Hasta La Gadget!

After a long-winded period of being up for sale with a few nibbles from big companies, Hulu has decided to exit the market and have its current share of owners maintain ownership once again. Instead, Disney, 21st Century Fox, and NBC Universal will invest $750 million in Hulu to keep it growing into the future.

For the past couple of months, it’s been rumored that several big companies were interested in buying Hulu, including Yahoo, DirecTV, and even private equity firms like KKR and Silver Lake. However, it seems these companies couldn’t come to a successful negotiation, and after what we can only suspect to be numerous failed negotiations, Hulu’s been taken off the market.

21st Century Fox President and COO Chase Carey said that Hulu’s owners had “meaningful conversations with a number of potential partners and buyers,” and he called He called the offers that Hulu received “impressive,” but it seems that ultimately there wasn’t a consensus as far as agreeing to a final price for the streaming video service.

However, Disney, Fox and NBC most likely found a future value with Hulu, and they might have realized that selling the service wouldn’t be the best option. Hulu certainly has a lot of potential, and we reckon that if another company did acquire Hulu, it might have spelled bad news for consumers as the new owners would clean house and completely change around the service.

As for what the extra $750 million will serve for Hulu, it’s just said that the money will help “to propel future growth.” So it’s a good bet that we’ll see even more content from Hulu in the future, and we’ll see the owners continue to work at growing Hulu’s user base. Now, if they could just get rid of ads for paying subscribers, then we have a deal.

Hulu no longer for sale as Disney, Fox, NBC maintain ownership is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG has announced an expansion to its ultra high-definition 4K line of TVs, this time with full-backlit LED 55-inch and 65-inch models. In addition, there has also been unveiled an 84-inch UHD model, which is the first to be made available to buyers in the United States. If you’re in the market for the 84-inch version, you’ll need to shell out a whopping $20,000 and head to LG’s Santa Monica retail store.

The 55-inch and 65-inch ultra high-definition TVs feature 4.1-channel 50-watt sound system that includes what LG calls a sliding speaker, which is mounted on a motorized sound bar that automatically surfaces beneath the panel. As for the display itself, LG used its Nano Full LED backlighting along with an IPS display.

The TVs feature a picture resolution of 3840 x 2160, as well as the Tru-Ultra HD engine that upscales content via a four-step process. In addition, the LA9700 utilized an H.265 HEVC (high-efficiency video coding) decoder, which will make the sets compatible with new 4K standards that may be implemented in the future for streaming and broadcast.

LG Electronics’ senior vice president Jay Vandenbree said: and head of LG’s U.S. home entertainment business. “When we brought the first Ultra HD TV to market last fall, consumer acceptance was surprisingly strong, considering that the 84-inch TV carried a $20,000 pricetag. Now, with a wider range of sizes at more attractive prices, even more consumers can enjoy the amazing picture clarity that Ultra HD TVs provide.”

In addition, the 55-inch and 65-inch models feature the Smart TV offering from LG, which provides features like Cinema 3D and Magic Remote for voice control. The smaller model has a suggested retail price of $5,999, says LG, while the 65-inch model has a suggested retail price of $7,999.

SOURCE: PR Newswire

LG unveils LA9700 series 4K Ultra HD LED 55-inch and 65-inch TVs is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung has unveiled the pricing and pre-order date for its Ultra High-Definition 4K TV F9000 series line of devices, which will start at $5,499 and will be available to pre-order on July 21. This follows in line with its S9 ultra high-definition TVs the Korean maker showed off earlier in 2013, and includes technology that will allow it to be compatible with new UHD standards that will come in the future.

The F9000 line of UHD 4K TVs will be available in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, with the former having an estimated price of $5,499 and the latter at $7,499. Pre-ordering will go live on July 21 from “select authorized retailers” in the United States, while shipping is expected to begin at an unspecified date in early August.

Both of the models run on Samsung’s Quadmatic Picture Engine, which utilizes a four-step process for delivering images, which is comprised of noise minimization, upscaling to 4K, image enhancement of less-than-4K content, and signal analysis. The upscale conversion takes place for standard-definition content all the way up through full 1080p video feeds. As mentioned, there’s also compatibility with future 4K standards via the Evolution Kit.

The F9000 series features 2.2 channels of 2-way 70watt sound, an Ultra Slim Bezel, and Precision Black Local Dimming technology. The latter feature boosts black levels (as well as constrast) by dimming the darker areas of a picture selectively while leaving the lighter portions alone. There’s also a feature called Micro Dimming Ultimate, which works to enhance the contrast and sharpen the video feed.

As far as software goes, the F9000 TVs feature Samsung’s Smart TV with the Smart Hub interface, allowing for the use of apps, social networks, and more.

Samsung America’s Executive VP Joe Stinziano said: “Revolutionizing the home entertainment viewing experience is a hallmark of the Samsung brand. The F9000 series are Evolutionary TVs that will give consumers great peace of mind in their entertainment investment. Now home entertainment lovers will have the opportunity to truly see and enjoy their favorite shows and movies like never before, in crystal-clear ultra high-definition, and in the beautifully designed 55- and 65-inch sizes they demand.”

SOURCE: BusinessWire

Samsung F9000 UHD 4K TV series pricing and pre-order date unveiled is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Philips has updated its Ambilight color-illumination system for TVs by integrating it with Hue wireless LED lightbulbs, spreading content-themed light effects around the room. The update – which comes with a new Ambilight+Hue app for iOS and Android, compatible with Ambilight TVs from 2011 onward – arrives alongside the Philips Elevation TV, a new ultra-slim 60-inch LCD TV with Ambilight “4-sided XL” for all-round colors.

Ambilight uses multi-color LEDs around the frame of the TV to project light around the set, onto the walls behind it. By matching the different colors to the dominant on-screen color, Philips claims the overall viewing experience is more immersive.

Initially, the system projected a single color, but over the generations that’s been improved to the point where light can shine from all sides and in different hues simultaneously. The new Hue lightbulb integration expands this even more, meaning that scenes can be extended throughout the living room.

The new app apparently walks users through the setup, presumably allowing them to indicate whereabouts, in relation to the TV, each of the ZigBee-enabled bulbs is positioned. The bulbs – which we reviewed back in November – are priced at $199.95 for a starter set of three and the base-station.

As for the Philips Elevation TV, that surrounds a 60-inch Full HD LCD display with 94 LEDs to create Ambilight colors around it. The TV also supports passive 3D – with four sets of glasses in the box – and has integrated WiFi and ethernet, along with four HDMI ports and three USB.

There’s Smart TV support and the remote control also includes a QWERTY keyboard for easier text entry; the WiFi can be used to hook up a Miracast device for streaming, and the Elevation can also stream content via DLNA to a second display elsewhere on the home network.

At 13.5mm, Philips expects the Elevation TV to be mounted on the wall, though it also comes with a transparent stand. It’ll go on sale in Q3 in Europe and Russia, priced at £2,800 ($4,175).

It’s not the first time we’ve seen Hue’s potential for Ambilight duties considered. After the bulbs were launched, several DIY projects to synchronize them to on-screen content – such as through an Apple TV, in Kai Aras’ project – sprang up. Philips has since updated its remote app with more smart home features, as well as thrown things open to developers with an open API.

Philips Hue Ambilight support arrives alongside 60″ Elevation TV is written by Ewdison Then & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

3D television has effectively been a failure, the BBC has conceded, revealing that it plans to take at least a three year break from creating 3D content after a current two-year pilot finishes at the end of 2013. “I have never seen a very big appetite for 3D television in the UK” Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC’s 3D chief, confirmed to the Radio Times, despite the UK broadcaster experimenting with various types of entertainment, sport, natural history, and more in 3D.

According to Shillinglaw, viewing figures for some of the highest-profile 3D content the BBC has broadcast have been middling at best. The Olympics Opening Ceremony, for instance, was expected to be a 3D draw, but in fact only an estimated 750,000 people watched it in the newer format, or around half of 3D TV owners in the UK.

Even that could be considered a success in relation to other failed 3D projects. The broadcast of the 2012 Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day in 3D pulled in under 5-percent of the total potential viewers, the BBC 3D chief admitted.

According to Shillinglaw – whose normal job is head of science and natural history, the department responsible for Walking with Dinosaurs 3D – the issue with 3D TV is that it’s simply too much hassle for too little in the way of rewards.

“Watching 3D is quite a hassly experience in the home. You have got to find your glasses before switching on the TV” she theorized. “I think when people watch TV they concentrate in a different way. When people go to the cinema they go and are used to doing one thing – I think that’s one of the reasons that take up of 3D TV has been disappointing.”

Other UK broadcasters, such as Sky, are yet to comment on their longer-term 3D plans, though Shillinglaw suggests that the overall impact of the recession could have limited the number of TVs in the wild. How that fits in with low viewership figures among even those who have the necessary technology remains unexplained.

3D was, following the “High Definition” gold-rush, the TV industry’s next big call-to-upgrade; however, it has failed to have the same impact as 1080p. Last month, ESPN announced it would be shutting down its 3D channel after a lack of adoption. Next up is Ultra HD, the new buzzword in home entertainment, though manufacturers will have to bring prices of the high-resolution sets down before the mass-market will consider them.

VIA The Next Web

3D failure: BBC abandoning 3D after broadcast trial meets viewer apathy is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.