Last week it was announced that CinemaNow, Best Buy’s digital entertainment service, and Intel are giving people the ability to enjoy a larger library of premium high- definition content on their PCs.

For the first time, CinemaNow will offer 1080p HD movies for rental and purchase on second generation Intel Core processor-based PCs with Intel Insider technology. So will CinemaNow and Intel offer this for the Mac? Will Apple let them?

Previously, only standard-definition movies had been available from CinemaNow on the PC. CinemaNow has now added several hundred new releases and popular catalog titles in HD from 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution for people who have Intel Insider on their computer. This is in addition to the 15,000 movies and TV episodes CinemaNow already boasts in its regular catalog. HD content offerings from CinemaNow and Intel Insider are expected to grow as more new releases and catalog titles are added weekly.

Intel Insider technology is a feature of second generation Intel Core processors. Previously, much of the 1080p HD content had not been available on the PC due in part to content owner concerns about security. Intel Insider is a hardware-based protection technology that was designed to enhance security features in second generation Intel Core processors, which is the fastest-shipping product in Intel history at over 75 million units shipped to date. With that, Intel Insider is available to an immense user base that continues to increase greatly by the day.

CinemaNow is a digital entertainment service that offers instant access to a library of premium video content for rental or purchase, including new release movies and TV shows, with no subscription required. Through the service, customers can access content on a range of Internet-connected devices, including TVs, Blu-Ray Disc players and PCs from multiple manufacturers.

So will Intel and Apple team up for Intel Insider on the Mac? I doubt it. I suspect Apple has its own plans to bring 1080p HD to the Mac in the near future via iTunes and perhaps the massive data centers it's building.

-- Dennis Sellers