A new company that plans to deliver full high-definition video and audio to homes by satellite was announced by actor/producer Michael Douglas, one of the company's investors, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

"It's as if you went to the video store and grabbed copies of all the movies you wanted to see," said George Gonzalez, president and founder of XStreamHD, explaining the company's business model. "There is no queue as there is with Netflix."

 

Movies, television shows, music and other media will be stored on the company's media server in 7.1 lossless audio and 1080 progressive video. Up to four HD streams can be distributed around a home by the server.

 

Plans are to make video consumers choose available to them for satellite download on the day videos are released. No contracts for content have been signed yet by XStreamHD, Gonzalez conceded, but he anticipates such contracts being signed when satellite transmission begins next October.