BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. will begin offering independent films in the HD DVD format, media reported Monday.

    This service would be available through customers' on-demand DVD printing service. 

    The company said it will waive processing fees for the first 1,000 films it accepts for production by its CustomFlix Labs Inc. subsidiary.

    Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp. will supply the necessary technology - VC1 high-def video encoding software and the HDi program used to package the film and extra features on the disk.

    According to Microsoft, 90 percent of HD DVDs use Microsoft's encoding and interactive programs, and that Amazon's support could help extend the format's reach.

    With CustomFlix, when a customer buys a movie, it kicks off an automated process that copies the film onto a disk and puts together the packaging on the spot.

    Amazon said it will offer Sundance Channel's "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" series via the on-demand service.

    Currently the web retailer offers more than 300 HD DVD titles for sale on its site, and more than 400 that use the competing Blu-ray DVD format championed by Sony Corp.

    (Agencies)