1, would it be more useful for indie films to run a subscription system? like with a more wide-ranging film club or festival, except that "showings" would include a much larger number of selections to be seen in viewer's preferred order rather than a single organized sitting limited in order and number. the selections could be organized into programs or not. then host discussions with the various talent.

it seems as though the other strengths of the net aren't being leveraged as strongly as they could be to support VOD. for instance a short video interview could be a click away from watching the movie itself. not a promotional interview or a trailer (though those might help too) - i mean a real "10 questions people who've seen this movie might ask" sort of sit down session with the brains of the operation.

2, honestly i don't know why wifi, ethernet, web, and upgradeable decoding software aren't integrated into every home theater receiver. this seems like such an obvious and simple answer - the network stereo. keep your subscriptions, net radio stations, 'casts, VOD licenses, music licenses, etc on a single secure web account that you can browse through the television or control with computer. stuff you want to watch would then be streamed from 4 different locations: home theater input, home theater hard drive, local network hard drive, or the great e-beyond.

web browsing capabilities of the ordinary mobile phone + autodiscovery of local network media + mpeg/avi support = answer. unless everybody's just trying to own my tv. which seems to be what's going on.