“Our alliance with Vudu further demonstrates LG’s commitment to delivering the ultimate HD viewing experience, by providing instant access to more 1080p movie content than ever before,” said Peter Reiner, senior VP of marketing and strategy at LG Electronics USA. “Vudu highlights the superb video quality of our ‘Full HD’ sets with NetCast Entertainment Access, while providing consumers with access to thousands of HD movies with the touch of a button.”

Alain Rossmann, Vudu CEO, added, “Together, LG’s broadband HDTVs and the Vudu service will set the industry standard for easy access to on-demand HD movies. Vudu is blazingly fast on LG’s broadband HDTVs and makes discovering and watching new HD movies a truly exciting and fun user experience.”

Two new models convert the data-laden light pulses into electrical signals suitable for home consumption and measure a scant 1.25×8.5×5.5-inches and 2.5x9x8.25-inches from Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola, respectively; good news for space-conscious apartment dwellers. The good news for installers is that these new boxes are easier to install.

LG Electronics said Thursday it has started shipping a pair of flat-panel TVs that are among the first with built-in capability to stream movies from the Netflix online service.

The 47-inch 47LH50 ($2,100 suggested retail) LCD TV and 50-inch plasma 50PS80 ($2,100), which were introduced at International CES, are FullHD 1080p models incorporating Netflix instant-streaming software. The software enables access to the Internet-based movie-rental content without the need of external devices, other than an in-home broadband network.

Two additional models with the feature — a 42-inch 42LH50 LCD TV ($1,700)and 60-inch 60PS80 plasma set ($3,200) — are slated to ship this summer, LG said.

The models include what LG calls NetCast Entertainment Access.