Media Archives - Page 19 of 75

Picture of the Day: The New Schwag

Jackass 2.5, A Free Blockbuster/Movielink Exclusive

In what I assume is a move to advertise their (recently acquired) Movielink service (and get some press), Blockbuster has paid over a million bucks to exclusively distribute Jackass 2.5 for one week. The NY Times writes: Paramount Pictures is lurching onto the Web with its âJackassâ? franchise, with what it says will be the … Read more

Gamefly Gives Away MP3s

Mail-order video game rental service Gamefly is now giving subscribers 5 DRM-free tracks each month. I assume this is nothing more than a marketing gimmick (plus they’ve added commissioned iTunes affiliate links), but it’s worth keeping an eye on. FYI The first five bands (that I’ve never heard of) are: RJD2, Little Brother, OK Go, … Read more

iTunes Canada and Vudu Now Offering TV Downloads

Canadians looking for alternative ways to consume their media are having a pretty good month… Though much later than their southern US neighbors, in the last three weeks TiVo, Xbox 360 movie downloads, and now iTunes television downloads have been made available. iTunes TV purchases run $1.99 CAD which closely mirrors the US dollar. (For … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: The Hulu HD Bandwidth Equation: Connected Home 2 Go Twas The Night Before DivX: Davis Freeberg’s Digital Connection A Look Back at CES 2007: Connected Home 2 Go On the Blog Council: Connected Home 2 Go

PSP Getting Internet Radio (Maybe Direct Downloads)

Sony has announced that Japanese PSP owners will be getting an update (3.80) next week that includes Internet radio streaming. Interestingly, the screenshot (below) says “Powered by SHOUTcast”… which is produced by an AOL subsidiary. The software also includes enhanced RSS support for OPML and images. I assume these features will make it to the US in the near future, though we obviously won’t be receiving (or utilizing) the ability to schedule video recordings via digital tuner.

Additionally, rumors have surfaced that the PSP may be getting directing downloads. Though, as Gizmodo points out: downloadable content isn’t worth a damn unless there is something good to download. Given the limited selection of games (and no movies) in the recently launched PSP online store, I can’t say that I’m feeling too hopeful. But I haven’t dumped my (second) PSP yet..

The SageTV HD Media Extender Giveaway

Not that we need an excuse to give things away, but it is the holiday season… Our second raffle this week is for the SageTV HD Media Extender and SageTV software license (MSRP $249), courtesy our friends at SageTV. Check out Brent’s review for the product details. If you want in, please leave one comment … Read more

Hulu Adds HD (and Burn Notice)

Hulu (still in beta) has introduced select HD streaming:

Today we’re excited to launch an HD Gallery featuring a selection of High Definition video clips at 1280 x 720 resolution. Those of you with a fast internet connection of 2,400 Kbps or higher, the latest build of Adobe Flash Player 9, and a fast computer can stream these High Definition clips and preview the future.

Right now, the content is pretty weak – just movie trailers. The Hulu blog indicates this is due to technical reasons as they ramp up:

We’ve limited the bitrates on these HD streams to allow as many users as possible to sample high definition streaming.

While that’s probably partially true, I’m also betting they haven’t yet determined if this H.264 content can be grabbed in whole (“buffer the stream by clicking pause”) – so they’re restricting it to advertising (aka movie previews) that can be freely swiped and shared.