Hasta La Gadget!

History would kindly tell us that this isn’t the very first deal Netflix and Warner Bros. have struck in past months — and, well, chances are it won’t be the last one either. Earlier today, the streaming giant announced it had reached a new exclusive agreement with the California-based studio which will bring a hefty amount of new content to subscribers in Canada. Starting January of next year, Netflix streamers in the Great White North can start watching TV shows such as The Vampire Diaries, Fringe and Pretty Little Liars, as well as films like The Hangover Part II, Horrible Bosses and even the critically-acclaimed blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises — although these movies will come “for a limited period following their pay television window.” There’s still some time before the deal bears fruit, so perhaps the next few weeks could be used to start clearing that overloaded Instant Queue of yours.

Continue reading Netflix announces new deal with Warner, will deliver popular content to Canadian streamers

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Source: Netflix

It would be a shame if Sharp kept that giant 90-inch AQUOS TV confined to living rooms, wouldn’t it? The company is inclined enough to agree that it’s building an industrial version, the PN-R903, for digital signs. Its 1080p resolution and local-dimming LEDs are as familiar as a well-worn pair of shoes, but that 6-foot, 8-inch width lets Sharp claim a record for public spaces: the R903 is supposedly the first LCD sign with its technology that can display average humans at real size when tilted to a portrait view, making it an ideal fit for fashion or most anything where one-for-one scale matters. The 700cd/m2 brightness helps by keeping the picture visible in harsher lighting. If you’re not quite ready for the uncanny valley, you’ll be glad to know that the R903 won’t ship until January 28th, when it goes on sale with open pricing. Those who’d still prefer something less imposing can buy a 60-inch PN-R603 at the same time or wait for the 70-inch PN-R703 to grace storefronts on February 25th.

Filed under: Displays, HD

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Via: Impress Watch (translated)

Source: Sharp (1), (2), (3)

It’s no secret that college football is big business and that a major contributing factor is revenue from television. The influential reach of that revenue is a hot debate in organizations that are supposed to put more ideal values above capitalistic ones — the two are not always at odds, though. So when a collegiate organization like the Big Ten Conference is motivated to expand, most would like to think it’s a school’s academic, or even athletic, merits that put said institution at the top of the want list. However, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports believes the reason the Big Ten courted the University of Maryland and Rutgers University really just comes down to finding a way to sell an additional 14.6 million residents the Big Ten Network. The economics of sports networks on cable television is well documented — the majority pay so that the vocal minority may watch — but sculpting an amateur sports league to ensure your cable TV channel gets carriage in America’s largest media markets might be a new twist.

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Source: Yahoo Sports

Wondering who is more excited than college football fans to see that the top division is finally moving to a playoff system? It’s ESPN, which just announced it’s signed a 12-year deal for the championship games, semifinals, additional bowl games and “related programming.” The deal kicks in after the 2014 regular season, when ESPN’s current BCS deal ends. While it’s bad news for anyone hoping to get legit access without a cable package, ESPN now has rights to offer the games on TV, in 3D and to mobile devices through its WatchESPN apps (now including the Xbox 360) until 2026. ESPN says its broadcasts of two BCS Championship games have generated the highest cable audiences ever, so it’s no surprise they’d want to keep an iron grip on these new games. There’s more details in the press release after the break, hit the source link to hear an interview with network VP Brooke Magnus about the negotiations.

Continue reading ESPN signs dozen year deal for Division 1 college football playoff games

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Source: ESPN, ESPN Front Row

Comcast has brought video on-demand streaming to subscriber’s mobile devices since early last year, but now an update has added the option to download (some) content for offline viewing. Arriving simultaneously on iOS and Android, the Xfinity TV Player apps support downloads from premium channels Showtime (which was also one of the first up for streaming when that launched), Starz, Encore and MoviePlex. We downloaded the app on both platforms and found it to work in similar fashion, assuming you’re already logged in (and have any of those channels in your package) the option to download is right next to the usual stream button with options available for two different levels of picture quality. The high quality option wasn’t quite HD quality to our eyes, but certainly passable for viewing on a flight or subway. We did run into a hiccup on Android however, with an “unknown error” stopping us from downloading files to our Galaxy S II running ICS. If there were more content available it would be a decent no-additional-hardware-needed matchup for solutions like TiVo’s Stream or DirecTV’s Nomad, while we wait for that you can get a taste of the apps for each platform at the source links.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile

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Source: iTunes, Google Play