VUDU has announced that it will be starting a new movie streaming service from their website that will allow users to watch content directly from their browsers without requiring a VUDU set-top box, DVD player or VUDU enabled device. This should get the company more customers.

To use the new VUDU streaming service all you have to do is visit vudu.com, check out the selection available and purchase. Then you can start watching immediately. This will help VUDU compete with Netflix and Amazon, who both already have web browser streaming. The service will have the same titles found on the VUDU digital storefront but the quality of the video will be lower through web browsers.

Amazon has announced that it has some spare change and has agreed to buy up all the remaining shares of Lovefilm that it didn’t already own. The British company is a subscription-based movie rental and streaming service for the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Looks like Amazon might have the final piece in place to battle Netflix. The acquisition is expected to be complete by the end of Q1 of this year.

Verismo Networks recently added Roxio CinemaNow streaming media purchases for the VuNow IPTV box, further enhancing the usefulness of the device. The video-on-demand box can already show streaming content from local network storage or YouTube, but now adds access to Sonic Solutions’ 250 content providers.

The VuNow system is a set-top box that comes in both standard and HD versions along with a USB Wi-Fi dongle to stream content straight onto the VuNow. That’s not all though. Apart from CinemaNow content and YouTube, this setup will be able to connect to popular websites, internet TV and will play content stored on USB drives.

Streaming movie rentals are seen by many consumers and movie rental firms to be the future of movie rentals. The problem is that many movie studios and large rental chains like Blockbuster are slow to support online rentals for fear of hurting their retail rental and sales business.

Blockbuster and Sonic solutions announced this week that they would be working together on a new digital movie service. Sonic will provide the software part for delivering movie content across PCs and consumer electronics devices.