Hasta La Gadget!

BT has landed quite a few major sports broadcasting deals as of late, including its buyout of ESPN’s British and Irish channels back in February. Today, it’s extending its athletic empire with an exclusive arrangement to air NBA games in Ireland and the UK. The agreement will see BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN broadcast as many as seven live games per week, with some of them streaming through BT Sport’s website and mobile apps. While there isn’t a huge market for basketball in the country, the pact will make life much easier for diehard UK fans and American ex-pats — they won’t have to buy online passes or otherwise bend over backwards to keep up with their favorite NBA teams.

[Image credit: Getty]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

Source: BT

Brazil’s national currency is the real, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at its iTunes storefront. Apple prices everything there in US dollars, which has led Brazil’s Consumer Protection Secretariat to write a formal letter to the company requesting an explanation. We’re not sure why this has taken so long, given that iTunes came to Brazil two years ago, but in any case Apple now has ten days in which to respond or face the threat of a penalty. Other countries that’ve tackled Apple over its pricing policies in the past have generally failed to reach a resolution, and in some cases citizens have even been urged to take matters into their own hands.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, HD, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Cult of Mac

Source: Brazilian Ministry of Justice

Google has lately taken to highlighting tablet-native Android apps; it only makes sense that the company would devote the same kind of love to Chromecast owners. Accordingly, the search firm has recently posted a Chromecast section in Google Play for those browsing from their Android devices. The selection is thin at the moment — you’ll find only Google’s media apps, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix and Pandora. Still, the section should be a handy one-stop shop for anyone eager to stream video on their TV — and might have a few more entries soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD, Mobile, Google

Comments

Source: 9to5 Google

We already knew Microsoft was working to bring its Xbox Video service to the web, and today it’s finally live. If you go to video.xbox.com, you’ll be able to watch TV shows and movies, including items you may have already purchased from another Windows device. The only catch is that you won’t be able to stream in HD, as you can with the Windows 8.1 and Xbox One versions of the app. (Note: the forthcoming Windows Phone 8 app won’t support HD either.) Check it out now at the source link below — and remember that you’ll need to have the Silverlight plug-in installed before you start streaming.

Filed under: Internet, HD, Microsoft

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: Xbox Video

Nothing tests a stiff upper lip like a next-gen console launch. Having already been spooked by inaccurate pricing on the PlayStation Network, some Brits are now discovering that the Xbox One‘s heavily promoted TV functions aren’t readily compatible with their set-top boxes. Whether on Freeview, Virgin or Sky, users’ efforts to route TV output through the Xbox One’s HDMI passthrough port are apparently resulting in “juddery” and unwatchable video — perhaps because the Xbox One defaults to 60 frames per second while most UK hardware sticks to the PAL standard of 50Hz. In turn, if they’re forced to give on using passthrough, they also have to miss out on the use of Kinect voice control to start watching TV, change the volume or “snap” TV side-by-side with an app.

Ironically, one UK service that has made a particular point of never supporting the Xbox One — namely, YouView — may now offer the smoothest experience of the lot (albeit without any EPG integration), as its box seems to be more comfortable outputting a compatible signal. That won’t be much help to others, however, so we’ve asked Microsoft’s PR if there’s any progress towards a fix, and in the meantime you might want to try a possible workaround from a reader at HDTVTest.

[Thanks, Barry]

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

Source: The Guardian