The rumors about Amazon adding high-definition content to its Video On Demand service have become a reality. The company announced today that “Instant HD” is here, with movies and TV shows now available in HD.

The company says the pickings are of more than 500 HD TV episodes and movies, with studio support including Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount, MGM, Universal and Showtime Networks.

You can make selections of HD rentals for $3.99 - $4.99, and TV shows can be purchased for $2.99.

Of course, what fun would all of that HD be if you could only view it on your Mac or PC? Amazon HD is compatibly streamed for the Roku digital player box, your TiVo Series3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL DVRs, the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, as well as Panasonic’s Viera Cast-enabled HDTVs.

Oh the choices! Will it be a high-def Netflix selection to stream, do you want Amazon’s newly minted HD choices, or maybe one of Apple’s at its iTunes store?

And as Amazon continues to go the way of Netflix, we’re bound to be seeing its VOD streamed to some upcoming Blu-ray players as well, so stay tuned.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!