Hasta La Gadget!

Fancy some of the 4K magic from Sony, but are living over in the UK? Well you can get one step closer by pre-ordering today. The Bravia X9 — as it’s known over there — comes in two sizes (55- and 65-inch) both of which will land in bricks and mortar stores in mid-June. The price? Well, £4,000 and £6,000 respectively. That outlay will get you upscaling on all your media, and Sony’s 4K X-Reality PRO enginge handling the full-resolution stuff. Still not convinced? Well there is NFC and plus a TV SlideView app for Android and iOS if that sweetens the deal?

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony

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Look, we’re well aware that you’re already fantasizing about the PlayStation 4, but how do you think that makes your existing PS3 feel? (Hint: Not awesome.) For those still focused on remaining in the here and now, Netflix has issued an update for its PS3 Player that “is more consistent with the Netflix player on the web as well as [its] mobile and tablet applications.” The key feature in this update is the ability to easily manage your audio and subtitle selections; before, you had to hop out of whatever you were watching in order to tweak those elements, but now you can make said changes while the content is still on screen. There have also been improvements made in the “trickplay” mode mode when scanning forward or reverse in play mode — essentially, these images now load a lot faster, which ought to keep your blood pressure at a safe level. The update is out now for PS3 users, and should be hitting select Smart TVs and Blu-ray Disc players soon.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Netflix

You can’t always be camped out in front of your TV for the big soccer (or “footie”) match. Thankfully, beIN Sport is hopping on the streaming bandwagon and, starting today, will offer 24/7 access on both PCs and mobile phones though Play. Of course, like many of these properties making the leap from TV to the web, beIN Sport Play requires that you have an active subscription through a cable or satellite provider. At first only Time Warner and Bright House subscribers will have access, though other networks will come online over the next few months. Play will also offer unique features such as email alerts 30 minutes before the beginning of an event and the ability to watch alternative streams and un-broadcast matches. Now, if only beIN could convince Americans to care about soccer in the first place…

Filed under: HD

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Sony’s subtitle glasses have been a long time coming. The US rollout began more than a year ago, but the gradual launch has left hard-of-hearing Americans with few modern closed captioning options at the movies. They’ll have a much easier time of it as of this month, as Regal will be providing the glasses to nearly 6,000 theaters before May is over. While the wide-scale deployment is coming later than the original first quarter target, it should be a welcome upgrade for viewers who’ve had to either deal with clunkier subtitle systems or stay at home. The Sony solution still won’t be ubiquitous, especially when it sells for $1,750 per pair, but there’s now a better chance that at least one captioning-friendly theater will be within reach.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wearables, HD

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Source: LA Times

Just in case you didn’t have enough content options from the likes of Roku and your cable set top box, Toshiba has partnered with Rovi to integrate the DivX Plus Streaming codec into a new line of TVs. The streaming format promises enhanced multimedia controls like multi-language subtitles, resumable playback across devices and Dynamic Resolution Scaling, which should be good for those with fluctuating bandwidth. However, there aren’t that many services behind the format just yet, though Knowhow Movies by Dixons Retail in the UK has pledged its support. Still, one can never have enough ways to entertain the kids.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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