Hasta La Gadget!

When it comes to watching movies most of us want a high-quality picture and high-quality sound. Sound is particularly important when you’re watching high-resolution digital video on your home theater system, and you want to feel the bass as well as hear it. Dolby Laboratories has announced that its Dolby Digital Plus technology will be used to enable high-quality multichannel audio for the UltraViolet platform.

The Dolby sound technology will be integrated into the UltraViolet Common File Format. UltraViolet is the platform for the digital distribution of movies from major motion picture studios. This news comes right after we learned that Fox would be releasing its movies weeks before the official DVD and Blu-ray release using UltraViolet.

The first film Fox release early will be the science fiction flick Prometheus. One of the best features of UltraViolet is that the digital format is consistent across all UltraViolet retailers. These digital files can also be moved between all supported devices and applications.

Dolby says that the use of its Dolby Digital Plus technology will allow the content encoding providers to provide consumers with the sound experience envisioned by the music artist, director, or sound designer. Dolby says that it’s working with companies, including castLabs, Digital Rapids, and Elemental Technologies, to ensure that UltraViolet content plays correctly on a variety of services and devices. Dolby also has a developer kit to support the use of its capital the Digital Plus technology in the UltraViolet CFF specification.

UltraViolet flicks get better sound courtesy of Dolby Digital Plus is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AirPlay Mirroring on the iPhone and iPad is great, but startup Artifex Touch thinks it has a better solution for impromptu presentations, media streaming, group working and more with its AirBridge. A portable wireless adapter that clips to an iOS device and your nearest TV or projector, AirBridge is fresh to Kickstarter and, with the help of a clever companion app, streams video, games, and presentations over WiFi, either to the base station or directly to another iOS device user.

The app automatically searches for other nearby users – it can even create its own peer-to-peer WiFi link – and allows you to drag and drop files onto that user’s face (or into a group dropzone) to share files direct. You can send them the entire file in one go, or stream it to their iPhone or iPad display as a secondary screen, and the viewer can take snapshots of the presentation feed and annotate it. If there’s no WiFi available, it’ll fall back on Bluetooth instead.

Two versions of the hardware are in the works: AirBridge Pro has HDMI, VGA, 3.5mm audio-out and USB 3.0, with a microUSB port for charging its 3hr battery (though 8hrs is the target, if the Kickstarter raises enough). It can record mirrored video – such as an impromptu presentation you broadcast from your iPad – as an MP4 video onto a USB drive plugged into the base station, and streams mirrored video, over WiFi, to up to ten network-connected iOS devices.

The AirBridge Lite slims connectivity down to just HDMI and the 3.5mm audio-out, and supports cordless mirroring but no recording or ten-device streaming. As for the app, that can hook into cloud storage services like Dropbox, Box, and Skydrive, as well as authenticate via Facebook or LinkedIn. Altogether, up to 1080p HD resolution is supported.

Right now, AirBridge is compatible with all three generations of iPad and the iPhone 4/4S; mirroring requires an iPad 2, new iPad, or iPhone 4S. Given Apple is widely expected to switch to a new, smaller port as of the iPhone 5, the AirBridge team have made the docking connector modular.

Production is said to be possible within four months of funding completing – assuming AirBridge gets the ambitious $500,000 the company is looking for – with the round closing on October 20. A $99 pledge gets an AirBridge Lite once production starts; a $125 pledge steps up to the AirBridge Pro.

AirBridge out-streams AirPlay for impromptu iPhone sharing is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Spotify has updated its Android app to support NFC, using the short-range wireless technology to share music between handsets running Ice Cream Sandwich. The new app also introduces a fresh range of Audio Effects for Android 4.x phones, and the offline mode has been improved with more information to explain exactly why you’re offline: whether it’s network issues or simply because you’ve shut off data while roaming.

There are also the usual bugfixes and tweaks to stabilize the whole Spotify mobile experience. As before, you can access the company’s 10m+ catalog of audio, as well as synchronize playlists with the desktop app and other devices.

We booted up the new app on the Galaxy S III, and had no problem playing with the audio EQ tools which are now found in a submenu from the app’s settings page. The NFC implementation is a little counter-intuitive, however.

Initially, we tried to exchange a specific track (between the GSIII on Android 4.0 and a Galaxy Nexus on Jelly Bean), with the music playing on one phone. Holding them back-to-back did bring up the regular Android Beam option, but nothing came through to the other device; however, when we did the same with an album, that listing subsequently popped up on the second phone.

It seems that, right now, only full album records can be swapped between phones via NFC, not specific tracks, though that’s still better than nothing. NFC exchange didn’t interrupt playback on either device.

Spotify for Android is a free download from the Play store. However, you’ll need a premium account with the streaming music service in order to actually use the app.

Spotify for Android gets NFC music exchange: We go hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Syabas has announced the latest iteration of its Popcorn Hour media player, the A-400. Like the models before it, this is a networked player that allows for easy media playback (especially in the case of local content), but unlike the models before it, this one can boast support for 3D video. It also brings a number of “studio-quality” video processing features to the table, including adaptive detail and contrast enhancement along with adaptive debanding.

You can connect the A-400 to your network through its Gigabit Ethernet port, but a Wi-Fi dongle is also available separately if you want to go wireless. The A-400 comes equipped with an SD card slot, an HMDI 1.4 connector, and an eSATA port to make local media playback easier, and you can upgrade the player with a 2.5 or 3.5-inch HDD or SSD to turn the A-400 into something of an external storage device for your content. Not too bad, but the media player seems to be lacking a Blu-Ray drive, a feature that will be sorely missed by some.

Once you’ve got your A-400 connected to the Internet, you can access the Syabas Apps Market, which contains “over 90 free and premium TV apps,” just in case you find your streaming options to be lacking. The whole thing is run by Sigma Design’s Dual Core 800Mhz SMP 8911 chipset, which should give you the power you need when you take advantage of the A-400′s 3D playback capabilities. As if that wasn’t enough, it seems that Syabas is considering tossing a USB 3.0 port into the mix before the player launches.

As for when that will be, we don’t have a specific answer yet. The Popcorn Hour A-400 is slated to launch in Europe sometime next month, and will come sporting a price tag of €289. For the moment, it seems that this is only scheduled for a European launch, but it probably won’t be long before the A-400 makes its way to the US. Stay tuned for more information.

Popcorn Hour A-400 media player unveiled by Syabas is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Some really good news has turned up for fans of BBC’s iPlayer. BBC announced today that its iPlayer has been updated with a new feature that fans of BBC programs will love. Starting today users of iPlayer will be able to download their favorite TV shows directly to their smartphone or tablet at no charge.

The programs will be able to be stored on your device for 30 days before they are no longer available. The idea is that fans can download the programs and watch them while traveling or in an area without Wi-Fi or a mobile signal. Program downloads can be performed over Wi-Fi networks. There is a catch similar to pay-per-view movies though.

Namely, once you start playing the show you downloaded you only have seven more days to finish watching it. After those seven days, the shows are no longer available. You do have 30 days before you have to start playing it and your seven-day limit countdown begins. BBC says that the new download feature is initially available for iOS devices, but it will come to Android devices soon.

Using the download feature requires only three steps. The user has to open the program they want, tap the download option, and the program is added to your download queue automatically. The next time the device is connected to a Wi-Fi network the program will automatically begin to download. There is no indication that downloads can be done over 3G or 4G mobile networks.

[via BBC]

BBC iPlayer now allows mobile downloads is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.