Hasta La Gadget!

Remember how we’d heard that a British broadcaster is trialing 4K TV? We have a hunch as to which company that is: Sky now claims that it’s the first UK TV network to have conducted a live 4K broadcast. The firm captured a weekend Premier League match in ultra high resolution using the same infrastructure it normally requires for a live show, with satellites delivering a feed to the company’s Isleworth broadcast center. Commercial service remains distant, mind you — Sky requires both more research and wider adoption of 4K TVs to justify an upgrade. If everything falls into place, though, Sky could have an advantage over rival providers that have yet to venture beyond HD.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Sky

EA’s kicking off its free-to-play mobile strategy with an iOS version of the much-anticipated Madden NFL 25. Available now via the App Store, the popular gaming franchise arrives on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as a gratis download, though there are (naturally) a slew of in-app purchases that Electronic Arts is hoping you’ll splurge on. For example, there’s an All Madden Bundle priced at $100. As far as gameplay goes, the publisher says this year’s Madden on iOS has been improved with much better touch controls, which should go hand-in-hand with stuff like Ultimate Team and its trademark official licenses for all 32 squads. Speaking of which, we’re really wondering who’s listed as the starting QB for the New York Jets…

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Apple

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Source: App Store

In the least surprising news of the week, as DirecTV’s rights to the vaunted NFL Sunday Ticket package come close to their 2014 expiration date, rumors of who else may bid for them are starting and Google is right at the top. According to AllThingsD, league officials met with the internet giant today and among many topics, the package of rights to air all of the league’s games to out of market viewers came up. As suggested, the folks in Mountain View (and several other companies we can all think of) can certainly afford the reported $1 billion DirecTV has been paying — and YouTube has already shelled out to stream sports in the US and around the world — but whether or not the NFL would actually sell to them is still in question.

As we mused on this week’s Engadget HD Podcast, what’s kept the NFL from selling the package in a different way — explained by league officials as “really in the consumer’s best interest” — so far is a fear that other networks like CBS and Fox would want to pay less to broadcast those games. With billions at stake we’d be extremely surprised to see the status quo actually change, so while anything is possible your best bet without satellite is probably still a copy of Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: AllThingsD

Everyone at the August 17th NFL preseason game in Houston’s Reliant Stadium will be treated to humongous images of sweaty athletes, thanks to the venue’s monstrous scoreboard. According to Reliant’s officials, the new HD monitor isn’t just any enormous display, but the widest one in professional sports. We’re talking about several connected boards measuring 277.17 x 52.49 feet as a whole, with each display covering 14,549 square feet and boasting a 5.28 million pixel resolution. That’s more than 100 feet wider than Dallas Cowboy’s LED setup, enough for Reliant to usurp its throne as the widest screen in football, and largest in Texas. Due to the scoreboard’s gigantesque real estate, it can show not only side-by-side live feeds and replays, but also statistics and advertisements during a game. Unfortunately for the folks at Houston, the stadium can only hold the record for a year. Jacksonville’s Everbank Field will debut an even longer 301 x 55 feet scoreboard in 2014, and Charlotte Motor Speedway still holds the overall sports record with its 200 x 80 foot screen.

[Image credit: Houston Texans, Twitter]

Filed under: Displays, HD

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Via: Houston Texans

Source: Houston Chronicle

We got our first taste of NFL Sunday Ticket on the PS3 back in 2011, but now Sony has confirmed it’s not available for the 2013 – 2014 season. IGN asked PlayStation reps why the app would not be active this season and they wouldn’t confirm any specific reasons. For its part, DirecTV told us it’s working on enhancing the experience for new and existing satellite customers, although those who can’t get satellite TV can still sign up for the mobile / web streaming package. That league commissioner Roger Goodell recently made a cameo in Microsoft’s Xbox One launch event probably isn’t a total coincidence, but the package won’t be available there either, at least not for this season.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Kotaku, Joystiq

Source: IGN, DirecTV