Do You Spend More Time Watching TV Than Sleeping?

How much TV do you watch? The latest study conducted by Solutions Research Group found that the average American with web access watches 6.1 hours of video-based entertainment per day. About 4 of those 6 hours are taken up by traditional TV including DVR, video-on-demand, and live viewing. The other 2 include video games, web and PC vids, DVDs, and video played on mobile devices. But it doesn't end here.

By 2013, the average American consumer is expected to watch 8 hours of video-based entertainment per day, probably more time than the average American sleeps per day. Thanks to the rise of video playback in mobile devices and the growing popularity of web video, if you live in the US you'll spend nearly 2.9 hours per day viewing video on these platforms by 2013. And the time spent watching traditional TV will remain around 4 hours per day pretty well confirming the home theater won't die anytime soon. However a greater amount of traditional TV time will be spent watching time-shifted programs.

These numbers must be making TV hardware manufacturers and distributors incredibly happy. This just means more money in their pockets. The funny part is if the amount of time Americans watch TV in a day continues to grow at the same rate it's expected to between now and 2013, by 2023 it'll grow to about 14.5 hours per day, leaving time for sleep and maybe eating. Looks like no one will have time to work to pay for all the hardware required to actually watch TV!

Via Solutions Research Group

Sqish: The Invisible Satellite Dish

Satellite dishes can be a real pain in the ass. Apartment landlords make it impossible to put them up, birds love them as nesting spots, and they are really just plain ugly. The Sqish is the solution to all of the above problems. Basically the Sqish is a satellite receiver that's built to blend in with its surroundings and it's a flat square rather than the concave, circular shape typical of most receivers. All's you have to do is decide where it should be located on your property, take a picture of that location, and the Sqish will be supplied to you with a matching finish. So far its only available in the UK for £149 and you'll pay an extra £25 for the matt-finish camouflage sticker. This looks like the type of product that'll be a hit though, so here's to hoping we see it hit North American shores soon.

Via Daily Mail

How Hollywood Plans To Pull You Away From Your Home Theater

Assuming their are about 40, 000 cinema screens in the US and Canada and it costs between $60, 000 and $100, 000 to replace each screen and celluloid film projector with digital equipment, it'll cost between $2.4 trillion and $4 trillion to convert the entire American and Canadian cinema industry to digital. And Hollywood feels that this is a small price to pay to pull home theater fanatics away from their flatscreens and back into the theater to see everything digital cinema offers, from 3D animated film features to digital renditions of the latest NBA game.

Several Hollywood studios-Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Universal-have already to finance the digital conversion of 10, 000 cinema screens they're so convinced its crucial to the survival of the film industry. Several other industry groups have banded together to finance a majority of the remaining screens. And despite the fact that fewer employees are required to maintain a digital cinema and its equipment is quite reliable, you can bet you'll pay more for a 3D movie ticket.

This summer will be the initial test with the release of a couple of 3D titles: live-action film Journey to the Center of the Earth coming July 11 and the animated Fly Me to the Moon coming August 8. Will you leave the comfort of your home theater for a digital cinema experience? Hollywood is betting trillions on it.

Via Boston Herald

m21 Flat TV Console-A Retro Blast From The Home Theater Past

If you're into the whole "make your home theater as ugly as possible" trend, not that there is one or anything, the retro m21 Flat TV Console from Wilkerson Furniture. Showcased at the Dwell on Design conference in LA this past weekend, the m21 is made from walnut hardwood and houses a 42-inch flatscreen. The beige material at the bottom of the console is Fender amp screen designed to house a center speaker. It was out this weekend to judge consumer interest, and if it's a hit Wilkerson Furniture may offer a 42-inch flatscreen and the m21 as a combo package. In the future, we can also expect a shorter, wider version with storage compartments for all of your home theater junk.

Via Unplugged

Philips, Axel Springer Partner Up To Personalize Your TV Guide

Tru2way technology may mean the death of the set-top box, but a Philips-developed Personal TV system that'll be deployed by German content provider Axel Springer will make television viewing a whole lot more personal. Expected to be deployed by Axel in the second half of this year, the Personal TV system combines user data and an electronic programming guide from Axel and Philips' Aprico software to a smart service that'll allow viewers to create personalized channel in their TV's electronic programming guide which then will match appropriate content to it from existing channels. Not specific to Axel however, the Personal TV system can be used globally and you may even see it on your computer or cell phone in the future.

Via Philips

Americans Love Their Video On Demand: Rentrak

First quarter video-on-demand viewing skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2008, up 59% from last year's Q1. The 185 million VOD hours viewed in Q1 2008 were definitely partly a result of a 36% increase to more than 70, 000 titles. The data, compiled by Rentrak Corporation from 51 million American set-top boxes, also revealed that viewing of free on-demand TV shows doubled, subscription VOD viewing grew 41% and transactional viewing rose 11%. Cable and satellite providers have been pushing VOD hard in the last year or so as they compete to offer more on-demand programming. Comcast is one name that comes to mind with their Project Infinity which is pushing out on-demand titles like crazy this year, including those in high definition. In fact, HD VOD looks to be huge in the next few years judging by consulting firm Oliver Wyman's forecast that it'll generate somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in consumer spending by 2010.

Via Video Business

A Look Into The Habits Of US TV Viewers

A December 2007 online survey of 1002 Americans conducted by ABI Research yielded some interesting finds. Conducted to learn more about how Americans view their service providers, what technologies they use and how price sensitive they are, here is the results of the survey broken down into numbers:

• 38% of respondents have home theaters or game consoles attached to their televisions
• 38% of respondents use DVRs
• 25% of respondents chose their pay-TV service based on price
• 25% of respondents chose their pay-TV service based on convenience and promotional offers
• 15-20% of respondents chose their pay-TV service provider based on programming quality and customer service
• 6% of respondents were interested in mobile TV
• 35% of respondents would not pay for common add-on services
• 65% of respondents said online news clips was their preferred online video content
• 43% of respondents said movie trailers was their preferred online video content
• 43% of respondents said that user-generated content was their preferred online video content
• 53% of respondents use pay-per-view services to watch movies only a few times per year
• 40% of respondents own at least one HDTV
• <50% of those HDTV owners actually subscribe to HD content

So what does this all mean? According to ABI Research, PVRs, DVRs, gaming, home theater installs, free content in exchange for ad views, HDTVs are all hot commodities. Network media adapters, the Slingbox, pay-per-view and program quality not so much. One insight gained from the research, which is not surprising, is that despite the fact that many people own HDTV's, very few actual subscribe to HD content or care about programming quality when choosing a pay-TV service provider. Can we say consumer education?!

Via Digitimes

If The Writer's Strike Ends Tomorrow, How Will It Affect Your Favorite TV Shows?

We should know by tomorrow if the Hollywood Writer's Strike will finally end, and you may now be wondering when new episodes of your favorite TV shows will hit the air. While not all hit shows ran into repeats, a fair number did including the likes of CSI: Miami, Gossip Girl, and Grey's Anatomy. TV Decoder has put together a comprehensive list of all your favorite TV shows and when you can expect to see new episodes...if you see them at all.

Netflix Raising HD Movie Rental Prices?

One negative effect of a resolution to the HD format war is lower profit margins for Netflix because more customers could begin renting HD movies. Lower profit margins could mean increased prices for those same customers. Any price increases that do happen won't be in any way related to internet downloads, according to Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy. He said at the Thomas Weisel Partners Technology, Telecom & Internet Conference in San Francisco this past week that internet downloading will not threaten the DVD business until prices drop and content is accessible through multiple devices. This would require an "open system", of which none of Netflix's competitors such as Amazon Unbox or Apple iTunes have.

Via Video Business

Sony's Bravia Compatible, Bluetooth Digital Photo Frames With HDMI

Digital photo frames have definitely been a hot seller for the past year or so, but by and large they're pretty much all the same. That is until now. Sony has announced a new line of digital photo frames, the S-Frame brand, featuring three new photo frames: the DPF-V900, DPF-V700, and DPF-D70.

All three frames have the standard features including 800x480 WVGA resolution, 15:9 aspect ratio, and an image processor that will display pictures up to 48 megapixels. You can also choose between 10 different slide show options, display more than one picture at a time, and display a calendar and clock. The DPF-900 has a 9-inch screen while the DPF-700 has a 7-inch screen and both have 512 MB of internal storage. The DPF-70 features a 7-inch frame and 256 MB of internal storage.

The added memory of the DPF-900 and DPF-700 allow the photo frames to boast some extra features that really differentiate them from other frames on the market. First of all, using a Bluetooth adapter sold separately, you can import photo files wirelessly from a handheld Bluetooth-enabled device to your digital photo frame. Plus, the frames connect to Sony Bravia HDTV's and a few other compatible sets via an HDMI cable so you can view your photos in high-def resolution on your TV screen. Finally, the frames use Sony's revolutionary Bionz processor which recognizes faces in pictures allowing for faster processing and in-frame photo corrections. I would have to say that up until now, digital photo frames didn't particularly appeal to me, but with these new features and the HDTV connectivity, I'll definitely check these ones out. I'll have to wait until March though, the expect release date, when we can expect to pay $250, $190, $140 for the DPF-900, DPF-700, and DPF-70 respectively.

Via Gearlog

All-In-One Home Theater: It's Made Of Wood, But The Razor Home Entertainment System Does The Job

For all-in-one media system fans, the Razor Home Entertainment System not only supports sound, but plays DVD's as well as a variety of file formats including: DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, MP3, VCD, SVCD, WMA, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, JPEG, and more. It'll even hook up to your USB stick for easily transferring compatible content. While it has somewhat of a techy look to it, it's actually made of wood, houses a subwoofer, front speakers, and center speakers. Available from Gadget Universe, the Razor Home Entertainment System is priced at a pretty pricy $399.95.

Via Crave

Starry Night Sleep Technology Bed: Built-In Home Theater And It Can Stop Your Snoring...For $50000

Most of us have a TV in the bedroom these days even though studies indicate we probably shouldn't. If we're going to set up a mini home theater in the bedroom, why not just buy a bed with a home theater built-in. This is the idea behind the Starry Night Sleep Technology Bed by Leggett & Platt, Inc. Featuring an LCD projector, DVR capability, an iPod dock, an integrated surround sound speaker system, wireless internet connectivity, and dual temperature controls, Starry Night is expected to be available for purchase in the first half of 2009 for $20000 to $50000 depending on what features the buyer chooses.

And what about if your partner snores? The bed also comes with a vibration-detector that can detect snoring from its source, triggering an 7 degree elevation of the offending parties side of the bed. Once the vibrations, or snoring, are no longer detected the positioning of the bed returns to normal. Don't tell my wife about this one. I don't want to pay five figures for a bed, even if it does have a built-in home theater.

Via Time

Apple To Announce iTunes Movie Rentals January 15, Warner Bros. Newest Studio To Offer Rentals

Apple will begin offering movie rentals on iTunes according to unknown sources familiar with the company. Currently Disney offers new releases, and Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate offer older titles for sale rather than for rent. The sources also said that Warner Bros. and Fox will also supply rental films.

This is to be officially announced January 15 by Steve Jobs at MacWorld, at which time he will also announce pricing of $3.99 for 24 hours for both new releases and older titles. Analysts expect other major studios to jump on board in the near future.

Via Bloomberg

DivX Format Sony Flicks Soon Available At Online Retailers

Sony Pictures Television has entered into a partnership with DivX, Inc. that will allow online retailers to offer DivX-format Sony content for download. The deal will "cover all titles in the Sony Pictures Television library", and though download-to-own the files will have some sort of DRM protection. So far though, no retailers that actually offer Sony DivX downloads have been announced. When they are, the DivX files should be available the same day as any Sony Pictures Television DVD release.

Via Ars Technica