The AV industry has never been so diverse as it is at the moment. Whether watching movies on a 42-inch Full HD plasma, or vodcasts through your PMP, devouring video content wherever you are is a cinch, and accessing that content couldn't be simpler.

This came to a head this week, when the new Xbox Live dashboard was launched. With it, came a Netflix download option, available to customers in the US.

On the face of it, the option to download movie content straight from a games console could eventually spark the end of physical media. But the process is fraught with problems – the lack of movie licenses means that for now, the availability of decent titles is sparse, especially when those titles are distributed by Microsoft's main rivals Sony.

On demand

Blockbuster is trying a similar thing. Again in the US, the company is investing in set-top boxes to deliver its content, meaning you never have to set foot in the company's store. This is great for consumers, but not so great for Blockbuster employees, as if successful, the retailer may pull out of high streets altogether.

All this talk of downloads may have Blu-ray users up in arms, but the shiny disc has one up on these services, and that is hi-def content. Or if Panasonic has anything to do with it, Blu-ray could well blow downloads out of the water with the advent of 3D in the home, which could come as soon as 2010, courtesy of Blu-ray technology.

For those that want BD here and now, then Onkyo is the latest manufacturer to produce a Blu-ray machine. While the company is a little late out of the starting blocks, you have to remember that Onkyo did support HD DVD, so it was probably hedging its bets before getting stung again.

Knock-off

And with the announcement that Sony has started selling Blu-rays in China, the company is proving that the format is really beginning to flourish. One other sign that you have hit it big is when movie pirates start peddling knock-off versions of your product.

Moving back to the web, YouTube is slowly readying itself to be a primary of film watching, by ditching the age-old 4:3 format for film-friendly widescreen.

The website also went live for the first time at the weekend, hosting and live-streaming a concert. Katy Perry was there, apparently, and she brought along some friends too.

While it's been a tad quiet on the audio front this week, there was some unsurprising news that the remaining Beatles still can't sort out a deal to get the band's music online.

Apparently talks have stalled but Macca is upbeat about one day embracing the internet, explaining: "I really hope it will happen because I think it should." And if Macca thinks it should, then TechRadar also thinks EMI and iTunes should, er, also 'let it be'. Sorry, we couldn't resist.