Right now only a few HDTV models from Toshiba and Samsung have MHL-enabled inputs, but it is expected that many vendors will be announcing 2012 models at CES with MHL support as usage is exploding on mobile devices. Since it uses the physical microUSB port already on the device for data and charging it eliminates the need for a separate microHDMI port, and this makes it easier to shrink the size of the device while also reducing parts count and therefore cost. As part of the announcement Roku states that they already have a deal with Best Buy to bundle the Streaming Stick with a new Insignia HDTV model later this year.

So what is the stick? It’s a Roku box, only smaller. It is Roku’s entry into the Connected TV, or Smart TV, market. The stick contains the main SoC (System on a Chip) – which is the CPU, video decoder, etc. As well as RAM, Flash, and 802.11n WiFi. It has all of the channels and software features of today’s Roku boxes – on a stick. Everything – power, video and audio output, and control is handled through the single MHL connection.

Part of the MHL standard is that the TV’s remote control is used to control the attached MHL device using CEC (also used on HDMI). With phones this is so you can connect the phone and then sit back on the couch to watch – without a twenty foot MHL cable allowing you to control things from the phone. This works nicely for the Streaming Stick, though it implies the gaming features introduced on the Roku 2 family will be absent as there is no Bluetooth motion controller for the stick and TVs will generally lack such controls.

I have to say, this seems like a very clever solution. Roku rightfully points out that people don’t replace their TVs every two years, yet technology advances rapidly. With mobile devices we have a constant increase in storage, memory, and CPU power, and connected TVs suffer from lock in. What you buy today is what you’re stuck with for however long you keep the TV – and that connected experience will probably seem pretty dated in five years, let alone ten. Software upgrades will only go so far before they run into technological limits. Just as the Series2 TiVo couldn’t support Netflix, YouTube, etc., because it can’t decode H.264, today’s connected TVs may be left out in the cold by the next evolution in video codecs. And even if the hardware is capable, companies won’t update the software for old devices forever.

The Roku Streaming Stick offers the advantages of a decoupled STB, which can be readily (and relatively cheaply) upgraded as technology advances, plus the advantages of a tiny form factor and integration into the TV. Since control is through the TV and it offers a full Roku experience, it should be much like owning a ‘Roku Powered’ connected TV. Perhaps the only slight difference will be having to select the MHL input instead of a dedicated ‘Apps’ button. But if they’re successful in partnering with vendors, such as Insignia, there may well be a ‘Roku’ button on the remotes.

The combination of the form factor and use of MHL is what makes this work. I wonder if we’ll see this imitated by other vendors as well. Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee – all on a stick?

There aren’t any images of an actual Roku Streaming Stick yet, but Roku did post these renders:

You can get deals on computers, digital storage, printers, digital cameras, software, GPS products, computer accessories, office technology, office supplies, office furniture, assorted gift items, and more. Act now!

And there is still time to donate $5 to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and have it matched for a total $10 donation. It’s just $5 and it can make a big difference for some child’s holiday.

Cyber Sale, 2 Days Only, Sunday-Monday. Online Only.
Sunday-Monday Only: Free $10 e-Gift Card with Store Pickup Orders of $100 or More.

Sunday-Monday Only: Acer Iconia Tablet with 8GB Memory, Sale $229.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Targus Truss Leather Case/Stand for Acer Iconia A500 Tablet, Sale $24.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Logitech Tablet Keyboard for Apple® iPad® or Android 3.0+ Tablets, Sale $35.99 each.
Sunday-Monday Only: ION Audio iCADE Arcade Cabinet for Apple® iPad® and iPad 2, Sale $49.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Kobo eReader Touch Edition, Sale $99.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Gateway All-In-One Computer with 500GB Hard Drive, and 2GB DDR3 Memory, Just $399.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Asus Desktop with AMD Processor, 500GB Hard Drive, and 4GB DDR3 Memory, Just $349.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: AOC 20” Widescreen LED Computer Monitor, Sale $89.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: SanDisk Cruzer 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, Sale $8.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: HP 2200 Webcam, Sale $7.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Computing, Tablet, and E-Reader Deals.

Sunday-Monday Only: LG 32” Class ED 720p HDTV for $299.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Home Theater Deals.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great iPod and MP3 Player Deals.
Sunday-Monday Only: All iPods on Sale.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Music and Movies Deals.

Sunday-Monday Only: Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor, Sale $99.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Select Kinect Games On Sale.
Sunday-Monday Only: Select Pre-Owned Games, $19.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Buy Any Sims 3 Base, Expansion, or Stuff Pack, get the Second Item Free.
Sunday-Monday Only: $50 Off GoldenEye 007: Reloaded Double ‘O’ Edition Bundle for OPS3, Sale $99.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Gaming and Gadget Deals.

Sunday-Monday Only: 25%-40% Off Select Digital Cameras.
Sunday-Monday Only: Free Bag and Memory Card with Select Digital Cameras.
Sunday-Monday Only: Free Bag with Select DSLR Cameras.
Sunday-Monday Only: 19%-41% Off Select Digital Camcorders.
Sunday-Monday Only: 5%-50% Off Select Digital Photo Frames.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Digital Camera and Camcorder Deals.

Sunday-Monday Only: Motorola Droid 3 Mobile Phone, Free with a new 2-Year Contract from Verizon and Activation.
Sunday-Monday Only: HTC Wildfire S Mobile Phone, Free with a new 2-Year Contract from T-Mobile and Activation.
Sunday-Monday Only: Boost Mobile BlackBerry Style 9670 No-Contract Mobile Phone, Sale $149.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Virgin Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8530 No-Contract Mobile Phone, Sale $99.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Platinum Series MobileDock Dash/Windshield Mount, Sale $9.99.
Sunday-Monday Only: Great Mobile Phone Deals.

While the last round of deals included a link for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer the link never seemed to work. The deal was only available in stores. I managed to grab one as a gift for someone else. I was still up at 4am Friday so I ran over to my local Best Buy. The Transformer was a ticketed item and all of the tickets were gone, but I managed to social engineer a tablet and keyboard dock from a Blue Shirt in a different department without a ticket. I normally wouldn’t go near a store on Black Friday, but $250 for the tablet and $100 for the dock was a very good deal.

There are new specials each day, so be sure to check back in.

In addition to the current sale, they’ve also published a preview of what they’ll be offering on Black Friday – in stores and online.

In stores only you’ll be able to grab a Sharp LC-42SV49U 42″ Class LCD 1080p HDTV for $199.99, a Toshiba BDX2150 Smart Blu-ray Player for $39.99, a 15.6″ Samsung Laptop with an Intel Pentium CPU, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB HDD for $299.99, and the one I think is the most tempting, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Android tablet for only $249.99.

Also available in stores, the HTC ThunderBolt 4G LTE on Verizon for free with a 2-year activation and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Blu-ray just $9.99. These will also be made available online – the Thunderbolt on Thursday and the Blu-ray on Friday.

They’ve listed specials that will be available online starting Thursday, 11/24, without revealing the prices. There will be deals on the Dynex 32″ Class LED 720p HDTV, a 15.6″ Gateway Laptop with Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB HDD, the Dell Streak 7″ Android Tablet, a Dell desktop PC with Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and an 18.5″ widescreen LCD monitor, the FujiFilm FinePix AX350 16MP Camera, a Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, the Tritton AX120 Headset, and the Nintendo Wii Console with New Super Mario Bros. Wii Game and Music CD. Check back Thursday for the pricing.

There are yet more deals, way too many to list here, so check out their webpage for the full listing. More HDTVs, laptops, PCs, phones, tablets, cameras, hard drives, flash drives, washers & dryers, PlayStation 3, games, etc.

Via WeaKnees Blog.

And sorry for the silence the past few days, I was off with my fiancee on a combination mini-vacation & wedding planning session at Walt Disney World.

And, as the community members love to do, they’ve starting poking at it and documenting the features, changes, specs, etc.:

Software Level:
- shipping software is 14.9b-01-7-758 out of the box.
- current software is 14.9.AB4-01-2-758

Flash Player Version: mainline3/2011.07.06.0601
HD Menu Software Version:1-9/2011.08.31-1134

New functions/features:
- MoCA support (Ethernet to Coax bridge)
- Caller ID support if phone line attached (not verified)
- Premiere to Premiere streaming enabled

Hardware differences from base Premiere:
- (details of system board here)
- Base memory doubled. Single IC providing 1GB DDR2 SDRAM.
- Disk drive is 2TB (make?). Default recording capacity shows up to 318 HD hours or 2774 SD.

Observations and/or “obvious” functions missing:
- Installing new software level seems to be faster than Premiere.
- Recording conflict screen only shows one conflict.
- Network screens updated to show MoCA info and additional screens added.

Upgrade info:
- eSata port available. No reports of anyone trying an external drive yet. Ditto Comer tool.

The Caller ID is especially interesting since none of the Premiere units have a modem built-in. And the Series3 & TiVo HD, which do have a modem, don’t currently run the 14.x software. Yet the on-box message is:

Do you want the Tivo Box to identify a caller’s name and number when the phone rings while you are watching a program?

Note: Caller ID messages can only be displayed when a phone line that supports Caller ID is attached to your DVR.

So are the older units getting an upgrade with this feature, or is it only for the Premiere family with the USB Phone Line Adapter to provide the data? The TiVo Premiere offered through Suddenlink offers Caller ID, but only if you’re using their VOIP phone service. So this seems to be different.

They’ve even started opening up their brand new boxes and taking photos of the guts. And a couple of new screens. The Premiere-to-Premiere streaming is working, and it even works for copy protected content that doesn’t work with Multi-Room Viewing. I think we need to agree on a term for streaming – I’m going with MRS, as RCN calls this Multi-Room Streaming. MRV is the old copy-based system, MRS is the new streaming system.

The Premiere Elite is also more energy efficient, drawing only 19-20 watts.

And a nice surprise, it seems the Premiere Elite has enabled the second core. Compare these lines from the kernel on a Premiere running 14.8 to a Premiere Elite running 14.9:
14.8: Linux version 2.6.18-5.1 (build@buildmaster64) (gcc version 3.3.4) #1 Wed Mar 16 02:53:03 PDT 2011
14.9: Linux version 2.6.18-5.1 (build@buildmaster93) (gcc version 4.2.0) #1 SMP Wed Sep 21 18:32:42 PDT 2011
SMP is Symmetric Multi-Processing, which means multiple cores are enabled.

I am planning to get a Premiere Elite myself. But I’m leaving town Thursday for WDW for a combo mini-vacation and a planning meeting for my wedding there in February, so I’ll probably order when I return since it wouldn’t be here in time to setup before I go anyway. On top of that my Slingbox PRO-HD seems to have died recently. I’m hoping it is just the power supply, that happened once before, but I haven’t had time to deal with it. Anyway, once I do have it I’ll give my own run down as well.

The bad: The TiVo interface is essentially window dressing, using it can be annoying, and the search function only works for the Insignia On Demand service. The TV’s picture quality is characterized by unnatural color, uneven screen uniformity, and issues with 1080p/24 sources. It also has fewer picture adjustments than competitors.

Read the full review for more.

TiVo is proud to introduce a new way to share some of the best elements of the TiVo experience with select partners. TiVo Design enables our partners to leverage our fun-to-navigate menu system and license some of the patented search technologies that have helped make TiVo a household name. While products powered by TiVo Design do not represent the full power and capabilities of a TiVo DVR, they go a long way to making your TV-watching experience easier and more convenient.

Currently the only product featured on the page, and the only one publicly acknowledged (that I can recall anyway), is the Insignia cTV sold by Best Buy, launched last month. Hopefully, given they’ve given TiVo Design its own dedicated page and they refer to ‘partners’ and ‘products’ in the text, we’ll be seeing more additions to the TiVo Design family.

The press release:

The rapid shift of consumers cancelling pay TV is creating new alliances aimed at freeing consumers from the high cost of traditional pay TV. One such partnership has been formed between Antennas Direct, a leading manufacturer of television antennas, and TiVo, pioneers of the digital video recorder (DVR). This partnership, whose goal is to encourage over-the-air viewership, is the first-of-its-kind between an antenna manufacturer and TiVo.

“Most consumers are still unaware that HDTV is free, and that TiVo DVRs contain a DTV tuner, allowing that free HDTV broadcast to be viewed and recorded,” said Richard Schneider, president of Antennas Direct. “When paired with a digital antenna, TiVo is the multichannel provider of the 21st century, integrating broadband and over-the-air digital content at a fraction of the cost of cable.”

As part of this exclusive partnership, Best Buy has teamed with Antennas Direct and TiVo to carry a promotional package featuring a free ClearStream 2 ($100 MSRP) with purchase of a TiVo Premiere box for $99.99. The TiVo Premiere subscription is available for $9.95 per month, a special rate only available for use with an antenna. This special offer is valid through October 2.

“The Antennas Direct partnership with TiVo marries both state of the art antennas and DVR’s in one affordable package to unlock the full potential of digital, over-the-air and broadband television,” said Schneider. “TiVo has created the first system to integrate over-the-air HDTV and broadband content in one easy to use device, the combination of which is turning the pay TV business model on its head.”

Today, more than 46 million households view television through an antenna, up from 42 million just one year ago. That number continues to grow as consumers cancel pay TV service in record numbers. The Antennas Direct and TiVo alliance will liberate millions from an unhappy relationship with their pay TV provider while putting over a billion dollars back in the pockets of consumers.

They’re selling TiVo Premiere units and network adapters directly through the Antennas Direct store. As well as promoting the $99.99 Best Buy Long-Range Antenna & TiVo Premiere bundle special we mentioned in our earlier post.

While the press release calls this an announcement, I noticed that Antennas Direct mentioned this promotion on their blog back on August 31, so I’m not sure why they waited to put out the press release.

While the press release says this is an exclusive deal, I’ll note that Solid Signal is offering the same promotion on their site.

There are a number of tech deals as part of the sale:
Grab Two Select Video Games for Just $15.

Grab Two Select Xbox 360, PS3, Wii or DS Games for Just $30.

Free $50 Gift Card with Bose SoundDock Portable Digital Music System for Apple iPod.

Free 8GB Memory Card with any Canon Rebel DSLR Camera, Plus Free Shipping.

Free 2GB Memory Card with Select Digital Cameras, Plus Free Shipping.

Free 4GB Memory Card with Select Samsung Digital Cameras, Plus Free Shipping.

Free $50 Gift Card with all Satellite Radio Vehicle Packages, Plus Free Shipping.

Free $10 Best Buy gift card with Select Kenwood car stereos, plus free shipping.

Remember, all of these deals are good Friday, August 26th & Saturday, August 27th only.

No word on exactly which products will be featured in the sale, just“great deals on computing, gaming, cameras, and more!” The sale kicks off in about 30 minutes, so you won’t have long to wait to find out I suppose.

Although the launch itself seems to have a few glitches so far. The two new models are up on Best Buy’s website, the 32″ NS-32E859A11 and 42″ NS-42E859A11, but the prices given are $599.99 and $999.99 – when they are actually a much more palatable $499.99 and $699.99, respectively. And, interestingly, the online product descriptions don’t mention TiVo at all. In fact, they’re kind of weak, and don’t really cover the full capabilities of the product. They really need to be spruced up to better reflect the breadth of features available.

Furthermore, the packaging displays a ‘Mobile Code’ (a QR Code), which Dave Zatz helpfully has a nice photo of, but the page isn’t active. I scanned it and it resolves to http://bby.us/?c=BAEB1, which currently redirects to http://bby.us/TBD and an error not found. Someone at Best Buy is asleep as the switch, I think. Hopefully Best Buy will resolve these issues ASAP to avoid any bad first impressions or confusion.

The TVs themselves look like good values (at the correct pricing), especially the 42″ model. They’re fairly inexpensive for LED HDTVs (the industry calls LED-lit LCD sets ‘LED’ while ‘LCD’ sets have conventional backlighting – but both use LCD panels to create the actual image) and they are well stocked for connected TVs. The bundled apps include Netflix, CinemaNow, YouTube, Insignia OnDemand (which is powered by Flingo), Pandora, Napster, Photobucket, Facebook, Twitter, and more. But the real app power comes from support for Chumby apps, which provide over 1,500 app options. It’s no iOS App Store, or Android App Market, but it is a much broader selection than other connected TVs offer. And Chumby’s Flash environment is open to third party app developers, so they can start targeting apps to the big screen. Since the work has been done to integrate Chumby apps with the TiVo platform for these TVs, I’m hoping this will trickle down to the DVR units as well. The addition of Chumby apps would provide a huge jump start to TiVo’s anemic app selection.

As far as the specs go, they’re both Energy Star rated 1080p sets with 120Hz refresh, with four HDMI inputs and one each DVI, PC/VGA, component, composite, and RF antenna inputs. Interestingly they lack a media card slot (no CF/SD), but they do have a USB port. I’m not sure if the USB port supports mass storage for media access, but I’ll note that TiVo DVRs with USB ports do not. Both sets include audio technology from Audyssey and SRS. They also include a slot for a card to support Best Buy’s Rocketboost wireless audio system, which interfaces with Insignia Rocketboost enabled wireless speakers, etc. Network connectivity is via Ethernet or the built-in dual-band 802.11n WiFi. Both sets come with a two-year warranty, which is rather good.

I’m a little disappointed that the remote control isn’t a TiVo Peanut and that it lacks QWERTY (given the connected nature of the device), but it looks decent enough. It is a more conventional rectangular remote with a combination of conventional buttons and TiVo buttons. There’s a TiVo button, as you might expect, as well as an ‘Apps’ button to jump straight into the apps screen, the obligatory thumbs up/down, etc. A bit more busy/cluttered than a normal TiVo remote, but it looks functional. It is also a universal remote, and supports both RF (Z-Wave, not Bluetooth) and IR. It can be programmed to control up to three other devices – such as your cable DVR, a receiver, and an audio source – via on-screen menus, without having to enter codes.

An interesting feature of these TVs is that they are designed to work with your existing STB. The TV’s themselves lack CableCARD support, and are not DVRs, of course. But that’s where the universal remote comes in. When you want to access linear content you basically switch to your existing STB, but can control it from the same remote. I was disappointed to learn that there is a very limited EPG on these sets, just three hours of OTA. I wonder if if it is even downloading the EPG or just using PSIP. The TiVo Search capabilities are limited to the broadband accessible content, unlike a conventional TiVo where they encompass broadband and linear TV. I was hoping for something where you would have the full EPG just like on a DVR, and maybe integration with STBs via IR blasters. But these TVs are really focused on OTT content, leaving linear content to your existing sources. With the network remote on the TiVo S3+ they really could’ve done some transparent integration, the TV’s UI could’ve proxied for the DVR completely.

The elephant in the room is interoperability with existing TiVo units, specifically the TiVo Premiere. And right now the answer is – we don’t know. We have a pretty darn good idea, but there is nothing official. Unofficially it is expected that when TiVo officially launches streaming from the TiVo Premiere, these TVs will be able to act as a client. That would allow these TVs to be used as extenders in other rooms, streaming from a central TiVo Premiere – or TiVo Premiere Elite. Dave Zatz reports his sources indicate that not only is TiVo streaming is under discussion – but also DirecTV RVU, which would allow streaming form DirecTV DVRs in the home. (Maybe the new DirecTiVo will also support RVU? OK, that’s a big leap to make.) We do know TiVo is used MoCA in forthcoming products, and DirecTV also uses MoCA for their whole home DVR (which some people incorrectly call DECA – that’s the adapter, the protocol is still MoCA). There’s no mention of MoCA in these sets, but a DECA (DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coaxial Adapter) or ECB (Ethernet-to-Coaxial Bridge, for the non-DirecTV systems), would solve that.

There is no MRV, of course, as the TVs lack local storage and MRV makes a local copy. All of the services included on the sets are streaming – note no Blockbuster or Amazon video support either, as both systems are primarily download to play. Best Buy says they’re looking to add additional services in the future, I hope that includes Hulu and support for Amazon Instant Video. I think they missed a trick by not including and SD slot. They could’ve used it as many Blu-ray players do for BD-Live content, as user-added storage. Stick in a blank SD card and download a movie, use MRV, etc. Maybe they can use the USB port.

The other nugget from Zatz’s report is that the TVs include an all-new, redesigned Netflix app. That’s something TiVo users have been asking for for ages, so I hope it trickles down to existing units. I suspect it is Flash based, like everything on this platform seems to be, so it may only come to Premiere owners.

As part of their press push, Best Buy also released some ‘B-Roll’ footage for video bloggers, TV spots, etc., to grab clips from. I thought it was an interesting curiosity, so I stuck it on YouTube to share with you all. Warning, it starts with a test pattern with a piercing ‘beep’, just for a moment.

Right now I’m interested in a TiVo Premiere Elite for my main room and two TiVo Preview units – for the bedroom and my front room. If these TVs get TiVo streaming support, I’d seriously consider them. But it depends on how well the streaming works. If I can stream all my recordings and downloads from the main unit that’d be an easy choice. But I’d like to see some way to access Amazon and Hulu – this household no longer has a Netflix account but we do have Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus accounts. If the Preview provides access to those, but the TVs do not, it’d make the choice less clear.

You can now buy the Logitech Revue for $99.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, or direct from Logitech. At the original $299.99 price I thought it was way too expensive to recommend, or bother getting one myself. But at the new $99.99 price I think it is a viable contender, and I just ordered one to play with.

Google TV is certainly rough around the edges today, but it has a lot of potential. It is based on the Android operating system, but the first version, what is available today, is pretty limited. You have some of the standards we’ve come to expect – like Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon – but compared to a unit like Roku it is a pretty limited selection. Fortunately, that’s expected to change in a big way later this summer. Google TV is getting an update to a new version based on Android 3.1 Honeycomb, the latest & greatest version of Android, as used on tablets. Along with this update the Android App Market will be hitting Google TV, and you’ll be able to download apps just as you can on your Android smartphone. And 3rd party developers will be able to develop apps to do anything, just like the phones. And all existing Google TV devices, including the newly affordable Revue, will get this update. So it isn’t just what it can do now, it is what it will do in a few months that makes it a decent value at the new price.

I’d love to see Google TV integrated tightly with TiVo, as it is with Dish Network DVRs today. The potential is certainly there, with TiVo’s network remote control functionality on the Series3 and later boxes. I’m not a developer, so I don’t know if this is something the Google TV API would allow 3rd party developers to do, but I suspect not since it is more a core feature of the platform.

I think Google really stumbled out of the gate with Google TV, but they’re not stupid and they learn from their mistakes. Everything
they’ve shown relating to Google TV 2.0 looks pretty impressive. They’ve learned several lessons from the tepid response and harsh reviews of the first version, unfortunately Logitech took a real financial hit to help drive those lessons home. I think Googleis learning that the physical world is a bit different than operating online, where you can launch an incomplete product and get away with it by calling it a ‘beta’ and making it free. People aren’t as happy with half-baked products when they have to pay real money for them, especially several times what competing products cost (such as Roku). You really need to get it right the first time, then continue to improve it. Not ship something functional but overly limited, then make it awesome in a later update. First impressions are important. Google is big enough to recover from a fumble, but it doesn’t serve them to get their partners, like Logitech, beat up in the market due to product shortcomings.

One odd quirk caused by the repricing, the optional Mini Controller for the Revue at $129.99 now costs more than the Revue with it’s included full size keyboard. But then, it is optional and the keyboard that comes with the Revue is all you really need. Not to mention the remote control apps available for Android or iOS devices.

It will also be interesting to see what happens with pricing on the Boxee Box by D-Link. The MSRP is currently $229.99, and with the reduction on the Revue and the existing low pricing on Roku boxes, the main competition, it stands out as a high priced box. The Popbox is $129.99, which is a bit high but still close. It really looks like $99.99 is the new price to match, or beat, in the media STB market, thanks mainly to Roku.

As a big fan of Android on my phone, and Google products in general, I’m looking forward to having my own Revue so I can play with Google TV. For $300 I was curious but reserved, for $100 I’ll bite.

Initial announcement spotted last week in Engadget.

While there is no confirmation, or refutation, of the July 31st launch date, but his sources indicate pricing for the 32″ 1080p LED HDTV will be $599 and the 42″ 1080p LED HDTV will be $999. Those prices may sound high, but these are LED HTDVs, and for LED models those prices are pretty reasonable. And, if they’re accurate, they’re probably MSRP – and who pays MSRP? Dave also believes he’s found the specs: 1080p, 120Hz LED LCD, dual band 802.11n wireless, 4 HDMI ports, 3 speakers. Not bad.

Shortly after making his post, Dave was contacted by a tipster who provided a number of photos of the 42″ model’s packaging. The photos confirm most of the information, and provide even more. The new branding is ‘TiVo Design’, which seems like TiVo’s version of ‘Intel Inside’. The remote is, unfortunately IMHO, not a TiVo peanut, but looks like a button farm brick.

The TV’s have no DVR, as we knew, just using the TiVo HDUI from the Premiere to access OTT content and for the guide. There will not be a subscription fee to use the service.

But what is really interesting are the included apps. This is a TiVo-powered TV, so you might expect expect services like Photobucket, Pandora, Netflix and YouTube, and they’re there. But so are Twitter, Facebook, Napster, CinemaNow, Insignia OnDemand, and Chumby apps. Best Buy owns Napster & CinemaNow, and of course Insignia, so these aren’t much of a surprise. But what makes these interesting is that the work must have been done to integrate then into the TiVo UI for these HDTVs. And if that work has been done, doesn’t it make sense to leverage it for the standalone TiVo units like the Premiere? We’ve heard mention of Twitter and Facebook apps in conjunction with MSO deals in the past, but this looks like it will be the first public appearance of such apps.

And, to start a rumor:

• TiVo has talked about apps as part of their new platform.
• Chumby’s app development environment is Flash.
• TiVo’s new platform also just happens to use Flash for apps.

Could TiVo jump-start their app library, as well as their developer base, by adopting Chumby’s app environment for their platforms outside of the Insignia TVs? It would certainly give them a shot in the arm. They’d benefit from the established library of apps, and the combined platform would provide a larger user base, which is more appealing to developers.

Certainly something to think about.

Dave Zatz has been having a field day with his Roku 2 coverage: playing Angry Birds, looking at the upcoming channels, the new Netflix app (with 1080p, 5.1 sound, and subtitles), and, of course, his full review.

HP Laptop with AMD E-Series Processor, 15.6” Screen Size, 3GB Memory and 320GB Hard Drive, Just $329.99.

Back-to-School Midnight Sale, Online Only, Starts Midnight Through 8 a.m. EST on Wednesday (7/20).

I picked this up from Facebook – Best Buy is offering a free TiVo Slide Remote, a $59.99 MSRP value, free with the purchase of a TiVo Premiere at $99.99. The flier ad is for in-store purchases, but I also found the same deal online.

Amazon is currently selling just the TiVo Premiere for $99.99 and the TiVo Slide for an additional $46.00, so this looks like a good deal. I think TiVo should be bundling the Slide Remote standard, really.

Edit: Ah, I missed something earlier – a footnote on the ad. This deal requires you to subscribe to the $19.99/month service for a minimum of 1-year. It isn’t clear if you’d be able to subscribe to product lifetime instead or not, so you might want to ask before buying – or remember the 30-day return window.

Note that these TV’s do not include DVRs! They are connected TVs, or cTV’s in Best Buy parlance, which use the TiVo HD UI, introduced on the Premiere, for their functionality. I don’t know if there is any Trojan Horse DVR functionality in there – say via an add-on module (Toshiba and others have sold HDTVs with this kind of sidecar DVR capability in the past), but we’ll see.

We really don’t know too much about the feature set of these TVs at this point. Will they support streaming shows from a TiVo Premiere (or Premiere Elite) in the home? We don’t know, but I hope they do. I guess we won’t have long to find out.

Two models are slated for July 31st – a 32 inch and a 42 inch set. And no TiVo subscription is required! I’m guessing Best Buy is footing the bill for the guide data service. Kind of like TiVo Basic on the old Pioneer and Toshiba TiVo/DVD combo units.

See the Zatz Not Funny post for more, including photos of the Best Buy source materials.