Archos, best known for its portable media players, is the latest company to enter the highly competitive and volatile consumer facing set-top box market. Offered in 80GB ($249) and 250GB ($349) versions, the Archos TV+ features TiVo-like DVR functionality, as well as WiFi and Ethernet connectivity to support access to the Internet for web browsing and downloading paid-for video content from CinemaNow. Additionally, the device can operate as a media extender of sorts, to stream content (movies, TV shows, photos and music) from a PC to the TV. Continue reading »

The video Website Veoh is adding — albeit unofficially — more videos from traditional TV networks, with the content this time coming from Hulu, the NBC-Fox joint venture.

Veoh and Hulu have no official partnership. As NewTeeVee notes, Veoh “is basically pulling an OpenHulu — taking the embeds of shows like “30 Rock” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” straight from Hulu and plunking them down onto its own site.” The streams do include the original advertising on Hulu.

NewTeeVee quotes Dmitry Shapiro, Veoh founder and chief innovation officer, saying, “Look, people want access to all kinds of content. We are striving to provide access.”

NewTeeVee questions Veoh’s move, contending that it “cheapens” the Veoh brand because it comes off as though “they couldn’t get a straight-up deal with Hulu, so they did a workaround instead.” Continue reading »

The holiday period saw UK Internet TV users being given more viewing options than ever before. Zattoo opened its Beta to the British public and the BBC with its controversial iPlayer – now updated to offer a Flash video-based Mac, Windows and Linux compatible streaming version – did the same.

We first reviewed Zattoo, a P2P-based desktop application that offers live streaming of existing ‘over-the-air’ and cable channels, back in July — noting that in comparison to the likes of Joost and Babelgum, both of which attempt to recreate the “lean back” experience of television, Zattoo is more at home being used “in a multi-tasking environment, where users watch television in one window on their computer, while accomplishing other tasks in another such as chatting to friends over IM, surfing the web or writing email”.

Then in closed Beta, the UK version of Zattoo had a channel lineup which notably included all of the BBC’s digital channels: BBC One, Two, Three, Four, along with BBC Parliament, News 24, and the BBC’s two children’s channels.

Not anymore. Continue reading »

I’m putting on my fantasy hat. Imagine: All of the Netflix movies, television shows, and other content streamed into my living room whenever I want. No more waiting for the post office to deliver the next disk. No more red envelopes to deal with.

Netflix, the DVD-by-mail company with more than seven million subscribers, is partnering with Korean manufacturer LG Electronics to stream movies, TV shows, and other content to LG high-definition televisions or set-top boxes by the second half of 2008.

Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, said he hopes to strike similar deals with other device manufacturers, potentially creating the Netflix movie channel and seriously challenging other companies attempting to capture the digital-entertainment-in-the-living-room opportunity.

“We want to be integrated on every Internet-connected device, game system, high-definition DVD player and dedicated Internet set-top box,” Hastings said. “Eventually, as TVs have wireless connectivity built into them, we’ll integrate right into the television.” Continue reading »