A picture might equal 1,000 words, but it just isn't good enough for many homesellers anymore.

Real estate agents and individual homesellers are increasingly embracing their inner auteur and creating movie-like virtual tours of homes online.

The marketing tactic sparked interest several years ago but waned somewhat during the housing boom when buyers were aplenty and homes often were plucked off the market within days of being listed.

With home sales in a protracted tailspin, many real estate agents employ virtual tours in hopes of setting their properties apart from the multitude of other unsold homes.

The strategy is more than just bells and whistles.

Some 80 percent of homebuying interest begins on the Internet, says Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the University of Southern California.

Online information about a home, including virtual tours, helps prospective buyers be better prepared should they decide to make an offer.

On Realtor.com -- the most popular real estate Web site -- listings that feature virtual tours generally see a 150 percent boost in the number of visitors they get versus those that view listings without them, says spokeswoman Julie Reynolds.

"Web appeal is the new curb appeal," she says.

But do virtual tours really help get buyers on the hook more than regular photos do? And what if you're selling a beaten-down foreclosed home? Is this the way to go for all properties?

Trisha Motter, an agent with John Motter Realty in San Jose, Calif., says she leaves it to the seller to put together a virtual tour and isn't convinced they always help.

Sometimes, buyers might be less than impressed by a home they see in a virtual tour, but change their mind later once they see the home in person, she says.

"In reality, it was a really nice property it just appeared different in the virtual tour," Motter says.

The explosion in online video in the last two years with YouTube.com and similar Web sites has proved to be a boon for homesellers employing enhanced images or video tours of their property.

A casual search of YouTube can turn up thousands of videos of homes for sale, some derived from actual moving video footage and others from several images stitched together.

Early on, some agents popularized one style of virtual tour that emulates the feeling of being inside a room and being able to look around in every direction. But they're less popular now because users complain they give the viewer a distorted, fisheye view of the home.

Now many virtual tours are controlled motion videos, in which images are stitched together and the point of view pans across to create a movie-like effect.

"It's a more engaging experience for a user," says Jeff Harris, general manager of PropertyPreviews.com, in Des Plaines. The company distributes software that real estate agents and others can use to create virtual tours. It gets a commission for placing the media on some commercial real estate sites.

The software doesn't do full-motion video, but lets users string together photos and program what the viewer sees by panning or zooming across the images, giving the effect of video.

While some opt for full video, experts say that can be lead to shaky, lower quality images, unless the person filming the home is an experienced camera operator.

Lighting can be another drawback with video, as even natural light shining through a living room window can appear too hot, generating an image that is oversaturated and obscures a detailed view of the room.

Some virtual tours can be scarily movie-like.

Agents who use VisualTour.com's software can include music, text and also layer on a voiceover with additional details. Agents pay a monthly fee for the service in the range of $30 a month, but can post links to their videos wherever they wish.

The presentation is also interactive, allowing computer users to use their mouse to pause an image, or navigate to other photos via red dots leading to further details.

Viewers who follow the red dots in the virtual tour for a property on sale in Massilon, Ohio, can hear Realty One agent Charlyn Bridges ask "Did I tell you about the hot tub that stays with the house?", meanwhile, soothing sounds from strings and piano play in the background.

The 4-bedroom, 3½-bath home was listed at $289,000 last year. It was pulled off the market and relisted four months ago at $189,900, says Joseph Bridges, who pieced together the virtual tour about a month ago for his wife, Charlyn.

Has the virtual tour helped?

"In terms of actually helping us sell, it's probably not as productive as we thought it would be," he says.

Motter compares the virtual tours with online dating sites.

"You don't always know what you're seeing," Motter says. "It's not until you see that person or home in real life that you know this is the one or this isn't the one."