the web, you'll notice that the first initial is I, not W. That's because the iconic destination for information about films and TV shows actually predates the web.

In fact, the earliest version of the technology behind the IMDb was a set of scripts for searching the USENET group rec.arts.movies. The IMDb wasn't even named yet, but it was already a work in progress on October 17, 1990.

The web site today is a bit more full featured. Not only can you get biographies for actors, directors, writers, and producers, as well as biographies, filmographies, and brief descriptions of movies, but you can also get TV listings, movie rankings, entertainment news, message boards, and the ability to watch some movies and TV shows from the site.

[via TechCrunch]

Jinni is a movie recommendation engine that helps you find films based on a number of factors. You can sort by genre, plot, mood, time/period, target audience or other factors. Probably the coolest feature is the "more like it" function which helps you find movies that you'd probably like based on the movie you're currently looking at. It's kind of like Netflix recommendations without that whole Netflix movie rental part.

Last time we checked out Jinni, the service was still in private beta. The Jinni team recently removed the "private" portion and launched a public beta. That means anyone can use Jinni without registering or signing in. Registered users do get a couple of perks like he ability to add titles to your favorites or wish list, create profiles, and connect with other users. You can also view your "movie personality" based on your preferences.

Users can also share their Jinni actions on Facebook and Twitter. Jinni isn't an online video site that lets you watch videos. Rather, once you find titles you like, Jinni directs you to sources where you can purchase or view the films including Netflix, Amazon, and Jaman.

Hot on the heels of today's iTunes 9 announcement, I've been busy at Download Squad's international outpost to take a look at some of the newer features in this update to one of the most well-known apps around.

It maybe be at version 9 - and Apple's hype machine is running at full-pelt - but is it any good? Join me as I run through an evening with the latest version of iTunes.

YouTube's most popular content has always been user-generated, with a lot of self-produced stars making a name for themselves on the site. People go there to watch the latest viral videos, and maybe TV shows that haven't yet been taken down due to copyright. That's why it might sound strange that YouTube is reportedly getting into the business of streaming Hollywood movies, a la Hulu or Netflix. According to the Wall Street Journal, heavy-hitting movie studios like Sony and Warner Brothers are already in talks with YouTube.

Streaming rentals would be available for a limited time, and would either cost a flat fee (like iTunes) or be ad-supported (like Hulu). The WSJ speculates that $4 would be the price to rent a new release. Although this squares with what iTunes charges, iTunes movies are downloadable, and don't necessarily need a speedy internet connection like streaming does. YouTube is no-commenting the story, except to say that they're developing their relationships with movie studios.

[via Wired]

ScreenTunes is a music search engine that lets you find, purchase, and stream songs from the web. Of course, none of those things makes the site unique, but here's what sets ScreenTunes apart: It lets you search for songs featured in a film by entering a movie title.

Just make sure to click the Movie button below the search box and then enter a title. The web site doesn't have a comprehensive list of movies, but it does seem to have a lot. And you can find a number of songs featured in each film, along with links to purchase the tracks from Amazon or iTunes or stream them for free using an audio player powered by Grooveshark.

[via CNET]

The file format offers reasonably high quality videos at a reasonably small file size, which makes it good for digital distribution. Of course, the same can be said of WMV, Quicktime, and other video fromats. What sets the DivX solution apart is that it uses a domain-based DRM approach that lets you transfer files between your devices or burn a movie to a DVD. You won't be able to upload the file to a peer to peer network (or rather, the people who download it won't be able to watch it," but you do have a bit more freedom with protected DivX files than you do with files you download from the iTunes or Amazon video stores.

Film Fresh has about 600 DivX titles from Hollywood studios right now, including a mix of newer and older movies including Iron Man, Watchmen, and Flashdance The site also has a large collection of independent films.

Back in 2006, Netflix launched a contest to improve its movie recommendation algorithm. To win the Netflix Prize, a team has to improve the accuracy of the Netflix movie recommendations by 10% or more. The prize is a million dollars. Now it looks like one team may have won the contest, with a score of 10.05%. Although several teams had come close, nobody was able to hit the 10% mark until members of four top teams joined forces. It's not over yet, though. Other teams now have 30 days to best the 10,05% result, with the prize going to the best overall score.

BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos, the first team to top 10%, includes researchers from Yahoo and AT&T, and many of the team members have collected Netflix's Yearly Progress Prize for their attempts in previous years. The rules of the contest require that the winning team explain how their algorithm works, and allow Netflix to use their work. This victory may have come sooner than Netflix expected: the contest was scheduled to run until 2011 if no one could come up with a suitable solution before then.

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.

Over the last few years YouTube has successfully demonstrated that people will spend countless hours watching short user generated videos. But you know what else people like to watch? Professionally produced dramas, comedies, documentaries, cartoons, and news programs. Rival video site Hulu may not have anywhere near the audience that YouTube has, but it's choc full of professional video content (that you can only see in the US for the most part), which is much easier to monetize.

Now YouTube is stepping up its game, by offering content from TV and movie studios in a new section labeled "Shows." According to the New York Times, Google has signed agreements to distribute content from Sony, Lions Gate, CBS, MGM, and other studios.

The move will allow YouTube to place pre-roll, post-roll, and interstitial ads in video content, something it doesn't do with user generated videos.

Right now, the selection of TV shows and movies on YouTube is rather sad. Most of the content consists of old programs that you probably forgot existed, plus one new show from CBS: Harper's Island. Since Fox and NBC are the driving forces behind Hulu, it's not likely that we'll see their content on YouTube anytime soon. And there's talk that ABC could joing Hulu in the not too distant future.

If you've got a huge movie collection, whether it's physical DVDs and Blu-Rays or just movies ripped to a hard drive, Multiplex can help you keep track of all of them on your Mac. Its Leopard-like interface uses Apple's latest Core Animation improvements and looks like an even more epic version of Cover Flow. Instead of a pile of CDs, like in iTunes, you're looking at a wall of DVDs.

Multiplex is pretty sweet, but it's not at version 1.0 yet, and there are areas where it could get sweeter. It will recognize DVDs when you insert them, up to a point. Although the search box is auto-populated with the name of the DVD, you still have to search by name or UPC for the right movie. Delicious Library creator Wil Shipley solved this problem by turning the built-in iSight into a barcode scanner. It will be interesting to see what Multiplex comes up with for quicker entry of DVDs.

Also, all the visual effects can be a drawback if your Mac isn't top-of-the-line. My last-year's-model Macbook choked a little bit once I got my library up to larger sizes. For serious movie fans with serious machines, though, the visual appeal alone makes Multiplex worth a look. The metadata search also works rather well, and it returned the movie I was looking for as the first result every time. Bottom line: if you're a DVD collector, you can trust Multiplex to get the cataloguing job done.

The last time Download Squad took a look at MyMediaPlayer, Christina praised the concept of an Adobe AIR-based Hulu viewer, and the ability to watch shows and search for new ones at the same time. She also knocked MyMediaPlayer because it only showed the embedded versions of Hulu videos, which meant a serious restriction on viewing quality.

MyMediaPlayer 2 fixes that issue, adds Linux support, and is visually more appealing than the previous version.

Some of the new features in MyMediaPlayer 2 include a guide page for quick browsing of shows and movies, a full-screen TV listing mode, and, most importantly, full-screen video.

Since MyMediaPlayer shows Hulu content uncut and with all the ads, the main incentive to use it over your browser is the addition of nice little UI touches like these. It also only shows only full-length movies and shows, so you don't have to browse Hulu's endless clips for full episodes they don't carry.

MGM, Paramount, and Lionsgate are banding together to form a new TV channel called epix that will show films from each studio as soon as 9 months after the theatrical release. There's just one catch: No cable or satellite companies have agreed to carry the channel just yet.

But here's where things get interesting. The three studios, which are working together under the name Studio 3 Networks, plan to launch a subscription based web site that will stream on-demand movies starting in May. At launch, movies including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Iron Man, Pink Panther 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail will be available.

In other words, the new epix web site will be a lot like Hulu, except the films will be more current and viewers will have to pay to watch them. So umm, it won't be that much like Hulu at all. But it does raise an interesting question - if Studio 3 Networks doesn't manage to sign a broadcast carriage, could the group still make money on a subscription based web site? Sure, people are used to getting online video for free, but personally I'd rather pay a nominal monthly fee to watch on-demand movies from a site like epix than pay an arm and a leg to subscribe to a cable channel on top of a monthly cable bill. Or at least, I would if epix had films from more than three studios.

In related news, while looking for any sort of publicity photos of epix, I discovered that epix.com, epix.net, and epix.tv among other web domains are already registered. So it's not clear exactly what the URL of the new page will be.

Jinni is a new web service that helps you find movies using a number of different tools. You can just enter the name of a movie if you want some information about it. Or you can browser for movies by looking through categories like mood, plot, genre, time/period, or place.

There are two things that make Jinni really stand out from other movie search tools though. First, once you find a movie you like, you can click a button to discover "more like it." While the engine which determines that if you like Iron Man you might also like X-Men isn't perfect, it is pretty good.

Second, instead of just typing a movie title in the search bar, you can also start entering search queries like "sci fi distopia," or "romantic tragedy." Thumbnail results are sized according to relevenace to your search terms. You can also click the Story Tuners button to adjust your search using criteria like little or well known; light or serious.

Jinni doesn't currently let you watch, buy, or download movies directly from its page. But the service does provide links to rent or buy the movie from Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon, Movielink or other sites, including Hulu.

Jinni is currently in private beta testing, but I received an email with an invite just a few seconds after entering requesting one.

[via ReadWriteWeb]