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Epix HD 720p movie streaming service eyes-on
After making sure there was a domain name locked down for Epix, the new premium movie network formed by Studio 3 Networks (Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM) it was all about taking advantage of an early peek at the 720p Flash powered site to see what a new generation of home movie distribution has to offer. The tech end (opening up to invited users this week for beta testing) is powered by Akamai's variable bitrate streaming streaming technology, delivering up to 3mbps HD video with stereo audio all the way down (6 different levels) to 500kbps encodes. Where it surpasses current online offerings from the competition is the ability, thanks to the aforementioned studio backers, to provide many of the recent movies you want to see. Our impressions of the service and a few more pictures of the interface are after the break.
BBC Worldwide content coming to U.S. Xbox Live, Zune Marketplace
Apparently having worked out its issues over control, we've got even more BBC news for you with word that some of its programming is coming to Xbox Live and Zune Marketplace in the U.S. No word whether they'll be available in HD, but Torchwood, Dr. Who, Primeval, Top Gear and more are going to be online. Of course, the PS3 and Wii both have iPlayer access (and in the UK users can download videos and play through their consoles) but to get playback here without subscribing to BBC America HD, the Xbox 360 could be a good choice.Update: It looks like the videos are already up with the BBC America branding, with Torchwood and Robin Hood both 720p HDTV ready.
BBC America HD launch July 20 brings plenty of science fiction starting with Torchwood & Dr. Who
After (in our opinion) a too long delay, BBC America is ready to launch its HD simulcast July 20, getting things kicked off with a load of science fiction programming for the summer. Torchwood: Children of Earth is scheduled as the first HD offering, with five consecutive nights of the new season to get things going before the season finale of Primeval shows its stuff in high definition along with the U.S. premiere of Being Human. That's all just a tease until the Sunday, July 26 U.S. premiere of Dr. Who: Planet of the Dead. Of course, in this day and age more than a few may have turned to the internet to catch quality UK television long before the programmes air here, but until iPlayer HD comes across the pond everyone else can look forward to getting their BBC re-airs in the quality they were intended - here's hoping for Top Gear HD next.Full press release and details are after the break.
Live theater returns to British TV on Sky Arts 1 HD
Moving one step beyond the opera broadcasts suddenly so popular recently, British television is getting its first live drama in two decades this July on Sky Arts 1 HD. Six authors have contributed 30-minute plays that will broadcast every Wednesday starting July 8 in front of a 140 person live audience. Viewers at home will apparently be allowed in on the post-show commentary sections, with HDTV providing a helping hand to more than one area of the arts we won't be surprised if Sky Arts Theatre Live! is yet another success.
Chelsea Lately drunkenly stumbles into 1080i
Yet again regrettably slipping on our coverage of late night television's procession into high definition broadcasting, last week Chelsea Lately became the most recent to go 1080i. Sneaking past our DVRs amongst the flurry of season finales, Chelsea takes time to clown E!'s likely "cheaper" version of HD, while the voiceover intro wonders if 16x9 HDTV makes her look skinnier. Catch a clip of the debut episode after the break, we suppose this puts Craig Ferguson on deck next.[Thanks, Kevin]
TSN2 coming to Rogers Cable lineup
Congratulations, Canada, finally TSN2 HD is available for the masses, now that it's completed a deal with Rogers Cable. Expect the new channel to show up tomorrow ahead of a Blue Jays / Red Sox three game series. Sure it wasn't in time to catch the NBA season, but given the Raptors' struggles last season, that may have been for the best.
History prepping WWII in HD series
Aside from its own plans for global domination, History recently laid out plans for several new series to expect and the one that caught our eye was WWII in HD. Set to debut in the fall the 10 episode series pulls from over 3,000 hours of color film recorded during the war, restored in high definition, plus contemporary HD footage and a 5.1 surround sound audio track formed from authentic and new sounds, including recordings from the Library of Congress. Described as following the experiences of a handful of men as their journeys cross-connect throughout the war, this should fit right in not only with history buffs, but also fans of Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan.[Via TV Squad]
CBS Sunday Morning News makes the jump to high definition
Up early on a Sunday? Take a minute to check out the first edition of CBS News Sunday Morning broadcast in high definition, as Charles Osgood anchors the annual "By Design" episode. That means your HDTV will see lots of home tours, a peek into the UCLA Medical Center checking out doctors that are remaking disfigured faces and a report on how retirement is changing for more active elders. Us? We're going back to sleep, two NBA Game 7's and the start of the NHL conference finals make this day a marathon, not a sprint.
FiOS TV expansions: May 16, 2009
This has been an odd week for Verizon FiOS TV news, with 69,000 subs finding out they will be Frontier customers within the next year (for what it's worth, the promise is there will be no changes, at least for a year.) Still, there's at least one bit of expansion to balance things out, with six new HD channels including Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, ES.TV, MyDestination.TV, Cars.TV and Pets.TV. The future is also bright, with word that streaming internet video is coming to FiOS TV boxes with Dailymotion, Veoh Networks and Blip.TV signed on for the service launching sometime in the second quarter. It will require a PC running Media Manager software PlayOn-style to transcode the clips, but FiOS viewers can browse with their standard remotes, plus Twitter and Facebook access is still on the way. Read - Verizon FiOS TV Customers Get Six New HD Channels From Entertainment Studios Read - Verizon to Divest Wireline Businesses in 14 States; Significant Benefits to Verizon Shareholders Read - Next On FiOS: Web Videos On Your Flat-Panel TV
AT&T adds 6 MTV Networks HD channels to U-verse
This was too much to wait another day for our roundup, U-Verse officially announced picking up 6 new feeds today from MTV, with MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD, Nickelodeon HD, COMEDY CENTRAL HD and Spike HD going live nationally (what happened to BET HD?) as part of a lineup with more than 100 HD channels in every market. That enough to make you part of even more new customers in this quarter? Press release is after the break.
Discovery kicking off continent-by-continent followup to Planet Earth with Wild Planet: North America
Having nabbed the former head of the BBC's Natural History Unit, Discovery has designs on its own epic globe trotting series promising to "capture the world, continent by continent in high definition, as its never been seen before." Naturally planned to debut first on Discovery's networks, as opposed to its partnership with BBC on Planet Earth, Wild Planet: North America will be the first of seven installments and start filming this fall. Expect HD cams to visit even more extreme locations, and all manner of wildlife to be snapped by the thousand lenses of myriad high speed cameras. We're ready. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Reuters]
Akamai supports dynamic HD streaming on Adobe Flash, starting with Epix
Tucked away in Akamai's announcement of dynamic streaming capabilities and other tweaks to go along with its support for Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 was the news that Epix -- the new joint venture from Viacom / Lionsgate / MGM launching first online then on cable & satellite near you as a new movie channel -- will be among the first to take advantage. We're the ability to seamlessly switch between HD and lower-quality feeds as bandwidth and CPU power demands will be appreciated by viewers but it's still not even clear what the new venture's website will even be, with epix.com still pointing to this. That's sure to be cleared up by launch (still slated for later this month) right?
All DISH customers with 5 new national HD channels step forward -- not so fast Turbo HD subs
No sooner did DISH Network light up HD feeds for Speed, FX, Fashion TV, Logo and MavTV (as promised) than we started receiving complaints from left-out feeling Turbo HD package subscribers. It appears that being all-high definition with your channel choices means no Speed or FX for you, while the others are on the $10 extra Platinum package. Still, for those on the Classic Silver 200 package and above there's plenty of NASCAR practices, widescreen F1 and Rescue Me enjoyment to be had. DISH is still holding itself out as the HD leader with a claimed 140+ national channels (MSNBC HD confirmed launching in June) but with a price hike failing to gain access to the latest channel lineup additions we're sure there's at least a few customers with differing opinions.[Thanks, J David]
Shaw Cable offering 3D video on-demand, but not the good kind
In the race to bring home 3D Shaw Cable has taken an early lead, although we're not sure everyone would agree it's worth it. Together with Corus Entertainment, it's loading up the VOD library full of films, sports, concert events and other content all in anaglyph (red/blue) 3D and distributing glasses free of charge to all of its subscribers. No word on how much ordering up the content will cost or when it will be available, but the biggest factor in our disappointment is that while it will work on any television, the quality simply doesn't compare to proper stereoscopic 3D. Still, Canadians haven't been able to call "First" many times, we guess we'll let them have this one. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Digital Home Canada]
Hulu getting ready for international viewers, starts by blocking them
Fresh off adding Disney as a content partner and part owner, Hulu is about to make an even bigger leap, signing up a few agreements for international programming from sources like Endemol and Digital Rights Group of the UK and Bollywood distributor Saavn. Financial Times learned that while these deals should first bring additional programming for U.S. viewers, it is "laying the groundwork" for a global launch in the top six to eight markets. Unfortunately for global viewers, word on the internets is that anonymous proxies like those so conveniently suggested in our Ask EHD for Canadian streaming options are now blocked, so until those deals are signed and the switch is flipped in your neck of the woods, no Hulu for you.
BBC reveals stunning sample footage shot with TyphoonHD4 camera
The BBC has already proven itself to be quite the source for some impressive HD images, but the network's Natural History Unit looks to have really outdone themselves for their forthcoming South Pacific documentary, which makes use of a modified, $100,000 TyphoonHD4 camera. Of course, those exact modifications appear to be a closely-kept secret, but it has apparently been outfitted with a special underwater housing designed by German high-speed camera expert Rudi Diesel, and the camera itself is able to shoot in high definition at 20 times the speed of a normal HD camera, which results in some pretty amazing super slow motion footage. You can get a taste of that after the break but, trust us, you'll want to head up the read link below to really get a sense of what this thing is capable of.[Via SlashGear]
Verizon's FiOS TV expansions: May 2, 2009
About time for Verizon to roll out some new FiOS TV expansions, so California and Maryland are the latest to offer the service in all new areas in the last week. Still, we can't move forward without looking back, so here's Verizon's Q1 numbers, including 299,000 new subscribers for a total of 2.2 million. No new HD channels this week but the Direct Kick should bring home plenty of SD soccer while Chinese programming has a 24 hour home on Sino TV. If that's not enough there's $2.99 (presumably SD) editions of Marley and Me, Doubt and Frost/Nixon on video on-demand all month. See you next week! Read - Verizon Communications Reports Revenue, Earnings and Cash Flow Growth in 1Q 2009 Read - Soccer Fans Score With MLS 'Direct Kick' Package, Now Available on Verizon FiOS TV Read - Verizon FiOS TV Adds Leading Chinese Channel, Sino TV, to Growing Asian Content Offering Read - More Than 1 Million Households in California Now Have Access to Verizon's All-Fiber-Optic FiOS TV Service Read - More Cable Choice Comes to Maryland as Verizon Launches FiOS TV in Harford County Read - Cut Movie Ticket Expenses in Half With $2.99 Box Office Hits From Verizon FiOS TV Video-on-Demand
DISH's Earth channel takes a big picture view
Earth Day has come and gone, but in case you need to be reminded of how we're all just passengers on this "big blue marble," check out DISH network's new Earth channel. On channel 212 you won't be treated to jaw-dropping or shark-jumping plotlines, just a 24-hour feed of the Earth from a camera mounted on the EchoStar 11 satellite that went up about a year ago. Hanging tens of thousands of miles above our planet, the camera offers up pixels that cover 20-km each. Sure, it might not be as breathtaking as an Earth-rise from the moon -- heck, it's not even in HD -- but it should still put some perspective on things.
DirecTV on Demand adds Quantum of Solace in 1080p
Just that quickly, DirecTV's come through with some of the 1080p video on demand promised earlier, debuting Quantum of Solace in both HD and 1080p today. Seven other Bond movies in the "007 Collection" are also available (in HD) until May 7: Casino Royale, Diamonds Are Forever, Die Another Day, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldeneye and Goldfinger. The services is still claiming "the highest HD resolution format available for HD video enthusiasts" and one of the easiest to use on demand interfaces, let us know if they're getting any co-signs from the audience.
PBS launches online video portal
Between numerous reruns and our DVR, we can't recall the last time we missed a PBS program we wanted. All the same, we won't complain about having another way to soak up content that our pledge dollars help produce, and now PBS has opened up the beta version of its online Video Portal site with full-length versions of some of its programs. There's even some exclusive content -- the first episode of Time Team America is available on the site right now, well in advance of the July broadcast schedule. Sure, we're disappointed that not all the HD pixels made it to the website, but soaking up an episode of NOVA has got to be a better use of your cubicle time than working on your facebook page; not to mention this is another source for boxee to scrape up.
