I think most of us know that Cinemax has some decent movies at times but after say 9pm, all you are likely to find is shows with questionable storylines and lots of boobies. It may well be the greatest network on TV. FiOS TV customers can now access content from Cinemax online from anywhere with Max Go.
The user only needs a broadband connection to access more than 700 monthly hours of Cinemax programming from within the US. To access the content on the Cinemax website requires a FiOS TV login.
The streaming online service kicks off on September 13. Parents who don’t want kids accessing some of the content offered on the network will be able to add parental controls to the account. The service will work on Mac or Windows machines.
We have been talking about the new line of Panasonic TVs for a while now. Most of the new sets were on display at IFA recently and they looked really cool. One of the most interesting features of many of the new Panasonic TVs is the Viera Cast internet content service.
The Viera Cast service has all sorts of content that can be streamed from the web directly to the screen without needing a computer. Some Panasonic sets connect to the internet via WiFi so you don’t need an Ethernet cable. Panasonic has announced today that Netflix streaming service is now available on the Viera Cast content service.
With Netflix now available, the content delivery service Panasonic has cover Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg News, and more. I wish they would add Hulu streaming, that is the most interesting streaming service online to me so I can watch the shows I miss. The Panasonic sets with Viera Cast include the VT25, VT20, GT25, G25, G20, and several of the 2010 Blu-ray players.
While there’s plenty of room for the home media manufacturers out there to make brand new things to feature the recently announced AirPlay from Apple, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a few of the “oldie-but-goodie” systems out there need to be completely forgotten. The AVR-4311CI from Denon is set to get optimized for the newest wireless media streaming service.
The news comes from Denon’s product listing, which just got updated itself. The update to the AVR-431CI is set to drop some time this Fall, but there’s no exact date given at this time. And, as you probably already know, the AirPlay functionality will allow you to stream your music wirelessly, and easily enough, to the system. While it’s great enough that Denon’s unit is getting the upgrade, it might now be safe to assume that other “older” models can get the update, too. So, while the new home audio systems might be enticing in their own right, if you’ve already got your favorite unit in your house and don’t feel like buying something new, it may pay out to just wait a little bit.
It’s been a long time since we heard anything about the D-Link built Boxee Box, but we’re willing to say that it was worth the wait to hear good news such as this. The Box is still primed to launch some time in November, for the same price of $199. The change comes more in the software: the new Box will feature a Webkit Browser, and thanks to some choice words from Rob Spectre, it looks like they’re going to make a hard push for HTML5.
Spectre is the Lead Application Developer, as well as the Community front-runner for Boxee, and he had some time to talk with NewTeeVee, and point out a few tasty morsels. First of all, the original Mozilla-based browser was doing pretty well for itself, but it was still having some troubles rendering a few websites out there properly. The solution? Switch over to a Webkit-based browser.
Spectre goes on to add that he believes that HTML5 should, without any doubt, be the browser you utilize on your TVs. If you’ve got your hands on the Desktop version of the software, you’ll get the new browser when Verzion 1.0 launches some time after the Box sees market release. Good news for all who use Boxee — the platform is about to get a lot better.
We were a bit surprised to find LG’s prototype Windows Phone 7 device for developers, soon to be unveiled officially as the Optimus 7 when released in its production form, hanging out in the wilds of IFA. Nevertheless, there it was, streaming DLNA content to a WiFi enabled TV. LG worked with Microsoft to develop a custom DLNA media sharing capability for its GW910 handset. Just one of the ways hardware partners are able to differentiate themselves on the otherwise locked down Windows Phone 7 platform. It certainly makes sense that LG would play to its strengths in the television industry as it moves to market with the device as early as next month according to our sources. Watch the trick flip-to-TV photo sharing interface in action after the break.
When Steve Jobs stood on stage just a couple of days ago, and announced the upcoming iOS 4.2 update, which is making its way to the iPad in November of this year, one of the features he was proud to show off was wireless printing. Considering the tablet device was missing the feature from the get-go, it’s about time it’s making an appearance in the native Operating System. But, what if you don’t want to wait until November? Then hopefully you’ve got yourself a Pogoplug, because thanks to the app that they’ve just released into the App Store, you can get yourself some iPad printing right now.
Pogoplug officially announced the application, along with its release into the App Store, today. The application itself is a full-featured app, bringing with it all the functionality that you might expect from anything Pogoplug-related. Users can now access and share media, files, and whatever else they’ve got saved right from their Pogoplug-attached storage device. You can turn your 16, 32, or 64GB iPad into a memory juggernaut — the ability to hold media and files into the cloud, and the fact you can stream them from the iPad itself, means that you’ll now have access to Terabytes of storage.
And, as we mentioned above, the Pogoplug iPad will let you wirelessly print. And not just documents, either, but pictures can also be printed. You can view and edit documents as well, right from within the iPad app. And, with the ability to play music by artist, genre, or albums — you can even find songs just by album cover art. It will also show you what’s Now Playing, just to make everything easier for you. You can get the application right now from the iPad App Store. And the best part? It’s totally free.
Press Release
Pogoplug Comes to the iPad
iPad Users Can Now Access Own Personal Cloud Services, Including Printing
Today the Pogoplug iPad app is available for free in the iTunes App Store! The new app offers full Pogoplug functionality on the Apple iPad.
Users can now access and share their files or stream their media from their Pogoplug-attached storage, taking full advantage of the multi-touch surface, immersive high-resolution screen and the extreme ease of portability of the iPad.
Pogoplug is a multi-media sharing device that web-enables up to four USB hard drives, allowing upload and making content accessible to the user both locally or via the Internet.
With the new iPad app, users can eliminate storage limits on their Apple tablet device. In conjunction with a Pogoplug and a large hard drive, the iPad’s effective storage can go from the standard 16, 32, or 64GB to a number of Terabytes. With the Pogoplug iPad App, users can also:
-Print from the iPad: The Pogoplug allows printing pictures, documents, emails and more, straight from the iPad
-Browse and open files, including MS Office docs and PDF files: View and edit docs from your iPad
-Watch movies: stream your movies from your Pogoplug to your iPad
-Play music seamlessly from your iPad: Plays entire genres/artists/albums; shows now playing information and finds songs by album cover art
Share files straight from your iPad:
Share videos, pictures, docs and more to family, friends, and coworkers using the my.pogoplug.com site
The Pogoplug iPad App is available today for free in the iTunes App store. There are also iPhone and Android Apps for Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is available at retail locations such as Frys and Amazon for $99
Those out there who want to be able to stream their media content over to the TV and need a new device to do that with may be glad to hear that the SageTV HD Theater 300 is now available to purchase. The network media device sells for $149.95 and supports full HD resolution.
The new device has HDMI 1.3 and supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA sound formats. The device can stream video from online sites like YouTube, TV network websites, and Google video at the touch of a button on the remote control right to the TV in your living room.
The device can also stream your personal media library and can be connected to a wired network or to a wireless network with the addition of an optional wireless adapter. The HD Theater 300 can also be used in conjunction with optional SageTV Media Center software to watch and record live TV from a PC or Mac that has a HD Tuner Card inside. In addition to HDMI 1.3 the device also has a component and composite input. All cables needed including HDMI are included and the device ships with a remote control.
While not necessarily shown off at this year’s IFA, we can say that it was by proxy. Considering the presence that the company has at this year’s show, we think it counts. In any event, they’ve just officially announced that their brand new StorE TV+ is coming to the market soon, and it offers up plenty of goodies for anyone who wants to get their streaming media on. Especially if you’re not a fan of watching TV on your computer, and prefer to see it right there, on your TV, where it should be.
The StorE TV+ is, first and foremost, a media drive that features a 2TB hard drive. It will connect directly with your TV, as long as your TV can, you know, connect to something like this. Other features include 10/100 Ethernet port, and integrated 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. And, if you’re one of those people that doesn’t like to turn your TV on just to see what’s on, you’ll be happy to know that there’s an LCD on the front panel, which will tell you what’s going on even if your TV isn’t on.
If you’re curious to know about file formats that the StorE TV+ supports, you’ll be happy to know it has many of them handled. For audio, it can play Ogg and Flac, as well as others. As for video, you’re looking at support for MPEG-1, 2, and 4, as well as H.264. You also get support for VC-1 codecs, MOV, MP4, MKV, WMV, and AVI. You’ll notice that there’s DivX and XviD missing, unfortunately. The media drive will be available some time in September for about $307, or £200.
Sony is already starting to make some waves at this year’s IFA event, over there across the pond. With a few announcements ready to go public today, they’ve pulled the curtain off their video-on-demand service, which will now forever be known as Qriocity. It’s been on the workbench for quite some time now, and it’s good to finally see that Sony’s unveiling the project for a market release here in just a matter of weeks. Though, if you’re not in a few select countries in Europe, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on the streaming digital content.
Of those countries, Qriocity will launch in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and in the UK this Fall. It’s going to start as a video-on-demand service, but as the title above suggests, Sony has plans to expand that into several different areas. Qriocity will be available on Sony’s networked devices, which does include the PlayStation 3. As for the really important part, the movie studios that are on board include 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal, MGM, Lionsgate, Sony (no surprise there, right?), and Paramount. So, obviously they’ve got some heavy hitters in there.
The other bit of good news for Qriocity participants, is that there will be Sony’s Music Unlimited service, which will be ready to rock and roll by the end of the year. Unfortunately, there’s no word on the pricing quite yet. There is also talk that there’s going to be third-party devices supported in this endeavor, but no time line for that support quite yet. So, Sony devices like Internet-connected BRAVIA TVs. Oh, and if you’re here in America and this all sounds familiar to you, that’s because you’ve actually been enjoying it since about April, so . . . Be happy that you got something worthwhile before Europe.
With a brand new Apple event just about to take place tomorrow, we’re a bit surprised to hear talk of another company thinking about doing something we’ve already heard Apple talking over, in their own way. This time around, according to sources familiar with the matter, it’s Amazon, and they are aiming at taking a stab at Netflix, along with TV in general, in making an online streaming service available to its customers.
According to the new report, it seems that several drafts of a proposal have made their way around corporations. These include General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, Viacom Inc., and Time Warner Inc., amongst others. The proposals have been going out over the last couple of weeks, if not months, and have outlined a way for a Web-based subscription service to work. Considering Amazon already sells some single episodes of popular TV shows for about $1.99 each, and renting/owning movies from Amazon On Demand is pretty simple, this new streaming platform would make quite a bit of sense.
The sources go on to say that the subscription service would not only be available on the Web proper, but also on devices that already play TV shows and movies that Amazon already sells. That would include Microsoft’s Xbox 360, for example, and some Internet-connected TVs. And, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you would be immediately able to start streaming the service, without extra cost. That would give Amazon a pretty big bulk of customers right off the bat.
The sources say that Amazon wants to launch the online streaming service by the holiday season, this year, but there’s no word on whether or not that’s actually going to happen. It seems that it’s still unclear if any media giants are actually going to participate in the proposal. There’s a chance we get to hear from Apple on their own intentions, especially regarding Apple TV/iTV, so stay tuned. We’re sure this will get interesting soon enough.
