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Voom goes HD VOD
We're still not sure how the Voom / DISH Network spat will end, but Voom is moving on, unveiling a companion HD VOD service for the Voom HD and Rush HD channels it distributes around the world. There's apparently no word on any operators actually signing on to the service yet, but once available viewers can expect just five hours of content per month. Hopefully that number can grow as the channels add more original content, but if it doesn't, we don't see too many people beating the door down asking for this on demand network to be added.
TiVo to offer up on-demand movie rentals from Disney
TiVo's been offering up movie rentals for a solid tick now, but it finally landed an agreement to include flicks from Walt Disney Studios. Coming soon to Series2 and Series3 HD DVRs, users will be able to view a variety of SD rentals (with select films available in HD) for 24-hour blocks of time. The partnership encompasses TiVo, CinemaNow and ABC, but strangely enough, that's about all the details that any of those firms are dishing out right now.[Via CNET]
ITI Neovision's N brings 1080i porn-on-demand to Poland
Hold onto your trousers folks, as ITI Neovision's quizzically named N is bringing HD porn to Polish subscribers anytime they want. The service, which is thought to be the first of its kind in Europe, enables customers to select, purchase and view 1080i XXX-rated titles on-demand. According to a local, the first two flicks to surface are Sensual Dolls and Born To Be Sexy, both of which sound like surefire winners if that's what you're into. No word on how pricey each selection will be, but feel free to test the service out and let us know how it shapes up if you're so bold.[Thanks, Arsenal]
Verizon adds ON Networks HD VOD shows
Not letting Comcast steal all the VOD news at The Cable Show, Verizon announced it's added high definition video on-demand content from ON Networks. The free HD VOD content includes all the shows you may have seen on TVTonic or AppleTV, like Backpack Picnic, Golf Tips with Joe Beck and Proper Ollie. FiOS subscribers can look forward to 1,000 HD VOD titles each month by year-end, according to Verizon, it already offers access to more than 10,000 on-demand titles with 70% available for free. All those shows should be available right now, so feel free to grab the remote and take a look.
Fuse HD VOD channel coming to Comcast
Fuse is coming to Comcast subscribers via an HD video-on-demand offering starting in July, with original series, interviews and music videos. The Cablevision-owned network's all-high definition content goes live to approximately 7 million digital cable customers, with Comcast the first provider signing up for the service. We don't know how USA TODAY's content will tie into it, but there's a few more HD choices in the bin for you.
24 spin-off The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction hits online, VOD and DirecTV
Fiending for some Jack Bauer ticking-clock action? 24 won't be back until 2009, but Degree is continuing its series of digital shorts based on the series, The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction. Focused on CTU agent Jason Blaine, this season is made up of six 3- to 4-minute episodes with Jason trying to rescue his boss from a drug cartel, and will be available on VOD and online in HD with 5.1 surround sound. We couldn't find the HD versions just yet, but the first installment is available via Comcast's On Demand under Searchlight or on DegreeRookie.com today, and on DirecTV April 7 on channel 115.[Via BusinessWire]
Cablevision offering up new DVD releases through VOD
No sooner than Comcast announced that it would soon be offering up select films via HD VOD the same day they landed on DVD, Cablevision has come along and attempted to stay level. Unfortunately for it, the firm's Popcorn DVDs On Demand service, which is available to iO TV customers, looks to be SD only for now. Of course, it still enables subscribers to watch new releases on launch day from the comfort of their couch, but a twist is thrown in by forcing renters to have the film shipped to their door (on DVD) as well. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an option for only renting right now, so you'll be coughing up $19.95 (plus shipping) for any DVD / VOD purchase you choose to make. As it stands, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Kingdom, Eastern Promises and Sydney White are slated to kick things off, with American Gangster becoming available on February 19th.
BBC, ITV and Channel 4 team up for on-demand service
Don't look now, but it seems that three rivals in the UK have found enough love in their hearts (or promise for profitability) to team up for the good of the consumer. Reportedly, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will be joining hands in order to deliver an on-demand service that hopes to "bring together hundreds of hours of television programs in one place" -- a collaborative effort once known as Project Kangaroo. Of course, the grand idea still has to be approved by the BBC Trust and other broadcasters' boards, and an official name for the service still has to be thought up, but at least the wheels are apparently turning, right? We're hearing that content from the trio will be available for "free download, streaming, rental and purchase via the internet, with expansion onto other platforms planned," and just in case you were curious, the iPlayer, ITV's catch-up service and Channel 4oD will indeed coexist with the new aggregator. Hang tight UK, the to-be-named service is set to go live sometime next year should things pan out nicely.[Via Yahoo / Reuters]
Netflix talks 'Instant Viewing' for Mac
There are a few companies who, through their products and services, have earned a special place in my heart. Apple is one (obviously), as well as Amazon, New Balance, Nintendo, and Netflix. Netflix, in case you haven't heard of them, makes money via a subscription model. You pay a monthly fee and that gives you access to their monstrous DVD catalog. Pick a DVD and they'll mail it out to you in a nifty envelope that also serves as a the return envelope.Alright, so now we all know what Netflix is, why the heck am I blogging about it on TUAW? You might recall that Netflix has recently started streaming movies for members via their website. This feature is called 'Watch Now,' and appears on any movie that has been digitized for streaming. Sadly, this very cool feature is only available for PC users. The dev responsible for this feature posted about why Mac users are left out of all the fun.It basically comes down to the fact that there is no movie studio approved way to wrap these streams in DRM, so the movie studios won't let it happen on the Mac. FairPlay is mentioned, but as we know Apple isn't licensing that. Luckily, the solution might be coming from an unlikely source: Microsoft. Silverlight, Mircosoft's answer to Flash, uses Microsoft's DRM which the studios do approve of. Silverlight is still in beta (for both Macs and PCs) but it does look very promising (and on my Intel Mac it was pretty peppy).Thanks, Mike.
Cox initiates HD VOD rollouts with HD Movies on Demand
We knew it would just be a matter of months before Cox Communications found the means to offer up HD video-on-demand -- after all, you can't lag behind your main competitors for too long without stepping up, right? Nevertheless, the company has announced that customers in San Diego can now access "more than 20 high-definition titles" via the HD Movies on Demand channel, and the library of HD flicks should hopefully grow as time goes on. On deck to receive the HD VOD luxuries are Northern Virginia and Oklahoma City, with other unnamed markets to get tapped "later this summer." So, for those San Diegans looking for a good HD movie to soak in on Independence Day, why not give Cox's latest offering a whirl and tell us how it goes?
Ins and Outs: Is buyshifting the future of television? (part 2)
Jeremy Toeman contributes Ins and Outs, an opinion column on entertainment technology: Last time on Ins and Outs we introduced the concept of buyshifting -- what it means, what it is, and where it's going. But now it's time to get down to the brass tacks. That's right, we're talking about whether it's viable for the average consumer -- more specifically, where it falls on the cost scale. The results might actually surprise you. So let's dig in, shall we? For the "standard" HD+DVR package -- your kind of baseline TV-consuming experience -- the monthly bill for San Francisco's Comcast digital cable service is $78. If the average household watches 8 hours of programming per day (yes, it's true), that comes out to about $0.32 per hour. Comcast also charges $0.99 per episode through its VOD service. iTunes, of course, charges $1.99 per episode, or $34.99 per season ($1.59 per episode at an assumed 22 episodes per season). Buying the DVDs on Amazon ranges from about $25-$40 per season ($1.14 to $1.81 per episode). Since your cable bill is fixed (well, not really, as the cable industry has managed to increase billing at a rate that exceeds inflation for the past 10 consecutive years – big surprise), it comes out to $936 annually. (Side note: for simplicity's sake we'll assume that your average satellite bill is comparable to cable.) So let's see the results on a per-year, per-month, and per-episode basis, assuming one season per year, 22 episodes per season per show.
Ins and Outs: Is buyshifting the future of television? (part 1)
This week we're also happy to announce another new column. Written by Jeremy Toeman, Ins and Outs picks up where The Clicker left off with insights and opinions on entertainment technology: The advent of the VCR in the 70s first introduced the concept of timeshifting, which allowed the viewer to record programming, and thus shift their television viewing schedule away from broadcast dictates. But that was never the VCR's primary function, as manually programming recordings proved far too vexing for most home theater geeks. In the late 90s, another huge development in timeshifting came along: TiVo and other DVRs didn't just allow viewers watch their favorite shows on their schedule, they made it easy, and automatic. This, of course, forever changed the way millions watch television. In 2004 Sling Media (a company I used to work for) introduced the Slingbox, which lets people watch their television anywhere they please; this is now known as placeshifting.Over the past few years, another trend has emerged, where viewers are buying TV shows on-demand and á la carte from digital resellers like iTunes, or on plain old DVDs. And these consumers are buying a lot of them. At the time of writing, seven of the top 25 DVDs on Amazon are TV shows, and one in five DVDs rented on Netflix is a TV show. Furthermore, many cable and satellite companies have teamed up with the networks to provide on-demand episodes available as early as the day following the original live broadcast -- that is, if their customers aren't among those who've bought over 50 million TV shows through iTunes. And with recent moves by major players such as CBS and NBC, as well as technology startups like Brightcove and Joost, it's clear that buying television episodes á la carte is no mere novelty -- nor is it going away. So perhaps it's time we gave this phenomena a name: buyshifting. We'll use that to refer to broadcast TV programming that you don't just watch -- you buy or rent. But where does buyshifting stand today? And is it really the future of television?
DirecTV readying HD VOD for July launch?
Everything's not exactly peachy in the world of DirecTV, but for those looking for even a hint of hope in regard to seeing HD video-on-demand via satellite, that time has (finally) arrived. Apparently, DirecTV is readying an HD VOD service that will initially include "more than a dozen programming services" such as Food Network and Discovery Channel. Interestingly, it looks like the satellite provider will utilize "a broadband connection to allow consumers to watch on-demand content in real time," and hinted at partnerships with a number of carriers that would be given "complete control over their own channel, including content and marketing messages." It was also stated that eventually, customers with an HD DVR and broadband internet "would have access to more than 2,000 on-demand movies," many of which in would be of the HD variety. Reportedly, the service will hit the beta stages sometime this month, and if no major hiccups are incurred, it could be rolled out to subscribers as early as July.[Via DBSTalk]
UK residents petition BBC to make new on-demand TV service cross-platform
This one goes out to all the UK TUAW readers in the audience: apparently, the BBC is planning to launch a smashing new on-demand, online TV service. Everything sounds super-duper until the minor detail of being Windows-only. This of course ruffles more than a few feathers, especially since the BBC purports to provide "services for everyone, free of commercial interests and political bias," so residents have created a petition to help the BBC see the error of their ways. The petition is open to UK residents only, and August 20th, 2007 is the deadline for joining the fight.While I don't have many details on why exactly the BBC has gone Windows-only with this online venture (for now), my first guess is that they're using Microsoft's DRM. Hopefully, with the DRM discussion finally rising up the ranks to those who need to can actually do something about it, petitions like this and the bad decisions that inspire them will cease to exist.Thanks Graham
Virgin Media, Buena Vista ink deal to give UK more HD on demand
While UK users were recently able to catch America's biggest game in crisp HD glory, it now looks like HD lovers on the other side of the pond have even more reasons to celebrate. In a recent deal between Virgina Media and The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista International Television (BVITV), hit network series such as Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Daybreak, Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, and Alias will soon be available in high-definition via Virgin's TV-on-demand service. Although further details were scant, it was also noted that this was probably not the last deal the UK would see in terms of adding additional HD on demand offerings this year, and while a specific timetable wasn't set, Virgin Media stated that the content should be available "before month's end."
Lionsgate joins Xbox 360 Video Marketplace
Lionsgate will soon join fellow movie distributors on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, bringing targeted content to Xbox 360 gamers. "The Xbox gamer is the same moviegoer who wants to watch Saw III or Crank," remarked executive VP Jon Ferro. Ah yes, torture and meth labs ... you've got us all figured out, don't you, Mr. Ferro?Other Lionsgate titles destined for XBLVM: An American Haunting, Blair Witch Project, The Descent, Employee of the Month, Hard Candy, Ninth Gate, The Punisher, Requiem for a Dream, See No Evil, and Stir of Echoes.See also: Xbox 360 video download service succeeding, others failing
On2 Technologies to demo TrueMotion VP6 / VP7 codecs at CES
Likely coinciding with XM's unveiling of its media-packed "infotainment" concept vehicle at CES, On2 Technologies will be showcasing its TrueMotion VP6 and VP7 compression codecs. While On2's codecs have been at work in XM's gadgetry (among other things), On2 is now aiming to take its compression software to the high definition realm as well as beefing up its stake in the portable arena. The VP6 codec will primarily be used in VOD, broadcast, digital video signage, and other bandwidth-constrained networks and mass-market devices for fixed and mobile video; the VP7, however, will demonstrate compression technology at "data rates as low as 2Mbps," which will supposedly allow "greater penetration of high definition video across low cost devices and existing networks for on-demand, broadcast and other streaming applications." The technology could eventually be used to broadcast HD content over 2.5G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks whenever we get displays large enough (and with enough pixels) to view them, but we'd be perfectly content with a little HD streaming on our navigation systems for now.
Motorola Q officially launches on Sprint, gets reviewed
Those of you patiently waiting for Sprint to officially launch (and make available) its rendition of the Motorola Q can finally breathe a sigh of relief, but you'll still have to wait just a bit longer to actually grab one. Slated to hit webstores "around mid-January" and retail outlets the month after, Sprint's Q isn't quite available to the masses just yet, but LAPTOP Mag got their palms around a pre-production release and promptly threw it on the testing block. Mimicking remarks we made earlier, reviewers noticed the lack of upgrades aside from the Sprint splash screen, logos, and unique "dark grey" hue, and they also found the "less rubberized" feel compared to Verizon's black version less enjoyable to handle. Noting the possibility of including a dedicated volume switch (as on the BlackJack), the crew was also let down by the omitted backlight underneath the keyboard, which Verizon's unit is blessed with. Additionally, surfing the web proved quite a bit slower when compared to Verizon's flavor, but Sprint suggested that "finalized units" wouldn't suffer the same fate. Nevertheless, not all was doom and gloom, as they did take note of the exclusive NFL Mobile functionality as well as the bundled Handmark application -- dubbed On Demand -- that loaded up "news, weather, directions, and other information optimized for the Moto Q's screen within seconds." Overall, this Q proved to be a bit of letdown considering what it could have been, and if only Sprint would've taken the time to add support for its Sprint TV and Music services, at least something would've stood out from the competition. As it stands, however, the Q still isn't a bad choice, and it was noted that Sprint's cheap unlimited data could swing contract-less buyers in its direction, but if you were hoping for a revamped, refreshed offering from big yellow, you'll be sorely disappointed.Read - Motorola Q officially launches on SprintRead - LAPTOP Mag reviews Sprint's Motorola Q
Comcast to trial simultaneous release of DVD and films on demand
Hot the heels of Comcast's testing of TiVo comes an announcement sure to please couch-dwellers everywhere, as the firm unveils plans to release films on demand the very same day they're released on DVD. While it's no surprise to see Comcast digging deeper into the VOD closet, this plan (initially hitting Pittsburgh and Denver) hopes to seize a potential opportunity that's currently being wasted as movies hit the on-demand scenes approximately "30 to 45 days" after rolling out on DVD. Moreover, it seems that movie studios are more than willing to lend their support, as sagging DVD sales are reportedly being (at least somewhat) attributed to the skyrocketing popularity in not moving a single inch utilizing VOD. Of course, this newfangled approach could potentially hurt firms like Blockbuster, but representatives have purportedly said that studios would be "extra cautious" not to cannibalize sales in the rental and retail industries. It wouldn't be too shocking to see VOD purchases head north if flicks are released soon after their departure from theaters, but we're sure the DVD aficionados will keep piling up those collections no matter what.[Via Digg]
Where is all the HD VOD?
Cable companies are pushing high definition video-on-demand as a system seller over satellite, while Blu-ray and HD DVD still seek traction and fiber slowly rolls out. Still, even if it is available in your area, most customers report only a few selections available, and inconsistent picture quality. Holding things back are the usual demons, capacity and content. Until MPEG-4 and switched-digital roll out most providers simply don't have the bandwidth to deliver all their regular programming and more than a few HD VOD offerings. Couple that with movie studios unwilling to hand over premium content (in order to protect their investments in the aforementioned disc formats) and you've got a very slow moving situation. However as the bandwidth issues get sorted out, media research company Diffusion Group sees progress made the same way it has for regular HDTV, sports & broadcast networks first just like primetime television and ESPN-HD have led the charge so far.
