Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Streaming recorded TV to your hotel room. Grabbing files off your home computer from work. Checking on the dog walker. Your computer can do amazing things while you're nowhere near it, and these 10 killer remote access apps help you do them."

So not everything can exist in the cloud right now, and a lot of people still have a considerable amount of their digital life tucked away on their home. Just because you are not at home, or not right in from of the computer that stores what you need, does not mean that you cannot get access to it. There are a wide variety of tools that provide services like remote access, VPN and streaming. Of particular interest should be the Wake-on-LAN option that is available for most current generation computers. In the world of saving power and arguably faster boot times, you may not need to have your computer(s) on all the time. However, with Wake-on-LAN, you can rouse them from their slumber to do tasks only when needed. You might be surprised just how much power than can save over the course of a year. Now if only LCD monitors could get there. Yes, I know they're improving, but many still use way too much power for what they need when in stand-by mode.

"Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million. Other companies, including Best Buy, Amazon.com, Comcast and the satellite company EchoStar, had also expressed interest in acquiring Vudu, according to this person, who asked for anonymity because the terms of the deal were private."

Ah Blu-ray, I hardly knew you. The battle for the next generation video delivery service is well underway, and as everyone expected, it is online. Soon, you will be able to watch any movie you want, new or old, right from the comfort of your living room without having to go to a store, Redbox, or even your mailbox. Well, for some of you, that reality is already here, and Wal-Mart's entry is only going to provide you with more options. There are some of us, living in third world countries like Canada, are presented with expensive and limited options provided to us by our telvision carriers. Hooray for regional copyright regulations! The $100 million (!!!!!) deal just further cements the idea that physical media will be relegated to smaller markets.

"Infinitec has created a USB stick that contains an 802.11n module capable of creating an ad hoc network through any device's USB port. But on the receiving end, it appears as nothing more complicated than a flash drive."

With this, any device that can read from a USB key could theoretically stream that same media over your wi-fi network. Wouldn't seem as useful for video game consoles (since they already have options to hook up to your network), but would be great for a TV or DVD player that doesn't have a network interface.

"More than 81 percent of all online video viewers click away if they encounter a clip rebuffering, according to a new study by Tubemogul. The Emeryville-based video distribution and analytics startup took a close look at 192 million video streams over the course of 14 days to figure out how much rebuffers matter. The result: 6.81 percent of all streams rebuffer at some point, and around 2.5 percent rebuffer twice"

People are not very patient with re-buffering video streams. It appears that online video streaming will not be viable until the end to end solution is a lot more reliable. Viewers are not willing to accept videos that pause almost seven percent of the time. It seems like an odd phenomenon. People will wait through commercials (or at least until they can fast forward their DVR past the commercials) to watch TV, but if an online video re-buffers for a couple seconds they will quit watching. Maybe people who watch videos online are used to instant access to everything on the Internet. Alternatively, maybe they are more willing to wait for commercials to watch Grey's Anatomy than to watch a video of some strangers cat running into a window on YouTube.

Product Category: Internet Radio (streaming audio)

Manufacturer: Myine

Where to Buy: Amazon.com [affiliate]

Price: $129.99 USD

System Requirements: WiFi connection to the Internet (either 802.11g or n); Stereo system or powered speakers with analog AUX input via RCA jacks or stereo 3.5mm jack.

Specifications: Main unit is 50.8mm (2in) x 152.4mm (6in) x 76.2mm (3in), 726g (1.6lb); Remote is approximately 85mm (3.4in) x 40mm (1.6in) x 2mm (0.08in); Screen is 67mm (2.6in)

Pros:

• Very simple to set up and use;
• Huge station list which is updated automatically, with up to 40 storable as favorites;
• Sound quality is very good.

Cons:

• Volume output is on the low side (depending upon station);
• Menus are difficult to read from "couch" distance :-);
• Can only access the menus using the remote.

Summary: Although diminutive in size, the Myine IRA (Internet Radio Adapter) packs a fully WiFi capable, Internet browser which can select and stream clean, stereo audio from a list of over 11,000 stations around the world. Whatever your music or information preference, you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own living room/den/entertainment room over your existing sound system. It literally sets up in seconds. Read more...

"Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, told The Telegraph exclusively: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently. It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.” "

The as yet named Microsoft music streaming service will likely come in free (Read: ads, ads, ads) and paid (Read: recurring monthly fees!) versions. Since they mentioned Spotify, instead of Pandora, it is likely that the service will likely be a customizable radio station where you're given access to a bountiful library of music and you create your own playlist instead of a station that plays music based on your ability to yay or nay particular songs. You can also bet that Microsoft is looking for a way to include this on the Zune. It may have taken several years, but it appears that Microsoft may finally be forming a challenger to the iTunes/iPod empire. The Zune, if it includes this new streaming service and HD Radio and FM radio on top of its existing abilities will make it a powerful and impressive media player, but I think that Apple's market share is safe for a while yet. Would a music streaming service that would work on your computer and WiFi/3G connected device interest you?

"Rent or buy and instantly watch Hollywood hits, classic movies, and your favorite TV shows using the Roku player and Amazon Video On Demand. Access more than 40,000 titles, including new release movies and the latest episodes of popular TV shows in HD. No subscription fee required. It's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3!"

I have not tried out any of Amazon's services via my Roku box, but the addition of HD certainly seems like a compelling reason to give it a shot. If you've already given it a shot, please share your impressions.

"Subsonic can be installed on everything from a Windows-based computer to a home server running FreeNAS. Once installed, you can tune into your media collection from anywhere you access the web or use your mobile phone. Subsonic is a complete web-based front end for your collection."

LifeHacker has a quick article about using SubSonic to stream music around the house and to anywhere with an Internet connection. Many of us should have quite a sizable music collection, however, carting around an MP3 player around the house or everywhere you go might not always work. And as capacious as they might be, they might not fit your entire collection. Streaming is the next best solution, and with a web interface, it allows for more control over what you play. I can't say I've used Subsonic before, but I have tried various other solutions, such as Jinzora, Orb, MPD and even good old Winamp with a web interface plugin. The interface for Subsonic looks pretty good and I'll probably investigate it in a few months, but right now, I've settled on a combination between Winamp for home use and Orb for remote streaming. I use Winamp because instead of streaming, I use old school FM transmitters to broadcast my music so I don't need more complex devices to listen to music around the house. Orb is my remote solution because it also handles video and is really easy to use. What about everyone else? Do you just carry your MP3 player around, or have you set up your own mini-broadcasting station?

"Despite the growing popularity of online video options, average TV watchers still get most of their TV exposure from switching on the ol' boob tube and watching whatever's available at the moment. DVRs, web video, and even mobile devices are gaining in prominence, according to a new report by the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence (CRE). Still, when it comes to sitting back, turning your brain off, and watching objects move on a screen, traditional TV viewing remains king."

No surprise here, but I think they are missing something. They seem focused on the quantitative rather than the qualitative. By their measures, we probably watch more broadcast TV than most, but for us, broadcast TV is kind of like the radio, it is background. For example, I put Sci-Fi channel on when I get home from work for Star Trek and Stargate episodes, while I do chores, cook dinner, etc. When I actually sit down to watch something without doing background tasks, it tends to be more on-demand media like DVD's, Netflix streaming, or Hulu.

"A company called ZillionTV is pulling the covers off yet another set-top box Wednesday that will let you watch movies and other video from the Internet on your TV. Yawn. That’s right, it’s just like boxes from Apple, Roku, Vudu, 2Wire and so many more. It won’t even be available until the fall. And at first, it will have much the same content you can get from other places — recent and old movies and some network shows starting the day after they air."

The set-top market must be seen as extremely lucrative. It seems as if everyone and their mother is coming out with a set-top box. ZillionTV's solution includes no hard drive and is intended for streaming video only. However, unlike the Roku and Vudu, ZillionTV intends on selling their product to ISPs only. To me, this seems to be the only way any company that doesn't have a big brand behind it can find any number of sales. The complete reliance on an Internet connection and the personal details you may have to give up for free viewing does have me worried. Also, no details have been given in terms of video quality. I suspect that techdirt's analysis will probably be correct in that this may just be another in the line of failed set-top boxes. Would any of you consider something like the ZillionTV over something from Apple or NetFlix?

"This news may not be a surprise, given the huge success of Netflix's Watch Instantly streaming service, which had been activated over 1 million times on Xbox Live the last time we checked -- accounting for about 10 percent of its subscriptions. Regardless, word has come from Netflix's CFO Barry McCarthy that the company plans to offer a streaming-only service 'in the near future.'"

No price as of yet, but I'll bet on $4.99 or less given that for $8.99 you can get 1 disk at a time with unlimited exchanges and unlimited streaming.

"Windows 7 Senior Program Manager, Gabe Frost, demonstrates Windows 7 “Play To” functionality to the crew of On10.net For those unfamiliar, Play To is a new function introduced into Windows 7 that allows one to send a media file (from the same PC, shared media library derived from networked PCs, or a dedicated home server / NAS) for playback or display to a DLNA / UPnP device like a music streamer, digital media adapter, or photo frame with a simple right-click of the mouse."

One of the new features that Windows 7 brings is the "Play To" option. It is one thing to read about it, but Gabe Frost of Microsoft demonstrates this feature in a video at On10.net. Towards the end of the video, he says that Windows 7 can become a "Universal remote control for your media" which I think best describes "Play To." I'm very looking forward to this, as I've worked to come up with a wide variety of hacks such as using FM Transmitters, Shoutcast and Videolan to stream audio and video across my house and this seems to bring it all together in a much easier to use interface. I'm glad that they're going with a standard like DLNA, however, to make full use of this means upgrading/replacing a large amount of hardware I have around the house. Then again, new toys are always welcome!

"The VUDU fans who felt teased by the leak a few weeks ago can feel a little better today. Not only is VUDU offically announcing access to the previously discovered features, but in addition VUDU owners will have access to other on demand HD content from networks you've actually heard of like National Geographic and PBS -- other SD content will also be available, but really who cares about SD? What might end up being the most interesting in the long run though, is the fact that VUDU has brought this to market using its new VUDU RIA (Rich Internet Application) platform, which in the future will allow third parities to bring even more internet content to your living room. We'll have to hold our tongue on this idea until sometimes next year though, to see if anyone actually adopts it. These features are great and all, but how 'bout giving us access to our own content VUDU? Yeah we know, you're partners wouldn't like that very much, would they? The full release is after the jump."

Until now, VUDU has been a one-trick pony: digital video on demand for rental or purchase. Granted, it performed the trick very well with an amazing interface, consistent software updates, an ever-growing library including the largest collection of HD movie content, and stellar HDX video quality. With the launch of the RIA (Rich Internet Architecture) platform, VUDU has added a few more tricks including YouTube videos, a wide range of video podcasts (called OnDemand TV), and access to photos on Flickr and Picasa. For me, the new features are interesting but not nearly as compelling as its original trick. I'll have to wait and see if anyone takes them up on developing additional VUDU content using this RIA platform. Maybe access to local network content would be a good place to start?

"Netflix on TiVo* is here! TiVo customers who are on a Netflix unlimited plan can now instantly watch over 12,000 movies & TV episodes from Netflix via any broadband connected TiVo^® HD, TiVo^® HD XL and TiVo^® Series3™ DVRs."

Before I left for work this morning I got a chance to give this a try. During the night my TiVoHD received the new service update, which among other things, added Netflix to the Video On Demand category. Activating the TiVo took just a few minutes: my TiVo gave me an activation code, I entered into my Netflix account, and a couple moments later the TiVo recognized my account. I tried it out for maybe five minutes, using a couple of movies my kids had added to the Instant Queue. The first, the infamously dull 1969 musical "Dr. Doolitte," never played more than a couple seconds of video before freezing (as bad as this movie is perhaps this is a feature). I had better luck with my second try, the movie version of "Annie," which seemed to work okay. About that time I had to take my daughter to school, so my opinion at this point is all based on first impressions.

And those impressions? Not the greatest streaming quality, including some very visible compression artifacts. I don't think I will be using this as a primary video on demand source. But if I'm desperate to watch "Annie" (or any of the 10,000 other movies that Netflix streams) it's a definite no-cost option. Kudos to TiVo and Netflix for putting this together.

"At the title states, the Blockbuster OnDemand MediaPoint 2Wire box just isn't ready for prime time. While the pricing is extremely reasonable ($99 for the hardware, including 25 movie rentals), the interface looks pleasant, and the content selection is solid... the device is in need of a software update before I can recommend it."

It looks like the Blockbuster OnDemand set-top box might not we quite ready for public consumption. Dave over at ZatzNotFunny.com rented one movie and after unresponsive hardware, manual reboots, DRM errors, video artifacts, stuttering, and loss of audio/video sync he has packed the box away in the closet. For a box that only does one thing, it doesn't seem to do it very well.

"For weeks now, Roku Netflix Player owners have noticed an almost universal drop in quality dots (which range from 1 to 4 in order to show quality levels), with many finding the new feeds "unwatchable." CNET recently had a talk with Tim Twerdahl, vice president of consumer products at Roku, about the issue, and according to Tim, all he knows is that "Roku didn't make any changes." Furthermore, we've seen comments in our own posts noting that other Netflix-enabled boxes are also seeing the quality drop. The worst part is that there's still no definitive solution in sight, so we suppose our only advice is to kick back and watch Netflix and Roku bicker over who's really to blame"

I don't have a Roku box, but apparently users are having issues with Netflix streaming quality, to the point that the video becomes unwatchable. This got me thinking about the fundamental differences between streaming and download services particularly as it relates to the (relatively) new category of IP set-top boxes.

Streaming services like Netflix automatically adjust the quality of the video based on the media player: bandwidth, resolution, etc. The stream is not stored, but played and then discarded. Time to playback is typically short but quality may be limited. If the connection is unreliable or unavailable, a streaming solution effectively no longer works.

Conversely, download services deliver an existing video file but may require the entire file to be downloaded before beginning playback. Since the file is stored locally, quality is consistent and it can easily be replayed. In a system with progressive download, used by Vudu and the new Blockbuster set-top box, playback is started before the video is completely downloaded. However, depending on connection speed and quality, playback may be delayed while waiting for the video download to finish.

Read more...

"Blockbuster Inc. caught up to the competition last week by introducing a set-top box that brings rentals from the Internet to the television. Now, the Dallas-based company hopes to pass the pack by teaming with Microsoft Corp. on new mobile services that will let customers watch even more movies on more devices. "Eventually, we'll give customers instant access to any movie on any device with an Internet connection and a screen," said Keith Morrow, Blockbuster's chief information officer."

Blockbuster news continues to trickle out. Last week Blockbuster announced a new set-top box and over the weekend it was announced they would eventually support downloading to some Blu-Ray players. Today, the news broke that they are teaming with Microsoft to deliver a new set of mobile services, in part based on LiveMesh. Details are sketchy and this is more of a directional announcement than an product announcement. However, it sounds like Blockbuster is seriously considering how to better compete in this new media environment.

Now if they can just do something about the paltry size of their Blockbuster OnDemand library...

"Online video is catching on among the masses, and in a big way. Viewers in the US watched 12 billion videos this past May, according to data from comScore, a 45 percent increase from a year prior. comScore's data shows healthy growth in online video viewing, not just from user-generated video sites, but those that provide streaming TV shows as well. Almost 142 million unique users watched video in May, which comScore says is a whopping 74 percent of the total US Internet audience. Users watched an average of 85.3 videos per person during those 31 days for an average of 228 minutes of video. Unsurprisingly, the most popular online video property was "Google Sites"—that is, sites owned by Google like YouTube and Google Video, which made up 35 percent of all videos viewed during that time period. comScore says that 4.2 billion videos from YouTube were viewed in May and made up over 98 percent of the videos viewed from Google's properties."

So it is not like I am not "with it" or anything like that (though I am sure I am proving the reverse just by saying that :-) ), but I probably watch about a maximum of 10 videos a month online through almost any source. This is not because I don't like the technology or anything like that, just that I don't have the time. Maybe it is just the long hours that I work. In fact, I don't understand how other people have the time -- but I digress. With the advent of YouTube, I can totally see why people are watching so many more videos online. And I think that now that I have an iPhone, I might start viewing more of them too. It would have been nice if comScore had broken down the numbers by device as well because it would have been nice to know if the trend is headed more towards watching videos on mobile devices.

"Netflix subscribers, if you've got an Xbox 360 and a Windows Vista PC, you don't have to shell out $99 for Roku's Netflix Player box to get your Watch Instantly library on your TV screen—you already have everything you need. Using the free Windows Media Center plug-in, vmcNetflix, you can turn your Xbox 360 into a Netflix Watch Instantly box. Here's how."



So a couple weeks ago we posted a link to a review of the $100 Roku Netflix Player, but this week we bring you a way to stream Netflix movies for free on your Xbox 360+Windows Vista PC! Lifehacker has posted detailed instructions for setting up the vmcNetFlix plugin on Vista and how to get going in a few minutes. Keep in mind this is beta software, so it may be a little buggy, plus there's a very good chance it violates the Netflix terms of use (since it downloads the video to your PC), but if you're feeling like a daredevil, willing to take a risk, try it out and let us know how it works!

"The good: Network digital audio system includes excellent wireless remote with color screen and scroll wheel control; supports Wi-Fi and Ethernet home networks; compatible with virtually all non-DRM audio file formats, provides access to PC-based music files (on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines) as well as PC-free Internet radio, podcasts, and premium online music services including Rhapsody, Slacker, and Pandora; excellent online account integration; expandable to multiple rooms. The bad: Minor improvements could make the already good interface even better; scroll wheel isn't quite as responsive as the iPod's; no compatibility with DRM music files such as those purchased from iTunes or Zune online stores; setup process could frustrate those who aren't tech-savvy."

Cute setup and will give the guys at Sonos a run for their money, in fact given it costs under $400, it is significantly cheaper than the Sonos. The iPod-like remote gives you access to the music on your computer and also plugs in to Rhapsody (among other music services). The base station plugs into the music system and the rest is all easy. Very cool system.