YouTube Rentals is now live, and one of the offerings is a selection of films that screened at Sundance this year (and last). Dig it:

As you may have heard, we recently introduced YouTube Rentals. We’re very excited about this new offering as it will add to the great selection of movies already available on YouTube, including a group of independent films we’d like to tell you about now.

Until January 31st, you can rent five feature films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals on YouTube. From last year’s documentary hit “The Cove” to selections from the brand new NEXT Category, there should be enough to keep you busy through the end of the Festival. The films available are:

“Children of Invention” explores the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a Chinese American family living in suburban Boston.

In “Homewrecker,” a prisoner on work release and a live-wire kook take a day-long ride in a seemingly stolen vehicle that neither of them will soon forget.

In “The Cove” an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Japan, and shine a light on a dark and deadly secret.

When humble Linas, kicked off of his friends couch and spurned by his lover, finds a forgotten van on a llama farm outside Seattle, he begins lurching east with nothing to lose in “Bass Ackwards”

In “One Too Many Mornings,” Fisher and Pete are two dudes with dude problems — one drinks too much and one just got cheated on by his girlfriend — and few prospects of helping each other out.

Head on over and check out the rentals. They’re 3.99 a piece looks like.

Foreigners rejoice! No more VPN tunneling and proxy hacks. If Netflix streaming is your bag, you might see it expand to your country in the second half of 2010. Here’s the word:

CEO Reed Hastings unveiled the company’s plans to take its business international next year—albeit streaming-only, not mail-order rentals. “We’re looking to the second half of 2010 to make our streaming offering international,” he said, during the company’s Q309 earnings call. “The plan is to start small in one market, prove out our model, and expand into other countries.”

The article also features some interesting statistics that Netflix has gathered about their customers. Netflix also estimates that postal costs for their operation will weigh in around $600 MILLION. Unreal. Read the full article at PaidContent – Netflix To Take Its Streaming Business International Next Year.

Well, the rumors were true. NBC/Universal just couldn’t stand watching those imaginary dollars slide on by, so they plan on charging for a service that has been free since it’s inception. It is sure to be a move that will annoy many, and probably nudge them to start looking for alternatives (legal or not). The deal:

“It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” he said. Carey said that while everyone cites the infamous Jeff Zucker quip that “We’re exchanging analogue dollars for digital dimes,” the industry continues to do exactly that. The strategy needs to be more than just fighting piracy and Google, he says.“I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” Carey said. “Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

AdVerse had a quick chat with Carey too and posed the question, when exactly does Hulu start charging then? Carey, who says he’s only been to one Hulu board meeting since arriving at News Corp., suggests there is still no timeline but supposes it’s at least in 2010. Carey says that while throwing up a pay-wall around all content is not the answer, it doesn’t mean there wont be fees for some specially-created content and TV previews. Windows are just around the corner. American Idol audition previews anyone? Mobile Hulu is another potential way of making money.

Aren’t the ads supposed to be there for this reason? I’d wager that with Hulu around people are appreciating the value of the content by not pirating it.

Still, a subscription model does seem inevitable as more content shifts towards being showcased online. We’ll be waiting for pricing and structure announcements next year. Read the full article at B&C: Chase Carey: Hulu to Charge in 2010.

That’s right, the genius that brought you Gremlins is back with a new webseries called “Splatter“, starring your favorite Goonie Corey Feldman. The series, produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman, will debut for free on Netflix (no account required). The first episode will go up on October 29th, with a second following on November 6th, and then the finale on November 13th (a Friday too, nice). Here’s some more info:

Directed by Joe Dante, “Splatter” is about a musical genius who accumulated as many hit records as he did enemies while climbing up the fame ladder. Johnny Splatter’s sudden death, ruled a suicide, brings a small circle of professional parasites and hangers-on to his Hollywood Hills mansion for the reading of his last will and testament.  But as his “frenmies” come to pick the bones clean, Johnny has returned for a deadly encore long after what they thought was his final curtain.

The Splatter website already has a trailer and some nice bonus features. Go check it out! Thanks to Hacking Netflix again – Netflix To Present Free Webisodes of ‘Splatter’ Starting on October 29th.

Thanks to Hacking Netflix for the tip.

Hacking Netflix has a short report on hooking up the web 2.0 film content browser Jinni with your Netflix account. Now that the service is open for a public beta, you can try it out. Here’s the word:

I’ve been playing with the beta of Jinni, a movie and TV show recommendation website that integrates nicely with your Netflix account. I’m always looking for new movies and shows to watch, and Jinni takes a different approach, letting you search for movies based on mood or plot.

Looks pretty slick. Makes you wonder if Netflix will gobble them up or try and form their own type of recommendation system. Read the full story at Hacking Netflix – Jinni Recommendation Site Launches Public Beta.

With the launch of Windows 7 only two days away, many happy Netflix campers will be relieved to know that the media center featured in the operating system has the bases covered. Engadget reports:

Those already upgraded to Windows 7 ahead of Thursday’s launch events (no, we’re not coming to your party) should find a Netflix button parked under the Movies section in Media Center starting today.

[...]

Not seeing it yet? Go to the Tasks –>Settings–>General–>Automatic Download Options and manually start an update there, the new tiles should arrive shortly.

Grab the popcorn and mute your IM account. Read the full article at Engadget, complete with pretty pictures – Windows 7 Media Center’s upgraded Netflix Watch Instantly interface now available.

Fans in 16 countries, including the UK, the US, Australia and India, will be able to watch the show at 0330 GMT.

It will be the band’s penultimate concert of the year.

YouTube said it would place adverts around the video “in the normal manner”, and that clips from the concert would be available on the site after the gig ends.

The site will also offer viewers the ability to chat to one another using Twitter, or to give money to Bono’s RED charity via a “donate now” button, while they watch the show.

If U2 is your bag, enjoy the stream on Sunday. Read the full article on the BBC – U2 gig to be streamed on YouTube.

Netflix has grown so quickly that you can’t be surprised some are still left clinging to the old ways of getting content to your eye balls. A writer for Time is one of them and this is what he has to say:

Beyond the mail delays and the botched orders, the lack of human interaction is the big problem with Netflix and its cyber-ilk. Thanks to the Internet, we can now do nearly everything–working, shopping, moviegoing, social networking, having sex–on one machine at home. We’re becoming a society of shut-ins. We deprive ourselves of exercise, even if it’s just a stroll around the mall, until we’re the shape of those blobby people in WALL•E. And we deny ourselves the random epiphanies of human contact.

Getting movies by mail is, Netflix hopes, just a stage between the Blockbuster era of video stores and the imminent streaming of movies. You can already get 12,000 Netflix titles on your TV (if you have a Blu-ray player or spring for a $100 Netflix box). So, O.K., soon there will be no more waiting for DVDs. But it’ll come at a price. You’ll be what the online corporate culture wants you to be: a passive, inert receptacle for its products.

I don’t really agree with most of it, but if there’s anything to take away from the article it’s that Netflix’s recommendation system could use some more work, and you’re a mindless lump of lard if you embrace simplified, direct, and active choices for accessing the one thing that really matters: content. Full article over at Time.

In another curious move by the fledgling Blockbuster, they plan on offering ARCHOS 10 netbooks in store for $299. The dirt:

Blockbuster will add $299 Archos 10 netbook computers to its product offerings at 1,000 of its U.S. locations.The Archos netbooks will include an embedded link to Blockbuster’s Web site.

At less than 2.8 pounds each, the mini laptops feature a 10-inch ultra-bright LED screen, 1GB RAM and a 160GB harddrive. They also come equipped with Windows XP and a built-in Web cam.

I think they’re going to need more than a link to their site. Thanks VidBiz.

Also, the company plans on offering Samsung Blu-ray players which will feature the ability to steam the Blockbuster On-demand titles. Check it:

Blockbuster has reached an agreement to have its on-demand titles playable through Samsung high-definition televisions and Blu-ray Disc players.Owners of Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home-theater systems will be able to video-stream Blockbuster OnDemand titles as soon as this fall, Blockbuster said in a statement today. As part of the agreement, Blockbuster will sell Samsung Blu-ray players at “thousands” of its stores, the company said.

The efforts of the largest U.S. movie rental company to boost sales of digital content mirror competitor Netflix, which reached a similar agreement with Sony for its Bravia televisions late last week.

Thanks again to VidBiz.