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For years, consumers have been promised the ability to get any movie on demand. Years ago, Time Warner Cable tested a video on demand (VOD) system in Florida, but that fizzled.

Not just any movie, but any time and anywhere. And of course, on any device. But we’re still a long way away from that goal.

Today, consumers piece together their own solutions. They buy Tivos, iPads, iPhones, Sling boxes, Xbox 360s and many other devices in order to get a full digital media experience.

But it seems that there are always missing links. For example, there’s still no simple way to watch Hulu on your TV screen. Because it uses Flash, Hulu isn’t available on most connected TVs and set-top boxes.

Any Movie, Any Time, Any Where. At your fingertips.

While I was at the IPTV World in London in March 2010, I saw a demo of a yet to be released set-top from Amino that had an Intel chip, a real (not embedded) Linux operating system and full Internet browsing.

Yes, that means you can watch Hulu on your TV. And anything else on the Web. It also comes with HD tuners for over the air broadcasts, which are popular in the UK, and DVR functionality. Additionally, the box came with its own very pretty UI which made it easy to browse through Internet content.

Amino’s Freedom box was really a demo, and not yet available for purchase, but it really showed me that technology isn’t a barrier–it’s legal issues.

And perhaps cost. No doubt the Amino box is more expensive than typical boxes, since Intel chips are usually pricier compared to others that are in existing set-tops. The fact that Intel is pushing its way into the set-top world was pretty significant too. Of course, Google is reportedly launching Google TV sometime later this month, so hopefully they can enable Flash (and Hulu) and full Internet browsing also.

Tivo had a great chance to once again become a major disruptor with its new Tivo Premiere box. But generally speaking Tivo Premiere has had lackluster reviews online. Tivo could have really brought the Internet to early adopters and shown the rest of the industry what could really be done with an innovative interface and a mix of TV and Internet content. But instead, Tivo Premiere just looks like a software update, not an entirely new product.

Last year, I was at a trade show and heard a speaker talking about the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) initiative that Hollywood is pushing. Essentially, DECE is trying to figure out the next digital media format after Blu-ray. Since Blu-ray hasn’t been selling well, the industry needs to think of the future. And the future is digital.

DECE is looking to create an entire ecosystem (via digital rights management, of course) for purchasing, renting and downloading movies. Unfortunately Apple is not included in DECE, although they’ve been invited. Clearly, this looks like an initiative to build an alternative iTunes Store, and take away Apple’s dominance in digital sales. It’s clearly a case of ABA: Anyone But Apple.

Apple probably doesn’t think it needs to join the group, but if it did, there might finally be one universal format for digital music and movies, rather than Apple’s proprietary files. And maybe DECE could be a good alternative to iTunes. So far, DECE has been moving really slow, and I haven’t seen much momentum.

Oh, one other un-popular thing about DECE is that they are focusing primarily on recent Hollywood hits, not the long-tail content. Going after the low-hanging fruit is OK, but I think they would have greater success going with long tail content. In my personal experience, I’ve been happy watching NetFlix’s long tail content for weeks, while waiting for new releases 28 days later.

VOD via Cable and IPTV Operators still isn’t very popular. But I think consumers are getting used to watching TV shows at anytime, much like they are accustomed to watching movies at any time with VOD and DVDs. In fact, Cable Providers have started a marketing push (called Movies on Demand) to promote VOD among their customers.

I guess we’re still a while away until we see the promise of “any movie, anytime, anywhere, on any device.” But I am enjoying the ride.

Image courtesy of SM3287