starz
Latest
HDTV Listings for October 9, 2006
What we're watching: CBS has made a slight lineup change, moving How I Met Your Mother ahead of not-cancelled-yet The Class. What About Brian is back on ABC with its second season premiere, which would give us a peek at what Monday night will bring all fall, except for The CW switching its Sunday and Monday shows starting next week. We always know when Monday Night Fotball is coming on and tonight the Baltimore Ravens take on the Denver Broncos in what should be an excellent matchup.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 8, 2006
What we're watching: Discovery HD Atlas continues, this time taking an in depth look at the history of Italy. The CW's outgoing Sunday night lineup -- all four shows move to Monday starting next week -- makes it's second and final appearance while Dexter queues up a second episode on Showtime. Although the picture quality hasn't pleased everyone, NBC's Sunday Night Football features the defending Super bowl champion Steelers vs. the Chargers in a great AFC matchup.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 7, 2006
What we're watching: Plenty of HD sports tonight, depending on where you live, it's either Nebraska vs. Iowa State or Oregon vs. Cal on ABC's Saturday Night Football. ESPN & ESPN2-HD have Tennessee vs. Georgia and South Carolina vs. Kentucky on tap, while the Dodgers try to stay alive against the Mets on Fox. If all of that isn't enough, we've got two prime time boxing matchups, with 7-foot tall Russian heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev defending his title against Monte Barrett on HBO as Diego Corrales battles Jose Casamayor for the Lightweight title on Showtime.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 6, 2006
What we're watching: The march to the World Series continues as the Yankees visit the Tigers tonight on ESPN-HD, while ESPN2-HD features a monster matchup of Louisville and Middle Tennessee. Universal HD is showing Day of the Jackal...but we're pretty sure most would be happier if it had the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica in high definition instead.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 5, 2006
What we're watching: Ugly Betty got plenty of people to take an initial look last week, we'll see if it's worth coming back for more tonight. My Name is Earl, The Office and Grey's Anatomy are still around, but MLB playoffs are finally here as the Dodgers face the Mets on Fox.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 4, 2006
What we're watching: Lost. The big one is back, one of the most popular HD shows of the last two seasons makes it's season debut tonight. TV Squad will be live blogging the episode if the recap episode and music video weren't enough for you. After Lost is the series premiere of The Nine. Something odd happened during a bank robbery turned hostage situation and if the show is anything like Lost, we suspect they'll spend a whole season not telling us what it was. Also returning tonight is hockey, with Sabres at Hurricanes on INHD. Finally, no matter what your program guide says, America's Next Top Model is not in HD.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 3, 2006
What we're watching: We don't understand why a show named Friday Night Lights is making its debut on a Tuesday, but we'll roll with it. Also new tonight is the CW season premiere of Veronica Mars, alongside the movie Walk the Line on HBO at 9. The Major League Baseball regular season is finally over and the Detroit Tigers face the New York Yankees tonight in a first-round matchup on Fox.
HDTV Listings for October 2, 2006
What we're watching: No premieres tonight, and nothing HD for ABC. Still, new shows like Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Runaway should provide something you haven't seen before mixed in with returnees like CSI: Miami and Prison Break. The Green Bay Packers face the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, how good of a matchup this is depends on how much you (still) love Brett Fav-ruh.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 1, 2006
What we're watching: A bunch of HD premieres tonight, including Discovery HD Atlas, (coming soon to Blu-ray & HD DVD). The 60-hour James Spader narrated series kicks off tonight with an in depth look at China. A little closer to home is The CW's new Sunday night high-def lineup (not including America's Next Top Model, no matter what your program guide says), with Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends and all-new show The Game. Showtime is getting in on the act as well, with their brand new show Dexter, featuring a title character who is a cop..and a killer/dismemberer. If all you want is more of the usual, we've got that too, with Patriots vs. Broncos Seahawks at Bears on NBC Sunday Night Football and Desperate Housewives on ABC.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 30, 2006
What we're watching: Tonight we have the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, featuring special guest Dane Cook. If you didn't see all of The Class, Jericho, Desire and Fashion House that you wanted to during the week, you can catch recaps of all tonight on CBS and MyNetworkTV. Big Ten college football action rules primetime sports tonight, with Ohio State facing Iowa on ABC while Minnesota and Michigan decide the winner of the little brown jug on ESPN-HD.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 29, 2006
What we're watching: The latter half of Numb3rs' two-part season opener airs tonight on CBS, along with new episodes of Ghost Whisperer and Close to Home. As the baseball regular season comes to a close the Phillies face the Marlins on ESPN-HD.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 28, 2006
What we're watching: The Office and My Name is Earl of course, although Shark (a.k.a. court-House) gets attention as well. ABC is premiering all-new series Ugly Betty at 8 before Grey's Anatomy and Six Degrees. The CW checks in as they kick off new seasons of Smallville and Supernatural. ESPN-HD has SEC football on tap for tonight as Auburn faces South Carolina while ESPN2-HD features the Orioles vs.Yankees.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 27, 2006
What we're watching: One Tree Hill kicks off its new season tonight on The CW, however we're a bit confused about its partner, America's Next Top Model. The show has not previously been high-def to our knowledge, but a few sites are indicating it is. The CW's official site hasn't seen fit to provide information like resolution and surround sound information for any of their shows yet so we can't confirm, but we'll list it temporarily. Jericho is also back on CBS along with Kidnapped on NBC, we'll have to wait and see if these new shows last. You can get Doom on Xbox Live tonight or watch it on Cinemax, while Arrested Development continues on HDNet.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 26, 2006
What we're watching: Since we forgot to mention the season finale of Brotherhood on Showtime yesterday, we'll check out the re-air tonight. New shows include the all-new Help Me Help You starring Ted Danson, and the season premiere of Gilmore Girls on CW. Smith is back on CBS while House and Standoff are new on Fox. Discovery HD is also a solid pick with Inside Look: Crash Test Dummies.
HDTV Listings for September 25, 2006
What we're watching: Finally an HD premiere from The CW, as Runaway, a series about a whole family on the run from the law begins tonight. Also airing for the first time is Heroes on NBC, as everyday people gain supernatural powers. Slightly less fantastic but still extraodinary is the return of the NFL to New Orleans, with the Saints home opener vs. Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip received good reviews for its premiere episode and is back with number two, along with the whole CBS lineup bookended by new comedy The Class and CSI: Miami. If Heroes doesn't fulfill your sci-fi urge, there's still Star Trek: Enterprise on HDNet and Doom on Cinemax.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 24, 2006
What we're watching: Desperate Housewives returns tonight, followed by the brand new show Brothers & Sisters starring Calista Flockhart. CBS is also kicking off brand new seasons of Cold Case and Without a Trace beginning at 9. Sunday Night football is in its appropriate slot as the Broncos face the Patriots at home, we'll see how Tom Brady continues to fare without Deion Branch. TNT has both Kill Bill's again tonight, if you can bear the inevitable stretching.Update: Noted season premieres of Without a Trace & Cold Case (Thanks Peter).Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 23, 2006
What we're watching: What game you get on ABC tonight depends on where you are, some will see Notre Dame at Michigan State while west coasters get USC vs. Arizona. If you missed the premieres of Smith, Jericho, Law & Order: SVU or Kidnapped, tonight you'll get a second chance at a first impression. Finally, for those who didn't already watch it via VOD, The Chronicles of Narnia is on Starz-HD.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 22, 2006
What we're watching: The only Law & Order without a suffix kicks off its new season tonight on NBC, as well as Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home and NUMB3RS on CBS. Universal HD is reairing Ryder Cup play in primetime while ABC brings back last night's season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and a new ep of Men in Trees. Given the choice between golf and emotionally tormented surgeons, you know what our choice is (Grey's).Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
Comcast offering over 100 hours of HD VOD beginning...today
Cable executives have talked about the importance of high definition video-on-demand, and today Comcast is putting some muscle behind those words. Besides making 100 hours of HD programming available on VOD beginning today, they also announced they will have at least 20 hours of high-def content from Starz available each month. Today, viewers will be able to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on HD VOD before it airs on Starz HD. Doubling up on the Comcast HD news, in an interview yesterday with TV Predictions, president Steve Burke announced they plan to release a Panasonic DVR in 2007 with double the current recording capacity, and increase the number of HD channels to 35 by the end of next year. He also noted that the TiVo package is on track to release before the end of this year, for people who can't quite stomach the price of a TiVo Series3 DVR. If the quality is up to par, forget fighting off IPTV and satellite, this may be enough to put even a new Blu-ray or HD DVD player purchase on hold, it's not like Narnia is out yet on Blu-ray anyway.Read: Comcast Launches Unprecedented HD Programming Initiative to Offer 100 Hours of High-Definition Video-On-Demand ProgrammingRead: Comcast's Steve Burke On HDTV
Switched On: Flight of the damned... usage terms
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: (Based on a true story.) During fourthmeal a few days ago, I realized that I couldn't well let my fellow Engadget columnist Stephen Speicher grab all the Internet video glory with his recent tripartite YouTube encomium, so I decided to spend some time this week with an Internet video service that trades in good ol' Hollywood-produced motion pictures.Announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, Vongo is offered by the Starz Entertainment Group and competes with other PC-targeted movie services CinemaNow and MovieLink. Much as the iTunes Music Store gained credibility by letting people buy music the way they do in the physical world, Vongo has received accolades by operating similarly to a premium cable network or even a service such as Netflix. For a relatively low subscription price of about $10 per month, you can watch as many movies as you like on the service on up to three PCs as well as watch a video feed of the Starz premium movie channel, Vongo is also working on support for portable video "sideloading" to devices that use Microsoft's Portable Media Center platform. Vongo also offers "pay per view" movies at $3.99 per viewing. I tried the latter option for my first crack at Vongo, choosing the movie Flightplan, the 2005 thriller in the Hitchcock tradition starring Jodie Foster and directed by Robert Schwentke.
