Netflix? On iPad? Saturday? Joy!
Stephen Fry tries iPad, meets Jobs.
Tech April Fools’ day roundup.
Wolfram Alpha’s mammoth price cut.
Microsoft to open more stores.
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Tag Archives | Internet TV
What’s Next For SlingPlayer Mobile (iPad!)
I recently checked in with my former Sling peeps, regarding mobile clients. Specifically, codecs and resolution. As we know, a Slingbox Android client is on tap this summer. And I wondered if they’re sticking with WMV video streaming or moving to H.264 for this platform. While I wasn’t able to get a definitive answer on Android from Mobile Product Marketing Manager, Dave Eyler, I have learned they’re “actively moving towards H.264″ – which requires the newer, more capable placeshifters (think SOLO or PRO-HD). Also, it’s really no surprise that they’ll be going the Silverlight route for Windows Phone 7.
In regards to resolution, I don’t don’t believe Sling Media has taken mobile client video resolutions beyond 320×240. By design, due to processing power, memory, bandwidth and battery life. But, here comes the iPad. And I don’t want a pixel-doubled iPhone SlingPlayer app on that large screen. Fortunately, Sling has confirmed they’re prepared to accommodate me with something a bit better, some day…
When it makes a noticeable difference in quality, we will definitely provide higher resolution streaming. The iPad is a good example of a device where we are hard at work on this, but unfortunately it won’t be there at the April launch.
(This post republished from Zatz Not Funny.)
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More on Google TV
VideoNuze has what is says are more details on Google TV. This is probably a gross simplification, but they make it sound a little like a next-generation TiVo, except with more Web-related features–and without the DVR part.
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It’s Inevitable: Google TV
The New York Times’ Nick Bilton is reporting that Google, Intel, Sony, and Logitech are collaborating on a new platform for Internet-enabled TV called…Google TV, of course. Bilton doesn’t have a lot of detail, but he says that it’ll be an open-source platform that can run third-party apps; that it will include Google search; that it will run the Android OS and Chrome browser on Intel’s Atom processor; and that Logitech is working on remote controls, including one with a tiny QWERTY keyboard. Google has a prototype box, but the technology could be built into TVs; consumer products may arrive as soon as this summer.
It would have been startling if Google didn’t try to something along these lines, given that TV remains one of the most important screens in the lives of millions of people, and one without any Google presence to date. And nobody’s figured out how to build an Internet TV platform that’s truly a breakout hit–even Apple, which famously keeps insisting that Apple TV is a mere hobby. Roku and Vudu are both pretty nifty, but neither is close to becoming a household name.
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TiVo Series 5: What Should Be
When TiVo announced its next-generation Series 4 Premiere boxes yesterday, I read about the news with a combination of intrigue and relief. The changes–including a spiffed-up HD interface, better integration of disparate video sources, easy access to more information about shows and movies, a slimmer case, and an optional QWERTY remote–sound nice. But the Premieres are evolutionary advances on the TiVo HD that sits in my entertainment center–and whose hard drive I just replaced after the original one conked out. There’s nothing in the new models that makes the old ones feel like instant dinosaurs.
Here’s Dave Zatz’s extensive look at the new TiVos, which ship next month. As Dave says, TiVo is clearly trying to reposition its box from a DVR into a TV box that does a bunch of things. That makes sense. But my mind is already racing forward to think about all the things a next-next-generation TiVo might do. Here’s my wish list for the TiVo Series 5–and since it’s just a wish list and the Premieres’ replacements are years off, I’m going to ask for some things that may be technically or logistically impossible at the moment.
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Wal-Mart Gets Themselves Some Vudu
Wow. The rumor was true. Wal-mart is indeed acquiring Vudu. Given the retailer’s prior failed attempt at digital media distribution and MediaMemo’s way-off financing stat, I had a difficult time buying it. But the deal is done – so congrats to the Vudu team.
Vudu’s story arc is interesting. From the beginning, and like many, I found the idea of a premium priced, dedicated movie box problematic. And suspected we had another Moviebeam on our hands as Vudu nearly folded late in 2008 when they discovered what most of us already knew. But after a few rounds of layoffs, a new strategy to port the Vudu experience to 3rd party hardware, a press relations agency upgrade, and additional financing, they quite successfully weathered the storm.
With Best Buy embracing TiVo and Napster it sort of makes sense Wal-mart would want a digital distribution partner of their own. Although the investors recouped their cash, consumers probably aren’t the big winner here. I fully expect Vudu’s AVN channel will be the first thing axed. And Dan Rayburn anticipates the whole enterprise, under Walmart’s stewardship, will fail.
I do hope the original stand-alone boxes see one more software upgrade to move them off P2P distribution and onto the CDN in use by all other Vudu devices. Rather than a complete shuttering. Also, in light of the acquisition, my plan to find a deal on a LG BD390 is on hold.
(This post republished from Zatz Not Funny.)
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Vudu, Meet Wal-Mart
The New York Times’ Brad Stone is reporting that a source says that Wal-Mart is buying Vudu, the excellent Internet movie service that started out as a box but which has morphed into a feature built into HDTVs and Blu-Ray players. If so, it’s a smart move on Wal-Mart’s part. But also a potentially worrisome one: As Stone says, the Behemoth of Bentonville has a spotty record when it comes to selling digital content. Here’s hoping that it leaves Vudu pretty much as it is rather than messing with a good thing…
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Hulu Figures Out Its Future
Most people who want Flash on the iPhone and iPad don’t really care about Flash–they care about the profusion of video, games, and other content that currently uses Flash. Near the top of that list is TV megasite Hulu. Will it come to Apple’s mobile devices, as well as other newfangled gizmos like TV boxes? It wants to, says All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka–but it thinks that consumers should pay for the privilege, and is trying to figure out the logistics.
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Sezmi Launches Into Retail in Los Angeles
Having piloted their “personal TV service” in Los Angeles since November, Sezmi is formally launching into the LA market today via local Best Buy outposts.
Last month at CES, I finally got a look at their product… which pulls together local other-the-air (OTA) programming, premium programming (such as CNN and SyFy) simulcast OTA in select markets, and Internet-sourced content including CinemaNow VOD and YouTube. Their vision is solid, and more holistic than most, likely embodying the future of home entertainment by aggregating multiple content sources within a personalized presentation for each family member (or housemate).
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Vudu Goes Boxless
I knew that high-quality Internet movie download company Vudu was focusing on adding its cool service to other companies’ gadgets (like LG Blu-Ray players and Mitsubishi TVs) these days. But I guess I didn’t realize that it had dropped its elegant box until I read this mostly-favorable new review of LG’s Vudu-enabled Blu-Ray player by the New York Times’ David Pogue.
I’m sorry to see the Vudu box’s thumbwheel-driven remote control–possibly the best remote ever shipped by anybody for any device–go away. Ultimately, though, Vudu makes more sense as a feature than as another gizmo to squeeze into an entertainment center. Here’s hoping the new strategy works for this plucky and inventive little company.