Great list of sites, thank you!

Xbox Live.

Although you might lump this in with Netflix, because you can watch Netflix streaming movies over it. You can also download Xbox Live's video content a la carte (Netflix is unlimited streaming for a monthly fee, but their library so far ain't great).

At Microsoft's E3 showing they didn't say too much about what this would mean, but they stated they'd integrate Zune Marketplace and its movies and music into Xbox Live. They also showed what the upcoming Xbox interface for this would look like, integrated with Facebook and Twitter and all that. Zune stuff was clearly visible.

What they didn't say (or I haven't read anywhere, maybe somebody can provide a link) is how the subscription model would work...like if you pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited access, as Zune and Netflix are now. If that happens, they could become one of, if not the, major player overnight. I think there's over 13 million Xboxes out there, last I read, and most of those owners are on Xbox Live.

This was a nice selection, with a couple of things I'd never heard of before, so thanks for it.

But in the future, if you do this kind of thing again, would it be too much trouble to have links? Yes, we can all Google this stuff, but that's just adding an unnecessary step. Thanks!

I actually find that Netflix's selection skews toward classics and documentaries as well as foreign movies. Sometimes I want to find a big Hollywood hit and I'm disappointed at the paucity of their Hollywood content. It's got a lot of "Ghost Rider"s and not a lot of "Iron Man"s. Still, even with its supposedly limited selection, I have 300 movies on my Instant Queue! Eek! Half of them are documentaries, btw. My Roku player might as well be called the Documentary Machine.

It's full service at this gas station: I just went in there and added links to all those sites, plus made a couple of other tiny fixes.

That's how it is sometimes on the Internet, where nothing is ever finished. We had to put the issue up and I had to put my kids to bed. Now the sprats are dozin' and the article's got its HTML, just an hour or so late.

Andrew O'Hehir: "You might argue that that the big player in online DVD rental doesn't really belong on this list, given that Netflix definitely doesn't want you to watch movies on your computer screen."

I am not sure that's true at all -- the company's name IS "net" flix, after all. Netflix is positioning itself to do business in all realms of movie delivery. As long as you have a subscription, they make money whether or not they're physically sending you stuff in the mail.

Andrew O'Hehir: "Still, it will deliver a motley selection of 12,000 films and TV episodes through the Internet to various "Netflix-ready devices," including TiVo, the Roku box, and certain TV sets and Blu-ray players."

....and to your computer screen. In seconds. I use Netflix all the time. The crop of available titles changes around every week, so there's always something new to see. They also "recommend" a different variety of movies based on which movies you've seen and rated positively, alerting you to various titles you might not have heard of.

I've seen some really great stuff through Netflix that I doubt I'd ever have come across otherwise. One standout: "Dear Zachary," which ought to at least be nominated for Best Documentary in the 2009 Academy Awards. (Have you seen that, Andrew O'Hehir?)

What I really appreciate about Netflix's streaming movies is that they take up very little of the computer's CPU. (Check your Task Manager in Windows.) I am frequently stuck working long hours in front of the computer, doing tedious visual-oriented projects. Netflix has many, many movies available that are either documentaries or heavily dialogue-based. (By the way, if you judge movies solely on the quality of their dialogue, the 1940s-1950s blow away all other decades.)

Andrew O'Hehir: "At the moment, content skews heavily toward mainstream Hollywood releases, but I'm not a Netflix subscriber..."

There are a lot of documentaries and foreign films available. Plenty of indie movies too. Lots of classics (personal favorite: film noir), TV shows, PBS shows, you name it. Bill Moyers' "The Power of Myth" series, every Kevin Smith Q&A/monologue (very entertaining, unlike his movies), full seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Werner Herzog flicks, "Californication," Frontline specials, travelogues, etc.

Andrew O'Hehir: "...the last thing I need in my household is more DVDs!"

At least you have an easy way to get rid of them when you're done. Drop them in the mail. Netflix's mailing set-up is as brilliantly consumer-friendly as AOL's ubiquitous free-program discs were throughout the 1990's (but far less annoying).

O'Hehir: "What I Might Have Watched: "Superbad," because I never saw it and it looks awesome."

Overrated, in my book, but worth it for Emma Stone's supercute performance.

Most of the streaming videos from Netflix are the low quality, low budget variety. These are movies I wouldn't pay to see at anytime. Further, I've been a heavy Netflix user over the years and have run out of movies I'd like to see from them. For instance, I've 5 in Q of which I've been waiting for for several weeks, movies I could rent from Hollywood Vid. On the other hand, I've 65 movies in Q I'd like to watch, many I've learned about from you Andrew, but are not on DVD and are ones I'd pay to have streamed.

Additionally, I've found Hulu to be great for TV and lousy for quality movies.

Plenty of people are locked down to one provider. Many providers have data caps. Not everybody can get acceptable broadband for watching movies, even in densely populated areas. I know plenty of folks that are limited to 384K DSL. I also know some people that are still on dial-up with no ability to get anything else.

People certainly watch butchered, badly pirated clips from feature films by the gazillions...

I would suggest learning a little bit about the subject matter before reporting on it. You can find quality DVD rips on YouTube. I have never run across a butchered and murky pirated video, unless you are watching a Turkish film with German dubbing and Hindi subtitles.