streaming video

The movie rental company Redbox teamed up with Verizon last year to launch the invite-only beta of Redbox Instant, which is now opening its virtual scarlet-hued doors to all US subscribers. Redbox may be in for a tough fight against the likes of Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Hulu Plus, but the movie streaming service has a little somethin' that gives it a small edge over its competitors.

After a free one-month trial period, Redbox Instant costs $8 a month, which is the same subscription price as Netflix and Hulu Plus (Amazon's $79 per year fee is slightly cheaper). In addition to instant unlimited access to streaming movies, Redbox is offering four DVD credits at its kiosks, found at grocery stores and big box retailers nationwide. But it's important to remember that Redbox is missing a major component: TV shows.

The credits for physical DVDs are most likely offered to compensate for Redbox Instant's small library of movies online. Yet, despite the lack of older films, Redbox Instant has an impressive amount of some of the year's most popular blockbusters, like Argo, The Hunger Games, Brave, and The Dark Knight Rises.

In terms of how you can stream, Redbox offers an app for iOS and Android, plus Mac, PC, or Xbox 360.

We have more choices than ever when it comes to streaming movies online — will you choose Redbox Instant now that it's open for business?

Turn the car around; no need to go out to the nearest Redbox anymore, as the company's Redbox Instant arm is coming to Xbox 360 in the "very near future." Current participants in the Redbox Instant beta will receive an email invite to the Xbox Live app within weeks.

Redbox Instant monthly subscriptions are $8 per month for DVD rentals plus unlimited streaming or $9 per month for Blu-ray rentals plus unlimited streaming. In the Xbox Live app, users can also opt to purchase and rent new releases without signing up for the monthly service.

Between Netflix, Hulu Plus, and HBO Go, we've found plenty of ways to get your movie on through the Xbox console. Which service do you prefer?

Doing the "Which Streaming Service Can I Watch My Favorite Movie On?" routine has gotten tired — we want one place to find entertainment options rather than the app-to-app hopscotch that is Friday movie night. Enter M-GO, a new pay-as-you-go streaming media service that wants to be your homepage for movie and TV content.

Currently accessible on Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox browsers, as well as many streaming players and Blu-ray players, M-GO will also be preloaded on 2013 RCA, LG, Samsung, and Vizio smart TVs, with gaming console integrations and mobile apps coming soon.

How it works: Search the M-GO library for your movie or TV show of choice, then opt to rent (many films are $3, and the company hopes to have many titles on day of digital release) or purchase (around $14) the title. Should the program not be available for viewing through M-GO, it'll direct users to the external services where the movie or TV episode is available including Netflix, iTunes, and Hulu Plus.

Created in a partnership with DreamWorks and Technicolor, M-GO has major Hollywood backing, with licensing agreements with key studios including Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures, NBCUniveral, and Relativity Media. See ya, streaming media maze of 2012, not that we'll miss you.

During the WWDC keynote, Apple announced that the Fall launch of iOS 6 will include a major update to FaceTime, the brand's video calling service. The upgrade to the latest operating system will let FaceTime users place calls on their cellular network, rather than being restricted to WiFi-only calls. It's a great solution when a reliable WiFi network can't be found, but in this age of capped wireless data plans, will a couple — or even one — FaceTime calls devour your month's worth of data?

A monthly 5GB data plan on both AT&T and Verizon is $50 in addition to the talk and text plan of choice. While cellular FaceTime is only available on the iPhone 4S and new-generation iPad, for comparison, according to one test of an iPhone 4 FaceTime call, about 3MB of data were used per minute over 3G service. Using this rule, a one-hour FaceTime phone call would use a scant 0.175GB of data.

Keep reading to learn the price of FaceTime on 4G plans.

Former cable subscribers that fled the rigors of triple digit monthly bills for the comforts of their Xbox 360 console-based video streaming have a new app to add to their at-home entertainment options — Amazon Instant Video. Xbox Live Gold is required to access Amazon's library of 120,000 movies and TV episodes and Amazon Prime members get the added benefit of an extra 17,000 instant videos to choose from. The app even includes Kinect functionality so you can shout and wave your viewing choices without searching for the remote or game controller.

Amazon Instant Video isn't the only streaming option for Xbox users though; while services and entertainment channels may vary by region and country, these seven other Xbox Live apps may have you cutting the cable cord for good.

• HBO GO — If you're already an HBO cable subscriber, this will stream your favorite HBO programming directly into the Xbox dashboard.
• Hulu Plus — Catch up on a broad selection of network television programming and movies at $7.99 per month.
• Comcast Xfinity — Available to Xfinity TV subscribers, Xfinity On Demand brings the most current episode of shows, along with season archives, and movies to the Xbox Live dashboard.
• Vevo — Check out the latest music videos without cramming around a computer screen or worrying about software plug-ins.
• Verizon FiOS TV — Available in time for the holiday season, Verizon is slated to bring a selection of live TV channels to Xbox 360 that will also be integrated with Kinect.
• Netflix — Netflix has long been available on Xbox Live, but it's a classic complement to the slew of new programming on the platform. This may be the call to drop the DVD subscription as well.
• Youtube — Don't forget the viral videos. You can still view the buzz-worthy videos of the Internet with YouTube on Xbox.

Did you ditch cable TV in 2011? Don't worry about missing one of the biggest sports events of the year — the Super Bowl will be streamed online at NBCSports.com and NFL.com. Online viewers will also get the chance to see multiple camera angles and DVR-like controls in order to rewind exciting and important plays. What's more, if you have NFL Mobile from Verizon, you can stream the game on your mobile wherever you find a data or WiFi connection.

The NY Giants and New England Patriots battle it out at Super Bowl XLVI from Indianapolis on Feb. 5.

This Tuesday a major change (for the better) takes place on Xbox Live. With a revamp of the dashboard and the addition of media content partners, Microsoft hopes to turn the Xbox into the living room's primary entertainment hub. The free upgrade will push to all Xbox Live accounts Dec. 6, opening the gate to a larger world of media applications to be released in waves.

The initial media partners released alongside the software updates are Today from MSNBC, Epix, and changes to the Netflix and Hulu Plus dashboards. Look for other well-known partners and apps including TMZ, Verizon FiOS TV, Vevo, Vudu, and YouTube (finally!) to hit Xbox Live later this month. As with Hulu Plus and Netflix, many of these programming options will require a paid subscription.

The addition of a smartphone remote and voice-controlled Bing search bring an extra dash of competitive technology to Xbox. The Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone syncs to the larger onscreen console display and searches across the program partners for content, updates social statuses, and does something as basic as fast-forwarding through a movie. Kinect owners can also choose to speak their search queries and navigate the entire dashboard through voice.

Check out a gallery of images highlighting Xbox Live's new features and sleek dashboard here.

Now that we've canceled DVD rentals, cozying up to a particular movie also involves taking the time to find which media site actually streams the flick. Enter CanIStream.It, a search engine that browses the film databases of major online entertainment sources to let you instantly find your streaming options, if any are available.

Use the CanIStream.It service to search the film (TV shows aren't included yet) catalogs of iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Find out which viewing format is currently available for the title of choice by clicking on the four options: instant streaming, streaming rental, digital purchase, or DVD/Blu-ray purchase. When a film is available in each category, the site directly links you to the media source, so you can start watching immediately.

Netflix cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings issued an apology for customer confusion over its new pricing structure and announced a major change to the company's DVD service. In a few weeks, DVD users will welcome to their lives Qwikster, Netflix's rebranded mail service.

The CEO wrote: "We feel we need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolve, without having to maintain compatibility with our DVD by mail service . . . streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently."

Netflix and Qwikster will not be integrated; each website will be completely separate from the other. As a subscriber to both services, any changes to an account will need to be made to each website. If you want to remove a movie from your DVD Qwikster queue because it was just added to Netflix's streaming service, sign in to Qwikster and make the change.

Qwikster will also have an option to upgrade to a video games option, letting customers rent games for Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3. The Qwikster website is set to go live in a few weeks. Current DVD subscribers do not have to sign up again for the Qwikster service; it will soon just show up on a billing statement as a charge from Qwikster instead of Netflix. Does Netflix's split affect your account? Do you plan to stay with either Qwikster or Netflix streaming?