Dave Zatz Right on schedule, the Vudu experience has landed on select broadband-connected LG televisions – making good on the promise to diversify their distribution strategy. Additionally, they’ve inked a deal to bring Vudu on-demand movie streaming, now reworked as a CDN play versus their P2P roots, to select Mitsubishi HDTVs being released later this month. These … Read more
While we rarely speculate on future products or report on rumors here at ZNF, it’s been a pretty quiet week and I haven’t seen this particular item pop up elsewhere. My source is rock solid, but his informants are possibly suspect. So file this under the unsubstantiated rumor category when I say GameStop is in … Read more
Over on Geek Tonic, I recently learned of the HDFury 2 – a small dongle designed to complete the HDCP handshake and convert a digital signal into a possibly more useful analog one. (Component or D-Sub 15, VGA) The folks who’d benefit most probably want to keep older projectors or HDTVs, which lack HDCP, in … Read more
For more than a decade manufacturers have been trying to bring the Internet to the television. And while many ventures have been quite meaningful (online gaming, video streaming), most text-based content has been out of place. In most cases, it’s just not suitable for the 10′ lean-back, couch-based experience. Not only can it be hard … Read more
Leaving comments across the blogosphere… For Plasma TVs, Being Better Isn’t Enough You talk as if plasma is a company or brand. Most manufacturers of plasmas also offer LCDs as you mentioned, including Panasonic. And it’s pretty easy for any of these guys to slap their brand on someone else’s hardware until they ramped up … Read more
As all Apple aficionados know, Mac OS X Snow Leopard was released yesterday. Upon receiving a marketing email promising free delivery on day 1, I pre-ordered my copy online via the Apple Store. Unfortunately, as the tweets started accumulating, my account indicated delivery was scheduled for September. I wouldn’t say I’m a Mac fanboy. But … Read more
I didn’t realize that my little Roku ($99) video streaming box has an open network interface. Like TiVo, one simply needs to telnet into port 8080 of the Roku from a LAN to issue commands. The first practical implementation, which I discovered over on Hacking Netflix, is the 99 cent iPhone/Touch DVPRemote app which allows … Read more
Sirius XM announced two new XM receiver devices this week – the Skydock ($120) and the Onyx ($80). Both are scheduled for a fall delivery and, I’m guessing, they’re targeting different audiences. While choice is good, I’m not sure the Skydock will be worth the 50% premium over the Onyx for most. The XM Skydock … Read more