Microsoft’s Xbox Live Video: HDTV and HD movie downloads for your 360 – Engadget
The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros., Paramount, and so on. We’re still a little in shock, ourselves, that Microsoft was able to in one fell swoop hit TiVo, Apple, Netflix, and a handful of others, but looking at Live over the last year, the move isn’t that massively surprising. Of course, not even the vision of on-demand HD movies and TV downloads in six million homes at the flick of a switch could be without its variety of niggling concerns; being that we all know the devil’s in the details, click on to get the particulars of the service.
This is such great news. I thought it was a rumer but it’s confirmed now. The first two problems that came to my mind, ABC and Disney wont ever be on board and you can’t take the movies anywhere unless someone else has a 360.
If you missed the first 10 minutes of Lost like we did last night you missed a lot. Go to ABC and check it out now. … Read More »
October 05
Lost Secrets Revealed Online
Fans of ABC’s hit SF series Lost who played this summer’s alternate-reality game The Lost Experience got a big payoff if they stuck with it: the secret to Hurley’s numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42) and revelations about the Dharma Initiative and the Hanso Foundation. The answers, which were reported by TV Guide, can be found in a video detailing the elaborate backstory to the show, which has been posted in its entirety on YouTube.com.
The numbers represent the Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula having to do with the timetable for humanity’s extinction. The show’s sinister Dharma Initiative was an effort by the mysterious Hanso Foundation to ward off that inevitability. When Dharma failed, Hanso’s nefarious acting leader, Thomas Mittelwerk, set in motion a plan to release a virus that would kill 30 percent of the world’s population.
Details of the game’s various threads can be found on the Lost Experience blog.
I’m not really there but I intend to post what I find as fast as I can here.
- AND ONE MORE THING…
You’ll be able to buy TV shows from the iTunes Music Store – Desperate Housewives, Lost and more shows from ABC and Disney. Five shows will be available to watch on iPod or computer: Lost, Desperate Housewives, Nightstalker, The Suite Life and some other Disney thang. $1.99 an episode.- iTunes iTunes has an 84% market share in the US. Five weeks after the launch of iTunes 5, here’s iTunes 6. Surely video downloads are the order of the day?
- here are the big changes: firstly, ‘gifting’ – you can buy music for other people, who get an email telling them to download. Next: customer reviews – Amazon-style peer reviews of music.
iTunes iTunes has an 84% market share in the US. Five weeks after the launch of iTunes 5, here’s iTunes 6. Surely video downloads are the order of the day? Hell yes.
- here are the big changes: firstly, ‘gifting’ – you can buy music for other people, who get an email telling them to download. Next: customer reviews – Amazon-style peer reviews of music. Third: Just For You (beta) – a recommendation service, again similar to what Amazon offers.
- and finally… music videos. Currently there are 2000 available to buy. But they’re gonna cost $1.99. And Pixar are offering 6 short films, also for $1.99. The price seems a bit high, and didn’t get a cheer from the audience. The videos take the space of six songs (so about 20MB) and have the same rights management as music tracks.
- – iPod. Apple has shipped over a million Nanos in less than five weeks. Now, it’s the NEW white iPod – and yes it does video! The format is similar to the old pod – 2.5in TFT display with 320×240 pixels with realtime decoding of MPEG 4 and H.264. It’s only 260,000 colours but it does have video output to connect to TV.
- - The video iPod is available in 30 and 60 GB capacities – and both are thinner than the current 20GB Pod. 30GB will be $299, 60GB will be $399. UK prices will be confirmed later. And did we mention it was available in black? Oh yes, and it comes with a case, so don’t worry about scratches!
- - Front Row – which comes with all new iMacs – gives people a new way to enjoy your music, video and pictures from the sofa – with an iPod style remote control. It still uses the iMac’s screen, but text is big and control is simple, so you don’t have to be hunched up in front of the screen. He’s comparing the simple, small remote for Front Row with the bloated remotes from Microsoft Media Center – Apple’s 6 buttons compared to Media Center’s 40-plus.
- - Photobooth uses the iMac’s screen as a flash and it’s got cool little animation where the photo pops out. It’s got wacky photoshop-style effects built in. Fun, but hardly groundbreaking. ‘The funnest app we’ve ever written.’
Engadget
Act I: The iMac G5. We sold over a million of them in its first year. What better place to put the computer than right behind the display? Today we’re introducing and all new iMac. [It looks extremely similar] Three great new features.
(1) It’s even thinner. The 20-inch is now thinner than the 17 used to be.
(2) iSight videocam. The new mac has an iSight built in. The camera has even better specs. Right out of the box videoconferencing without any extra stuff. We wrote a new app called PhotoBooth. [Demo: It has a built in flash - the entire display flashes. There are special effects including “Warhol� and effects that morph your face goofily.]
(3) Front Row. It s a new way to experience the media on your computer. It’s an incredible way to enjoy your music, your videos, and your photos … from your sofa. We’ve done a remote control, Apple style. It’s got six buttons. [Demo: He presses remote and a menu for Music / Photo / DVD / Video zooms in. There's a giant iPod-style interface for music. “I can enjoy my music from across the room and see the artwork.â€? Photos navigates through everything in iPhoto with slide show effects for albums. “Now, a lot of people watch DVDs in their iMac, and it would be nice to control them from across the room. Now you can.â€? [Loads DVD of The Incredibles with menu that blurs out the typically unusuable menu on the DVD with an iPod-style menu. Movie posters and trailers in HD format streamed from apple.com] This remote control, I just wanted to point something that to me captures what Apple is all about. [Shot of huge button-congested remotes next to the tiny 6-button Apple remote]
Specs: Bluetooth, Superdrive, Mighty Mouse standard. 17-inch $1299. 20-inch $1699. Available today.
New iPod announced! The new iPod, as speculated, features video capabilities and the wider display, but it’s still a music-first device.
The device will feature a 2.5-inch display, QVGA resolution (320 x 240), and will MPEG-4 h.264 (natch), and presumably Quicktime.
The new iPod will be 30% thinner than the current 20GB iPod (making it 0.44-inches thickâ€â€say wha?), and will feature a 60GB version (which should be thinner than the current 0.63-inch thick 20GB iPod), and editions of both in black.
The 20GB should go for $299, and the 60GB for $399. They’ll be shipping next week.
What’s the device named, you ask? The iPod. That’s it, just The iPod. Well spare you the Prince jokes. The iPod will have TV out.
Stevie has iTunes 6.0 up thereâ€â€only about a month after introducing iTunes 5.0.
iTunes 6.0 will also feature video and the iTunes Music Store will feature Fairplay DRMed video downloads (big surprise, right?).
At launch over 2,000 music videos will be made available at a cost of $1.99 apiece. You can download iTunes 6.0 starting today.
Oh, and one more thing…
It’s not only music videos you can buy. No, Apple’s set up to allow you to purchase TV shows for $1.99 apiece. Get Desperate Housewives or four other ABC shows premiering on iTunes at two bucks an ep. Videos are native QVGA resolution.
