Online Movies - Where to Watch Legally

Are you searching for online movies and keep getting directed to the same page? Be careful you aren't violating the law! While that page (I won't mention its name) may look legitimate, its actually full of movies that are hosted by people who pirated the movie. Or worse, it could lead you to be prosecuted! Don't get hooked on a scam site!

Any site offering free online movies is most likely a scam. They either link to unsafe sites within their site or they link to sites where a movie has been pirated. This isn't fair to the movie industry. Even if you think Hollywood actors and actresses are paid too much, they are not the only ones affected by this piracy. Hundreds of thousands of people work on movies and television and it is their sole income. Writers, set decorators, costumers, personal assistants, caterers and other industries are all affected by these scam sites.

How does one recognize a scam site? Easily scroll to the bottom of the page and if you see the text in the picture below. These sites blatantly link to sites which they cannot verify the safety of your computer. They also clearly state they link to the sites, because if they were legally able to host the movies, they would not need that disclaimer.

While not a specific indicator of legality, charging a fee per download is one way that you can verify the site is legally able to provide the film to you. Most movies cost between $1.99 to $9.99 to download to own. You can rent movies online and watch online movies right at your computer. Movies you purchase are yours to keep, movies you rent are only available on your computer for a short period of time.

Where are the legal sites? Read on to find out

You can rent online movies at Amazon.com. Any movie you want. You can download it onto your computer or TiVo. The movie is yours to keep if you buy it (generally $9.99) or you can watch it for $2.99.

In order to use Amazon.com's video on demand for your TiVo, all you need to do is register Amazon.com. Once you register you can shop for the videos that you want using your TiVo remote. Or you can browse through their selection of videos on their website and downloaded to your computer. Once the video is downloaded onto computer or your TiVo, you can just navigate to the the playing list on your TiVo or a file on your computer. If you purchase the video on the Amazon.com website, you can also download it onto your TiVo, even if you don't use your TiVo to originally order it. Each purchase may be downloaded to two different computers.

I've included a the video-on-demand navigation to the right.

The specific TiVo that you need to use the download is the series 2 or series 3 DVR. Unfortunately you are not able to use this service if you own the series 1 TiVo or if you connect through a telephone line or, if you use DirecTV.

Videos that you download are extremely good quality, and depending on your Internet service can be downloaded as fast as 10 minutes. Can you imagine trying to get a rental from a local video store in 10 minutes?. The series to DVR's can sometimes take up to an hour to be able to watch, still more convenient in my opinion and getting in your car and driving to the local video store. Better for the environment too.

While rentals can only be watched on the service you download them from, movies you've purchased can be added to portable devices like an iPhone or an video MP3 player.

If you think only older movies are available, you couldn't be more wrong. There are hundreds of movies available, including the latest video releases. It's my certain opinion that very soon we will be watching online movies. Instead of going to the video store or an actual theater. Although going to the theater is sort of a cultural event, isn't it?