The rumors started way back in February, 2006, reappeared in June, 2007, and got another boost last October. And now it is a reality.

CNET is reporting on the Netflix Player by Roku. It is a very simple device that allows you to stream Netflix’s ‘Watch Now’ content right to your TV, via the box, over your broadband connection. No PC required. It is very basic, that’s all it does - allows you to stream Watch Now content you’ve already placed into your queue. But they did get something major right - it retails for $100, which means it will almost certainly be available for less. And the Watch Now content is available ‘free’ as part of a standard Netflix membership, so there is no pay-per-view pricing to deal with.

The biggest issues are the lack of content, there aren’t many first tier titles available via Watch Now, and the quality - no HD here, it is all 480i. This is all about convenience. As CNET put it:

We watched video on TVs ranging in size from 19 inches to 50 inches. While there wasn’t a huge difference in sharpness on any of the sets, the picture did look a little better on the smaller TV. Still, as long as you sit far enough away from a larger TV, the picture will seem OK. Just don’t expect the same kind of sharpness you’d get from a high-quality DVD. Think in terms of watching programming on one of the stations that your cable company doesn’t devote quite enough bandwidth to, and that’s the sort of picture you’ll be looking at.

The box is very simple. It has a wired Ethernet connection and built-in 802.11g WiFi. Output includes HDMI, component video, S-Video, composite video, optical digital audio, and stereo audio. So it should work with pretty much any TV shy of an ancient one with only coax RF input. CNet does say that you want a broadband connection that can sustain 1Mbps at a minimum, and ideally 2.2Mbps. So those with slow connections need not apply. The streams use the VC-1 codec, same as used when streaming to a PC. (Interestingly, the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD have a decoder that can handle VC-1… I’m just sayin’.)

CNet has a full review if you’re interested. Since we know this capability will be coming to other platforms via partners like LG, I think I’d recommend holding off. It’d be a much better value to get an upscaling DVD player, or Blu-ray deck, with Netflix streaming built in. And Netflix hasn’t revealed all of their hardware partners yet - we could yet see Netflix streaming to TiVo, Xbox 360, etc.

EDIT: Gizmodo has also just posted a review which offers some more details.

I post a lot about TiVo in Australia, but they’re not the only game in, or coming to, town. CNET Australia reports that Australia EPG provider IceTV plans to add a feature called ‘IceTV Recommendations’, which is similar to TiVo Suggestions. Since IceTV is just a guide and not a full DVR package, it does not auto-record the programs, but rather presents them as suggestions to the user to decide on. (You can do the same on TiVo by disabling Suggestion auto-recording and then manually checking them in the menus. TiVo+8 is the shortcut.) The feature is currently compatible with Windows Media Center and Mac/EyeTV, but compatibility with additional DVRs which use the IceTV guide will be announced in the coming weeks.

And the previously discussed Sony PlayTV DVR add-on for the PlayStation3 looks to be hitting Australia in 4Q2008, according to Gizmodo Australia who attended a Sony briefing. Australia is getting it roughly a month after the European market, so they have something to look forward to as well. Giz also got more details from the briefing:

Other interesting tidbits include that there’s only an input for your aerial, no output, which means you won’t be able to connect your antenna to your TV through the PlayTV. And while you can only record TV programs to the PS3’s internal hard drive, you can backup the contents to an external drive. It isn’t finalised, but it looks like the EPG will be supplied by the rumoured FreeView collection of free-to-air networks as well

So it looks like the DVR choices for Australians will be expanding soon with TiVo, PlayTV, and possibly a Freeview DVR.

The Australian Financial Review is reporting some new TiVo Australia news. Despite rumors that the Australian launch of TiVo was at risk, AFR is reporting that Seven Network still plans to launch TiVo service before their Olympics coverage begins in August. However, due to feedback from retailers such as Harvey Norman, they’ll be dropping the monthly subscription fee. Seven had planned to charge AUS$10-$12 per month, but now will be reportedly ’slashing’ that - though the new fee hasn’t been announced. The unit itself is still expected to sell for around AUS$500.

Due to the reduction in the monthly fee, Seven has had to renegotiate their deal with TiVo. That renegotiation contributed to the slip in the release date. Oddly the article also says “It is also understood Seven will not charge TiVo buyers for software upgrades for the first three years.”, which is strange since TiVo has never changed for software updates and it’d be odd for Seven to charge for them while charging a monthly fee. The original plan of using Internet telephony company Engin to handle distribution of the TiVo appears to have been dropped.

Picked up from Gizmodo Australia.

Toshiba’s price cuts seem to have scored an own-goal on Onkyo, which could be considered the third case of friendly-fire taking out an HD DVD player vendor. Early on Thomson/RCA sold a re-badged Toshiba player, but they dropped HD DVD to focus on DVD when they couldn’t compete with Toshiba’s pricing. Since Toshiba subsidized their players, the RCA player was the same thing - with a higher price. Then Venturer came to market with that was supposed to be an inexpensive HD DVD player. But by the time they hit store shelves Toshiba had slashed prices again, leaving an unknown brand name, Venturer, to compete with a well-known brand, Toshiba. Venturer players were left gathering dust on the shelves. They’re apparently still out there, so perhaps it is unfair to call them out just yet, but it looks like they’ve pretty much walked away from HD DVD as they couldn’t compete with Toshiba - before the latest price cuts.

And now Onkyo, a fairly respected brand, is ’suspending’ their support for HD DVD. Onkyo is a high-end brand, and they added an HD DVD player to their Integra product line last year. The Onkyo DV-HD805 is basically a re-badged Toshiba HD-XE1, which seems to have run into the same troubles as RCA - selling the same goods at a higher price. Onkyo is suspending sales in the UK, telling Home Cinema Choice:

[G]iven the current, multiple uncertainties surrounding the Blu-ray vs HD DVD issue Onkyo has decided against bringing any further DV-HD805s to the UK

Furthermore, it sounds like Onkyo may be ’suspending’ their HD DVD support permanently, in light of Toshiba’s aggressive price cuts:

Onkyo brings its talents to bear where it thinks it can add value to a given product category. If a category becomes commoditised – as this sector shows signs of becoming – there’s less reason to commit huge resources to it when they may be better employed elsewhere.

Though they may yet release a new device, and if they do I’d expect it to be Blu-ray or perhaps a combination player, in light of the massive shift in the market to Blu-ray. Onkyo says that they will:

unveil a new HD source later this year, but cannot confirm at this stage whether it will be a HD DVD, Blu-ray or combi device.

Considering Toshiba’s deep price cuts, and Onkyo’s statement about adding value and commoditization, I can’t see them releasing another HD DVD player. Given the diversity in the Blu-ray market I could easily see them releasing a high-end Blu-ray player, say Profile 2.0/BD-Live, and perhaps a combi-player as LG and Samsung have done. Vendors just cannot make money selling HD DVD players with Toshiba’s massive subsidies to their own players. Toshiba may be fighting to buy market share with artificially cheap players, but they’re also driving away any other vendors who might support the format. When vendors can make money selling Blu-ray players, but not HD DVD. Which format are they going to support?

From Home Cinema Choice, via WesleyTech.com, by way of Gizmodo.

I’ve been meaning to post this since CES ended two weeks ago - time flies.

This was my fifth CES in a row (and I’m already thinking about next year), so maybe I’m getting a little jaded, but I was a bit disappointed this year. There didn’t seem to be any ‘hot’ item, something that everyone was talking about, some new idea that fired people up. For example, a couple of years ago a lot of people were talking about Sling Media when they launched their first Slingbox. I don’t think it was just me, since I had similar conversations with a number of people on the show floor, the monorail, etc - and it seemed to be a common sentiment. Sure, there was a 150″ TV, which was impressive, but it is really just a bigger TV. You kind of expect bigger TVs each year. Pioneer’s 9mm thick Kuro was also impressive, but it isn’t something we’ll be able to buy for a few years, if ever. So this year seemed to be more evolutionary and predictable. The only real surprise news was Warner’s Blu-ray announcement, which certainly got a lot of buzz throughout the show.

Sure, there were some cool announcements, and specifically relating to this blog, and my interests, we had TiVo’s web video announcemnt, several Sling Media announcements, etc. But it just wasn’t as big as past years with the TiVo Series3 being unveiled or the initial announcement of the SlingCatcher. Oh well, you can’t have big news every year - there’s always next year.

There was one item that I didn’t expect to inspire my techno-lust to the degree it did - the Optimus Maximus keyboard from Art. Lebedev Studio. I’ve been watching the development of this since it was first shown as a concept several years ago, and it seemed to be perpetual vapor ware. CES was my first chance to see it in person, and I expected it to be nifty, but not to be as cool as it was. Photos just don’t do it justice, the keys look great, and they really ‘pop’. The colors are bright, the graphics are sharp, and if I had $1,500 to spare I’d probably buy one. Of course, since my main personal machine is a laptop, it would be a little silly. But it is just so cool in action. Even simple things like the case of the characters displayed on the keys changing when you press shift inspires my techno-lust. I can see this kind of tech spreading as the parts become cheaper.

But the real highlight of CES for me was getting to meet people I’d only seen online previously. I got to meet Ben Drawbaugh and Steven Kim of Engadget/EngadgetHD, Charlie White and Curtis Walker of Gizmodo, and, of course, Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny (and Sling Media). There were a few people I was hoping to see that I didn’t manage to catch in the chaos, but it is nice to get to meet some folks in person. Maybe one of the years some company (like Sling perhaps?) will throw a little gathering for tech bloggers. I don’t mean a press event, but sponsor a gathering just to get everyone together in one place to finally put faces to the names. (And if someone has done this, damn, I didn’t know about it.)

I’m already looking forward to next year.

Gizmodo has an interesting post on the Blu-ray / HD DVD format war, and, in their words, the ‘demise of HD DVD’.

They repeat a rumor I’ve seen reported elsewhere, that Fox has been considering switching to HD DVD, and if they did Warner was going to go HD DVD exclusive as well. The studios want the format war to end, and Warner knew that without one of the BD studios defecting to HD DVD that the format wouldn’t have the critical mass to win. The rumor is that Fox was ready to make the jump with Warner, to end the war, but at the last minute the BD camp, likely Sony, paid Fox $120 million to stay with BD. When Fox backed out, Warner recognized that the only option to end the war would be for them to go Blu as well. There are rumors that Warner was paid $400-$500 million to go Blu, but Warner has denied a payoff, saying there was no ‘bidding war’. They point out that the market at stake is worth billions, so any payoff would be a drop in the bucket.

Gizmodo says that, from their contacts, the feeling within the HD DVD camp is that HD DVD is done for. They report that the rumors of Universal’s HD DVD exclusivity contract being expired are false and that it runs into 2009. And that Universal would only be able to release Blu-ray if HD DVD is declared no longer viable, so Universal is hanging on Toshiba’s word. Microsoft has also deferred to Toshiba on the fate of HD DVD. And everyone seems to be watching Paramount & DreamWorks Animation. If they begin releasing Blu-ray again, that could be the final tipping point for Toshiba to throw in the towel.

Gizmodo goes into some of the behind the scenes drama involved with Warner’s pre-CES announcement. One source told Gizmodo that the surprise announcement caused Bill Gates to drop a segment of his CES keynote which was to focus on HD DVD, pledging continued support. And we already know the HD DVD Promotional Group canceled their press release at CES. In fact, HD DVD had almost no presence at CES after Warner’s announcement. Toshiba and the studios pulled all of their planned HD DVD announcements.

Taking a cynical view, the current Toshiba price cuts on players could be a way to clear out existing stock before making any kind of announcement. If the HD DVD camp throws in the towel Toshiba and the studios would be left with a lot of stock. And waiting until the return windows close on holiday sales could avoid a rash of product returns from those with buyers remorse. There have already been reports from users returning their HD DVD gear due to the Warner announcement.