Hasta La Gadget!

Sky’s war against its VOD rivals could be won before a single shot is fired in anger, thanks to the company’s practice of signing exclusive contracts with major Hollywood players. Today, it’s extended its contract with NBC Universal, giving Sky exclusive distribution rights to the studio’s movies and access to Universal Network’s TV offerings such as E!, Movies24, SyFy and Universal UK. When new films like Snow White and the Huntsmen, Les Misérables and The Bourne Legacy leave cinemas, Sky Movies (and Now TV) customers will have an exclusive rental window before they’re available to everyone else, as well as full access to a back-catalog that contains childhood favorites like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. As we’ve mentioned before, such deals are great news if you’re a Sky customer, and not if you’re not.

Continue reading Sky and NBC Universal extend content deal with exclusive movie rental window

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Sky and NBC Universal extend content deal with exclusive movie rental window originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Halo 4
After more than a decade the Halo series is still going strong, although development has moved from Bungie to 343 Industries. Fans shouldn’t let that switch worry them however, as Joystiq’s review assures it is a “decadent show of strength” for the series that lives up to its predecessors in single player, co-op and multiplayer. A new co-op mode that’s updated weekly will also probably help find some allies instead of foul-mouthed adversaries should you choose to head online. There’s a trailer after the break, but we’re pretty sure you already know if this is the game for you.
($59.99 on Amazon)

Entourage The Complete Series
If you’d like to see every season of Entourage in HD, this is your chance. The complete series is coming to Blu-ray (yes, before The Sopranos) and anyone who caught it during its run on TV can attest to the sharp visual style and always timely soundtrack. Vince and crew have never looked better, and at $140, it’s not too expensive for serious fans to enjoy.
($139 on Amazon)

Firefly 10th anniversary
Browncoats unite. The Science Channel is airing a special reunion of the short-lived show Firefly, complete with never before seen footage and more. Check out the official site for more info and a chance to unlock more exclusive clips, and tune in Sunday night to relive all the action. If you missed the Comic-Con reunion panel, video is embedded after the break.
(November 11th, Science, 10PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (November 5th – 11th)

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Must See HDTV (November 5th – 11th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The media player paradise of XBMC 11 Eden has served us well for the majority of the year, but now it’s time to move to Middle Earth. XBMC 12 Frodo has entered formal development, bringing with it a feature freeze until the new version is done and dusted. This means there won’t be many changes beyond tweaks to the default skin for the foreseeable future, but a few significant additions just made the inclusion deadline, such as a UPnP update, advanced filtering (pictured above) and more. Beta versions of the hobbit-friendly release are expected to start appearing in the middle of November, but if you’re still craving forbidden fruit, alpha software is available to install now at your own peril.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD

XBMC 12 Frodo enters development, beta releases expected mid-November originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The newest option for Windows Media Center users is nearly here, as Ceton’s Echo extender has been listed for pre-order at Newegg. Available for $179 with a $10 gift card and free shipping, the diminutive accessory enables WMC streams of your live and recorded TV in up to 5 other rooms. That’s been possible with other extenders — especially Microsoft’s own Xbox 360 console — but the Echo claims its advantage is being purpose built to do the job with less noise and power consumption, plus support for features like DTS surround sound*. We’ll be reviewing it as soon as the software is final, early adopters that are ready to jump but missed the beta offer can snag one at the link below — the first shipments are scheduled to go out November 30th.

Update: DTS support was announced at NAB but that was before the hardware change to the smaller boxes. As a result, it will not support DTS at launch.

Continue reading Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender pre-orders are live, ship November 30th for $179

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Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender pre-orders are live, ship November 30th for $179 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rocking a YouView box? You’ll shortly be in line for a software bump that’ll give you a few handy tweaks. The update will speed up the device’s boot-from-standby time, let you group recordings by series so you can watch ’em box-set style and pump out surround-sound audio if you’ve got the right gear. It’ll also provide a few useful UI tweaks, like offering the option to hide BBC red button prompts, letting you roll live TV backwards by 15 seconds or forwards by 60 seconds. It’ll be available on Humax-branded boxes over the next few weeks, followed by the TalkTalk branded units shortly afterward.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

YouView software update adds surround-sound, faster boot times and grouped recording originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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