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Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix -- sorry, PS3 and Wii

by Darren Murph posted Aug 11th 2009 at 7:27AM Breaking News


We actually had to brush the fog off of our spectacles to ensure that hazy conditions weren't clouding our comprehension abilities, but sure enough, that Netflix streaming that Xbox LIVE members have grown to love won't ever land on Sony's PlayStation 3 nor on Nintendo's Wii (PlayOn notwithstanding). At the very bottom of Microsoft's long list of details surrounding today's Xbox LIVE update, we're clearly told that the Netflix Watch Instantly integration is now an "exclusive partnership," with Microsoft going so far as to say that the "Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers." Of course, we'd heard rumors over the years that Netflix could sashay over to other consoles in due time, but it looks like the suits in Redmond had the foresight to lock things down while they still had a chance. So, are you reconsidering that Xbox 360 purchase, or just looking that much more intently in Roku's direction? Full blurb is after the break.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix -- sorry, PS3 and Wii

DirecTV to merge with majority shareholder Liberty Entertainment

by Darren Murph posted May 4th 2009 at 9:52AM

Hmm, now isn't this interesting? Just months after Liberty Media reached out at the eleventh hour and rescued Sirius XM from imminent bankruptcy, it's now spinning off its entertainment division (Liberty Entertainment) and combining it with DirecTV (which Liberty already controls). We're told that the new Liberty Entertainment will hold 54 percent of DirecTV Group shares and 65 percent interest in the Game Show Network, not to mention three regional sports networks and a few other things not worth mentioning. The move is being made as the "John Malone-controlled vehicle looks to simplify its capital structure," and if all goes well, the paperwork should be completed by the end of the year. Oh, and so far as we can tell, DirecTV consumers won't even notice the shuffling going on behind the scenes.

AMC adding upwards of 1,500 3D screens in North America

by Darren Murph posted Mar 29th 2009 at 3:41PM


Remember when seeing a movie was simple? You just strolled in, paid one low price for a ticket, and you saw the flick. No worrying over which theaters had 4K projectors, which had DTS sound or which had 3D support. As cinemas across the nation continue to leap on the three-dee bandwagon, RealD and AMC Entertainment has just linked up in order to bring up to 1,500 3D screens across Canada and the US. We're told that the rollout is already underway, with more and more screens getting equipped each month. All told, this will bring RealD's 3D network to nearly 8,000 total committed screens worldwide with approximately 2,600 RealD 3D screens installed today. Excited? No?

Blu-ray and Freeview join UK consumption basket

by Darren Murph posted Mar 25th 2009 at 7:36AM


Far be it from the personality of Blu-ray (or the BDA, we should say) to reach for notoriety in any way possible, but Blu-ray has just gained one more modicum of staying power over in the UK. For the first time, the existing high-def movie format has been placed gently between the likes of fruit and kitty litter in the theoretical consumer "basket," which supposedly looks to best reflect UK consumer spending habits. We're also told that Freeview set-top-boxes have joined the fray, right along with DVD rentals and portable media players. Maybe that 396 percent surge in UK-based BD sales had a little something to do with it?

Sharp Display Products emerges from Sharp / Sony joint venture

by Darren Murph posted Mar 24th 2009 at 4:09PM


It's been just over a year since we first heard that your next Sony LCD TV may actually be a Sharp, and while the joint venture has been flipped on and off again during the past 13 months, it seems that the stars are finally aligning in order to make this thing happen. Sharp is preparing a unit that will be launched on April 1st in order to act as "a base to be transformed into the joint venture." The unit will be christened Sharp Display Products Corporation, with Sharp owning 66 percent (and thus, the namesake) and Sony taking the remaining 34 percent. The two currently plan to start up production of LCD panels by March of 2010, which gives Sharp a solid dozen months to construct the facility in Sakai, Japan. Better hurry, folks -- it's not like OLED is breathing down your neck or anything.

Toshiba overtakes Sony in UK TV market, looks forward to 2009

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2009 at 11:11PM


As Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and the rest jockey for position in the overall sales rankings, Tosh is the one that's surprisingly gaining ground. Shortly before naming a new incoming CEO, the company's managing director of Toshiba UK (Andy Bass) stated that things are looking up for the outfit's TV and PC monitor sales. While speaking at the firm's annual product preview, Bass noted that "12 months ago, [Toshiba's] TV business was at the lowest point ever, at just 3.4 percent." That said, 2009 is actually looking to improve, and already it has overtaken Sony for second place in the UK PC monitor and TV marketplace. The only one left to pass is Samsung, but we don't see anyone leapfrogging it for a long, long while.

LG teams with Kodak for future OLED devices

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2009 at 2:41PM


Details are still sparse, but Wired has it that LG Electronics has just inked a deal with OLED mainstay Kodak in order to use the latter's technology in all sorts of future devices. For those unaware, Kodak's actually been dabbling in OLED for ages now, though it rarely offers up dedicated products in order to take credit. Reportedly, LG could bake Kodak's OLED magic into devices such as mobile phones, televisions and digital photo frames, though we suspect LG has a few other out-of-the-box widgets planned as well. As much as we love the idea of an OLED watch phone, what we're really clamoring for is a big screen Scarlet with an OLED panel. Let's make it happen, alright folks?

[Via OLED-Display]

Best Buy aims to match Walmart's HDTV prices while sprucing up stores

by Darren Murph posted Mar 17th 2009 at 12:08AM


If you thought the death of Circuit City would lead to even higher prices at Best Buy, you're obviously not considering the Bentonville powerhouse in your calculations. Since the downfall of one of America's most well-known electronics retailers, Best Buy has now refocused on rivaling Walmart, who has done quite a lot over the past year or so to become a serious venue for buying new HDTVs. Granted, most of Walmart's offerings boast labels like VIZIO and Emerson, but that's beginning to change. In a new piece from the Wall Street Journal, incoming CEO Brian Dunn asserts that he's planning to "match" Wally World's famously low prices while making Best Buy stores more of an "experience." How exactly it plans to lower TV margins while sprucing up retail space is beyond us, but maybe it's looking to those $150 Monster-branded HDMI cables to pick up the slack.

OLED market set to skyrocket in 2011, says DisplaySearch

by Darren Murph posted Mar 15th 2009 at 8:17AM


You've seen the prototypes tucked away in trade show corners, and you've seen the demise of existing generation technologies -- it doesn't take an industry expert to realize that the door is wide open for OLED to walk through. According to a new report from -- who else? -- industry experts, the OLED lighting market is set to boom in 2011, with OLED revenues expected to surpass PMOLED displays in the 2013 / 2014 time frame. Specifically in the OLED TV market, manufacturers are scrambling to assemble large-screen OLED TVs that are even close to affordable, and estimates we've personally heard put those on the market just after the next decade begins. Clearly, the biggest hindrance from OLED domination right now is the prohibitive pricing, but once those XEL-1s are given away inside King Size cereal boxes, we'll really be onto something.

DISH Network sees Q4 profit grow 24%, still sheds over 100,000 subscribers

by Darren Murph posted Mar 5th 2009 at 8:40PM


Unlike DirecTV, which managed to post remarkable Q4 numbers across the board, DISH Network is only able to partially celebrate. You see, the satcaster did see profits in the fourth quarter rise some 24 percent, but at the same time, 102,000 (net) subscribers decided to head elsewhere. A recent report on the matter suggests that DISH is hurting from increased competition from main rival DirecTV, not to mention fiber-based entrants such as AT&T and Verizon. Of course, the general economic environment hasn't exactly helped matters, but DISH's smaller amount of high-def channels seems to be a magnified issue when money's tight. Oh, and if DirecTV is somehow able to integrate Sirius service into its pay-TV offering, we'd say DISH will need to think fast if it hopes to stop the bleeding of customers. Speaking of, have any of you recently jumped from DISH to DirecTV? Vice-versa?

[Image courtesy of PropertyWorld]

Time Warner spills details on TWC spinoff

by Darren Murph posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 6:20PM


This won't affect the most of you one single bit, but for those that have a vested interested in either Time Warner, Inc. or Time Warner Cable, the details of the spinoff are now public. The tax-free separation of TWC from Time Warner will involve a dividend distribution of all of the Time Warner Cable common stock held by Time Warner to Time Warner stockholders; said distribution will be made on March 27th to Time Warner stockholders of record at 8PM on March 12th. Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes noted that he was "confident that this separation would benefit Time Warner and Time Warner Cable stockholders," suggesting that the move would enable each entity to be "better positioned to compete, with capital structures more suited to their respective needs as well as greater operational, financial and strategic flexibility." Maybe TWC will get around to adding a few more HD channels now that daddy isn't looking over its shoulder 24/7, but we wouldn't bet the farm on it.

TiVo inks VOD-related deals with SeaChange and Alticast

by Darren Murph posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 6:05PM


While many are still eagerly awaiting their tuning adapter for utilizing tru2way on their existing TiVo box, said company has announced two partnerships today that look to solve issues with cable carriers that don't currently have an OCAP / tru2way deployment plan. The tie-up with SeaChange will enable those lagging carriers to bring cable VOD services to the TiVo HD DVR experience, giving them the option to highlight offerings on a TiVo guide, for instance. The second partnership involves Alticast, and while details are a tad fuzzier here, we get the impression that TiVo's looking to possibly push its heralded interface out onto other devices, such as embedded within a Blu-ray deck or other set-top-box. Or as Joshua Danovitz, Vice President and GM of International at TiVo puts it: "[We need to make] the TiVo experience available on a broad range of platforms, both in the United States and around the world." Hit the read links for more on each, and don't be surprised if you dig the vibes you get.\

[Via Yahoo! / PC World]

Read - Alticast partnership
Read - SeaChange partnership

LG denies withdrawing from plasma market... in the UK, anyway

by Darren Murph posted Feb 27th 2009 at 12:33PM Breaking News


Take this as you will, but George Mead, the Marketing Manager for Digital Displays at LG Electronics UK, has informed T3 that LG Electronics UK has no intention to withdraw from the plasma TV market." To be perfectly clear here, this statement probably is in relation to UK market plans only; after all, those words from company VP Lee Gyu-hong were pretty strong. At any rate, Mead continued by noting that "we have recently implemented a bespoke strategy to promote and market plasma TVs here in the UK," but he failed to specifically touch on LG's worldwide plans (and understandably so). So yeah, it looks like LG PDPs are still safe for the moment across the pond, but we wouldn't be so sure about the rest of the developed world.

LG considering withdrawal from plasma market

by Darren Murph posted Feb 26th 2009 at 12:58PM


Man, plasma's headed downhill -- and fast. Hot on the heels of both Pioneer and VIZIO tendering their resignation in the plasma market, LG's vice president Lee Gyu-hong has reportedly stated that his company is currently pondering its own future in the sector. Should LG pull out, just Panasonic and Hitachi will be left holding down the PDP fort. Purportedly, LG's plasma business is deteriorating in terms of profitability, and the VP stated that future cost savings were practically impossible. At this point (and after coming clean like this), it'd be sort of crazy for LG not to drop out, but what's even crazier is going from five major plasma makers to two within the course of two months. Yikes.

[Via Whirlpool, thanks Stas]

Analysts hem and haw on future Blu-ray success

by Darren Murph posted Feb 26th 2009 at 7:15AM


The CEA had expected that sales of Blu-ray decks would reach around 5.7 million units this year, and while some may quickly assume that this whole economic crisis may sideline that forecast, many analysts are saying that it could actually help matters. On one hand, it's easy to assume that potential BD buyers will opt to simply hold tight to their funds, but on the other, many may justify the purchase of higher-end in-home electronics given that they'll be spending less time out on the town. Tim Alessi, LG Electronics product development director, confessed that he was "still in agreement with the CEA's estimates that Blu-ray decks have the potential to double this year to roughly 5.7 million units. Jonathan Zupnik, Sears audio/video/TV DMM, stated the following: "As we are hearing the opening price point is already flashing $149 - it needs to be $99 to really get things going. Even with that, as long as the movies are over $20 that will continue to keep things at a relatively slow pace. The consumer is used to [disc prices of] $13.99 at launch and picking through bins at $3.99." We totally hear you, Mr. Zupnik.




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