Amazon.com and TiVo begin testing today a service that allows users watch videos rented or bought over the internet directly on televisions.
The announcement from the two companies comes a day after Wal-Mart introduced a test version of its video download service, which is the first by a major retailer to have the backing of all Hollywood's major movies studios.
The Amazon / TiVo partnership extends the online retailer's Unbox download service, and takes it one step further than online video stores like Wal-mart's or Apple's iTunes, which are geared toward computers or portable devices.
Movies and TV shows from "Amazon Unbox on TiVo" will be available to download to a TiVo box from computers for playback on their television set.
"It's one thing for viewers to be looking at YouTube content online, but when it comes to full-length television and movies, for most people, it's not television until it's really on the TV," TiVo chief executive Tom Rogers said.
The test service comes as media and technology companies experiment with new ways to court viewers who split their time between viewing traditional media, surfing the internet and playing video games.
TiVo is available in Europe but its principal market is in the US. It offers customers a television set top box similar to the Sky Plus recorder available in the UK and Ireland.
The box allows viewers to search for and record digital programming from available television channels direct on the box's hard-drive.
The new system is expected to be available soon, on more than 1.5 million TiVo boxes with high-speed internet connections.
Major television and movie companies such as Universal, Warner Brothers, Fox and CBS are participating.
Observers will be keen to see if it poses a threat to the traditional DVD rental market, which is appears to have reached a peak in the US. The Unbox dioes not allow content to be burned onto DVD.