streaming-video

When we last left PlayOn, the clever video-streaming Web server, its official iTunes App Store app had been unceremoniously back-burnered by Apple, shortly after we published a hands-on preview of it.

The official PlayOn app never did make it past the Apple gatekeepers, but MediaMall Technologies, PlayOn's parent company, has been working on an HTML5-based "Web app" as a replacement. The iPhone and iPod Touch version has been functional at m.playon.tv for several weeks, but the new update to PlayOn's PC-based server software will finally support the iPad as well.

We got an early … Read more

This is an update to a post from a couple months ago. It reflects some permanent price drops on the Roku line of set-top boxes!

Looking for an easy way to watch streaming Netflix movies and TV shows? Look no further than the Roku HD, a tiny set-top box that streams from not only Netflix, but also Major League Baseball, Amazon Video on Demand, Flickr, Pandora, and dozens more content providers.

Roku just dropped the price of this model to a very tempting $69.99, and if you buy it from Amazon, you'll get a $10 Video on Demand credit. … Read more

Netflix has hit the iPhone.

The popular video subscription service just updated its Apple app to support the iPhone and iPod Touch, which now join the iPad in offering streaming videos. Netflix members can download the free 1.1.0 version to watch their favorite TV shows and movies.

The Netflix app lets you access your Instant Queue to view videos you've already saved. You can browse by genre or search for specific titles from the service's growing library of streaming content. You can also stop a video and then resume where you left off, whether you're … Read more

Facebook has launched a live-streaming channel designed to provide its users with content detailing what's happening at the company's headquarters.

Dubbed Facebook Live, the new service is basically a PR channel for the company. According to a representative, Facebook Live "is a natural extension of our blog and is a way to communicate with our users more directly." Facebook will be airing interviews with people that stop by its headquarters, highlighting its new products, and trying to capture the "activity already happening at Facebook." Whereas it was doing all this before with text, now … Read more

Epix and Netflix, mum on Monday, are now happy to talk. The two companies have confirmed a big, expensive deal which gives Netflix the ability to show the pay TV service's movies on its streaming video offering.

The Los Angeles Times had previously reported that Netflix would pay Epix close to $1 billion over the life of a 5-year deal; not surprisingly, the the announcement from the two companies doesn't mention price, and only describes the pact as a "multiyear" one. There also seems to be a bit of a hedge in the release, which doesn'… Read more

Sling Media is scrambling to address service issues that have left many of the company's users unable to access their Slingbox video streamers during the past several days.

For the uninitiated, Slingbox is a "placeshifting device." Connect it to a video source (cable or satellite box, DVR, TV antenna, and so forth), and the Slingbox digitizes the video output for access on a wide variety of PCs and smartphones--essentially allowing access to your home TV anywhere you can access the Internet. At least, that's the case when Sling's service is working properly.

The official support thread … Read more

The Winamp faithful now have one more reason to hang onto the venerable multimedia player--and update it. Version 5.58 of the software includes official support for the new WebM video format. For those who don't keep up with the fast-paced world of online video streaming formats, WebM is an attractive format for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it's completely open source (read: free). In addition, the format lets you stream high-quality content with a minimal footprint in that it requires no plug-ins, unlike with Flash video--which currently dominates Web … Read more

Are you looking for an easy way to bring Netflix Watch Instantly movies to your TV? Look no further than the Roku HD-XR, a tiny set-top box that streams Internet content from Netflix and a variety of other sources.

This top-end model normally costs $129.99, but today only, Amazon has the Roku HD-XR for $99.99 with free shipping. Plus, Amazon is throwing in a $10 credit for its Video on Demand service.

Roku's other channels include MLB.com, which, like Netflix, requires a subscription, Blip.tv, Flickr, NASA, and Pandora.

The Roku player connects to the Internet … Read more

Google is among the biggest proponents of a collection of Web technologies that reproduce many important features of Adobe Systems' Flash, but it's not yet time for regime change at YouTube.

One of the most important parts of the upcoming HTML5 standard is support for video that can be built directly into Web page without requiring a plug-in such as Flash Player. Other open standards such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for formatting, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and Web Open Font Format (WOFF) for typography can mimic Flash features, but Flash's ability to deliver streaming video to multiple … Read more