Hasta La Gadget!

4K TVs are slowly beginning to come to the market in force with more and more major TV manufacturers announcing their products. The latest TV maker to confirm pricing and availability for 4K TVs is Sony. Sony has offered up the official pricing and availability information for its Bravia X9 4K TV.

Sony will begin taking pre-orders online for the TV on May 15 and the device will be in stores by the middle of June. Pricing in Europe for the TV will be €4500 for the 55-inch model and €7000 for the 65-inch model. Sony promises that both versions of the X9 will deliver extremely high image quality and sound.

Like all 4K TVs, Sony’s offerings bring four times the resolution of a full HD TV. Also like all other 4K TVs, at least for now the problem for buyers will be poor availability for 4K content. Sony does have some 4K films available for media players supporting high-resolution and a streaming movie service.

The X9 4K resolution TVs use a technology that is unique to Sony called Triluminos Display that promises a wide palette of realistic colors. The TV also features integrated NFC technology to make it easy to mirror the screen of your compatible smartphone or tablet with a touch. That feature makes it easy to get content from your mobile device onto the big screen in the living room.

On TV sets, it’s easy to focus only on the picture and forget about the sound. Sound is an integral part of the movie and TV watching experience and Sony uses a technology to improve the sound experience on the X9 TVs. One of those technologies is a unique Signal-to-Sound architecture Sony says it designed specifically to make sounds more realistic without overwhelming the dialogue in your favorite movies or TV shows.

SOURCE: Sony

Sony offers pricing and availability info on new Bravia X9 4K TV is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s been rumored for a couple months that ABC would be releasing a live-streaming mobile app where users could watch live television on their mobile devices, and it seems that ABC is coming through with such an app. The television network launched Watch ABC for iOS today, and it’s aiming to change how viewers watch TV, as well as attempting to get Aereo off their back.

The app is essentially a re-launch and re-branding of the network’s older ABC Player app, but Watch ABC can still playback TV shows on demand, as well as stream live television. This makes ABC the first major broadcast television network to offer their own live TV streaming option in the US. However, the app only works in New York City and Philadelphia, but more cities are expected be added throughout the year.

With Aereo, you don’t need a cable subscription to watch live television, but the Watch ABC will require one by July 1. The app is currently open to anyone for the next few weeks, but ABC will soon require a cable subscription in order to have the ability to watch live ABC shows. You’ll need either a Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, Charter, or Midcontinent subscription.

After July 1, ABC plans to expand the app’s availability to more big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno. We’re guessing the app will exit its preview version and will be released in full on that date, but specifics are yet to be revealed on exactly what the plan is for Watch ABC.

As for the app being a viable competitor to Aereo, the effort is certainly there, but it’ll most likely be no cigar for ABC, and Aereo still includes some advantages over ABC’s live streaming options. Aereo doesn’t require a cable subscription to use, although you’ll have to pony up $8 per month in order to use Aereo, while ABC’s app is free. Watch ABC also doesn’t have DVR functionality, which may be an instant turn-off for some users. Overall, ABC is trying to offer something that’s cool and useful, but there’s simply too many restrictions still that is holding the network back.

SOURCE: iTunes App Store

Watch ABC app for iOS aims to fight back Aereo is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s still a long way from the 22 cities it hopes to launch in this year, but Aereo’s expansion of its live TV streaming service beyond its NYC base is now moving steadily ahead. It’s set to go live in Boston tomorrow, and the company has confirmed today that Atlanta will be next in line on June 17th. That’s when the service will be available in the city to those who’ve pre-registered, with everyone else invited to sign up on June 24th. As you may recall from yesterday, the company’s also slightly revised its pricing plans ahead of the expansion, with the $12 per month rate now netting you 60 hours of storage instead of 40, while the $8 rate remains the same as before at 20 hours. You can find all the specifics on the Atlanta rollout in the press release after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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The New York Times is reporting that ABC is launching its TV live stream app later this week for iOS. The app will allow people who live in Philadelphia and New York to watch local programming live on their iOS […]

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Aereo has restructured their pricing plans for their antenna television and DVR service. Plans will now start at $8 per month, which gives you access to the service with 20 hours of DVR storage. $12 per month will see your DVR storage bumped up 40 hours to a total of 60 hours of DVR time. Furthermore, there’s no contract to sign, allowing you to sign up for the service essentially risk-free for a whole month.

Aereo is also giving new customers one month free when they sign up, and since there aren’t any contracts or commitments to sign your life away, new users could basically use that first free month as a free trial if they’d like. This is certainly a smart move on the company’s end, as it gives potential users the opportunity to try out the service in depth without paying any money at first.

By moving down to just two plans, Aereo got rid of three of its previous options, including the one hour free trial, as well as the $1 per day plan and the $80 per year annual plan. The annual plan allowed to save more money by committing for a year, but the new plans give you more incentive to upgrade to the $12 per month plan, which offers 60 hours of DVR time, as opposed to just 40 hours.

The $8 per month plan stays the same, and you’ll get free month of service instead of just an hour of trial time. Overall, the plans are a lot more simplified, but they aren’t all that much better or cheaper. The only big difference is that the $12 plan gives you 20 hours more of DVR storage, which Aereo is hoping that most people will opt for. The new plans officially go into affect on May 15.

If you haven’t heard of Aereo before, or aren’t really sure what it’s all about, it’s essentially a service that brings live broadcast television to users over the internet by taking regular antenna signals and streaming them online for customers. The company has been in some heat with television networks, claiming that Aereo is taking away viewers illegally. However, Aereo remains to stay for now, and it’s continuing its expansion across the northeast US as well speak, just recently hitting Boston.

Aereo streamlines pricing plans by axing annual and daily options is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.