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Sep 24

Netflix for Android gets tablet-esque update

Netflix has pushed out a new version of its app for Android smartphones, with a new UI, more movie details and content, and easier access to recently watched and part-watched shows. The updated Netflix for Android borrows liberally from the Android tablet version launched last year, squeezing more titles and galleries into the scrolling UI, and still delivering plenty of personalized suggestions.

The recently-watched content now shows up at the top of the list, while the Instant Queue – which not all regions get access to – is now slotted in below the Home screen under the Top 10 list. Hitting browse opens up the various genre options, sorted by category, and there’s a children’s section with titles organized by age rating.

A single tap on a title calls up information on the content, and then a double-tap actually starts playback. There’s also persistent access to search throughout the new app.

Netflix for Android is a free download, though you’ll obviously need an active Netflix subscription in order to actually use it. It’s compatible with Gingerbread phones and above.

Netflix for Android gets tablet-esque update is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 20

Onkyo DS-A5 dock squeezes AirPlay into your A/V setup

Posted in: Today's Chili

Apple’s AirPlay could end up a little more flexible thanks to Onkyo, with a new dock promising to add support for the streaming standard to existing A/V kit. The Onkyo DS-A5 iPod/iPhone/iPad Docking Station recharges your iPhone or iPad, but also acts as an AirPlay bridge between them and a variety of home entertainment kit, with the possibility of funneling your music across an ethernet network too.

Docked, and your iOS device pushes out digital sound, or you can unplug when your battery is charged and switch over to AirPlay. There’s both optical digital and analog stereo outputs, as well as a composite video output.

Those using the DS-A5 with an Onkyo receiver can use the RI (Remote Interactive) port to remotely power up the A/V kit when they start AirPlay streaming from the iOS device. It also allows the DS-A5 to be controlled by a universal Onkyo remote.

Finally, the ethernet connection hooks up to a home network, and there’s support for streaming audio from iTunes on your Mac or PC. Onkyo says it will work with the iPhone 5, though since it uses the old-style 30-pin Dock Connector you’ll presumably need to wait until you can get a Lightning adapter next month.

The Onkyo DS-A5 iPod/iPhone/iPad Dock will hit shelves in October, priced at $199.

Onkyo DS-A5 dock squeezes AirPlay into your A/V setup is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 20

Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 slims Miracast and WiDi for your pocket

Posted in: Today's Chili

The WiFi Alliance promised us some Miracast products, and Netgear has stepped up to deliver, with its new Push2TV adapter taking on Apple’s AirPlay in a gadget that fits in your palm. The Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 Wireless Display Adapter uses Miracast to stream what’s on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet screen directly to your TV, though there’s also WiDi support for those with older, non-Miracast notebooks.

The box itself is a mere 83mm in length and measures about the same as a small stack of credit cards. Netgear will be supplying it with a microUSB power supply, but the Push2TV sips power in such a sufficiently humble way that it could also be juiced up by a spare USB port on your TV itself, should you have one. That way, you could avoid trailing cables from the STB altogether, relying on both USB and HDMI links with your display.

If hiding it behind a screen isn’t to your taste, Netgear also expects the Push2TV to find favor with mobile workers who might want to repurpose a hotel room TV for their own streaming content, rather than pay for on-demand movies. 1080p Full HD is supported.

Altogether, it’s a whole lot smaller and more flexible than Netgear’s older Push2TV adapters (the PTV1000 and PTV2000), as well as being cheaper too. The Netgear Push2TV will go on sale this month, priced at $59.99.

Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 slims Miracast and WiDi for your pocket is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 20

New Netgear NeoTV streaming players aim to wreck Roku

Posted in: Today's Chili

Netgear has updated its NeoTV range of set-top boxes, undercutting Roku and focusing on easily adding future functionality thanks to a new HTML5 interface. The three-strong NeoTV range kicks off at $49.99 for the NeoTV, complete with Full HD 1080p video and 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus surround sound support, and rises to $69.99 for the NeoTV Max with WiDi and a double-sided remote with full QWERTY thumbboard.

In-between there’s the NeoTV Pro, at $59.99, which also has WiDi but lacks the USB port and microSD memory card slot of the NeoTV Max. All three models support 1080p and have both WiFi b/g/n and ethernet connections – Netgear is keen to point out that Roku’s $50 HD model tops out at 720p and doesn’t support wired networks – and the boxes are 20-percent smaller than the previous generation.

Each remote has shortcut buttons for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Cinema Now, VUDU, Pandora, and YouTube, and it’s possible to preset the Netflix button to automatically load into the Kids’ mode interface if your offspring are more likely to be using the STB than you are.

Netgear has also redesigned the UI overall, both visibly and under the hood, and it’s now based on HTML5: that, the company told us, means it’ll be far easier to add new functionality in the future. Netgear will merely have to change its server-side plugins, and users will be able to access updated services such as additional content sources.

The Netgear NeoTV, NeoTV Pro, and NeoTV Max will go on sale this month in the US, and follow on in Canada in November. Availability for the UK, Europe, and Australia is pegged for November or December.

New Netgear NeoTV streaming players aim to wreck Roku is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 20

Netgear announces Push2TV WiDi adapter and three new NeoTV units

Posted in: Today's Chili

Today, Netgear is unveiling three more Roku-troubling NeoTV boxes and Push2TV, a wireless display adapter letting you harness WiDi or Miracast to push content from smartphones, laptops or tablets to your TV. The trio of NeoTVs are so similar to the last generation that it’s a little hard to tell the difference, except that the new flagship NeoTV MAX now comes with the long-desired addition of DLNA and a custom remote that has navigation buttons on one side and a QWERTY keyboard on the other. All four devices are available from today, the Push2Tv costing $60, while the new NeoTVs are priced at $50, $60 and $70, respectively — and if you’d like to know more, then we’ve got some more info down below.

Continue reading Netgear announces Push2TV WiDi adapter and three new NeoTV units

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, HD

Netgear announces Push2TV WiDi adapter and three new NeoTV units originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 20

T-Mobile USA offers free copy of The Avengers to Samsung Galaxy S III owners

Posted in: Today's Chili

If you’re the owner of a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone on the T-Mobile USA network, and happen to like super heroes, you’re going to love this. T-Mobile USA has announced that it, and Samsung are going to be enhancing features for all Galaxy S III smartphones on the T-Mobile network. That means new features will be added for both new buyers and existing customers.

The updated feature set will begin rolling out on September 25. The coolest part about the updated feature set is that Samsung and T-Mobile will begin offering the Marvel film The Avengers free for new and existing customers. The movie will be available as a virtual download for existing customers via the Samsung Media Hub and will be preloaded on new S III devices.

The movie will only be offered for free on the T-Mobile network. T-Mobile customers will also be able to wirelessly share the content to compatible TVs via the AllShare Cast feature and the AllShare Case Wireless Hub. The Avengers is being offered on September 25, which is the same day the movie hits Blu-ray, pay-per-view, and DVD.

The AllShare Cast Wireless Hub is a new accessory that will sell for $99.99 with availability set for September 24. Using that hub, T-Mobile customers will be able to watch streaming content from the smartphones on the bigger screen in the living room. It’s very cool to see T-Mobile and Samsung offering the biggest movie of the year at no cost to all T-Mobile S III owners.

T-Mobile USA offers free copy of The Avengers to Samsung Galaxy S III owners is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 20

Roku Streaming Stick lands October; Apps updated plus Vudu added

Posted in: Today's Chili

Roku‘s Streaming Still will drop in October priced at $99, the company has confirmed, and there’s new content from Vudu and media shifting functionality in the updated mobile apps to tide you over until then. The Streaming Stick, announced back in January, eschews the regular Roku STB in favor of a smaller HDMI dongle that discretely plugs directly into a spare port on your TV and sucks MHL control signals from your normal remote if you have a compatible set.

Alternatively, there’s the motion-control Bluetooth remote that we saw introduced with the Roku 2 XS. It’s a more compact and streamlined option, particularly if you’ve wall-mounted your TV, and uses WiFi to get online (there’s no ethernet option, unsurprisingly). Some TV manufacturers will be bundling the stick as well.

As for Vudu, the subscription-free movie rental service has been added as a new channel on Roku 2, Roku HD, Roku LG, and Streaming Stick models. It allows viewers to browse by name, genre, release, populatiry, top picks, video quality, MPAA rating, studio, purchase option, and Rotten Tomatoes rating, as well as including title/actor search.

Various extras, including cast bios and trailers, are on offer, and it’s possible to preview the first two minutes of each film. Movies will be streamed in HD, and with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1/7.1 surround, and new users will get $5.99 of free credit when they pair up their Roku box.

Finally, the Roku mobile apps for iOS and Android have been updated, with the ability to stream music playlists and photo galleries from a phone or tablet directly to your TV, via a Roku 2, HD, LT, or Streaming Stick, with the new Play On Roku feature. There’s also the ability to launch channels by voice on Android devices and to rename individual Roku players to make streaming to a particular screen easier.

The new apps are now available to Roku’s international customers in the UK, Canada, and Ireland, and should be showing up in the App Store and Play market today.

Roku Streaming Stick lands October; Apps updated plus Vudu added is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sep 19

Sky and Warner Bros. ink exclusive movie deal: iTunes, Netflix left out in cold

Posted in: Today's Chili

Movie lovers in the UK may struggle to find their title of choice to watch in the coming months, with news that Sky and Warner Bros. have signed an exclusive deal for new and back-catalog titles. The agreement covers both Sky’s on-demand and subscription Sky Movies services, and will see new Warner Bros. releases hit the broadcaster roughly six months after they finish showing in theaters. Other services will have to wait out a twelve month exclusivity period after that before they can offer titles like The Dark Knight Rises, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Meanwhile, older titles from Warner Bros. storerooms will also be exclusive to Sky Movies. That includes all of the Batman movies, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, all Superman movies and Lethal Weapon 1, 2 and 3. Sky will offer them via its NOW TV IPTV service as well, though only to Sky customers.

It’s not the only Sky deal in recent weeks that has seen content become scarcer. Earlier this month, the broadcaster inked a deal for exclusive Bond film access, which saw the entire catalog of 007 films quietly yanked from the iTunes UK store. Instead, they’ll be shown on a dedicated on-demand channel on Sky.

HD and 3D versions of films will be shown, where available, though Sky is yet to confirm how much it will be asking for each title. Still, it’s a blow to rival services such as iTunes, Netflix, LOVEFILM, and other pay-per-view offerings, which will now face a sizable hole in their catalogs.

[via Engadget]

Sep 19

Miracast certification begins as AirPlay gets some serious competition

Posted in: Today's Chili

AirPlay may be Apple’s solution to wireless streaming, but other heavyweights of the tech industry are getting behind the WiFi Alliance’s Miracast, which today announced the first compatible products. Unlike AirPlay video streaming, which is limited to Apple hardware, Miracast relies on WiFi Direct to squirt content between smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, TVs, and set-top boxes. Smartphone manufacturers haven’t been slow to get involved either: both the Samsung Galaxy S III and the LG Optimus G are already Miracast certified.

Of course, it’s no use if only a handful of devices work with Miracast, and so happily there are more than just two phones on offer. Broadcom, Intel, LG, Marvell, MediaTek, NVIDIA, Realtek, Samsung, Sony, and Texas Instruments have all pledged their support, with several of those firms detailing their initial Miracast certified products:

Samsung Echo-P Series TVs
Broadcom Dualband 11n WiFi
Intel WiDi
Marvell Avastar USB-8782 802.11n 1×1 Dual-band Reference Design
MediaTek a/b/g/n Dualband Mobile Phone Client, MT662X_v1 and DTV Sink, MV0690
Ralink 802.11n Wireless Adapter, RT3592
Realtek Dual-band 2×2 RTL8192DE HM92D01 PCIe Half Mini Card and RTD1185 RealShare Smart Display Adapter

Some of those, like the Samsung TVs and Realtek network cards, will find their way directly into consumers’ homes. Others, like the Marvell and MediaTek chipsets, will show up more discretely, as vendors begin to include Miracast in their phones, tablets, and STBs.

TI Miracast 1080p HD demo:

Intel’s involvement means WiDi will now include Miracast support, instantly broadening the standard’s appeal. More than 1.5 billion Miracast devices are expected to ship in 2016, according to independent predictions, sporting the “WiFi Certified” badge in retail environments.

Sep 13

Nintendo TVii for Wii U smart TV revealed

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Nintendo has announced Nintendo TVii, the company’s take on the smart TV, using the Wii U GamePad as a second-screen to navigate live, on-demand, and DVR content. Built on the fact that, for many, the Wii has been the single way their TV has been hooked up online, Nintendo TVii will offer access to live TV channels, to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon rentals/purchases, and recorded content on a DVR like a TiVo.

The system is all socially-enabled, so that viewers can see what their friends have recommended or been viewing lately. Movies and TV shows will have links to trailers, IMDB entries, cast information, Wikipedia and more.

Tapping a show or movie will bring up a list of options on how to watch it. That will depend on what’s showing live and what is available on-demand, with the option to access a Hulu Plus premium account or Netflix streaming account if you have one, or to buy the show from Amazon if you don’t. If you’ve recorded it on your TiVo then you can find it there instead.

Sports, meanwhile, shows thumbnails of live scores, and learns from your individual sports team preferences to show those teams earlier in the list.

Each family member gets their own list of favorites and recordings, and there’s a group list that gathers together any overlaps. When you actually start playing a show or movie, on your TV, the GamePad screen shows information on the show itself, allows you to share thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, see other comments, vote in polls, and see other feedback.

The content shown on the GamePad is also synchronized to the show, so that if you join a live program partway through, you’ll see time-linked comments and other information. Similarly, sports information, plays, scores and other details are sync’d to the right point in the game.