Online movie rental service Tsutaya Online Corp has launched an HDTV video download service in Japan that enables consumers to copy HD content to removal media including Blu-ray Discs.

The company will add a download service to the streaming video delivery service it is operating through its "Tsutaya TV on acTVila" on the "acTVila" portal site.

The service will distribute of about high definition 400 movies and TV dramas including some of Hollywood?s Major Film Studios? products in the world's first.

The company has received permission from The Marlin DRM Group - an alliance formed to create specifications for an open standard interoperable Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform for consumer electronics - to allow customers to copy high-definition videos into removable discs including BD-RE/BD-R (AACS protected) and DVD-R DL (AVEREC with CPRM) discs as well as iVDR-S (SAFIA protected).

The "Tsutaya TV Sell-through Service" allows consumers to buy content that can be viewed for an indefinite period, it is possible to watch content downloaded to HDDs anytime and to export and store the video content onto Blu-ray Disc or iVDR-S up to two times. Pricing is 3,675 Yen per movie ($40.65) and 893 Yen per story ($9.9).

Furthermore, Tsutaya will offer "Tsutaya Download Rental Service" with viewing time limited to 48 to 72 hours. This service allows only video downloads to HDDs, and dubbing to recording media is not available. The average fee is 735 Yen for movies and 368 Yen for TV programs.

The video streams are encoded in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format at an average bit rate of 10Mpbs VBR (maximum 20Mbps), according to the company.

The company also plans to allow consumer to down-convert HDTV content to SD quality (VGA or QVGA) and record it on SD memory cards and Memory Stick PRO.

For additional information visit http://www.tsutaya.co.jp/ (Japanese)