10/27, 8:55am
Roku HD-XR adds 802.11n
Roku this morning swelled its media hub ranks with two models aimed at the high and low ends. The previously leaked Roku HD-XR adds to the original network video streamer with 802.11n Wi-Fi on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, giving it much more bandwidth for streaming HD sources as well as a frequency pick less prone to interference from cordless home phones. It continues to also support Ethernet for wired networks and uses HDMI and component for HD video playback from Amazon VOD or Netflix; RCA and S-Video output provide analog video, and a USB port allows room for unnamed future expansion.
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10/19, 4:20pm
Roku XR brings with it Wi-Fi, USB port
Roku will soon update its multimedia box that can stream and download Netflix content with a new product, the Roku XR, according to a Monday Engadget report. The new model will replace the aging original, which debuted about 18 months ago. The Roku XR will look identical to the original, but add 802.11n Wi-Fi support, a USB socket for local media playback from thumb drives and a 2.5A power input, in comparison to the current model's 1.5A power connection.
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08/11, 11:20am
Roku Adds MLB Streaming
Roku today became one of the few if not only network media hub creators to offer Major League Baseball streaming. The addition gives anyone who already has an MLB.TV premium subscription the option of watching a game live if it's out of their home market, including in HD. Users can also watch recent games from any market on demand and still have access to MLB content on computers and elsewhere.
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08/03, 2:40pm
Netflix iPhone Rumor
Netflix may soon be opening the gates to its unlimited movie and TV streaming on the iPhone and iPod touch, a rumor indicates today. An executive for an unnamed company claims to MCN that Netflix will "soon" extend Watch Instantly to the Apple devices. The service would likely be limited to Wi-Fi for bandwidth concerns, though it's unclear whether this would be due solely to pressure from AT&T or simple practical concerns: Netflix streaming normally needs hundreds of kilobits per second and would be likely to encounter connection problems over 3G.
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07/29, 11:30am
LG TVs to get Vudu service
Electronics producer LG today said it has teamed up with Vudu to integrate the latter's on-demand movie and TV services into its HDTVs. This will allow the Internet-connected TVs to browse and view a full library of content, including in HD. Currently, Vudu offers set-top boxes that need to plugged into a TV and network connection, which adds to the clutter and complexity of a living room, as well as adding another remote control. With the partnership with LG, Vudu hopes to make its service more accessible to customers.
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07/16, 12:45pm
Blu-ray Sales Climb 91pc
The Digital Entertainment Group today trumpeted a surge in newer video formats for the first half of the year. Although spending as a whole between January and June dropped 3.9 percent versus the early part of 2008, the industry agency says the amount of money spent buying Blu-ray movies jumped 91 percent to $407 million. Direct-download movies also helped offset problems with DVDs and climbed 21 percent to $968 million.
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05/13, 2:15pm
VUDU Ad Backed Media
VUDU today signaled a partial change in direction with word that it will start offering ad-supported music and video through its service. Once limited to renting as well as selling movies and TV shows, the company is tapping Brightcove to provide ads for a free Sony music video service. It also plans to expand this to include other services but hasn't set out its plans to date, including whether or not it may extend this to TV and other long-form content.
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05/12, 4:20pm
Most money goes to BD, DVD
Researchers NPD Group today said that 88% of the money consumers spend on home entertainment goes towards purchasing and renting movies on DVD and Blu-ray discs. Of the $25 each US consumer spends on average in a given month, 63 percent was found to be spent on DVD purchases, 7 percent on Blu-ray discs, and 18% went towards renting DVD and Blu-ray movies. The remaining 12 percent was split between video on-demand (VOD) services (9 percent) and digital downloads and online streaming (3 percent).
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04/21, 6:25pm
Roku player gets HD Amazon
Roku on Tuesday announced that its Roku player supports new HD content from Amazon's Video on Demand service. Customers initially will have a choice between 500 TV shows and movies from studios and networks such as Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount, Universal and Showtime. Top movie titles include "Frost/Nixon," "Twilight" and "Yes Man," along with TV shows such as "Californication," "The Tudors," "Smallville" and "Gossip Girl."
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03/30, 3:50pm
Netflix ups Blu-ray prices
Rent-by-mail and online video rental company Netflix on Monday notified its subscribers that it would raise prices by nearly 20 percent for its Blu-ray library. Prices for standard-definition offerings on DVD will remain the same, with the new prices coming into effect on or after April 27th. Subscribers who do not wish to get their fees hiked need to disable the Blu-ray preference on their online accounts, Netflix says.
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03/09, 5:00pm
Amazon HD testing on TiVo
According to several unnamed and unofficial sources, Amazon will soon add HD content via their Video On Demand store, though it seems that this will be offered on TiVo set-top boxes only. The unofficial sources also say the progressive downloads include surround sound information for a Blu-ray HD movie-like viewing experience. Last week, Amazon began offering its VOD library via the Roku Player, though no HD content is available. Mention of HD Amazon videos on TiVo has been kicking around since last year, when unused shortcuts to HD content in the TiVo menu were discovered.
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03/04, 4:40pm
ZillionTV Debut
A new device and matching service from a startup could offer serious competition in online video to larger rivals like Apple and Netflix. ZillionTV's self-titled service will give users a core networking device, known as the Z-bar, that would have no local video storage of its own and would instead stream movies and TV shows online. Rather than following the similarly network-based Roku's model of tying in existing services, however, ZillionTV will offer its own service and let users either buy or rent per title as well as download free, ad-subsidized versions. Viewers will also choose their preferences for ads to provide more relevant content.
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03/03, 11:55am
Roku Amazon VOD
Roku today gave its Roku Player support for Amazon's Video on Demand service. The feature gives the networked media hub its first non-subscription video model and lets owners both rent movies on a title-by-title basis as well as buy them; as Amazon allows online streaming, movies and TV shows can be seen without needing permanent storage as on the Apple TV or VUDU Box. Roku's interface for Amazon also trumps the Netflix solution by letting owners browse and buy directly from the TV interface rather than require users add titles separately on a website.
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02/06, 7:20am
Roku's Amazon VOD beta
After previous announcements of Amazon collaborating with Roku to provide Video On Demand video service via the Roku Digital Video Player, the service has now entered a private beta, according to a statement by Roku itself. Expected to show in a 2.0 update, no confirmation has been given in regards to if the update will also include YouTube access, or if the VOD will also be offered in HD. Already streaming video from Netflix, Roku is continuing to expand its media and will offer more than 40,000 movies and TV shows through Amazon.
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01/05, 2:00pm
Amazon intros VOD service
Amazon.com announced on Monday that it has teamed up with Roku to offer Amazon Video On Demand video service via the Roku Digital Video Player. Roku already streams movies from Netflix and will now give its users access to more than 40,000 movies, including new releases, and TV shows offered by Amazon.com. Other than via the Roku player, Amazon's VOD service can already sync with PCs and Macs, TiVo set-top boxes and Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video Link.
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12/22, 4:10pm
Roku streams Netflix HD
Roku announced on Monday that its Netflix Player will now be capable of streaming high-definition content from Netflix. All new Roku players sold will include the update, while existing players will be automatically updated with the software that includes support for advanced compression codecs for no fee over the next few weeks.
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11/26, 12:40pm
Samsung BD & Netflix HD
Streaming of high-definition Netflix movies should soon be added to a pair of Samsung Blu-ray players, the latter company has announced. The feature will be delivered in the form of a firmware update for the two Blu-ray drives, the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550, as of the first week of December. The players were enabled for streaming standard-definition Netflix content in late October.
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11/25, 1:15pm
Blockbuster VOD set-top
As promised earlier this month, video and game rental giant Blockbuster on Tuesday announced it would begin selling the previously introduced 2Wire MediaPoint player, a hub that brings video-on-demand (VOD) movies over the Internet to users' TVs. The set-top box connects to the Internet via an Ethernet link or built-in Wi-Fi module and, unlike similar products from competitors, does not require a monthly subscription or minimum rental requirement. Blockbuster promises DVD quality movies with the ability to fast-forward, rewind and pause capabilities, as well as saving movies for viewing later. The player has an HDMI connection for connecting it to HDTVs.
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11/10, 1:10pm
Blockbuster set-top soon
Confirming earlier rumors, Blockbuster has announced plans to build a set-top box that will stream digital movies to TVs. The company's CEO, Jim Keyes, further notes that the the device will be associated with its Movielink rental and purchase service, but has not provided details on costs, capabilities or hardware specifications. A release is expected sometime during the holiday season; also in development is support for Blockbuster streaming through Intel chips inside IPTV hardware.
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11/07, 4:25pm
Blu-ray prices dropping
Holiday prices for older Blu-ray players may fall in the $150-200 range over the holiday season, representing a price drop in spite of the industry's forecasts and expectations, according to ABI Research. The analyst group believes Blu-ray manufacturers need to drop their prices in order to fend off competitive pressure from high-definition movie download services and the need for strong sales during the holiday season after the recent market troubles.
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11/03, 4:40pm
Roku to bring Netflix HD
Roku representatives have responded to rumors on its online forum board regarding when it will launch streaming HD services and announced, earlier than they'd like, that it will team up with Netflix to bring HD content to its subscribers. Compared to the recently announced Xbox and Netflix tie-up that will also see streaming HD content to the Xbox, Roku will use different Advanced Profile encoding to deliver the HD content at significantly lower bit-rates.
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10/30, 8:25am
TiVo Gets Netflix Movies
TiVo today revealed the surprise addition of Netflix for TiVo (link active soon), its own adaptation of Netflix's Watch Instantly feature. The update will give TiVo's DVRs access to streaming versions of the roughly 12,000 movies available online and will include both the standard-definition versions as well as the recently unveiled HD versions of some titles that will first be available on the Xbox 360. Like earlier implementations, users must manage their online movie queues from a web browser but can play movies or TV shows in any order from TiVo units.
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10/02, 9:30am
VUDU 1080p and HDX
VUDU upped its stakes in the online movie rental arena today by confirming a rumor and introducing some of the first 1080p online movie rentals. Labeled as HDX, the format is roughly twice as sharp as the 720p offered for most VUDU and Apple TV movies but attempts to avoid some of the compression artifacts that often crop up in attempting to shrink HD video to download-friendly sizes. A new algorithm known as TruFilm focuses the available bandwidth on rendering complex portions of the scene while reducing the data for simpler areas, producing what the company believes is a small video file without introducing visible color or resolution drops.
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10/01, 1:45pm
Netflix Starz, Mac support
(Updated with Starz TV info) DVD rental service Netflix and broadcaster Starz Entertainment on Wednesday announced a new partnership, one which will see Netflix offer access to the entire Starz library via Internet-connected computers, and the Xbox 360 when its enhanced interface launches later this fall. Specifically, the Starz Play broadband movie service will be included in all unlimited Netflix subscriptions, giving users access to the instant streaming of about 2,500 movies, TV shows and concerts.
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09/25, 3:20pm
Roku opens set-top box
Roku executives recently announced they will make the company’s sub-$100 Roku Netflix player open source, allowing developers to create software for the device. As per a
Wednesday report, Roku CEO Anthony Wood made the pledge, which would see the company release the software development kit in the next few months. This will allow developers to publish any channel, while users could even surf the Internet via their existing devices, no longer limiting them to content from Netflix.
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08/14, 2:30pm
Netflix DVD Outage
Netflix today confirmed an outage with its rental service that has prevented the company from shipping out its signature DVDs since Tuesday. Company spokesman Steve Swasey doesn't provide a technical reason for the outage but acknowledges that Netflix hasn't been able to ship movies to about a third of its over 8.4 million subscribers for a 24-hour period, stalling their queues and creating longest outage the company has experienced to date.
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07/31, 8:15am
LG BD300 with Netflix
LG on Thursday fulfilled early promises and unveiled its long-anticipated Blu-ray player with Netflix support. The BD300 lets users with a wired connection to the Internet navigate their instant queues on a Netflix subscription and stream either movies or TV shows directly from the device itself, turning the device into a networked media hub. Titles are presently capped at standard definition but start playing in as little as 30 seconds and give users full control, including the ability to skip through the video and rate the title.
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07/23, 11:15am
Samsung MediaLive
Samsung today followed up its HDTV announcements with word of its MediaLive add-on. The attachment requires one of Samsung's sets made in 2008 with CEC automation support but mostly eliminates the need for a media hub such as the Apple TV or the Roku Netflix Player; a compatible TV has direct access to movies from MovieLink and Vongo as well as shorter-form content from Fox Sports and Showtime TV. Streaming Internet radio stations from XM are also available.
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06/19, 1:35pm
Neflix Drops Multi Queues
Netflix is dropping support for multiple queues per account on its movie rental service, the company says in a message sent to subscribers overnight and picked up by Ars Technica. The company plans to drop its Profile Queue feature as of September 1st and will merge all the queues into one, preventing users from individualizing their queues for individual family members and potentially interfering with recommendations. The move is meant to "improve the Netflix website," according to the company, though its plans are unclear.
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05/24, 10:45am
Akimbo Shuts Down
Internet video-on-demand provider Akimbo today has been confirmed by NewTeeVee as having shut its doors. The company says it has so far been unable to raise enough cash to remain profitable for its video delivery services and has decided to drop all but a bare minimum of staff while it seeks a mergers and acquisitions partner to buy up the company's assets. All video services run by the company at present, including Homezone and MavTV, are still running, according to checks.
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05/20, 7:05am
Roku Netflix Player
Roku on Tuesday is seeking to up-end the traditional approach to media hubs with the Netflix Player. The small, five-inch-square hub sheds the local storage common to many media hubs and is designed solely to hook into Netflix' Watch Instantly feature: customers of nearly all of the video rental company's subscription plans can stream an unlimited number of movies from the Internet while still receiving DVD movie rentals in the mail, including for movies that aren't yet available in streaming form. The company's existing business gives it more than 10,000 movies online, or roughly ten times the size of Apple's iTunes rental catalog.
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