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DirecTV Will Launch TV and Broadband Bundles[teaser]Starting later this year, you'll be able to get a 10Mbps connection through your satellite. [/teaser] One of the oddities that comes with satellite television providers is that you need to go through another company for your internet. By the end of 2012, that won't be a problem. DirecTV has announced a plan to launch bundled internet with its satellite subscriptions, giving you up to a 10Mbps download speed. This uses the Gen4 technology pioneered by Hughes and ViaSat. "We look forward to offering every single DIRECTV customer access to fast, affordable broadband options through DIRECTV, no matter where they live," says senior VP Oswin Eleonara. "With greatly improved capacity and speeds, satellite broadband services provided by ViaSat and Hughes will fully support our customers’ connected home experience." Details will emerge later this year as the service comes closer to launch. Source: Electronic HousePosted Mon May 21, 2012 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Cable Companies Join Together to Offer Shared Wi-Fi Hotspots[teaser]The new initiative will give you access to hotspots from cable services you don't subscribe to in addition to the one that you do. [/teaser] The latest move from some of the biggest cable providers around - Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable – marks a union that will benefit consumers in a very welcome way. If you subscribe to any of these cable companies, you'll be able to access Wi-Fi hotspots from any of the others. For example, if you're a Comcast subscriber and the only hotspot around is from Time Warner, you'll be able to connect up and access. The initial rollout is happening in New York City and the surrounding Tri-State area, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando, and Philadelphia. Affected hotspots will be branded with the CableWiFi name. Source: EngadgetPosted Mon May 21, 2012 at 08:05 AM PDT by: -
Comcast is Testing Tiered Pricing for Data Limits[teaser]Two possible approaches are being put into place, both of which charge extra for more usage. [/teaser] Comcast has been under fire recently, not just for its bandwidth caps, but for the practice of only tracking data use for non-Comcast Xfinity streaming platforms. Comcast denies the cause and effect relationship, but the company's most recent data cap announcement comes right on the heels of a complaint from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Comcast is currently rolling out two different test pricing plans. The first would raise the cap to 300GB and then charge customers $10 for every 50GB they're over. The second would simply create tiers and put customers into those tiers based on usage. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Mon May 21, 2012 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
Bonus View Digest - May 18, 2012[teaser]What? You've been missing out on The Bonus View this week? If you have that means you've been missing our Hitchcock Blogathon that we started in hopes of raising some money for a new musical score and online streaming distribution for 'The White Shadow', an early silent film that young Mr. Hitchcock (then officially a writer and Assistant Director) used as a stepping stone to launch his own directorial career (you can donate here).[/teaser] Hitchcock Blogathon We have a ton of entries in the Blogathon, many of which will please even the most avid Hitchcock fans. Guest blogger John Carvill, from the UK-based pop culture web site Oomska.co.uk, wrote a great piece which he described as, "an unscientific analysis of the Blu-ray editions of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The 39 Steps’ & ‘North by Northwest’." Other Hitchcock entries include a column about 'The Birds' by Steven Cohen, a look back at 'Topaz' by Adam Tyner, a 'Vertigo' walking tour by Josh Zyber, the story behind Hitchcock's blonde bombshells as well as his one-word titles, both by David Krauss, and a special edition of Posterizing by Aaron Peck where he lists his top ten favorite Hitchcock movie posters. If you're a fan of the immortal director then you'll really want to take a gander at some of these articles. We're really proud here at The Bonus View to be honoring such a cinematic legend. We hope you enjoy. TV Madness We've entered the round of the final sixteen characters. The last matchup we did, before the Madness tournament took a little hiatus for Hitchcock Blogathon, was a fight between super-spy Michael Westen and vampire slayer extraordinaire, Buffy. Who do you think would win? Theatrical News Luke saw this weekend's movies so you don't have to. In case you wanted to know how bad 'What to Expect When You're Expecting,' and 'Battleship' are, you can read his reviews. He also reviewed 'The Dictator' in case you wanted to know the latest about Sacha Baron Cohen's scripted comedy future. TV Recaps We haven't had much time to get to television with our Hitchcock Blogathon taking over, but there was one recap posted this week by Aaron Peck about the latest episode of 'The Killing.' Even if you're not watching the show, keep up with the recaps. They're fun. Special Features Tom Landy went off to the Calgary Expo (a.k.a. Geek Paradise in Canada) this past week. He's posted a few Captain's Blog updates of his time at the Expo. Take a look at posts for Day 1 and Day 2 along with a post about Tom's emergency that had him heading to the hospital instead of back to the Expo. Finally, we have the trusty weekly posts like the Weekend Roundtable where we asked what remake or reimagining should Tim Burton take on next and our Mid-Week Poll that focused on what you may think about gesture-controlled television sets. That's it for this week. Stay tuned though. As always, we have a bunch of great stuff coming your way next week.Posted Fri May 18, 2012 at 11:35 AM PDT by: -
HBO Go Now Available on Devices for Time Warner Customers[teaser]Xbox 360s, Roku players and Samsung TVs and players can now stream HBO Go. [/teaser] The implementation of HBO Go has been a surprisingly difficult process. Different cable providers feel differently about allowing customers to watch the programming on their TVs through capable devices and have been blocking the service to prevent it. Time Warner has finally relented, and is now allowing streaming of HBO's streaming service through Roku players, Samsung TVs, Samsung Blu-ray players and Xbox 360s. There's going to be a period of transition before it's available on all devices, but Roku says it should only be a few hours for their players. Source: EngadgetPosted Fri May 18, 2012 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Dolby Announces 96k Upsampling for Better Blu-ray Audio[teaser]Dolby says their upsampling and filter process will also clean up artifacts like preringing. [/teaser] You may have guessed, but here on High-Def Digest, we like our Blu-rays. All that video and audio quality packed onto a tiny disc is a pretty sweet setup, and it's about to get sweeter, thanks to the folks over at Dolby. The company has created a new upsampling technique that allows for even better sound from your Blu-ray discs. Dolby accomplishes this by taking the upsampling that's often done by ultra-high end products and instead baking that into the disc from the beginning. By improving the audio before encoding, Dolby says that it's passing on the best possible sound on to users and minimizing the effect of artifacts along the way. If you have a Blu-ray player or Receiver that's compatible with Dolby TrueHD, you won't have to do a thing to enjoy the new tech – no new hardware or software is required. Dolby says that several authoring houses and other facilities are already on board including Deluxe Digital Studios and Technicolor. Source: Dolby (PDF)Posted Fri May 18, 2012 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
Denon Announces a Trio of IN-Command Receivers[teaser]The three receivers, which offer 4K upscaling and a variety of streaming options, will be available in June. [/teaser] Denon's new receivers offer up quite a bit for those looking to enjoy networked sound, whether that means pulling music from your computer, streaming from online sources or playing music in a second zone within your house. Every receiver in the line gives you AirPlay compatibility, as well as the option to use your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch as a controller. They all boast Audyssey features as well, including Dynamic Volume, Dynamic EQ and MultEQ XT. You'll also find 3D pass-through and 4K upscaling, so you're ready for future displays. Denon AVR-2113CI - $649 Denon AVR-2313CI - $899 Denon AVR-3313CI - $1,199Posted Thu May 17, 2012 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
Amazon Sale Features Blu-rays for Up to 65 Percent Off[teaser]No word on how long this sale will last, but Amazon is currently selling an assortment of Blu-ray titles for up to 65 percent off![/teaser] You can find the complete assortment of sale-priced Blu-ray titles right here Titles that are jumping out at us include: Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season for 45 percent off. The Town: Ultimate Collector's Edition for 26 percent off. Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season for 45 percent off. The Pacific for 43 percent off. Demolition Man for 30 percent off. And of course the Every Which Way But Loose/Any Which Way You Can two pack for 27 percent off. There are literally hundreds more titles listed! Don't miss out! Which of these titles are you picking up?Posted Wed May 16, 2012 at 01:27 PM PDT by: -
Roku Updates the LT, HD and Roku 2[teaser]New partner channels are on the way – bugs and stability fixed for now. [/teaser] Roku has just launched an update for its players that takes them up to version 4.7, and while it's not a fun update with additional content and such, it's definitely welcome. If you're using the new Roku HD, you'll be happy to find out that stability of the device has been improved across the board. Every Roku player has had tweaks to improve device discovery when using iOS or Android apps. Content updates to Roku's lineup include added support for sites that utilize Microsoft Smooth Streaming and "improvements to support several new partner channels to launch in 2012." If you don't want to wait for your player to automatically update, you can go to Settings > Software Update > Check Now. Source: EngadgetPosted Wed May 16, 2012 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
Netflix to Stream 'Avengers' and 'Hunger Games' in Early 2013[teaser]The service will get the movies just 90 days after Epix. [/teaser] One of the common complaints heard about Netflix streaming is that there just aren't enough new movies. Summer blockbusters and other new releases tend not to be present on Netflix until they're no longer worth crowing about. The company's newest acquisitions are a nice step up. Netflix will not only have 'The Hunger Games' streaming in early 2013, but the smash hit 'The Avengers.' Availability is thanks to a streaming deal with pay-channel Epix, which will start airing both movies 90 days earlier than the Netflix release. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Wed May 16, 2012 at 09:00 AM PDT by:
