Panasonic and Acetrax announce on-demand movie service

Panasonic has announced an innovative new download service, which allows users of its Viera Cast TVs to stream and download movies from the cloud.

Acetrax is the company behind the VoD app which is now available via Panasonic's Viera Cast web portal.

At launch there are around 20,000 titles available and three of the major studios have signed up. These are: Paramount, Warner and Universal.

Acetrax is billing the service as something which is going to take the likes of Sky, BT and Virgin, with Leslie Golding, CMO of Acetrax, explaining:

"Connected TVs such as Viera Cast enabled Panasonic VIiera TVs will change the way in which customers will buy and consume movies in much the same way as we saw with music downloads.

"What sets Acetrax apart is its ability to offer Hollywood movies as well as content from local partners across Europe that is tailored and specific to them."

As there are now hard-drive capabilities on Panasonic's TV range, the service is based purely in the cloud and has a digital chest system.

Up in the clouds

You can log into the service from four different machines and each movie you buy will come with a DRM-wrapped download that you can watch on your PC or Mac.

Prices are dependent on how new the movie is, but you are looking at £10.99 to buy a new title – which is stored in an online archive and can be accessed at any time – and £3.49 for renting.

Currently the service is only available with the latest range of Viera Cast TVs from Panasonic (the G20 range and upwards) but the company is looking to offer Acetrax through its Viera Cast Blu-ray machines this September.

Movies that are ready now to download include:Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Up In The Air.