In the “old days” finding enjoyable TV programmes relied on three sources – in programme advertising for another show, flicking through the channels or your friends saying, “Did you watch xxxx last night? It’s brilliant!” At CES, Andy and Courtney discover Peel, a fourth way of discovering great new TV shows.

Peel is an iPhone and Android app which offers show recommendations based on your viewing habits and the shows that your friends and family are watching.

The app offers “Top picks” based on what you watch and you can rate shows as favourites or as “guilty pleasures” – I think we all know what that means! The app also gives “Friends’ favourites”, the shows that everyone else is watching, so you can catchup with what’s hot.

It’s not clear whether Peel is US-centric or not, but it’s a free app, so there’s nothing to lose.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

Although not present in the USA and Europe, viewing broadcast TV on mobile phones is very popular in Asian countries and parts of South America. Andy and Don talk to Guy from Siano Mobile Silicon about the technology behind this cultural phenomena.

Watching broadcast TV on mobile phones has been very popular in China, Japan and Korea, particularly with people who commute on buses and trains. Much as those of us in the US or UK listen to an MP3 player as we trundle to work, they watch TV. Siano produces the chipset which decodes the broadcast signal and they have a TV accessory that plugs into the Apple connector on an iPhone or iPod to show broadcast TV on the screen.

Phones that can show broadcast TV are expected in the US market during 2012, with coverage available in most major cities. Pricing to be announced.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and RV News Net and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

Nyxio, a designer of cutting edge Smart TV and consumer electronics devices, is showing off a new Android Smart TV platform which is made for both consumer and business customers.  The new software will be available for the Nyxio Android OS Smart TV 21.5-inch, which has touch-screen capability and is perfect for business users.

The platform is compatible with screens up to 65 inches, and all versions work with the Google Android Market, meaning they are capable of running all of the apps in the Market, including the best games in the Market.  That also means that TV viewers will get access to such things as Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and more.

You can find out more by visiting www.nyxio.com.

Sony‘s CES focus this year is on electronics, content and network services combining to deliver high quality entertainment anytime and anywhere. Supported by a slew of product announcements, new connected devices range from TVs, Blu-ray players and A/V receivers through to tablets, smartphones and PCs and on to camcorders and mobile music players. Sony is combining these with online services for music, video and game delivery, creating a great user experience (as they say). TVs, PCs, smartphones and tablets are key to this experience as the four main devices used for entertainment.

“Sony is committed to designing technologies for every aspect of consumer entertainment – in or out of the home, on the go, in the air, at work, at play, or wherever life takes you,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “When these products are combined with Sony Entertainment Network (SEN), which offers innovative services like Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited, as well as PlayStation Network, the user experience is truly unmatched and only made possible by a company like Sony.”

The Bravia TV line has been expanded in all three areas; entry level BX, step-up EX and flagship HX. Brightness and contrast levels have been increased and picture quality improved with Sony’s X-Reality and Motionflow video technologies. In particular the latter helps to reduce blur caused by rapid camera movements which is often a problem with LCD screens. Sony is sticking with the Google TV platform with a new network player and Blu-ray player featuring Google TV. Certain Bravia models will link seamlessly to these devices to provide Google TV features directly on the TV.

Sony’s Vaio range of computers will continue to be updated with more entertainment feature and new designs that fit with consumers’ needs and increasing mobility. At CES, Sony will be demonstrating new technologies and prototypes for a range of technologies including glasses-free 3D.

In the smartphone space, the Xperia brand has done reasonably well, but increasing the smartphone share in North America is now one of Sony’s highest priorities. Sony Ericsson will be subsumed into Sony Mobile Communications and all new phones will carry Sony branding. The latest addition to the Xperia line-up is the Xperia ion, Sony’s first LTE smartphone coming with an HD 720p display and aluminium body. Also new is the Xperia S which comes with 3D image capture.

On the imaging front, no less than 13 new Handycam camcorders are being unveiled. A new image stabilisation system called Balanced Optical Steady Shot has been developed that controls the complete optical path from lens to sensor as a single floating unit. This reduces handshake blur by up to 13 times compared to the previous models. There’s a new camcorder model with a built-in video projector that has improved brightness and enhanced audio. The trusty Bloggie range now has a “Live” model which will live stream HD video over a Wi-Fi connection and there’s an unboxing over at sister channel TPN.tv. Of course, Sony has a bunch of new Cybershot digital still cameras.

Finally, it wouldn’t be CES if Sony didn’t announce a Walkman or two. The new Z series of MP3 players comes with an application interface and connectivity to both Sony’s Music Unlimited and the Android Market. Content can be played from Z series devices either wirelessly using DLNA or via HDMI to Bravia TVs. To further improve the audio experience, no less than eleven new Balanced Armature earbud-style headphones are now available as well.

That’s it – a quick overview of the products on show at CES by Sony and they all look like fun.

At CES, TRENDnet has launched the world’s smallest 500 Mb/s Powerline adapter with the new TPL-406E model. Look at the picture below to see the difference in size between a standard Powerline adaptor and the new model on the left. When trying to get all the modern gadgets plugged in and networked, this will certainly help where there is limited space or close electrical sockets.

“Consumers are looking for solutions to help connect their TVs to the Internet and TRENDnet Powerline products couldn’t be easier-with no complicated CD installation required,” stated Sonny Su, technology director for TRENDnet. “The TPL-406E defines a new category of ultra-compact high performance 500 Mbps Powerline adapters.”

More and more audio-visual equipment needs to be networked. In my living room, I think there are three ethernet devices (TV, satellite decoder and Bluray player) and I use a 100 Mb/s Powerline device to take the network to them. For this kind of equipment, Powerline is much more convenient than trying to setup a wireless bridge.

Available from April at all good retailers, the TPL-406E will be $60 on its own or $100 in a twin pack, TPL-406E2K.

You may have seen the news and pictures floating around the internet the past few days of the LG 55 inch OLED TV that they plan to show at CES.  Now some more information has been released about this ultra-thin beauty.  Before you get too excited and start pulling out your wallet, the TV is only a prototype and it will be unveiled at a private, media-only event.

This is the largest OLED TV yet produced.  In a blog post to their UK website yesterday LG claimed that, “By incorporating the company’s 4-Color Pixels and Color Refiner features with LG Display’s advanced OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels, LG OLED TV generates the most natural colors of any TV set at a much lower price point than could have been achieved using the standard manufacturing process.”

LG claims that this TV has been produced at a significantly lower cost than past OLED TV’s.  They are also claiming an infinite contrast ratio, the utmost clarity and sharpness, and color capabilities that are “technically impossible with LED and LCD display panels”.  They also claim the display is 1,000 times faster than traditional LED and LCD displays.  The TV will be unveiled at CES on January 9th at 8pm.

I recently picked up the 32 inch RCA model LED32A30RQ TV. It has a resolution of 1366x 768 and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It has the following connections:

• 1 RCA component video input
• L/R Audio input for component
• 1 RCA composite video input
• 1 L/R Audio input for composite
• VGA input
• Audio input for VGA
• 4 HDMI connections
• 1 Digital audio output
• 1 Analog output
• 1 earphone jack

The fourth HDMI connection was a pleasant surprise because the description says only 3 HDMI connections, although the specifications say four HDMI inputs (it is a little confusing). The HDMI connections and the analog audio output are on the side panel. On the bottom panel are the rest of the connections. The HDMI connections are a little cramped and because the panel is dark it is hard to get things connected, unless you have good lighting. The other big complaint I have is with the sound coming directly from the TV it is really tinny. However, connected to a receiver or sound system it sounds great. I think the picture is fine, however I haven’t been able to do a full calibration yet. When you switch from output to another there is a bit of delay, but it is not too bad. The hardest part of the setup was trying to figure out how to connect to the stand, the directions weren’t very clear.

After having it for a couple of weeks, my husband and I are both really happy with this TV it is perfect for a small room. At $264.00 including taxes the price couldn’t be beat, it was originally almost $400.00. I ordered it right on time, because by the time it arrived 3 days later it was sold out and is now no longer available through Wal-Mart. In fact I can’t find it for sale on any site. If you do find it for sale and have a small room, I recommend you pick it up.

Dexter

The group over at TorrentFreak.com have come up with the top ten pirated shows this last year. They collected information from many Torrent Trackers to come up with this list. This list is US only.

Dexter, the show about a serial murderer who kills bad guys topped this years most downloaded list at 3.6 million downloads. Game of Thrones was second, and CBS’s “Big Bang Theory” hit third.

Terra Nova is the surprise – 8th place at 1.9 million. This is a show that is on the verge of cancellation by Fox. So does a number like this mean there is still hope for this show?

Some good news is these numbers are declining. Web streaming sites like Hulu give people a chance to see their shows on their schedule. In return, they don’t have to search for the latest episode.

Game of Thrones

However, shows like Dexter and True Blood –  which are on premium channels Showtime and HBO – don’t show up on Hulu. A season of these episodes might take 2 years before they land on Netflix streaming. You can buy seasons at the conclusion through sites like Amazon, and rent shortly through Blockbuster or Netflix DVD.

Five network TV shows ended up on the list – Big Bang Theory, House, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, and Terra Nova. TorrenkFreak deduces these are mostly downloads for people who are overseas and do not have access to Hulu.

Do world events have you rattled? Ever thought of learning to live off the grid?

Follow Frank Belcastro as he attempts to drag his family (sometimes kicking and screaming) toward his goal of being able to live completely on their own, off the grid.

“Independence USA” premieres on January 18, 2012 exclusively on GBTV.Com, Glenn Beck’s new streaming Internet-based television network. “Independence USA” is produced by GBTV and The WorkShop, L.L.C. whose team has produced shows for History, ESPN, ESPN Classic, Animal Planet, HGTV, trutv, Travel Channel, Lifetime, Discovery Channel, TLC, The Golf Channel, and Broadcast Syndication. The show will air weekly on Wednesdays.

The “Independence USA” trailer has hit reality show written all over it. In my opinion this is going to be a real game-changer for the concept of streaming video and new media. This is the first professional-quality TV series aimed at a mainstream reality TV audience produced exclusively for an Internet-based television network. Though networks have played around for years with streaming re-purposed television shows and movies, this is the first time a network is being built from the ground up, one module at a time to create a pay TV network for exclusive distribution on the Internet.

Will people subscribe to an Internet-only high definition TV network? The answer is, yes they absolutely will subscribe provided that the content is there. It’s highly likely that the addition of the “Independence USA” reality TV series will get many people over the hump and cause them to pay.

People already in the new media/streaming media space should welcome GBTV, because it is going to be a game-changer. It’s success will likely cause a bit of a land rush towards streaming. Devices such as the Roku are in a great position to reap those land rush benefits. The presence of professional level TV networks on the Roku will potentially have a bit of a “halo effect” for existing new media creators.

Everyone is probably familiar with the new Motorola Droid Razr commercials.  They are on TV almost continuously it seems, but Rogers, of Canada, has a new twist in their Razr TV ad.  If you have seen the U.S. ads then you know that the ad is more special effects than actual phone – you just see things getting sliced in half by the unseen Razr.

Rogers has gone one step further and is actually slicing things with a real Motorola Droid Razr, and they filmed it with a super slow-motion camera so you get to see all of the action.  The ad features a Razr being fired from some sort of air gun and proceeding to slice through an egg and a cake.  In the end, the icing is wiped off of the screen and the phone starts like nothing has happened.  Of course, there is no telling if it’s really the same phone that was shot out of the gun, but the effect is still good for a really cool commercial.  You can check it out below.  It’s titled “Motorola Razr VS The Baker’s Dozen.

Geeks in the UK may be interested in “Britain’s Greatest Codebreaker” on Channel 4 tonight (21 Nov) at 9pm. Described as a drama documentary, the programme follows the life of Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who was instrumental in breaking the German Naval Enigma code during World War II. His achievements were overshadowed by his homosexuality and two years after being convicted for gross indecency he committed suicide in 1954 aged 41.

According to the notes, the programme will feature “contemporary experts from the world of technology and high science, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.”

Set your PVR now.

(The notes also say that the programme will be available on 4oD shortly after transmission, but this is usually only available if you are in the UK or Ireland. 4oD is Channel 4′s on-demand Internet streaming service.)

The rumor mill has gone full tilt the last few days that Apple is in the process of developing a smart TV.   According to Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs told him that Apple had “finally cracked it” a way to make TV, that is simple and elegant. I have to admit I am not holding my breath. I have seen too many of these attempts to make the next TV, somewhere in the back of my closet is a Web-TV.  I purchased and sold the older Apple TV and currently have the Apple TV 2 and a Roku on my desk. They all worked and yet none of them have replaced the TV for the average household. Some like the Web-TV were far too complicated and ahead of their time. Others like the Apple TV, the Roku, and even the Google TV are limited by the agreements they can make with media providers. Plus no one has been able to solve the issue of live sports or live events.

Before we can have the right answers we need to know what the problems are. That got me thinking what do we want from our television sets. The first thing we want is ease of use, anything that is too complicated will fail. Maybe the idea of channels need to be rethought, why not clearly group channels by providers or content. Why do we insist on using the same system we did fifty years ago when most people had less than 6 channels. Why can’t something like Netflix or Amazon video just be a part of the normal guide. The ability to switch from application to application needs to be quick and intuitive, the fewer buttons that need to be pushed the better. I know from personal experience if my husband has to push more than three buttons he is not going to use it. Which leads directly to how is the system going to be controlled, will it be by a remote control or will something like Siri be involved. At this time I don’t think a voice command has evolved far enough to work with a television set in a noisy living room. The remote control must have a keyboard and the fewer buttons the better. I believe that in today’s world social media integration must be available. Can a system be created that doesn’t force people to get content they don’t want? As long as that content is being controlled by the cable or satellite companies I am afraid the answer will be no. Unfortunately Apple may run into many of the same problems that Google has, the ability of the content providers and the cable companies to block content. The final problem is should the system be integrated into the TV or should it be a separate box that can be used with all modern televisions. If Apple chooses to go with an integrated system, will they integrate the system into a monitor they make themselves or will Apple work with other manufactures. Knowing that Apple likes to control things as much as they can I suspect they will want to make everything themselves.

I don’t have any answers to these questions and I am not sure Apple does either. I believe this involves rethinking the whole concept of television from the ground up. Perhaps even the name television is too limiting, perhaps video entertainment system is a better name for what we are talking about. From the iPod, through the iPhone and the iPad, the engineers and creative team at Apple have shown the ability to think outside the box. Maybe they can do the same thing with television, I certainly hope so, but I suspect the journey will be long and rough.

Xbox TV partners

I watch over a lot in the Over the Top Television space. Internet TV, IPTV, whatever you want to call it, it’s a great way to get watchable content without having a full cable lineup.

Last week, Steve Ballmer announced their TV initiative over XBox Live. Over 40 providers have signed up for this venture, including Comcast, HBO, BBC, Rodgers on Demand (Canada), Televisa (Mexico), and other countries including Germany and Italy (20 in all). Best part, if you already have an XBox 360, you have the hardware to do this.

“Today’s announcement is a major step toward realizing our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Combining the world’s leading TV and entertainment providers with the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing voice search will make TV and entertainment more personal, social and effortless.” – Press Release

Add to conventional TV line-up the on-line video providers like Crackle, YouTube, Zune and more. Then there is audio content from Last.fm and iHeartRadio. Finally, Social networks like Twitter and Facebook to round off the service.

The Game System that Became More

Whereas companies like Roku that integrated smaller games like Angry Birds, XBox won’t have that problem. It’s a game system over a TV content distributor. You can play Gears of War, Tweet about it, then watch a video on how to play Gears of War (or another show).

Unified Dashboard in XBox Live

With the unified dashboard (looking similar to the Zune software), you can browse your shows, play the games, work your social networks and more. You will connect to the Comcast Xfinity service to get all that service has to offer.

Getting Rid of the Remote with Kinect

This might be the best part about the XBox TV. By using voice controls and your Kinect, you can gesture to a channel, play, pause and move on. It might get harry if you have more than one person wanting to watch different shows. Still, could you imagine a world without a remote control?

It won’t all be free, though.

Right now, to get HBO Go, you need to have a cable subscription with HBO. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon – especially with channels like HuluPlus. Of course, that is just like many of the OTT systems out there. Pay for a subscription and get the content.

Once again, there could be conflict if you have multiple family members where one wants to play a game and the other wants to watch a movie. So this might not replace a cable box or DVR just yet.

The Xbox Live TV service is expected to come out before the holiday season. The announcement comes before then so you can plan purchasing an XBox 360 or Kinect system for your loved ones to connect up quick. While the OTT solution is more pricey than a Roku or Apple TV, it does do more than just watch video, view pictures or listen to music. It also has some great game titles. It also has a new way to browse through your content.

To preview their forthcoming album, Tomorrow’s World, pop duo Erasure have produced a tribute to the future-gazing BBC TV show of the same name. British geeks of a certain age will fondly remember this TV programme for introducing us to gadgets such as Walkmans, CDs and camcorders. It was also notorious for showing off products that promptly disappeared and never made it to market. The programme ran from 1965 to 2003 and drew over 10 million viewers at its peak.

Erasure’s tribute is a reworking of the programme’s soundtrack and has an accompanying video that includes many famous gadgets from the past. Here it is.

Recently I wrote an opinion piece wondering if Smartphones would soon replace universal remotes like Harmony.  For a while now, I have been using myRemote on my Droid X to control my Windows 7 Media Center-based HTPC.  Recently I have also been trying out DirecTV Remote Pro to control my DirecTV HD DVR.  Unfortunately, there is no official DirecTV Remote Control app for Android – or iOS, webOS, Windows Phone, or any other devices.  Their official app is great for browsing shows and setting your DVR to record something when you are away from home, but it’s not something you can use to control the box from your sofa.

That’s where DirecTV Remote Pro comes in (there’s a free version too, but functionality is severely limited).  The app is priced at $4.99, but right now they are offering it for $1.98 for a “limited time”.  As for the nitty-gritty statistical information, here it is.  The app has an overall four and a half star rating from 327 reviews, the current version is 2.2.3, the latest version was released July 11, 2011, and it requires Android 2.1 or better.  Your DVR needs to be connected to your home network – there is an ethernet port on the back.  You also must have WiFi enabled on your phone.

Once you have the app installed on your Android device you can start it up and it should find your DVR and prompt you to name it.  If you have more than one in your house then you will name each and be able to switch between them.  Click the “Menu” button on your phone and the choose “Select Receiver”.

DirecTV Remote Pro menu

Once clicked, you will get a list of the DirecTV boxes that are currently connected to your home network.  Click the one you wish to use and the app will take control of that device.

DirecTV Remote Pro Select Receiver

Now, we get to the remote control itself.  It is layed out exactly as the peanut-shaped DirecTV one is.  The top half contains the Stop, Pause, Play, FF, Rew, and other buttons.  In addition, there are three icons across the very top – the remote control (home), a star (to mark a show as a favorite, and the menu (which takes you to a list of your recorded shows).

DirecTV Remote top

It also contain a key feature that DirecTV’s physical remote can’t replicate – the channel, time, show, and episode name that is currently playing.  Click the “current show”and you will be presented with more detailed information, such as ratings, genre and overview.

DirecTV Remote current show info

Once you drop below the top, the remote becomes almost an exact replica of it’s physical brethren.  You will find the Up, Down, Left, Right, Select, 4 colored buttons, and all of the rest in the middle.

DirecTV Remote middle

The bottom also contains the expected – Previous, Change, and keypad.

DirecTV Remote bottom

The Bottom Line

While it’s a shame that DirecTV has not done this themselves, I have to say that I doubt they could have done it any better.  The only possible thing they could have brought to the table is integration with there official app.  I found no functionality lacking and it is every bit as fast and responsive as the physical remote.  If you are a DirecTV subscriber, and an Android user, then this is a must-have app.  It takes the actual remote and adds an extra dimension.

Today, over at the website New TeeVee, we learned a bit of info about how the Networks are viewing what is currently happening in the market.  Essentially, Fox is saying that their new “plan” will thwart users by blocking Hulu and Fox.com access to anyone who can’t prove they are a cable or satellite subsriber.  They will do this by only allowing access of recently released episodes to those users and forcing everyone else to wait eight days for “yesterday’s show”.

It seems to me, and I could be wrong here, that Fox hasn’t done much (any) research on their users, or TV viewers in general.  In our household, we are running an average of three weeks behind on TV shows – some as many as 5-7 weeks.  Have we cut the cord?  Partially.  The cord comes back when football season comes back.  It gets cut again after the Super Bowl.  There is nothing we need to watch live other than sports and football is the only one that doesn’t offer an online package….yet.

Fox’s president uttered the following comment:

“We’re concerned that cord-cutting is going to be a problem . . . The more you enable it by putting content out there for free without any tether to a pay-TV subscription, the bigger that danger becomes.”

They will have to take access away all together, because few people today care WHEN they watch something, just if.  And some are starting to not care IF.

To get the full effect, and breakdown, of that statement I recommend reading the article over at New TeeVee.  For now, though, they should know that some of us have already cut the cord and that this makes no difference to us at all.

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Following on from the previous post, Boxee have announced that they’re opening a European office in London. In an email to Boxee users, they said that Wil Stephens will be setting up shop to bring more content to the UK audience and will be working with D-Link to get more boxes into more stores. They’ll also be hiring staff so watch their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages if you are interested.

And to celebrate, Boxee is having a meet-up on 7th June in East London at an undisclosed bar. It’s an RSVP affair (and £5 in) but they’ll be showing off some new content partners and giving away some Boxees. And if you can’t make it in person, it’ll be streamed live on the Boxee as well.

Any questions about where Boxee may be heading could have been answered with the latest user survey.  The questions surround premium content that it seems they are thinking of making available to users.

What kind of premium content?  The best kind – pay-per-view, sports, and premium channels like HBO.  The gist of the survey surrounds what users are willing to pay for this type of content.  They are even floating the idea of NFL games on PPV – in fact, that’s the one listed in the survey.  In terms of premium channels, HBO and Showtime are names.

So, can they pull off actually adding such content?  HBO and Showtime are a possibility, but the NFL seems much more difficult, especially since they have a deal in place with DirecTV for Sunday Ticket.  It’s not out of the question, just a more difficult negotiation.  I have been waiting for this – a pay-per-view game is long overdue.  There’s seriously no reason for anyone to buy EVERY game of EVERY team in order to watch one team’s games.  It’s much more economical to pay for your game than to pay for DirecTV (plus Sunday Ticket).

Here’s hoping……….

As the UK slowly moves towards turning off the analogue terrestrial TV signal and switching to digital transmissions, it’s been overtaken by consumer demand for high definition (HD) broadcasting. The satellite and cable providers, namely Sky and Virgin Media, have been quick to offer HD on their subscription services, but the terrestrial digital broadcast system, Freeview, has been somewhat slower to offer HD. Some regions of the UK, e.g. Northern Ireland, will not have HD terrestrial broadcasts until 2012. Consequently, there’s been a great deal of uncertainty and misinformation.

So it’s fortunate that ConsumerChoices has added Freeview HD coverage to its HD Coverage Checker. By putting in your postcode and your house number, you’ll be presented with all the HD options available to you, including satellite, cable and terrestrial. In addition, for Freeview (terrestrial), the website will tell you which transmitter to use, how far away it is and the likely signal strength. If Freeview HD is not yet available in the area, it will give the expected date for it to be turned on.

With Freeview decoders now available in a range of products including set-top boxes and HD TVs, there’s often a small price premium to pay for the HD decoder over the standard definition. By using the HD Coverage Checker, you can make informed decision whether to go HD and pay more, or stick with the standard definition decoder.

Since the advent of the VCR, the adage has been to look to the pornography industry to see what would happen – which formats would take off, what business models might work, etc., etc., etc. While the pornography industry did seem to be the first on the block to figure out how to make e-commerce work, do they still lead the way today when it comes to the future of video?

While there is a certain profession that perhaps lays claim to be the oldest, right up there with it is the art of the sale, and the pastime of shopping. The shopping experience itself if done well can be a pleasure.

QVC, HSN and other home shopping channels excel at making the shopping experience itself the content. They make no pretense – they are right up front with the fact that their channels are all about advertising.

Many people claim to hate ads, but I’d contend I that it’s really bad ads that most people despise. Advertising that is well done is informative and entertaining and can even be enjoyable. Watching QVC, HSN, ShopNBC, etc. product presentations (particularly electronics, gadgets and sometimes cooking) can for me easily fall into the guilty pleasure category. These people are masters at the art of the sale. Who doesn’t enjoy (or cannot learn from) watching a master ply his craft?

So how are the home shopping channels handling their all-important online presence? QVC and HSN both have iOS and Android apps that make it possible to watch their current live video streams, as well as easily search their catalogs, as well as place and track orders. The ShopNBC app is a fail in that it doesn’t allow you to watch the live video stream. I’d give the nod to QVC’s app as being the most advanced and usable overall.

One of the problems with watching video podcasts as an alternative to conventional television is that you have typically and deliberately watch one video at a time. On longer videos it’s not as much of a problem, but with short videos that last 5 minutes or less you have to keep manually restarting the next video after the previous one has finished.

I now have three Mac Minis – one is an old somewhat underpowered Power PC Mac Mini that I’m using as a video podcast aggregator. I have that machine’s iTunes database located on a much larger shared drive that’s available to every machine on my home network. I’m subscribed to a variety of tech podcasts, most of them in the highest resolution file sizes available.

I have two other Mac Minis that are of the latest design. I have an “Eye TV” USB HD tuner connected to one that’s connected to a substantial external antenna. Depending on atmospheric conditions I can receive up to 18 channels counting the various digital sub channels. This enables the Mac Mini to function as a DVR.

The second Intel Mac Mini is in another room and the Eye TV software also loaded on it is able to work from the other Mac Mini’s shared recordings.

Today I discovered by accident when playing around with iTunes on one of the Intel Mac Minis that the shared videos show up in the shared playlists from other iTunes databases. So, in other words, I can pick a shared iTunes list from the Power PC Mac Mini’s shared iTunes and a list of video files shows up. Since the videos are in the list just like audio would be, I am able to start a video file playing and when one file ends it will immediately start playing the next video file on the list. This is particularly useful because I can start videos playing as I do other things and it will continue to play just as if it’s a TV station. This is quite a handy capability to have. The lack of an ability to set up continuous video playback has long been one of the Apple TV’s biggest shortcomings.

Periodically I go to the Power PC Mac Mini and delete the video files that have been played, since iTunes keeps a play count, so I always have fresh material to watch.

Like millions of others, I’ve been glued to news sources to get as much current information as I can about the ongoing disasters in Japan following the massive earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear plant disasters. This has to be the biggest natural disaster that has occurred in my lifetime.

In pre-Internet days, we had to rely on newspapers and television for news. Those forms of information have their problems. This is the Internet age. I want current information directly from the source NOW, not later. I want current information of my choice, not what news agencies that aren’t directly on the scene think is or is not important for me to know. If I want 24/7 disaster coverage, in the Internet age that becomes possible, allowing me to completely bypass limited conventional coverage.

It took a while for me to find, but there’s an iPhone/iPod/iPad/iOS app from Japan’s NHK called NHK World TV Live. The app is free. Once the app is installed, it operates very simply. You simply open the app and the live video directly from Japan’s NHK World news service immediately begins streaming. Search iTunes for NHK World TV Live.

The service has an English translator that talks over the lowered volume of the original Japanese broadcasts. The English translators aren’t slick and you can hear them become a bit confused from time to time.

There’s also an app from the Al jazeera TV English news network that operates live out of Doha, Qatar. Al jazeera TV English is highly produced from a beautiful state-of-the-art studio. The on-air newsreaders seem to be British nationals. Though Al jazeera gives more news from the Arab world than the typical American is used to, they do a pretty good job of covering international news, including the situation in Japan. Search iTunes for Al jazeera English Live.

Savvy TV news agencies in today’s world have to make themselves available if they want to continue to be relevant. News agencies such as the BBC, CBC, CNN, Fox, etc. seem to be dragging their feet regarding available-to-anyone-anywhere 24/7 Internet TV broadcasting. I believe they are already losing world market share.

It’s been a while since dumping my $100-dollar-per-month Dish Network habit. Ominously for the existing broadcast/cable/satellite structure, I haven’t missed it – not even one little bit. Sorry guys, that money now goes for other discretionary things.

Save Our Buggy Whips!

I saw an article about the traditional broadcasters in Canada saying they needed to somehow “get ahead” of the Netflix/Hulu phenomenon before the inevitable hits them, before what is happening in the USA happens to them. Like most dinosaur products and services, instead of talking about how they can come up with better ways to serve customers in an ever-changing, innovative marketplace, they are essentially discussing how they can somehow entice or even force customers to maintain the status quo.

A primary reason that market and business conditions change over time is improved, innovative products and services come along that better serve the end consumer. Organizations and individuals that grow fat and lazy consuming cash cow largess naturally start whining when market conditions change and the cow has no more grass left on which to graze because the stagnant field has been stripped bare.

I Want My Set Top Box

I’ve been experimenting with several different TV set top box solutions. I’ve got an Intel Mac Mini set up as a DVR with an HDTV USB tuner stick. I’ve got a couple of Western Digital WD TV Live Plus boxes. I’ve got Playon TV software running on a an HP Windows Home Server box with about 30 different plugins that give me quick organized access to a ton of different on-demand streaming video content, including Hulu and a fair amount of network programming. I’ve got an original Mac Mini running a $50 software hack that includes Boxee and XBMC software. Finally, I’ve got an LG Blu-Ray player that has a number of different on-demand video services built in, including Netflix, Vudu, and a new recently-added service called Divx TV.

So far, none of these solutions is perfect for every viewing situation. My biggest complaint about on-demand video is that it’s virtually impossible to set up a video play list where I can start the video playing and get it to automatically continue to play without any further intervention. This is especially frustrating when I have a bunch of two or three-minute-long video podcasts to watch through and each file has to manually be started playing. Why can’t someone solve this problem? Every past successful form of media has been able to go into a continuous-play mode. Coming up with a solution to this problem of being able to start a group of video files playing and have them play continuously is ultimately critical if OTT is to be widely adopted.

Divx TV Comes Closer

Divx TV, which is currently available only on select LG Blu-Ray players, actually attempts to solve the continuous play problem. It has a channel up/down feature that immediately begins to play streaming podcast content in a window from a number of different content partners. As you go through the categories and drill down into the sub-categories, the video will immediately change to the newest one selected, just like changing a TV channel. The content is categorized in a number of different ways. Revision 3 is one of the content providers. If a Revision 3 podcast is selected, the latest episode will immediately begin to play in the window. At any point in the process, a “swap” button can be pressed to instantly make the video full-screen (or vice versa) without having to restart the video from the beginning. After the latest episode plays, the next-latest episode will play, etc. If left playing, it will eventually go through all available content and start playing the first episode.

Additionally, Divx TV has a search function where it’s possible to save search terms for future use. One of the problems I’ve ran into when using the search function to find videos from their database that aren’t in the packaged categories is file sizes are inconsistent. Since I’m using a point-to-point wireless Internet provider, my home Internet connection isn’t as fast as traditional cable or DSL connections. Larger video file sizes tend not to stream over slower connections so well and buffering can occur. The pre-packaged Divx TV category content providers provide a more consistent video streaming experience on less-robust Internet bandwidth connections and the video looks pretty good.

Eventually all of these problems must be solved.

What would be an ideal system for me? I’d like to be able to play the hundreds of video podcasts I’ve downloaded on every TV in my house and have them play continuously without intervention. I’d like to be able to mix and match custom streaming content, again with minimal intervention on my part. I’d like to be able to play any video I’ve recorded on my Mac Mini DVR on any TV set in my house via my wired home network. So far, none of these solutions I’ve tried can quite combine all of these features into one sleek package. By the way, the Mac Mini DVR can be a bit of a pain in the rear, since the on-screen computer screen text can’t be read from 15 feet away even on a 58” screen.

Are we there yet? Not quite, but the journey has definitely started.

Since getting the latest version of the 32 gigabyte iPod Touch a couple of months back, one of the uses that has surprised me has been late-night movie-watching after I’ve gone to bed but am not yet drowsy enough to go to sleep. The iPod Touch works extremely well for this task. I am able to pair the iPod to my Sprint HTC Evo’s WiFi hotspot feature and generally get very good Internet connectivity.

By far, Netflix is the best on-demand movie service available. Netflix has the most and best content available. The Netflix app for iPod/iPhone works great. It gives me the most relevant features of the full Netflix service in a tidy little package. So far, I’ve watched dozens of movies right on my iPod.

But are there other iPod/iPhone movie and documentary apps available? It turns out there are, though the quality can vary tremendously. One of them is called “NFB Films” which is an app created by the National Film Board of Canada. You can watch over 1,000 movies, including documentaries, animations and trailers.

Another app is called “Big Star TV.” The app itself is free to install, but if you wish to watch any content, like with Netflix, you have to pay a monthly fee. Big Star’s movies don’t seem to be up to the high quality level of Netflix.

B-Movies is a free app that presents Internet Archive (www.archive.org) films in an organized, easy-to-use format. It should be noted B-Movies is not associated or a part of the Internet Archive. Among other things, the Internet Archive contains an incredibly rich and diverse set of older classic corporate, school and government documentaries.

Apart from these choices of course is YouTube. Certainly YouTube has a tremendous amount of content, but therein lies the rub: there’s so much YouTube content, it makes it difficult for any single app to categorize, let alone try to catalog what’s available. With YouTube it’s best to simply search on a keyword or phrase that interests you and then start surfing.

The promise of the future that was held up when I was a kid has in many ways arrived, but as always there remains a lot of room for improvement.

If you aren’t in the Eastern time zone or you recorded tonight’s episode of Jeopardy! for later viewing then you may want to stop reading now.  But if you have seen the show or don’t plan to watch it or don’t know what the heck I’m talking about then read on.

Day three, the final day, has just wrapped up and the final score was not particularly close, although round 2 proved to be a bit more exciting.  As for final tallies, Watson racked up $77,147 to Ken Jennings’ $24,000 and Brad Rutter’s $21,600.  However, during tonight’s round 2, Jennings took a brief lead over the IBM supercomputer.

We did learn a few things along the way.  One was that Watson’s algorithm for wagering money is incomprehensible.  It’s bets were always amounts that seemed to make little sense based on it’s total or the totals of its opponents.  Another was that it did not receive information on it’s opponents answers – at one point, after Jennings buzzed in first and gave an incorrect answer, Watson buzzed in and gave the same answer.  We learned that Watson thinks Toronto is a US city.  We even learned that Ken Jennings has a sense of humor.  In round 2, after hitting the daily double, he joked that his two choices were to either “unplug Watson or bet everything”.  During Final Jeopardy of round 2 he wrote his answer as “Bram Stoker (I for one welcome our new computer overlords)”

Watson, made by IBM who also created Deep Blue, is powered by 90 32-core IBM Power 750 Express servers with a total of 16 terabytes of memory and can calculate hundreds algorithms simultaneously.  Or, in short, it was an amazing display of technology and a lot of fun to watch.  This was a Geek’s dream TV show.

Brice Washington, of Hauppauge, stops by to chat with Andy about streaming live TV to iOS devices via their Broadway.  In this video you will get a look at their new device that can hook to your over-the-air or cable TV service and then broadcast, wirelessly, that signal to any iOS device within range.  Just access the stream by entering the IP address of the Broadway.  Better yet, connect the Broadway to the internet and you’ll be able to access it’s stream, not just from your home network, but from anywhere in the world where you have internet access.  You can also hook other video sources, like a DVD player to it.

Retail price will be set at $199 and should be available within the next month.  Not a bad price considering all it does, and if you have an iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV then it will be pretty handy – both at home and on the road.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Maxel Rapheal, CEO of iMovee, explains a little bit about their product.  This may get a bit complicated, but if you haven’t heard of ATSC-MH then you are in for a treat.  It stands ATSC mobile handheld – the mobile version of watching digital TV.

The upcoming Mobeo product can pull in an ATSC-MH signal and then rebroadcast it over WiFi to your mobile device.  It’s compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7.  Want to watch your favorite show at up to 160 MPH?  Then check out the video below to get all of the details (there’s a LOT more that I haven’t even touched on) and see Mobeo in action.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News. and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Todd Cochrane spoke to Jeff Cody and Matt Miller from Vidtonics a company that is just launching and will be providing a kit to build your own TV. Everything you need is included in the kit, the LCD panel(22-42 inches), the board and anything else you will need. They made it clear that there is no soldering involved, if you can build a computer you can use this kit. It is made for hardcore coders and those who like to tinker.

Both the hardware and software are open source. Because it is an open development platform it allows for and in fact they encourage customizations and mod-ding, They are hoping for a lot of community participation and contribution.  It will have a Texas Instrument processors and will allow up to 1080P resolution. It also includes an expansion port for testing purposes and special uses. It should be available this summer on-line at Vidtonics, pricing is unknown at this time. If you like to build computers or tinker with things this maybe the product for you

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

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Esby Larsen and Andy McCaskey show the Tech Podcast Network interview booth at CES 2011 showing and talking about the video and computer equipment including the TriCaster HD.

Interview by Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com and Andy McCaskey of RV News Network.

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