UK cable provider Virgin Media will become the first ever to partner up with Netflix and provide its streaming services. A sign of things to come in the US?
     |
Roku has updated its Android app with an awesome new feature: you can now stream video from your Android handset to the media box
| |
Just over a month after its iOS debut, video support for “Play on Roku” is now available for the streaming box’s Android app. You’ll need a second gen or newer Roku running at least software version 5.1 to push hand-crafted video from your Google gizmo, and then it only works with “select” Ice Cream Sandwich or later devices. Which ones? The company’s blog lists the Samsung Galaxy S III and S4, HTC One, Nexus 4 and 2012’s Nexus 7 tablet. You have one of those, right?
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
Source: Roku Blog
Video producers that sell through Vimeo On Demand now have much more flexibility in marketing their wares. Starting today, Vimeo Pro members can offer both purchases and rentals at separate prices. They can also supply pre-orders and promo codes, while stat hounds will see more advanced viewership data, such as trailer play counts. It’s up to content creators to use the new features, but we’ve already spotted at least a few titles that take advantage of the upgrades; head over to Vimeo if you’d like to give them a try.
Via: The Next Web
Source: Vimeo On Demand
If you like to stream content but you already have too many set-top boxes in your house, LG wants to help. Having already committed to implementing 5G WiFi chips in its upcoming HDTVs earlier in the year, LG Display has developed a PC monitor that, it claims, is the first to integrate Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) tech directly into the LCD component. It’s not the biggest panel out there, at 23.8 inches, but it does mean you’ll be able to stream anything you like from your WiDi-enabled laptop without additional gear. And while the market for WiDi-enabled displays is pretty thin right now, LG has said it will offer up its integrated panel tech to OEMs and other monitor makers, suggesting that you’ll soon have a multiplicity of options for your streaming needs.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, LG
Source: LG Display Newsroom
Xbox Music is going free over the web today, and its long-awaited iOS and Android versions are also set to launch at some point today. The move puts Xbox Music and Microsoft on a new course, positioning the service to rival major streaming music providers like Spotify and Rdio. “The Spotify model is the most disruptive thing that’s happened in the music industry in the last five years,” Xbox Music GM Jerry Johnson told Engadget in an interview this week.
With the move to free streaming on the web — something that’s been available to Windows 8 users for some time now — Johnson and Microsoft are hoping to get in on that disruption. The first six months of streaming are entirely free, and becomes more limited after that. Like Spotify, Johnson reasons that users will be drawn in for free on the web and upgrade to the Xbox Music Pass ($10/month or $100/year). Also like Spotify, the mobile apps are essentially useless without a paid subscription. It’s unclear if streaming will be free for the Xbox One version that launches this November, though we’d bet that the first 30 days are free (like with the Xbox 360 iteration). There are some new images of what it’ll look like on Xbox One in the gallery below — it’s essentially a shinier version of the one you’re used to on your current Xbox 360.
Sadly, the iOS and Android apps don’t launch with the ability to save and play tracks offline; offline playback functionality is coming “in the coming months,” we’re told. Oh, and when Windows 8.1 launches in October, the Web Playlist tool (which creates playlists based on whatever website you’re viewing) will arrive alongside the OS update for Windows 8 users. We’d leave you with a link to Tears for Fears’ timely song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” but Xbox Music doesn’t allow users to link out. Instead, there’s a YouTube embed below. Dance with us like it’s 1985!%Gallery-slideshow83433%
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft
VLC returned to iOS with big upgrades like AirPlay and Dropbox integration, but it left out a few of the very valuable features we’ve seen in other media players. The app’s new 2.1 update addresses several of those omissions in one fell swoop. VLC can now play audio-only files, and it will stream content from both UPnP devices and FTP servers. Even a few of the smaller additions could be quite useful for some viewers — there’s a video deinterlacing option, for example, as well as support for subtitles in non-Western languages. We’re sure that VLC 2.1 won’t please everyone, but iOS media lovers who held off on downloading 2.0 will want to give the update a closer look.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: App Store
Sorry NVIDIA, but it looks like the Shield is already obsolete. It’s not because of the Ghetto Shield, it’s because of the Cross Plane. Developed by three videogame console modders who founded a new company called Advanced Gaming Innovations (AGI), the Cross Plane streams HDMI input from and sends controller output to a PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and the Ouya. Yep, you read that right.
As you can see, the Cross Plane looks a lot like the Wii U Game Pad. It’s 1.5″ thick, 5.5″ tall and 9.5″ wide. It has a 7″ 1280 x 800 screen, two 25mm stereo speakers and a headphone jack. The red block you see sticking out of the Cross Plane’s back is a cartridge called the Control Pak. That cartridge doesn’t contain a game; rather it contains the hardware that makes the Cross Plane compatible with a gaming device. In other words, there’s an Xbox 360 Control Pak, a PC Control Pak and so on. AGI is also working on making the Cross Plane work with the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
The last component of the Cross Plane is a wireless HDMI transmitter and receiver, where you’ll plug in the HDMI cable from your PC or console.
As you may have guessed, the Cross Plane can only stream games within a local Wi-Fi network, but that’s to be expected. Perhaps the Cross Plane’s only weak point is that its battery only lasts 4 hours.
Pledge at least $349 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Cross Plane as a reward. That’s right, for just $50 more than the Shield you get a device that is far more versatile and possibly future-proof, thanks to its cartridge based hardware. If AGI does make it compatible with the next generation consoles I am definitely going to buy a Cross Plane.
[via Ubergizmo]
GetGlue is continuously massaging its socially connected app for TV watchers, and the latest update reflects some of the ways TV viewership is changing. Like Foursquare’s recent changes, after an initial focus on check-ins and sharing, the new updates are all about helping users figure out what they’re doing / watching next. There’s a redesigned guide (again) in v5.0, now offering a personalized view at not only what’s on right now via traditional broadcast networks, but also video on-demand and internet services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, HBO Go and more than a dozen others. With the rise of on demand viewing from a number of sources, it will be interesting to see if GetGlue can fill in some of those viewership statistics companies like Netflix have kept private.
There’s also a new “Search & Discover” feature to find programs with browsing by genre or curated lists from GetGlue staff. Reworked show pages feature more social tie-ins, and the app also lets users directly add images, videos or news articles to their posts for some IntoNow-style meme creation and spreading. Finally, DirecTV customers can connect the app to their satellite boxes and change the channel directly from GetGlue’s guide. The new app is rolling out today, let us know if its social networking focus is helping you finding new shows to watch or if it’s just another source of oversharing on Twitter and Facebook.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
Source: iTunes
Simple.TV’s first streaming DVR had its rough edges, but the company is clearly willing to make improvements — it just announced the second generation of its set-top box. The redesign is more flexible, sporting both a second tuner and compatibility with international broadcast standards like DVB-C, DVB-S2, DVB-T2 and ISDB-T. Both first- and second-generation owners will also get a revamped Version 2.0 interface that offers personalized content, faster updates and new streaming clients for Android, iOS, Roku players and the web. Simple.TV doesn’t yet have pricing for the new DVR, but it tells us that both the device and the Version 2.0 upgrade will reach the US by mid-to-late November; Europeans will get the hardware next spring.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Simple.TV
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
