I screamed then, I’m screaming now. NBC Direct, version 2, still disappoints. It’s like NBC is working overtime to piss off its users, or at least force them to use its other online video service Hulu.

NBC opened a second beta trial of NBC Direct, its Web-based video-on-demand (VOD) download service. The new-and-supposedly-improved Direct is now powered by peer-to-peer content distribution from Pando.

NBC Direct, in the works now for nearly a year, is a free download service for NBC programs. It requires a software install (still Windows only); the shows expire in seven days and 48 hours after you begin watching; and include advertising. Direct was universally panned when version 1 debuted last November.

The panning continues.

Continue reading “Just like version 1 of NBC Direct, version 2 will leave you screaming in frustration” »

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A long standing rumor that just won’t go away: Apple is working on a tablet computer of sorts. Only this time the source is Intel, no less, following comments made by the chip maker’s Manging Director for Central Europe Hannes Schwaderer.

Described as being a future member of the iPhone family, only slightly larger, the new offering will make use of Intel’s Atom processor, designed for a product category the company calls Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). However, while the Atom is certainly low-powered, delivering a very efficient power-per-watt ratio compared to previous designs, in it’s existing ‘Silverthorne’ incarnation, it isn’t suitable for cell phones — suggesting that Apple’s new device will be significantly different to the existing iPhone and iPod touch line. Instead, think of larger, more tablet-like devices, or conceivably, anything all the way up to low-cost sub notebooks such as Asus’ Eee PC.

Continue reading “Apple working on Atom-based Internet tablet? Let’s hope it’s more open than the iPhone” »

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A quick update to the iTunes-HBO post from yesterday. Six of HBO’s most popular shows are now available for purchase on iTunes, ranging from $1.99 to $2.99 an episode. They are:

• “The Wire”: $1.99
• “Flight of the Conchords”: $1.99
• “Sex and the City”: $1.99
• “Deadwood”: $2.99
• “Rome”: $2.99
• “The Sopranos”: $2.99

(Apple release)

This translates to considerable savings, especially for those who 1) don’t subscribe to HBO; 2) are interested in the series but are not sure if they want to spend the money on the boxed sets; 3) would buy the boxed sets if they were a little cheaper.

Continue reading “HBO offers six shows on iTunes; even with higher prices, savings are considerable” »

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Apple and Home Box Office will be achieving a couple of very important firsts when HBO content comes to iTunes in the next few weeks.

For Apple, it will be the first time the company will allow variable pricing for content on iTunes in the United States. According to Josh Saul of Portfolio.com, sources indicate that Apple has agreed to a separate price structure to bring HBO content to iTunes.

No details were given, but it’s expected that HBO shows will sell for more than $1.99 a episode. Apple has held steadfast to its philosophy of fixed pricing — $0.99 cents per song, $1.99 for TV shows, $2.99 to $4.99 for movie rentals and $9.99 to $14.99 for movie purchases.

Apple has been so adamant about fixed pricing that NBC to pull its shows from iTunes at the end of last year after a loud, public dispute over, in part, variable pricing demands.

For HBO, the expected agreement marks the first time the cable station’s content will be available online. This content includes current shows such as “John Adams” or “Entourage” as well as old favorites like “Sex in the City,” “The Sopranos,” and “The Wire.”

Continue reading “Something is going on at iTunes: Apple reportedly agrees to variable pricing to get HBO shows” »

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Apple and Sony are fierce competitors, but that hasn’t stopped the PlayStation 3 playing nicely with Mac OSX computers. Thanks to some great third-party software, and Sony’s decision to add support for the UPnP AV standard, the PS3 has, in some ways, become a better solution than Apple’s own offering to the problem of streaming content - audio, video and photos - from a Mac to the TV. Here’s our quick guide to creating a Mac-supported PS3 media center.

Step One: Turning the Mac into a PS3-friendly media server

Assuming that your Mac is already on the same local network as your PlayStation 3, the first thing you’ll need to do is install a UPnP AV-compliant media server. In fact, this will need to be done for all of the Macs that you want to share media from.

Continue reading “How-to: Stream media from a Mac to PlayStation 3″ »

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Davis Freeberg over at Zatz Not Funny provides some great analysis on the history and future strategy of DivX. On the company’s historical success, Freeberg notes the importance of creating an eco-system around the DivX codec, both in terms of becoming the preferred format for “grey” content on P2P networks, but also the way in which the company reached out to consumer electronics manufacturers — DVD players, media streamers, PMPs, and more recently Sony’s PS3 — through its DivX certification program. The result is that DivX has become the consumer facing brand for MPEG4, despite rival offerings from Apple and Microsoft, for example.

“I still prefer DivX files because I know that I’ll be able to play them on the hardware devices that I own”, writes Freeberg. “By creating an eco-system that supports portability, DivX has been able to lock me into their format in the same way that Apple has been able to use iTunes to keep their customers buying iPods instead of MP3 players.”

However, the advent of H.264, and other more efficient codecs, means that DivX faces a new round of competition.

Continue reading “The history and future of DivX” »

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It’s certainly not the best quality video, and the show selection is severely limited, but it’s a start and — maybe — a hint at what’s to come.

As Silicon Alley Insider and Saul Hansell of The New York Times note today, you can stream NBC shows to an iPhone or iPod touch, completely bypassing iTunes. As everybody knows, NBC and its network properties pulled their shows off iTunes late last year over a pricing and copy protection spat.

NBC is streaming full episodes of “The Office” and “30 Rock” to the iPhone in unprotected Quicktime format. The files are split into four small segments with no advertising (Update: I watched the whole Office episode again, and at the end of each segment there is a super brief ad — in this case, one for the Toyota Carrolla). The quality is fuzzy at best, but the shows are watchable in portrait and landscape modes.

Unfortunately, only one episode of “The Office” is available — the one where Michael puts his face in cement and Pam is wearing glasses. There’s also one episode of “30 Rock.” The NBC site hints that there may be more shows coming.

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Piece by piece, Sony’s PS3 has the potential to be one of the best, if not the best, media centers on the market.

Ability to stream content from a Windows PC (or Mac) to a television? Check.

DivX support? Check.

Blu-ray player? Check.

USB device support? Check.

Portable integration? Check (via the PSP).

DVR functionality? Announced.

Movie download store? Coming soon.

It’s just that most consumers don’t know it.

Perhaps that will change this September, in Europe at least, when the PS3’s DVR add-on finally goes on sale.

Continue reading “Sony’s PS3 DVR PlayTV launch date and price confirmed” »

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HP has become the latest company to bring YouTube into the living room.

Owners of HP’s line of Internet-connected MediaSmart High Definition TVs, and the yet-to-be-released MediaSmart Connect set-top box, will soon be able to enjoy content from the Google-owned video sharing site “full screen” on their HDTVs, as well as log-in to their YouTube account via remote to share videos and playlists with other users.

Continue reading “YouTube continues to invade the living room, now supported by HP MediaSmart TVs and set-top box” »

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Despite Apple’s dominance of the portable media player market with the near ubiquitous iPod, Microsoft continues to plug away with its own offering, announcing yesterday a significant software and content update to the company’s Zune.

The Zune Marketplace (U.S.-only) has begun selling downloads of major television shows, including content from NBC Universal — a move that sticks it to Apple, following last year’s public spat between the iPod maker and major television studio, which resulted in NBC pulling its content from iTunes. Starting today, Zune users have access to 800 TV show episodes — download to-own — priced at 60 Microsoft Points each (approximately $1.99). Aside from NBC Universal, content will come from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, among others, and will include popular shows such as “South Park”, “The Office”, “Heroes”, and “The Hills”.

Continue reading “Take that, Apple: Zune update adds TV shows from NBC Universal, among others” »

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Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you wanted to get together with friends to watch such movies as “Convoy,” “Captain Kid,” “Day of the Triffids,” “Ultrachrist!” or “Monster from a Prehistoric Planet?”

Lycos, the Web portal from the Palaeozoic Era of the Internet, has given movie lovers the chance to simultaneously watch films like these since the launch of Lycos Cinema more than a year ago.

Today Lycos relaunched the Cinema product with added features: You can now purchase video-on-demand streams for you and your buddies to watch simultaneously on different computers, and interact socially through an improved user interface.

Lycos accomplishes simultaneous viewing through its patented “SimulStream” technology, which brings friends together to view film or other video content in public or in private screening rooms. People can talk real-time about the movie they are watching together.

A redesigned user interface highlights’ friends’ media preferences with personal calendars (for movie scheduling), watch lists, and recently purchased movies, in addition to an improved chat client to talk while viewing the film.

Continue reading “Social online video viewing is compelling, if only Lycos Cinema had better content” »

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In striking a deal with Hollywood to offer new movie releases for purchase on iTunes the same day as their DVD equivalents, Apple is making a loss, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to a “person familiar with the matter”, Apple is paying the movie studios a wholesale price of $16 per movie while maintaining its current retail price of $14.99. The reasoning seems to be that in order to grow its movie download business and associated hardware offerings (primarily the newly-vamped AppleTV), the iTunes Store must achieve parity with DVDs, in particular in terms of release windows.

Continue reading “iTunes same-day movie releases reportedly a loss leader, yet prices remain too high” »

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