In order to use your proposed solution, I would have to fork over $USD72,00 to become eligible to own land, and then actually buy land (at $USD10,00 -- I think -- don't quote me on the latter number).
It would seem that you could upload a lot of jpegs for $L10 per image before reaching a crossover point.

Perhaps I am wrong about needing to own land before being able to invoked llParcelMediaCommandList()?

I may be wrong about this, but here's what the official documentation (see http://lslwiki.com/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=llParcelMediaCommandList ) has to say:

You are allowed one movie (or "media" resource) per land parcel. The movie will be played by replacing a texture on an object with the movie. Users will only see the movie when they are standing on your land parcel. Otherwise they will see the static texture. Script functions only work for objects owned by the land owner or deeded to the group that owns the land. (Remember to set asset permissions on your script and object as well as sharing it with the group!)