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Buy.com founder offers HD-quality TV

Greg Sandoval Former Staff writer
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at @sandoCNET.
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Greg Sandoval

A newly launched company is offering HD-quality TV programming over the Internet. But here's the rub: Before customers can watch their favorite shows, they first have to wait for them to download.

Instant Media, a company started by Buy.com founder Scott Blum, says the company's patent-pending cache technology will enable customers to download in 720-pixel resolution. The company has kicked off its new service by offering two shows in high definition.

Scores of companies are trying to find a fast and inexpensive way to send video files over the Web. Full-length films require sending up to 500 megabytes of data. Transmitting them in HD-quality video requires even more bandwidth.

Now, downloading HD video takes time. What does Instant Media suggest customers do while they wait?

"Download and cache content behind the scenes while you're answering e-mail," the company said in a statement. "Buy that pair of Manolo Blahniks that Sarah Jessica Parker is wearing."

Customers must download software from Instant Media to access the service.