Washington, D.C. (December 24, 2007) -- DIRECTV has added the High-Definition version of Evan Almighty to its Broadband-enabled Video on Demand service.

The service, which offers roughly 2,000 shows and movies from networks such as Discovery and CNN, is being tested in select homes that have DIRECTV HD DVRs.

DIRECTV is expected to roll out the service to all HD DVR homes once the testing is completed. Called DIRECTV On Demand (DOD), the service allows subscribers to order programs via high-speed Internet lines.


Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman star in Evan Almighty.

Until this weekend, the lineup did not include any high-def programming. However, Evan Almighty, which stars Steve Carell, was added in HD on Saturday.

One TVPredictions.com reader said it took approximately two hours to download the entire high-def film before it could be viewed. However, he said the HD movie was offered for free, which would suggest DIRECTV is testing the HD feature.

Another TVPredictions.com reader said last night that he could no longer find the HD version of Evan Almighty on his VOD menu.

The VOD service requires the DIRECTV HD DVR to be connected to a Broadband Internet line either through a home plug, a powerline device, wireless network or Category 5 cabling.

Once connected to the Internet, the HD DVR owner can access the programs which are distributed over the web. Like cable's VOD service, many movie titles require a small fee, usually $3.99, but non-movie programs are free.

DIRECTV hopes the new service, which will appear on DIRECTV's channel 1000, will counter cable's longtime advantage in the VOD category.

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