One pleasure of long-haul flying is having the time to catch up on movies missed at the cinema. One recent trip was, for me, practically as good as a film festival.

The holy grail for in-flight movie buffs is on-demand video and audio, ideally matched with noise-cancelling headphones. I was disappointed my Qantas 747 lacked such sophistication, but at least I was presented with a top quality choice of Oscar contenders. I watched Brokeback Mountain, Walk the Line and Capote - three terrific films slotted into a timespan, there and back, of 27 hours aloft. And those in the pointy end of the plane did have noise-cancelling headphones.

Next month Virgin Blue introduces personal video-on-demand on flights to Perth. Passengers will pay $15 to hire a DigEplayer holding 10 pre-loaded feature films, 10 sitcoms and short programs, up to 20 music videos and about 100 songs. This portable solution to video-on-demand is catching on fast. The manufacturers say it`s been adopted by 26 airlines already.

Emirates adopts the Cecil B. DeMille approach to in-flight entertainment. Its ICE system offers a staggering 500 on-demand channels, including external cameras for watching takeoffs and landings. The system is available in all classes on selected routes in Airbus A340-500 aircraft (Sydney-Dubai) and Boeing 777 aircraft.

Singapore Airlines matches this mighty package of fun and games with its KrisWorld entertainment system. Most 747-400 and 777-300 aircraft also have the Wisemen 3000 video-on-demand system, which results in a combined choice of something like 60 movies, 100 TV programs, 225 music CDs, 12 music channels and 91 games. Live television, via broadband wireless, has been available to laptop-carrying passengers since last year. Now there`s also high-speed in-flight internet access enabled through Connexion by Boeing, with hourly rates or a flat rate for the entire flight.

Other airlines are fast playing catch up. Air New Zealand now has video on demand in all classes on international routes from Auckland to San Francisco, London Heathrow and Singapore. Cathay Pacific has it in first and business class on long-haul flights with a choice of 50 films and more than 100 TV programs, and Virgin Atlantic is currently rolling it out across its fleet. Qantas offers video-on-demand on certain flights using the Airbus 330.

We`ve certainly come a long way since the 1921 screening of the first in-flight film. But which airline would you award the entertainment Oscar?

http://blogs.smh.com.au/lostintransit/archives/2006/04/the_oscar_goes.html