(Credit:
LG)
Netflix has been on a roll in 2009, adding its Internet streaming video-on-demand service to an ever expanding list of devices. In just the past few weeks, the big news has been the imminent arrival of Netflix streaming on the PlayStation 3, along with more rumors that it will be coming to the Wii as well. Best Buy's Insignia brand has debuted a Netflix-capable Blu-ray player that lists for $149 (and has already been seen on sale for as little as $99). And Roku has delivered two new versions of its mini set-top box, lowering the entry-level price to just $80 for the non-HD version. That's in addition to Netflix's availability on the Xbox 360, TiVo DVRs, and Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung, and an increasing number of TVs.
With those notable changes in the Netflix landscape, we thought it was a good time to update our overview on Netflix streaming. (A recap follows, for the uninitiated; the Netflix-savvy can jump straight to the list of Netflix-compatible products.)
Netflix offers a library of 12,000-plus streaming titles over the Internet, available on an "all you can eat" basis for any customer on the $9 per month (one DVD movie by mail at a time) or higher plan. So, in addition to getting DVD (or, for an additional premium, Blu-ray) discs by mail, Netflix subscribers also get unlimited access to thousands of hours of on-demand programming. Just add the titles to the "Instant Queue" in your Netflix account, and they'll be available on any compatible device once you pair it. (The setup procedure, as outlined by CNET's Molly Wood, is quick and easy.)
There are a few downsides. Almost none of the available movie content would be classified in the "new release" category--the newest titles are usually at least a few years old. Also, the availability of titles ebbs and flows--many are available for a window of 60 to 90 days, after which they may or may not return a few months later. And many of the videos aren't available in their native wide-screen format. Also, you have to manipulate your queue from a PC browser. Aside from a list of new and notable titles, you can't search the available offerings and pick new selections that aren't already in your queue.
That said, we think the advantages are palpable. ... Read more
The Samsung UN46B7000--one of the newly entertained Samsung HDTVs.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)Samsung announced on Wednesday that on-demand video services from Blockbuster and Amazon are coming to some of its home entertainment products.
Blockbuster OnDemand, which allows people to rent or purchase video content on a one-off basis, is now available on some of Samsung's high-definition TVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems.
According to Samsung, the service will be offered on its Series 650 and above LCD and plasma HDTVs, as well as its Series 7000 and above LED HDTVs. Blockbuster OnDemand will be available to owners of the Samsung BD-P1600, BD-P3600, and BD-P4600 Blu-ray players, as well as the company's HT-BD1250, HT-BD3252, HT-BD7200, and HT-BD8200 Blu-ray home theater systems. The company said that the service is available now through a firmware upgrade.
As part of the rollout, Blockbuster OnDemand content can be streamed across multiple Blockbuster-enabled devices in the home. According to the company, users who order a particular movie can start watching it on one Samsung product in their home and continue watching it on another supported Samsung device.
For its part, Blockbuster has had a busy week. On Tuesday, the company announced that its OnDemand service was finally made available on TiVo DVRs. Like the service on TiVo, Samsung equipment owners can expect to pay between $2.99 and $3.99 for movie rentals. Blockbuster charges between $7.99 and $19.99 for film purchases.
As part of the deal, Blockbuster will start selling Samsung Blu-ray players that feature the company's OnDemand service in "thousands of corporate-owned stores and participating franchise stores." Blockbuster also said on Tuesday that it will also start selling TiVo DVRs in its stores.
But Samsung didn't stop there. The company also announced on Wednesday that Amazon Video On Demand will be offered to owners of Samsung LCD and plasma HDTVs that are series 650 and above, and LED HDTVs that are series 7000 and above. To get the service, users will need to download the Amazon Video On Demand widget using their television's Internet@TV content service.
Samsung said that once the user downloads the Amazon Video On Demand widget, they will be able to access Amazon's more than 50,000 movies and television shows. Amazon's widget joins already-available widgets from Twitter, Yahoo, YouTube, and others, the company said.
A growing trend?
The fact that Samsung has added Blockbuster's and Amazon's video services to its HDTVs shouldn't come as a surprise; it's competing in a marketplace where integrated entertainment is becoming the norm.
Earlier this year, LG announced the launch of two broadband-equipped HDTVs--the 47-inch 47LH50 and the 50-inch 50PS80--that feature the company's NetCast Entertainment Access. That service gives users the ability to access Netflix's streaming library of movies and TV shows. Toshiba is also getting in on the trend.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
(Credit:
LG)
Add the LG BD390 to the growing list of products that will soon offer built-in Vudu support.
The flagship LG Blu-ray player will become the first disc player to include Vudu functionality via a free firmware upgrade due later this month. The upgrade will effectively offer the same basic functions as Vudu's standalone BX100 set-top box. That gives users access to Vudu's streaming library of movies, which can be purchased or rented on a per-title basis (there's no monthly fee). Vudu has set itself apart from other Internet-on-demand providers like Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, and Apple by stressing audio and video fidelity: it offers over 2,000 titles in 1080p high-def, many with full 5.1 surround soundtracks.
The Vudu upgrade makes the already excellent LG BD390 an even better deal. Currently, the player is CNET's top-rated standalone Wi-Fi Blu-ray player. Vudu will join Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow streaming services on the LG; the player can also stream many digital media files from PCs on a home network. The BD390 lists for $400, but it currently can be found online for less than $300.
Vudu recently announced the integration of its service on some LG and Mitsubishi televisions.
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Roku)
In its bid to put together a roster of compelling content, Roku has just acquired an ace.
Starting Tuesday, the set-top box--known to many as "the Netflix box"--will begin streaming Major League Baseball games. As with the current Netflix arrangement, you have to be a subscriber to the service, in this case MLB.com Premium, to access the content that normally would be available only on a PC or iPhone.
And while this is a boon to baseball fans, it's an even more important development for Roku. MLB.tv Premium is the first live content available on Roku's device, and by bringing that from the PC to the TV, the 50-person Saratoga, Calif., company is beginning to differentiate itself from similar consumer electronics products.
Roku currently has access to the Netflix Watch Instantly queue, as well as Amazon Video on Demand, which allows for rental and purchase of movies. More recently, Roku added content from Blip.TV and MediaFly, two content aggregators, for videos and podcasts.
MLB.tv will work the same way. It will be accessed via a new pane that can be reached via the small remote. Once a customer's account is synced, any live, out-of-market (as in, not your home team) game across the league can be seen, with the choice of both the home and away team's local broadcast feed. Games up to one week old are available in the archive, and previews appear of each team's scheduled games up to a week in advance. ... Read more
Four seasons of "Lost" are already available.
(Credit: Netflix/screenshot by John P. Falcone)Several of ABC's top shows will soon be available to watch via Netflix's "Watch Instantly" online streaming service. The first four seasons of "Lost" are already available, and they'll be joined in September by "Desperate Housewives" (seasons four and five), "Grey's Anatomy" (season five), and "Legend of the Seeker" (seasons one and two). The deal builds on an earlier agreement to make Disney Channel content available on Netflix (ABC is a division of Disney.)
While most of these programs are already available for viewing online on ABC's Web site, the Netflix deal allows them to be watched on TV screens via a large and growing number of Netflix-compatible home video devices, including many Blu-ray players and home theater systems, some Internet-enabled TVs, the Xbox 360, and the $99 Roku Digital Media Player. The ABC content joins programs from rival networks, including Fox, NBC, and CBS, that have long been available on Netflix. (Disclosure: CNET is a division of CBS Interactive.) The online video streaming--available at no extra charge for Netflix subscribers on the $9 per month or higher rental tier--currently offers approximately 12,000 movies and TV shows.
As far as I'm concerned, this seems like another feather in the cap for Netflix. These sort of serialized dramas are perfect fodder for sequential online viewing. (The final season of "Lost" starts early in 2010, and Netflix subscribers who want to catch up--or start from scratch--can do so at no extra charge.) What's interesting to me is that ABC's making this move, which could potentially lower demand for sales of the same episodes on DVD and iTunes. One wonders how Disney board member Steve Jobs feels about it.
What do you think: Are you excited to see these ABC shows hitting Netflix, or does it just highlight some favorite shows of yours that still remain unavailable?
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(Credit:
Vudu)
Vudu's Internet video-on-demand service will be coming to select LG TVs in August. The service will effectively embed the functionality of the Vudu BX100 set-top box into the televisions, obviating the need for connecting an external box to access the Vudu's lineup of movies and TV shows, hundreds of which are available in HD video and 5.1 Dolby surround sound.
Vudu had previously announced a deal with Entone earlier this year, but the LG deal offers a more mainstream and widely available avenue for the company as it shifts from a standalone hardware maker to a video service provider. Vizio, for instance, had previously listed Vudu as one of several media providers for the "Vizio Internet Apps" that are slated for its upcoming VF552XVT model, but it has yet to provide additional details.
The Vudu feature will appear on LG's "Netcast" TVs, which currently includes the LH50 LCDs and the PS80 plasmas. It will join the already strong interactive features on those sets, which include Netflix, YouTube, and Yahoo Widgets (read David Katzmaier's review of the LG 47LH50 for details).
Vudu claims that the embedded version of its video client will offer the same features and performance as the BX100 set-top box. That unit's HDX 1080p video is the best Internet video we've seen to date, but it requires pre-caching on the BX100's built-in hard drive on all but the highest bandwidth broadband connections. We'll be curious to see if Vudu and LG can deliver a similar experience without the ample storage space.
The LG/Vudu deal is merely the latest example of TVs and consumer electronics offering increasingly sophisticated Internet media options. In recent weeks, Sony has announced that it's bringing Netflix to some TVs, while rival Samsung will be adding Blockbuster. Roku's $100 is expanding beyond its current Netflix and Amazon offerings to deliver Mediafly and Blip.tv content, with the promise of even more coming later this year. Netflix and YouTube streaming, meanwhile, is available on an increasingly wide array of TVs and Blu-ray players as well.
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Blockbuster OnDemand as seen on the 2Wire MediaPoint Player
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Blockbuster OnDemand is coming to a long list of Samsung TV and home theater products later this fall. The online pay-per-view streaming service will be added to Samsung's online-enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray home theater systems via future firmware updates. As part of the deal, Blockbuster will also sell some of the Samsung products in its video rental stores.
According to Samsung, the Blockbuster OnDemand feature will be added to "Samsung LCD and Plasma HDTVs Series 650 and above, and Samsung LED HDTVs Series 7000 and above," as well as ""select 2009 Samsung Blu-ray players and home theater systems." We translate that as follows:
LCD TVs:
LNB650 series
LNB750 series
LCD TVs (LED-backlit):
UNB7000 series
UNB7100 series
UNB8000 series
plasma TVs:
PNB650 series
PNB850 series
PNB860 series
Models for Blu-ray players and home theater systems weren't specified, but all 2009 models already support Netflix and Pandora streaming, so adding a third online service wouldn't be a stretch.
Essentially, the Blockbuster OnDemand service will be an integrated version of the service found on the 2Wire MediaPoint Player. The problem: we ranked that video-on-demand set-top box dead last when compared to competitors such as Apple TV (iTunes, YouTube), Vudu, and Roku (Netflix and Amazon). So, while it's always cool to get a free feature added to your TV or Blu-ray player, we're a bit skeptical that Blockbuster OnDemand will be a big step-up for these Samsung products. Thankfully, the TVs and Blu-ray players on the list that we've already reviewed already have a lot more to offer.
(Credit:
Entone)
Vudu is thinking outside the box--literally. The company's 14,000-plus movie library will soon be available on Entone set-top boxes and DVRs. A software upgrade on the Entone units will effectively add the entire functionality of the Vudu BX100, including on-demand access to HD and HDX movies.
While you may not have heard of Entone, the company supplies set-top hardware to smaller regional telephone-company-video providers. Many of those providers may have lackluster (or nonexistent) video-on-demand offerings, so Vudu's library--which includes about 1,500 high-definition movies as well--offers a worthwhile added value to consumers.
For Vudu, the deal represents the first time the company's content will be available on third-party hardware. Vudu has cut the price of its entry-level box to just $149, but having its pay-per-view content available to a much wider audience--including TV viewers who don't need to invest in any new up-front hardware purchases--is the first step for the company to transition from a box manufacturer to a service provider. Like Netflix, Amazon Video-on-Demand, or Rhapsody, Vudu could start showing as a supported feature in the increasingly long list of network-enabled consumer electronics--everything from TVs and Blu-ray players to home theater systems and game consoles.
Compatible Entone set-top boxes are scheduled to get the Vudu upgrade sometime this summer. A representative for Entone said that it should include the entire gamut of features available on the existing Vudu hardware, including the Vudu Labs features that include access to YouTube and Flickr.
Amazon Video on Demand HD, as it appears on the Roku Digital Video Player
(Credit: Roku/Amazon)It's been a long time in coming, but Amazon Video on Demand is finally available in high-def. Owners of TiVo HD/Series 3 DVRs, the Roku Digital Video Player, the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, and Panasonic VieraCast TVs (and, presumably, VieraCast-enabled Blu-ray players) will be the first to enjoy Amazon's content in HD (software updates to enable HD viewing on those products should be available imminently). Likewise, Windows and Mac users will also get access to HD video content via Amazon's Web site.
As with competing services, HD movie rentals will cost $3.99 to $4.99, and TV episodes will be available for purchase for $2.99 each (HD movie purchases currently won't be available). More than 500 HD movies and TV shows will be available initially, encompassing content from most major studios, including Warner, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount, and Universal. TiVo is pledging that the "vast majority of titles" on its boxes will offer Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtracks.
CNET was able to get a sneak preview of the Amazon HD offerings on the Roku box last week. For existing users, it's a pretty seamless upgrade: new HD-specific filters for HD movies and TV shows are available, so there's no need to go hunting and pecking for high-def content.
Quality on the Roku box was very good--the 720p video is closer to that of a really good DVD, but it's definitely superior to the standard-definition content that's available. We didn't detect any major difference between the quality of Netflix and the Amazon HD offerings on the Roku, but the Amazon interface allows you to choose rentals or purchases directly from the onscreen interface, whereas Netflix requires you to manage your viewing queue via a PC.
(Credit:
Blockbuster/TiVo)
Blockbuster will become the latest Internet video-on-demand service to appear on TiVo DVRs.
The two companies announced late Tuesday that they are working to make Blockbuster's service available on all TiVo Series2 and Series3 DVRs (including the HD and HD XL models) in the second half of 2009.
The announcement marks the first non-PC device to support both Blockbuster OnDemand and its archrival, Netflix. TiVo DVRs also support Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Jaman, and some Disney movies via CinemaNow.
In addition to Blockbuster's online video service being available on TiVo, Blockbuster will sell TiVo hardware at its stores. The companies will also launch a joint marketing campaign. Blockbuster, meanwhile, already offers its own movie rental set-top box, the 2Wire MediaPoint.
