LG Electronics announced they’d be bringing Netflix to their Blu-ray players just in time for CES 2008. That support shipped in the form of the BD300, announced in July and shipped in the fall. Now, just in time for CES 2009, LG is announcing their next additions – CinemaNow and YouTube. YouTube seems like an obvious move, it is showing up on just about every connected device out there. Pretty soon I think YouTube will just be a default feature on any networked device, which should make Google happy.

But the real interesting addition here is CinemaNow, and not so much that it is being added but how it is being added. CinemaNow will be streaming to the Blu-ray players. That’s very interesting – as far as I’m aware this is the first indication we’ve had that CinemaNow was adding streaming support to their content. To date CinemaNow has been all download-based, not streaming, including on TiVo. Right now on TiVo only Disney content is available from CinemaNow, but it has been stated that additional content would be added. Since TiVo supports streaming, as used by YouTube and Netflix, I have to wonder if CinemaNow content will also be available via streaming on TiVo.

In general we’re certainly going to be seeing more of this kind of thing, adding content sources to devices to make them multi-function. Just to support Blu-ray content and to comply with the BD-Live specification a Blu-ray player has to be capable of decoding MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1 video in high definition, as well as handing a number of audio formats. The hardware used to do this is more than capable of handling most online video formats. BD-Live requires an Ethernet connection and 1GB of local storage, which is plenty to handle streaming buffers. And the BD-J programming environment allows for complex applications. It makes a lot of sense for Blu-ray players to pick up additional features like streaming video to make them more competitive and appealing to consumers.

Press release:

Read the rest of this entry »

Through January 15, buy a qualifying PS3 game and Sony Blu-ray movie and receive a PS3 Blu-ray Remote Free. There are eight games listed: LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, Buzz! Quiz TV Bundle, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation (bundled with Bluetooth Headset), SingStar Vol. 2 (with microphone), and NBA ‘09 The Inside are all $59.99 while Resistance 2 Collector’s Edition is $69.99. And there are 108 movies to choose from with prices starting at $14.99. The remote normally sells for $19.99 with a $24.99 MSRP.

According to the terms an individual can receive up to 20 free remotes. I’m tempted to buy a couple of these games, and there are movies I was thinking of getting anyway, and using the remotes as giveaways. I’ve been hearing lots of good things about LittleBigPlanet. And maybe Resistance 2 or SOCOM – the free headset would be useful too.

One of the most useful self-support tools on TiVo’s website has gone missing. TiVo used to have an online form to correct problems with your channel lineup, which was at that link or conveniently at http://www.tivo.com/lineup. I’ve used that form a number of times, and I’ve referred users there too many times to recall. A Google search on TiVo lineup problems will find countless posts online referring people to that form, and I’ve found references from people reporting using it as recently as late October, possibly later. But I went to use it a week ago and it was gone, and it is still down.

Searching TiVo’s support site I can’t find any references to it anymore, and pages like this one just walk the user through checking their setup and don’t offer any help to reporting actual problems. I try to avoid calling technical support since I’m generally capable of being self-sufficient, and it saves time for both myself and the support reps. But this time I was stymied and ended up calling support as Charter added 14 new channels in my area and I wasn’t getting guide data. Working with the rep it sounds like the very same form that used to be public is still used internally, since he asked me for exactly the same info I used to enter myself.

I don’t know why TiVo pulled this form down, it was very useful. Now users with lineup issues will need to call in. Perhaps they were getting too many false lineup issue requests or something.

Oh – Charter added these channels in the Worcester/Central MA area:
175 OVATN Ovation
298 FBNWK Fox Business
346 MLBN MLB Network
725 WTRHD The Weather Channel HD
726 FNWHD Fox News HD
730 ANPHD Animal Planet HD
731 TLCHD The Learning Channel HD
732 FOODH Food Network HD
733 HGTHD HGTV HD
736 NGEHD National Geographic HD
767 VRSHD Versus HD
768 GLFHD Golf HD
776 DSCHD Discovery Channel HD
794 FXHD FX HD

Charter says their new policy is that if you get a channel in SD you’ll automatically get it in HD as they add them, no additional charge. If they can add HD versions of The CW, USA, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Sci-Fi I think I’d be about covered – on top of the HD channels they had and just added.

TiVo dropped a press release today to announce Tom Roger’s appearance at the upcoming Citi’s 19th Annual Entertainment, Media, and Telecommunications Conference.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that it will present at Citi’s 19th Annual Entertainment, Media, & Telecommunications Conference on January 7, 2009. The webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of the TiVo website at http://investor.tivo.com under the events calendar tab.

Conference Details:
Citi’s 19th Annual Entertainment, Media, and Telecommunications Conference
Phoenix, AZ
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
10:30 AM MT
Tom Rogers, CEO and President

It looks like a last stake my be driven through the decaying heart of HD DVD. The last gasp for HD DVD was the China-specific variant CH-DVD, renamed CBHD (China Blue High-definition Disc) in July. While it was reported at the time that Shanghai United Optical Disc was setting up a disc production line and preparing players for market, it seems that has not yet come to pass.

And now DIGITIMES is reporting that China Hualu Panasonic AVC Networks, a joint venture between China-based China Hualu Group and Panasonic, has launched three Blu-ray player models for the domestic Chinese market. The three models are the BDP0801, BDP0810 and BDP0821, with retail prices of 1,999 yuan (US$292), 2,299 yuan and 2,499 yuan respectively. The BDP0801 is an entry-level BonusView/Profile 1.1 model, as is the BDP0810. The BDP0821 is a full-featured BD-Live/Profile 2.0 player.

The article says the CBHD camp still plans to launch players around the end of the year. But seeing as the article is from 12/29 they don’t have much time left to pull that off. And, of course, no western studios have pledged to support CBHD even if it does launch.

Picked up from Blu-ray.com.

Amazon is having a sale on Blu-ray comedy titles. Save up to 54% off 36 titles, like Click, This Is Spinal Tap, Dogma, Super Troopers, and Young Frankenstein.

Via Blu-ray Stats News Log.

The timing is a little off, coming the same month as TiVo announcing layoffs, but Talent Management has an article on how TiVo recruits new staff.

I’ve been remiss in keeping up with Requiem news since my last post, back in October. At the time I reported on the release of Requiem 1.8.1 which enabled FairPlay DRM removal on the Mac for iTunes 8.0.1, but didn’t work on Windows. In the meantime iTunes 8.0.2 has been released, which breaks Requiem – so don’t upgrade to that if you want to use Requiem.

But Requiem 1.8.2 was also released, which enables DRM removal in iTunes 8.0.1 under Windows. The discussion thread in the Hymn project forums has the details. If you need iTunes 8.0.1 you can get it for Windows or Mac from OldApps.com.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I do not support or condone piracy. I stress that Requiem strips the DRM but does not strip personally identifiable information. If you share the freed files they can be linked to your iTunes account. I support the use of Requiem solely for personal fair use, being able to use the music on non-Apple devices – like streaming to a TiVo or loading them on your non-iPhone smartphone.

I’d link to Requiem, but Apple sends out cease and desist notices to sites that do, so I’ll just say use Google, it is available via BitTorrent.

TiVo has added yet another channel to TiVoCast, The Health Channel from AnswersTV.

Our new Health Channel is your comprehensive and trusted guide to everything health.

Broadcast exclusively in HD and available on demand, AnswersTV Health gives you hours of original programming that informs and enlightens through expert advice and compelling personal stories.

AnswersTV has an interesting mix of content, I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of their channels soon:

AnswersTV is the first High Definition Interactive Television Network comprised exclusively of originally produced, broadcast-quality interactive programming.

AnswersTV’s lifestyle programming currently includes Health, Food, Magic, Wine, Pet, Jewelry and Automotive programming. This broad line-up of clearly focused channels educates, informs, engages and entertains highly targeted audiences – on demand.

In addition to TiVoCast the AnswersTV content is available through partners such as Cablevision’s Video On Demand service, Stephens Media Newspaper websites and the Chicago Sun Times.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Video on Demand -> Browse free videos -> All -> AnswersTV Health

One of the things I missed covering during the week when I was swamped was a press release from TiVo about timeshifting and the series premiers in October. Using data from their Stop||Watch service they made some interesting discoveries. For example, while it had been expected that more people would watch premiers live, in actuality they experienced up to 54% timeshifting. And cable saw a year-over-year increase in viewership.

Six of the seven new network series that premiered in October drew 50% or more of their audience on a timeshifted basis. The highest rated premier, ABC’s Life on Mars, had 52% timeshifted viewing. NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy had 54%, CBS’s Eleventh Hour and NBC’s Kath & Kim both 51%, and CBS’s The Ex List and CW’s Stylista both had 50%. And the news isn’t good for advertisers, as five of the seven premiers had 60% of more of their ads fast-forwarded or skipped, Life On Mars had a 65% skip rate, showing that ratings alone may not be the best measure of ad viewing. Though My Own Worst Enemy and Kath & Kim had the highest skip rates with 67% – not good for NBC.

Todd Juenger, Vice President & General Manager, TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, said, “We would expect to see this level of Timeshifting for an older show with an established fan base, and a new series premier to get most of its viewing Live. The fact that these new series got upwards of 50% of their viewing on a Timeshifted basis indicates that viewers are growing accustomed to recording programs and watching when they want – thereby increasing a program’s total viewership. However, Timeshifting audiences also have the ability to skip commercials, which impacts the efficacy of the ads and the economics of the program, and can have long term effects on how networks evaluate their success going forward.”

There is a lot more data and analysis in the press release, check it out.