We're not sure who is in charge of marketing over at Discovery Communications, but no sooner did the company go public than two fairly substantial promotional deals were announced. Right behind the tie-up with Sony comes this, a content partnership with the worldwide leader in online video. The deal will see the creation of nine dedicated YouTube Channels which feature a "robust collection of clips from Discovery's family of world-class network brands." Leveraging the "global" nature of the source, Discovery is planning to introduce "a series of targeted international Channels showcasing localized and native language content for specific regions around the world." Check out all nine URLs in the read link.

We won't front -- we weren't, how do you say, blown away with RCA's Small Wonder trio announced earlier this year, but we'll give this one a fighting chance. The EZ300HD can capture clips at 720p on the 2GB of internal storage or on any spare SD card you've laying around. You'll also find a 2.4-inch LCD, a low-res YouTube recording mode and a sure-to-be-awesome 4x digital zoom. Operation is supposedly dead-simple, and there's a USB port and video output just in case you feel like blowin' it up on the big screen. Grab it real soon for $159.99.

Samsung's Series 7 / 8 / 9 plasmas and LCDs have broken cover already in Europe or North America, including the slim PAVV Bordeaux 850 (pictured), but Asia gets first crack at the latest iteration of the company's local dimming LED backlighting tech trickling down into the 40-inch LCD size range. Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1080p, 2,000,000:1 contrast ratios are a must, while also substituting direct YouTube access for the U.S. version's USA Today-powered InfoLink RSS service. No word on the prices the newly expanded Bordeaux line, but we're more interested in how soon the latest in backlighting technology is moving downmarket.

Update: Not first, just new, although that shouldn't sate our appetite for a future LN40A950 one bit. [Thanks to all for pointing that out]

Just that fast, the folks behind PlayOn's Hulu / YouTube / soon-Netflix streaming software have gone to version 2.58.3152, including support for 64-bit versions of Windows and fixes for a few niggling video playback bugs experienced a few days ago. If you've somehow avoided grabbing the free beta software, go ahead and check it out (if you must, there's also our gallery for a the Buckaroo Banzai-YouTube-clips-streamed-to-PS3 future that awaits), but for any already on the bandwagon please be sure to uninstall the previous version and reboot first. Let us know, was it as easy as Head-on (apply directly to forehead) or has the pain continued?

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]

Just in case you weren't already watching enough YouTube at work and on your home computer, on your iPhone, Ocean, etc., or on your Apple TV, now TiVo's getting in on the action as well. Originally announced earlier this year, TiVo users can finally expect the update to pop over your TiVo's regularly scheduled updates over the next couple of weeks. Oh, and our man Dave Zatz shot some video of the new feature and put it up on (where else?) YouTube -- check it out after the break.

Uh oh, DXG's creeping its way up into luxury territory. Earlier this year, we saw the outfit dish out a craptacular $149 HD camcorder, and just a few months back we were introduced to the $169 DXG-569V. Now, it'll take another Hamilton in order to rightfully claim its newest unit, the DXG-567V. The pocket-friendly cam is available in four different hues, ships with rechargeable AA batteries and uploads directly to YouTube and other video sharing sites without much hassle at all. DXG claims that this bugger captures video at 1,280 x 720 (30fps), but even at $179, we have our doubts about the overall quality. Better watch out though, by this time next year you'll see DXG perched up beside Sony, Panasonic and the rest of the respected gang.

Aiptek is making a habit of bringing portable HD recording to some seriously affordable levels. The HDV21X Action HD 1080p High Definition Camcorder w/ Optical Zoom (known as the AHD Z500 Plus in Europe) records HD AVD HD (1,440 x 1080, 16 x 9) on a 5 megapixel sensor at 30 frames per second and 720P at 60 frames all for a paltry $199.99 at your local Wal-Mart. Expect to get up to 8 hours of 1080p video on a 32GB SDHC card. As for still images, the Z500 shoots at 8 megapixels and even sports a macro mode for both video and still. Also on board is a 3x optical zoom, CIF mode for easy YouTube uploads, a 2.4-inch swivel-mount TFT LCD, and component outputs for all the HD goodness. To top it all of, its diminutive size is worth mentioning: 4.4 x 2.75 x 1.3-inches.

As the camera / camcorder world continues to embrace video sharing sites, it's no surprise to see this little critter emerge from the labs of JVC-Victor. The pictured dual codec LSI chip handles both MPEG-2 and H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC formats, theoretically cutting out the painful encode process from YouTube uploads. Granted, most of the technobabble behind the thing is lost in machine translation, but we do get the idea that it'll start showing up in the outfit's Everio line shortly.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link hasn't really gotten much attention, but the little box is growing up so fast -- Sony's just announced that as of today, YouTube content will now be available at no extra cost. That's in addition to channels from Style.com, Sports Illustrated, blip.tv, and others, and YouTube content should pop up in the BIVL's XMB interface just like all the rest. Sounds great -- now to figure out how to RickRoll the sucker.

This whole "it's web video, on your TV!" space is getting crowded fast, but we'd say there's certainly room from this new "PoD" device from Verismo Networks. Not content to merely concentrate on one form of content, the PoD can handle content from YouTube, BitTorrent, vTap, Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow, you name it. It's a pretty simple box, with an Ethernet plug, a couple of USB ports for flash storage, some sort of wireless (we're guessing WiFi), and outputs for S-Video or HDMI, up to HD resolutions. It'll sell later this summer for $99, with a bit of a marketing push from YouTube, so this probably won't be the last you hear of PoD.

As YouTube slowly but surely sneaks its way into the connected home, we just keep telling ourselves it'll support high-def content one day. If and when that day ever arrives, owners of HP MediaSmart connected entertainment products will definitely be ready to take full advantage, as a recent announcement has brought the internet video king's content to Hewlett-Packard wares. The deal will enable MediaSmart TV owners and those that purchase the forthcoming MediaSmart Connect digital media receiver to simply login to their YT account via the remote, but there's really no details beyond that. If you're cool with pixelated video blown up to 50 or more inches, give it a go and let us know how it turns out. As for us, we'll be waiting for YouTube HD.

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.

We're not sure how the AirLive AirMedia 3000 "wireless multimedia server" accesses YouTube content without a browser -- unlike devices like the Apple TV and iPhone, it apparently plays the straight .flv files, which only show up on the website, we believe -- but if it does, chalk it up as one of the easier ways to watch dogs ride skateboards on your TV. Not much else in the way of details, but if this thing really is rocking Flash video support, we can see it carving out a solid little niche for itself.