Oscar Day is just around the corner, but there's still time to see the nominees you may have missed throughout the year. And you don't even have to leave the house.

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Downloading movies to a home computer is fast and easy, and gives viewers instant access to movies on demand. Jeremy Kaplan, executive editor of PC Magazine, says it's mostly the "geeky crowd" that has embraced movie downloading, but he sees it as "a trend in the making. When people realize the possibilities, it's going to become much more popular."

Kaplan offers a few Movie Download 101 guidelines for the non-geek crowd in time for the awards-season finale Sunday.

The sites

"Recently there's been an explosion of sites that will let you download movies and TV shows online. The bigger the service, the more likely that they will partner with all the movie houses and will have a giant selection."

While illegal downloads are plaguing the movie industry the way music file-sharing did the recording industry, there are plenty of ways to download movies -- to rent or buy -- legally. Two prominent sites -- Movielink and CinemaNow -- are among the best known.

iTunes offers movie downloads in addition to music, TV shows, music videos and podcasts. Amazon has the Unbox download service, and Wal-mart is jumping into the download business.

The services

Comparing download services can be confusing for people, Kaplan says. It's important to learn "which operating systems are supported and the extent to which you can copy the movie and watch on an iPod." Or on a PC or a laptop, too.

For example, Movielink and Vongo only work with Windows XP and 2000 -- not on Macintosh, Linux or older Windows operating systems. Because these services are Microsoft platforms and aren't compatible with Macintosh, you can't buy a movie and transfer it to watch on an iPod. For that, you'll need a service like iTunes.

The next step is to make sure you have a high-speed Internet connection -- either cable or DSL -- and that the hard drive you're using has lots of free space, because movie files are very large.

A full movie download will take about 45 minutes, depending on your network connection speed, Kaplan says. High definition files take even longer. However, with most services, you can start watching a movie before it's entirely downloaded.

"Some will let you start within a few minutes; others make you wait as much as 20 minutes," Kaplan says.

"If you're getting a high-definition file, that could be potentially two gigabytes of storage. A standard definition DVD quality file is a couple hundred [megabytes]. You buy five movies, and all of a sudden your hard drive is full. You're going to need a large drive if you're planning on keeping these around for a while."

The cost

Rentals are competitive with what you'd pay at the local video store or through television on-demand services -- about $3.99 per movie. After downloading, the viewer has a limited time in which to view the movie, which varies from service to service: at Amazon's Unbox, for example, there's a 30-day viewing period, and once you begin playing the movie file, you'll need to finish watching it within 24 hours.

Buying via download is usually in the $9.99 to $19.99 range, with most around $14.99.

The quality

Many people feel that a downloaded file won't equal the quality of a conventional DVD. The quality of a video files varies by bit rate (the number of bits, or units of information storage, that can be processed in a given unit of time).

"The more bit rate, the more data you'll get per second, and better visual quality," Kaplan says. "A very high-quality bit rate movie will look better than TV or DVD.

"If you're downloading a movie to your computer and watching it on a 32-inch high definition plasma screen, it's not going to look ideal. You're going to notice flaws and imperfections. If you're watching on a computer hooked up to a 17-inch monitor or a laptop that you're traveling with, the quality's going to be pretty good."

A simple cable connection between PC and television set will give the average TV viewer a DVD-quality image.

Getting started

Finally, for those who have yet to get their feet wet, Kaplan encourages experimentation.

Many of these sites offer free content. It's not going to be the latest, hottest movies, but they do have free movies and TV shows. CinemaNow, for example, is currently offering a seven-day free trial and has a showcase section with Oscar nominees.

"If people are curious about the quality and how long it takes and how easy it is to work with, I recommend giving it a shot," Kaplan says.

"Then they'll know what kind of quality they're going to get when they rent 'Blood Diamond.' "