streaming

When Sling Media released a trio of second-generation models in the fall of 2006, the Slingbox Pro was at the top of the line. Unlike the entry-level Slingbox AV, the Pro had pass-through outputs, an analog tuner, multisource capability, and the ability to accept high-def video sources. Unfortunately, it also came with a handful of caveats: While it could accept HD video, it downcoverted that to 640x480 for streaming--and you needed to invest in a $50 dongle if you wanted to use a component video (HD) source. It was also an ugly maroon color, ensuring that it contrasted with everything else in your home-theater equipment rack. The third-generation Slingbox Solo appeared the following year, co-opted nearly all of the Pro's key features, making the need for an upgrade to the Pro even more apparent. … Read more

It's been known for a while that Netflix and Roku's four-month-old relationship isn't exactly a monogamous one. But it looks like Roku is hoping to play the video-streaming field even more than we initially thought.

Roku makes the $100 Netflix Player, which enables customers to stream movies from the Netflix site to their TVs. It's a product that could be a hit, if only Netflix could secure partnerships with more of the major movie houses and seriously beef up its "Watch it Now" library.

But Roku isn't waiting around for Netflix to make … Read more

Five music industry trade groups have reached what they call a breakthrough agreement on how royalties should be handled for streaming music online.

The groups, which represent record labels, music publishers, songwriters, and music Web sites, say their proposal would resolve what has been a source of strife between the music industry and Web sites that offer on-demand streaming services.

Under the agreement, sites like Napster and Imeem would have to begin paying royalties of about 10.5 percent of revenue. Download services like Amazon MP3 and iTunes already pay such fees. And online radio sites saw a major royalty … Read more

The National Hockey League figures its teams do a pretty good job of connecting with the ice junkies in their own backyards.

But the league reckons that many of the 20 million hockey fans in North America don't live near their favorite teams. The league is hoping that improvements to its subscription video service will appeal to the diaspora.

The league has been streaming video for a while now, said Perry Cooper, the NHL's senior vice president of direct and digital marketing. As it did last year, those that pay $159 a year ($169 after October 15) gain … Read more

Last week, the folks from Sling Media stopped by to give us a hands-on look at the SlingCatcher. Originally due in 2007, the long-delayed product looks to be finally ready to ship this fall. (The video below is Molly Wood's preview of the SlingCatcher when it was reintroduced in January 2008.)

As the name suggests, the SlingCatcher is a hardware version of the SlingPlayer software that's available for various devices. Connect the SlingCatcher to your bedroom TV, for instance, and you can access the live TV and recorded programs from your living room DVR (which, in turn, is connected to a Slingbox).

So, instead of being limited to the small-ish screens of a laptop (or even a mobile phone), you're back to watching TV on...a TV.

The SlingCatcher can access any Slingbox that you've added to your Sling.com account, but the same caveats apply to it as with the software SlingPlayers. Most notably, only one client can access a given Slingbox at a time.

Bandwidth constraints apply (streaming within a home network generally looks great, but remote Slingbox resolution will be limited by upstream bandwidth at the source location). And the Slingbox monopolizes the AV source to which its connected (if you log in to your DVR and start playing Desperate Housewives while somebody's in the living room watching football, they'll suddenly see Eva Longoria instead of Eli Manning. … Read more

At CNET we've reviewed and covered a number of products designated "DLNA-certified," from game consoles to HDTVs, and in our experience the standard's idealistic vision, "to be able to easily and conveniently enjoy this content using any electronic device, and from any location in their home, and beyond," according to the DLNA's FAQ, sometime fails to come to fruition.

This failure can be blamed on numerous factors, including competing standards, Digital Rights Management issues, or manufacturers not entirely following the DLNA standard or eschewing it for their own. Confusion over what DLNA means can put buyers of media devices in a precarious situation: will my DLNA-certified Nokia N95 digital camera connect to my DLNA-certified Sony KDL-46Z4100 HDTV so I can share my photos of my trip to Maui for my family to view? In this blog I'll unravel some of the mysteries around DLNA and try to make sense of what it actually means.

… Read more

For years it's been possible to pull in standard and high definition programming onto your computer using a Slingbox or a TV tuner such as ATI's All-in-Wonder PCI cards. But these solutions have their limitations (for example, a Slingbox cannot display a high-definition picture) and let's face it, nobody wants to sit uncomfortably in front of their 19-inch monitor to watch their favorite TV program. Now with TV manufacturers integrating Web-based content into their sets, the possibility has become more mainstream.

The promise of the DirecTV's HDPC-20 might further change that perception--if it's released. The … Read more

When Hewlett-Packard showed us an early version of its $349 MediaSmart Connect digital media extender, our first reaction was, "It costs too much." Now that it's actually available, it appears the company has finally gotten the message. We're hearing from a source close to HP that the official price will drop to $299 in early October, and that "retailers are expected to offer instant rebates so consumers should find the product for around $249...maybe even lower."

Why the price cut? Remember that the Xbox 360 can duplicate much of the MediaSmart Connect's … Read more

Sometimes you don't find out about a good TV show until partway through its run, or maybe you don't get a certain channel, or even worse, for whatever reason, your DVR fails to record your favorite show. Thanks to the Internet, there are many ways to catch up, and maybe even ditch cable. Watch our Insider Secret video to see some of our favorite ways to get TV shows online, and then come back here for the links.

There are still many popular shows that don't put their content online. At least not legally. And this ain'… Read more