Slingbox Client Comes To Netgear NeoTV Streamers

Among Sling Media and Netgear’s various CES announcements is news that Slingbox streaming is coming to the NeoTV line of streamers. Of course, we’d probably expect a repurposing of the original Flash-based Logitech Revue SlingPlayer for the new (and slightly bulkier) NeoTV Prime running Google TV. But the more Roku-esque models, including the NeoTV MAX we … Read more

Vizio Costar To Receive Google TV 3 Update

I briefly swung by Vizio’s CES suite for an update on their small form factor streamer. And came away quite please to learn existing Vizio Costar units will beging receiving a Google TV 3 update within just a few weeks. While our initial Costar impressions weren’t the most favorable, there’s still quite a bit of … Read more

The Second Screen Invasion Is Upon Us

Content remains king, with television programming and mobile device interaction converging at a rapid pace. So-called “second screen” apps were everywhere at CES, integrating all sorts of functionality. And companies are clearly pumped. Heck, Cisco & Cox invited Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman in to witness the unveiling of their upcoming iPad app.

2ndscreensummit

In conjunction with CES festivities, I was invited to the 2nd Screen Summit“a deep-dive into the latest business opportunities, creative case studies and technology innovations related to the creation of supplementary, synchronized and social TV content featuring speakers from Hollywood, Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley.” Given a tight schedule, I was only able to attend the keynote and a discussion of content discovery via the second screen… which quite frequently wandered well beyond the confines of a tablet device, once again reinforcing content consumption interconnectedness. And, with my somewhat irreverent style, I fired off several “second screen” tweets of my own from the sessions (reproduced below).

Read more

Verizon 6 Tuner Media Server DVR Arriving "Soon"

First shown about a year ago, Verizon formally pulled the wraps off their upcoming FiOS TV media server here at CES. The “VMS” hardware, produced by Motorola, sports 6 tuners and 1 terabyte of storage, and is effectively Verizon’s third generation platform – evolving into a true whole-home DVR hub and client model, as we’re … Read more

TiVo Mini Set For Spring Launch, Service Fee In Tow

tivo-mini

TiVo’s been talking up their DVR extender about a year, since it was first introduced last February as the IP-STB. And while we didn’t get the 2012 retail launch we were hoping for, TiVo tells me we’re on track for a spring launch. The Mini I groped at CES doesn’t look all that different from the product we perused last May at The Cable Show, but it presumably offers a much more polished experience streaming live television and recordings from a 4-tuner TiVo Premiere DVR. In fact, TiVo cable partner Suddenlink has already begun to deploy the Mini to customers.

tivo-mini-portsI’m told the Mini contains 2GB of local storage dedicated to hosting the TiVo OS/experience and handling whatever caching may be necessary. Performance seemed pretty sprightly over their in-suite MoCA connection, but I’d expect at least a little lag when changing channels or queuing up content. Interestingly, I get the sense that the apps available to TiVo Premiere DVRs may not be fully duplicated onto the Mini. Assuming I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, I wonder if that’d be a contractual or technical issue. The remote mated with the Mini looked a whole lot like the discontinued TiVo Slide, but I’m not sure we can draw any conclusions from that and would expect a traditional peanut to ship.

Read more

Belkin Expands WeMo Home Automation Initiative

Haven given up on the Gypsy lifestyle and once again returned to home ownership, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to geekify our new pad. And while CES is inundated with health gadgets, I’m more interested in home automation… perhaps sleeker and simpler than existing Insteon or Zigee solutions. Of course, that’s how I … Read more

TWC's New Cable Box Is… A Roku

Roku, a cord cutter favorite for over-the-top video streaming that’s now approaching 5 million units moved, is trumpeting the imminent arrival of Time Warner Cable onto their platform here at CES. The app, scheduled to drop this first quarter of 2013 and available to current Roku models, will bring 300 channels of cable to TWC subscribers. Similar … Read more

DISH Explorer Second Screen App Unveiled

dish-explorer-app1

The “second screen” onslaught continues as DISH unveils a brand spanking new Explorer companion app to kick off their CES festivities. Available to Hopper owners tomorrow, the iPad app opens to “What’s Hot” as a launching point to social television discovery and DVR control. Of course, the requisite Twitter and Facebook interactivity is present. Interestingly, DISH has also licensed a variety of real time sports-related data to incorporate into the experience.

Read more