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Spatial View Creates Glasses-Free 3D for the iPhone[teaser]According to an announcement from Spatial View and Sony Music Entertainment Germany, the new 3DeeSlide iPhone and iPod accessory will allow users to watch glasses-free 3D movies.[/teaser] 3D movies are experiencing a great amount of popularity in theaters, with an expected boom in upcoming Blu-ray releases, and 'Avatar: The Game' bringing three dimensional viewing to game consoles. A practical solution for viewing 3D content while outside of the home – one that doesn’t involve a separate headset or glasses – has not yet been established. Spatial View, a company specializing in stereoscopic 3D, offers the 3DeeSlide as the solution. Using a lenticular screen, this device slides over your iPhone or iPod Touch and allows the viewing of three-dimensional content without the need for glasses. The viewing angle is a bit limited, but when it comes to mobile devices, there’s usually only one person watching. Users are recommended to keep their device at a 90 vertical viewing angle, perpendicular to their eye line. The sweet spot distance wise is between 12” and 16” according to Spatial View. The 3DeeSlide will be available shortly from in Germany (one of the countries that Spatial View calls home) and is expected to be on Amazon soon after. The product will be available individually or bundled with Sony Music’s “forsenses” Blu-ray disc, though a price has not yet been announced.Posted Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM PST by: -
Adult Swim Introduces Media on Demand[teaser]Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming is almost entirely unique to the television landscape. Now they have a DVD purchasing system to match. [/teaser] Adult Swim’s lineup of cartoons is certainly not for everyone. With a programming schedule designed to appeal to adult viewers (though not necessarily mature viewers as they’d be the first to admit) Adult Swim has made a strong impression on many of their fans. They’re hoping to make an equally strong impression with their new Media on Demand service, which allows customers to create and purchase a DVD of their favorite episodes of several of Adult Swim’s more popular shows. The entire catalog is not available at this time. Only around 100 episodes are available for purchase, but the number is expected to increase tenfold by the holidays. Shows currently available include two of Adult Swim’s early hits – Sealab 2021 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force – as well as Robot Chicken and The Venture Bros. Each disc can contain up to 110 minutes of video, which equates to between five and ten episodes depending on what shows are selected. Case art, disc art and menus are customizable through the website. A custom Adult Swim disc runs $20, and the disc ships within 48 hours. At this time, the option of Blu-ray is not available, but the network only started offering true high definition content recently. Source: Video BusinessPosted Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Samsung Takes the Lead in LCD Sales[teaser]With around seventeen percent of the total LCD market share, Samsung once again takes its spot at the top of the LCD sales chart. [/teaser] After being overtaken by Vizio at the end of 2009, Samsung has retaken the throne as the worldwide leader in LCD sales. Vizio’s placement in larger chain stores like Target and Wal-Mart, as well as their low cost televisions had garnered them the top sales spot for nearly a year. The analysts at iSuppli speculate that Samsung’s heavy promotion of LED backlit televisions – or LED TVs as Samsung likes to call them – as well as price cuts on many of Samsung’s models is responsible for the shift in Samsung’s direction. Interestingly, among the top LCD suppliers, nearly all have seen a market share decrease thanks to additional low price competitors. Samsung, who held over a fifth of the market in late 2008, now has just below 17%. Vizio went from 20.5% a few months ago to 15.7%, and Sony dove from 16.5% in 2008 to a share of 7.8% now. The only company among the big name suppliers that managed to increase its market share at all over the last quarter was LG, who went from a 7.4% share to holding 8.1% of the market. iSuppli notes that package deals are expected to be the big motivator this holiday season. Bundling a TV together with a Blu-ray player, game console, or an audio package can make the purchase more attractive to a customer than simply offering a discount. Expect brands that can offer multiple products in one purchase like Sony and Samsung to lead the way this holiday season. Source: iSuppliPosted Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 02:30 PM PST by: -
1080p HD Coming to YouTube[teaser]In the last year, YouTube has been distancing itself from its roots of grainy webcam footage of unknown people playing their guitar poorly. In their newest effort, they're stepping their HD content up from 720p to 1080p. [/teaser] YouTube, the former hallmark of poor quality internet video, has been making an increasing effort to create a more valuable service. In recent months, the company has added a fairly sizable library of legitimate television and movie streams, and even letting viewers watch at a 720p resolution. Now, according to an announcement in the YouTube blog, the company is testing out streaming of 1080p content. While most videos currently on the site won’t see a great deal of benefit, as relatively few users have 1080p videos to upload, the most likely benefit is to commercial applications. If users have the option to watch a streaming film on Netflix, Hulu or YouTube, many will be swayed towards the higher video quality and zero cost of entry. The sample video – which is in the blog linked to below – is less than stunning, and while it’s certainly at a 1080p resolution, it looks pretty compressed. It’s certainly better than their previous High Quality offering, but by how much we have yet to see. There’s no word yet from YouTube as to whether connected consumer devices such as Blu-ray players that stream the service will be able to stream in the new 1080p resolution, but we fully expect to see it. If so, this could be a huge step forward for YouTube.Posted Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 01:30 PM PST by: -
Netflix Hits Sony BRAVIA Sets[teaser]Back in July, Sony announced that their BRAVIA sets would be getting a fall 2009 update to enable Netflix viewing. Well, it’s finally here. [/teaser] Only four months ago Sony put out the word that Netflix would hit capable BRAVIA sets. The initial announcement sparked a bit of ire from PlayStation 3 console owners, who questioned why the addition would be hitting televisions, rather than the incredibly capable PS3. Sony responded of course, by offering Netflix streaming capabilities to the PS3 through the use of a Blu-ray disc and the BD Live feature. When the service hit the PS3, it left many BRAVIA users feeling left in the lurch, but not for long. True to their word Sony has added Netflix to the web offerings of connected BRAVIA sets. A quick firmware update and a restart will get owners ready to go with the new service, which offers a large library of on demand video for consumption. For as low as $8.99 a month, unlimited streaming is available. This addition makes Sony products much more appealing, and marks a bit of a victory for the company. Most new Sony hardware – TVs, consoles and Blu-ray players – comes with Netflix streaming capability, which is certainly a huge boon for both Sony and Netflix. Source: Press ReleasePosted Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 12:15 PM PST by: -
Motorola May Sell Their Set-top and Networking Branch[teaser]Facing losses from all sides, Motorola may decide to cut and run in the set-top box game. [/teaser] Motorola is at the point where they need to make a decision. They have three major units – mobile, enterprise mobility, and network mobility – and all three are losing sales. Judging by the coverage of the Droid in the last few weeks, you might think Motorola was at the top of the game when it comes to mobile phones. While the move to Android has certainly helped Motorola’s mobile sales, they’re still facing a loss this coming year. According to a source near Motorola, the company may be looking for buyers for their network mobility business, which includes home networking devices and set-top boxes. While the business may be down at the moment, Motorola does have a huge share of the set-top market which could make it attractive to prospective buyers. No potential buyers have yet been named, but the expectation that one of their major competitors could buy the division is high. Interestingly, the set-top and networking unit of Motorola is the part of the business that has been keeping the company afloat for the last several years, making a profit while the other two divisions took losses. Selling this division would be a bit of an unexpected move, and a bad idea according to analyst Mark Sue. The mobile business hasn’t recovered yet, he says, “so it would be a little too early to cut off the lifeline.” Source: The Wall Street JournalPosted Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM PST by: -
Universal Announces iPhone and Social Networking Integration[teaser]With the release of movies like 'Bruno,' 'Funny People' and 'Inglourious Basterds,' Universal has announced the integration of several new applications for PC and iPhone. [/teaser] The pocket BLU app from Universal Studios Home Entertainment will debut this holiday season in time for the release of 'Bruno' on November 17th. Using the WiFi connection present on the iPhone and iPod Touch, pocket BLU is able to act as remote control for Blu-ray players viewing compatible titles. pocket BLU also simplifies the fast forward and seek features by letting users tilt their device sideways to select from a full timeline of the film. pocket BLU will be compatible with 'Bruno,' 'Funny People,' 'Public Enemies,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'American Pie Presents: The Book of Love,' and '9.' The release of 'American Pie Presents: The Book of Love' will also mark the introduction of social BLU. This application will allow users to access their Facebook and Twitter accounts, presumably to talk about the film. In future releases, says Universal, users will be able to share film-related content on their Facebook page. Those who pick up a copy of 'Funny People' will get a look at the newly redesigned BD-Live Center. Users will be able to get a look at films coming to Blu-ray and to theaters. The BD-Live Center will automatically select previews that it believes the user will like, and bring updated content to the viewer. It seems a bit farfetched to think that a user with an iPhone would want to log in to Universal’s application in order to access their Twitter or Facebook account, rather than just using an app that they’ve undoubtedly installed on their phone already. Using an iPhone or iPod Touch as a sort of advanced remote control though, could certainly have some potential.Posted Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 07:00 AM PST by: -
Redbox Teams With CinemaNow[teaser]Redbox and CinemaNow have announced they’re currently testing a program to determine the consumer demand for digital distribution. [/teaser] With a good chunk of the studios and most of the video rental world at its heels, Redbox needs all the friends it can get. CinemaNow, on the other hand, seems to be hooking up with just about everyone these days. Together, they’re hoping to gauge the mass market demand for digital delivery. Frequent customers of Redbox kiosks, and those who buy certain prepaid packages, will be given gift cards that will let them redeem titles on Roxio’s CinemaNow service. Representatives from Redbox would not say how far reaching the initiative is, but they did state that the program started on October 29th. “We think this is a space that we should be testing in and understand better,” said Paul Davis, CEO of Redbox’s parent company Coinstar. “It’s an interesting space that we’d like to explore.” CinemaNow appears to be the company that will receive the most benefit from the arrangement. After the announcement last week that the CinemaNow service would be embedded into electronics sold at Best Buy, this move seems to cater towards a different, but just as noteworthy, demographic. Source: Video BusinessPosted Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 03:00 PM PST by: -
Asus Debuts New O!Play Wireless Media Player[teaser]The newest model of the O!Play media player from Asus brings a few important improvements over the previous model. [/teaser] The most notable difference between the older O!Play and the new O!Play HDP-R3 is 802.11n wireless networking support. By eliminating cable clutter, or the need to run an Ethernet cable to the back of the device, the O!Play HDP-R3 makes the whole networked media streaming thing a bit easier to deal with. Also new to the HDP-R3 is a multi card reader on the side. The additional inputs allow the use of CF, SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Duo cards for audio and video playback. Asus is one of few companies that provides information on every single format their media player can handle without tacking “and more” onto the end. They’d be pretty well justified in doing so though, as the list is impressive. The O!Play HDP-R3 can play a wide range of video files, and offers support for mp4, mov, xvid, avi, asf, wmv, mkv, rm, rmvb, flv, ts, m2ts, dat, mpg, vob, mts, tp, trp, and iso files. It supports all the audio fromats one would expect: MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AIFF, LPCM, WMA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS. The HDP-R3 supports the usual range of image formats, as well as four different subtitle formats. An official price has not yet been announced, but the player is expected to launch later this year at around $129.Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 01:00 PM PST by: -
LG Sets Their Sights on Businesses[teaser]LG has introduced a series of energy saving LCD and plasma televisions aimed directly at hotels, hospitals, and long term care facilities. [/teaser] Going to a hotel, even a relatively nice one, can often feel like a trip back in time. Going from a 50” plasma in the home to a 27” standard definition television is a pretty abrupt change. Perhaps even worse, a hospital featuring a clunky old CRT presents patients with the idea that maybe the rest of the equipment isn’t up to snuff. More than fifty percent of Americans have high definition televisions in their homes. We’re used to that sixteen by nine aspect ratio and a certain amount of video quality. LG’s new line of televisions – aimed directly at hotels and hospitals, packs in a huge amount of features that make them efficient, eco friendly, and easy to set up. For hotels comes the LG710H series, available in 32,” 37,” and 42” sizes. Each of these televisions sports a 720p resolution and a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1. The LH300C series, on the other hand, offers 1080p and a glossy black finish. Hospitals and long term care facilities are being shown the HealthView series of TVs, which offers 26” and 32” screens. The HealthView displays won’t blow any minds with their specs, but they do feature the unique ability to be set as Bed1 or Bed2, ensuring that patients are only able to control their own TVs. Each of the new models also feature a USB cloning tool, which allows settings and programs to be simply copied using a USB storage device.Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 10:00 AM PST by:
