PlayOn wants to make sure you can get your daily dose of Barackrolls and Airwolf episodes beyond the desktop, while Hulu might not have a slick streaming set-top box of its own, this media server software turns flash video RSS streams into easily browsed folders for your DLNA-compliant hardware. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and HP MediaSmart HDTVs being at the top of that list (with Nintendo Wii support planned by year-end) owners can grab the beta release of the software and stream low-res episodes of Psych, or any assortment of YouTube video they please. With Netflix support "just down the road" this could provide an end around for PS3 owners looking for streaming love, or Xbox 360 owners without Xbox Live Gold (we know you're out there.) Bad news is the beta only lasts 60 days and there's a $30 pricetag waiting at the end of the free lunch highway. Our experience was good, with no stutters in a Psych episode streamed via Wi-Fi to the PS3 (albeit with no choice of HD clips), but we'd wait for confirmation on the whole Netflix bit before dropping any dough.

Update: Getting 69-C00D36C4 / folder could not be accessed errors on your PS3 or Xbox 360, or waiting for 64-bit Vista support to dive in? PlayOn CTO David Karlton updated the official blog to let users know fixes and additional support is in the works, so keep an eye out for more news shortly if things aren't working just yet.

Gallery: PlayOn Media Server

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Pull up that task chair and fire up that web browser, HD-mavens. Hulu has finally stepped up its HD game with the latest update to its HD Gallery. If your rig has a 2.5 Mbps connection to the outside world and a few CPU cycles to spare, Hulu is looking to hook you up with full-length, 720p episodes of Heroes, 30 Rock, 24 and The Office. If you need more incentive to check it out, how about the fact that these videos are ad-free for the time being? If TV isn't your thing, there are a few scraps (read: excerpts) in the "Nature and Documentary" section, and the "Sports" genre houses Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals. Yes, the selection is thin and the "Movie Clips" heading is crushing. But since we're feeling "glass half full," we'll be encouraged that Hulu is getting serious about HD internet video. And really, you can't beat the price.

A year ago today Toshiba was announcing ¥26.17 billion in profits for the quarter. Today, just ¥1.25 billion or about $12 million. In addition to the $580 million hit on account of its withdrawal from HD DVD, Toshiba also saw a swift decline in flash memory prices. While bad news for Toshiba on all accounts, we consumers are basking in a market dominated by a single high-def optical disc standard and cheap NAND and DRAM pricing. Sorry Tosh, but you won't find any tears around here.

Although Panasonic's HDC-SD9 is mighty, mighty small, reviewers over at CNET felt that it fell short in a number of key areas. For starters, Panny included a few quirky design choices; for instance, removing the battery requires the LCD cover to be open, but doing so can also turn the camera on unless you place it in a different mode. Granted, the minuscule size didn't leave the outfit too much to work with, but if you're easily flustered by these kinds of niggles, you can run far, far away right now. As for image quality, critics noted that still shots were marginally better than awful, but capturing full motion HD clips was something it did manage to do relatively well. Overall, no one handling this critter was enthusiastically shouting for joy when all was said and done, so do yourself a favor and eye the review down there before clicking that order button.

With all the HD going online recently, a release claiming that 75% of "leading broadcasts" plan to deliver high definition via the internet in the next 24 months isn't surprising -- but we'll at least have to consider the source. Delivered by Akamai, a company in the business of providing the network to deliver all that high bandwidth video, the survey results also showed that 80 percent of those who plan to offer HD video, either already do, or will within the next year so don't expect the 'net to be getting less crowded any time soon. The company claims it can reliably deliver bitrates of up to 6 Mbps -- and expects TV and movie producers to take advantage of that quickly. Whatever, as long as we can catch replays of The Office, Lost, Battlestar Galactica and of course Airwolf even when away from home, we'll be happy.

Why does the hardly-home-theater styled Wii have BBC's iPlayer, and not the much more media player-focused Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? A note from a BBC employees blog details the troubles of getting things set up with Sony and Microsoft (although with a little tweaking, a PS3 owner has already set up PS3iPlayer.com to give the console iPlayer access) officially, since "they want control of the look, the feel and the experience". Sure BBC's iPlayer is Flash-based (and not the good 1080p Flash either) but their issues could indicate how difficult it will be for other interested parties like Netflix to gain access to the walled garden.

[Via Joystiq]

Since everyone else is launching a Flash-based video portal, Adobe itself is mixing things up with the AIR-powered Adobe TV. Via the new Adobe Media Player (AMP) 1.0 standalone app, users browse through assorted content from partners like CBS, Universal Music Group, Viacom, PBS or RSS feeds of video podcasts, while the Adobe TV channel itself focuses on how-to content for the company's various tools like Photoshop and Flash. AMP supports up to 1080p, however while ad-support TV content like The Hills and CSI: NY is disappointingly low-res, there are some HD online shows, but the bitrate's so low it's tough to tell if we're getting all the promised pixels. It's a lightweight download, check it out and see how it measures up to Hulu and the rest of the internet challengers.

Read - Adobe TV press release
Read - Adobe Media Player press release

Sure Youtube still hasn't gone high definition, but Motionbox isn't hesitating to join the slew of Flash-based video players adding 1080p support. Free Motionbox users will have to live with merely DVD-quality video, however Premium members who've shelled out for the $29.99/yr subscription can take advantage of 1080p/h.264 web-based video editing, with AVCHD support to follow soon. Good to know, now that boring people with your home videos has left the living room to go online, we can at least share them in HD.

CBS.com is jumping into the online HD race...sort of. An "HD" flash player has been spotted in the labs area of its site, although all that's available at the moment is 480p. A quick check of the competition shows Hulu is still only demoing HD with movie trailers, ABC.com's streaming player has plenty of HD but is still technically in beta, Fox claims HD in its player but seems to be similarly low-rezzed, while NBC lags behind. In the race to pump pixels through our browser windows, CBS hasn't made it quite to the front yet, but keep trying. Of course a DRM-free download or two certainly wouldn't hurt, but we're not holding our collective breath.

[Via CNet]

Read - CBS Testing HD Streaming
Read - CBS Labs

With HD DVD in its rearview mirror, it seems the only topic of conversation is whether or not Blu-ray will ever overtake DVD as the dominant media format. Count THX's Chief Scientist Laurie Fincham among the skeptics, he derides it for being "yet another spinning format", which is only holding us back from the glorious future of HD movies stored on flash cards. By his reckoning, when Blu-ray hits the mass market, 128GB cards will have obviated the need for 50GB discs, and provide the convenience of carrying several movies around in your pocket combined with the ease of digital distribution. Check the read link for more tidbits from the interview with Home Cinema Choice Magazine and see how all that sounds to you.

[Via Movie Web]

That's right TV fans, Hulu.com is out of beta, anyone can set up an account and check out both short clips or full length episodes of many TV series and movies. Unfortunately the HD library is still limited to just movie trailers but while we wait for more 720p Adobe Flash content to hit the site, maybe the backing of FOX, NBC Universal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Sony Pictures Television will provide something interesting to watch, with even more content on the way from Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA and the NHL. We'll see how successful this experiment is, but go ahead and take a look, because we both know you don't have anything better to do than watch 34 episodes of Airwolf in a browser window.

We're not sure who asked for high definition-enhanced online advertising, but its here all the same. DoubleClick has announced its ability to deliver HD ads through Adobe Flash. The first one to take advantage is Epson's "Epsonality" ad campaign, created by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and encoded in h.264. Questions of how much bandwidth this will take up aside, we're content in the knowledge that least on this site if such an ad pops up unprompted, few will complain about how annoying it is, just how badly its been compressed and how much better it would be on (insert format here).

Earlier this month, we disagreed that HD movie downloads would trump HD DVD / Blu-ray disc purchases in the not-too-distant future, and now we've got yet another clever alternative on deck that just doesn't have the makings of a winner. While it seems that consumers still prefer something tangible when purchasing movies, we can't help but agree that flicks on flash drives just wouldn't work. Aside from the prohibitive cost to pop out a standard DVD on a flash chip versus a disc, the idea of having customers flock to some sort of movie download kiosk to refill memory cards with new releases just seems absurd. Sure, we understand how this could sound marginally appealing from the sidelines, but we just can't imagine all those DVD cases at your favorite big box retailer getting swapped out with movie-filled SDHC cards anytime soon.

Unfortunately, the partners involved in streaming Europe's largest BMX and skateboarding event to 118,000 online onlookers in HD waited until after the event to brag about how well everything worked, but hey, at least we've got reason to believe that next year's shindig will be handled similarly. Reportedly, the three-day Simpel Session '08 was streamed live in high-definition over the web on Freecaster.tv for the "first time in the event's seven-year history." Also of note, it seems the team is now getting set to migrate all of its H.264 content to the new Flash 9 player, which should indeed allow it to "reach the widest possible audience with its state of the art action sports content." First we get the X-Games in HD, and now this -- life's pretty good for extreme sports fans, eh?

Just in case you haven't heard enough about Adobe's latest HD-enabled Flash release, Swarmcast has introduced a brand new player that supports the aforementioned technology while "protecting against video stalls and skips." Autobahn HD for Flash is a free, full-screen-capable player that is built on the firm's "patented multi-source streaming technology," which "dynamically adjusts the video bitrate to ensure that individual viewers are always watching the highest-quality video possible for their internet connection." Furthermore, the company will be making the source code available to the Flash community for those who'd like to modify it, and while a set date hasn't been announced, an OS X-friendly version of Autobahn HD should be ready soon.