Not long apparently. The movie will begin playing back once enough has been downloaded. Based on my 6mbit connection, I'm usually able to play back a 20 minute TV show about 15 seconds after the download starts on my Mac Mini. I haven't tried a movie rental on it, and HD movies will likely have a bit more of a delay.


239 movies released on blu-ray are region free, while 113 have region coding. (frim http://www.blu-raystats.com/)

I'm glad the format wars for the HD discs appears to be over, as it's the route I want to go, even with rentals. While download services are handy, they are pretty brutal on the quality to get that movie to fit over pitiful US broadband connections.