Netflix Watch Instantly going 1080p, 5.1-channel surround sound

Netflix will add 1080p video streaming along with 5.1-channel surround sound audio streaming to its Netflix Watch Instantly service in 2010, according to ZDNet. The video streaming service already streams 720p content to a variety of devices including game consoles, Blu-ray players, PCs, laptops and virtually anything else with an internet connection.

Netflix coming to the Nintendo Wii? Should "work out over time"

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, streaming Netflix movies could be coming to the Nintendo Wii in the very near future. His exact words, in an interview with All Things Digital's Peter Kafka, were that the chances of the service launching on the Wii are "excellent" and should "work out over time." Other interesting Netflix tidbits coming from CES 2010 include:

• an agreement with Warner Bros. that will see Netflix waiting for 28 days before new DVDs will be rentable. In exchange, Netflix will be able to buy the DVDs for a lower price.
• the company expects to ship physical DVDs until about 2030.
• Netflix will not be a global company anytime soon. Maybe 30-50 years out. However we will see the service launch in one country outside of the United States this year.

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Amazon Deal + On Demand DVD and Blu-ray promotion launches

Looking to bridge the gap between physical Blu-ray and DVD disc sales and streaming video sales, Amazon has just announced a new promotion that enables disc buyers one month to watch the purchased film instantly via streaming. It sounds good, but the Disc + On Demand deal only consists of 313 movies right now, and none of those are particularly new. Hopefully this changes if the promotion becomes a permanent fixture within the company.

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YouTube getting a 1080p video player within days

YouTube is about to enter the world of 1080p video, according to an announcement today at the NewTeeVee Live conference. So far the Google-owned video platform has only supported 720p video and due to a variety of factors, HD video playback only accounts for 10% of all video views. Most of that is due to software/hardware limitations, but YouTube has decided to scrap waiting for the world to catch up. YouTube simply has to re-encode already available video and will roll out 1080p video playback and a new fullscreen player within the next few days.

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Blockbuster flix finally streaming to TiVos everywhere

It's been a long time coming, but today TiVo owners will finally be able to stream Blockbuster OnDemand movies. First announced in March, the TiVo/Blockbuster partnership will stream $3.99 new releases, $2.99 classics, and "select HD titles" in the next few weeks. As part of the agreement, Blockbuster stores will also sell TiVo units--at least in the United States. Owners of TiVo models Series 2 and Series 3 will be able to access the service immediately, after signing up for a Blockbuster account.

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Akamai HD Network brings HDTV to the internet

Akamai Technologies, a company that provides much of the underlying infrastructure powering dynamic video content and enterprise applications online, is looking to bring true HDTV to the internet.

Announced today, the Akamai HD Network is the company's "next generation video delivery offering and the first platform to deliver HD video online to customers using Adobe Flash technology, Microsoft Silverlight, and to the iPhone, at broadcast-level audience scale," according to a press release issued.

The system leverages Akamai's global EdgePlatform of more than 50, 000 servers, and according to Akamai, "enables content providers to deliver more HD content than previously possible--due to its wide-scale distribution in 70 countries and increased throughputs in more than 900 networks.

So what online video delivery features does the Akamai HD Network include and improve upon?

• Adaptive bitrate streaming--video streaming process automatically adjusts to the fluctuations in bandwidth, enabling uninterrupted playback at HD bitrate.
• Instant response--viewer interactions with the video player including play, rewind, and pause are immediately responded to.
• HD video player--open standards-based player enables faster time to market.
• HD player authentication--authenticates player for all 3 playback platforms ensuring only authorized viewers can access video content.

When it comes right down to the nitty-gritty, the purpose of Akamai's HD Network is to allow content producers to reach TV-scale audiences online while still providing an HD-quality experience--something thus far lacking on the web. As more television channels and film producers begin to leverage the internet in evermore bandwidth-sucking ways in order to augment their traditional video distribution strategies, an HD platform like this is a big plus.

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Intel outs 45nm CE4100 media processor for Internet TV

Intel will begin selling a form of its popular Atom chip for use in Internet TV. Typically used in low-power electronics such as netbooks, the new Atom, called the Intel Atom CE4100, is actually a full-blown system-on-a-chip design built on a 45nm process. The SoC media processor is the first 45nm CE SoC from Intel, supporting Internet and broadcast applications, and generating the power needed to run 3D graphics on one chip. Offered in speeds of up to 1.2 GHz, the CE4100 is backwards compatible with the Intel Media Processor CE3100, and supports the Widget Channel software framework used to develop TV widgets.

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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings predicts the future of video

Reuters recently had the chance to talk with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings after he awarded the $1 million prize to a team for improving its movie recommendation engine. During the interview Hastings gave some insight as to the future plans of his DVD-by-mail giant. In the future, he hopes that Netflix streaming will be integrated into every internet TV, game console, and Blu-ray player. He also sees the possibility of working with Apple to integrate Netflix into the iPhone, though he concedes the company isn't focused on mobile yet. As for DVD? He figures that the DVD-by-mail service will peak for Netflix in 5 years or so, though he also said that people will still be buying DVDs in 15 to 20 years, giving them a much longer lifespan than most of us would have thought.

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Epix Megaplex: The "largest HD film library online" coming in 2010

Epix, a new premium online video channel from Viacom, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate, has told NewTeeVee in a recent interview that it would deliver 3000 movies to subscribers via EpixHD.com. The Epix Megaplex segment will also offer many films previously un-digitized including crime dramas, musicals and mob movies (my personal favorite). This, according to the company, will make Epix the "largest HD film library online," even beating out Netflix's 17000 titles. The web component will match its TV channel though distributors have the option of not including an online offering. Right now the only distributor, Verizon, hasn't made the service available through FiOS, but maybe that'll happen when Megaplex launches in the first quarter of 2010.

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Samsung adds YouTube streaming, MKV file support to 2009 Blu-ray and home theater products

Add YouTube video and MKV file support to the growing list of capabilities that Samsung's 2009 Blu-ray players and home theater systems offer. Blockbuster support was announced earlier this summer and is still on track to debut this fall, but a free firmware upgrade available now enables BDP-1600, BDP-3600, and BDP-4600 Blu-ray owners to start streaming SD YouTube videos now. MKV file support (often used for torrents) is also included in the update. Blockbuster and YouTube support will also be available later this year for the HT-BD1250, HT-BD7200, HT-BD8200, and HT-BD3252--Samsung's 2009 Blu-ray home theaters. The company hasn't specified an exact date that the home theater firmware update will be available.

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YouTube finds a way to make money! New release movie rentals

What happens when DVD sales decline $850 million in one year and YouTube can't find a business model that'll lead it to profitability? Hollywood studios and the Google-owned video streaming site tie up together to mutually benefit. That's what the Wall Street Journal is reporting today. YouTube is said to be in negotiations with Lions Gate, Sony and Warner to offer new movie releases on the video site, most likely as fee-based rentals. The rumored price point is $3.99 for new releases, the same as Apple iTunes rentals, of which just under $3 will head back to studio coffers. Currently, some studios offer older movies for free on YouTube supported by advertising. Once negotiations wrap, Google employees will test the service for 3 months before we see anything on the consumer end.

NEC Display to ship eco-friendly 19-inch MultiSync EA190M LCD display

NEC Display has recently announced the MultiSync EA190M display geared for offices everywhere. The 19-inch monitor features 1280 x 1024 resolution, 900:1 contrast ratio, 250cd/m2 brightness, a 5 millisecond response time, a Dynamic Video Mode with 5 presets, DVI and VGA inputs, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a 4-way stand, and built-in speakers. It also has an ECO Mode which NEC claims is twice as energy efficient and uses half the mercury of traditional LCD displays. Shipping this month, the MultiSync EA190M will cost $259.

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2009 Panasonic Blu-ray players get Amazon on Demand with software update

Owners of 2009 Panasonic Viera Cast-enabled Blu-ray players may notice something different this morning. An automatic update yesterday brought Amazon on Demand to your internet-connected HD disc player. The update came to the DMP-BD60, BD70V, BD80 and the portable B15 Blu-ray players, bringing 45, 000 SD titles and 1, 000 HD titles to the already accessible Picasa and Youtube (among other) content.

Continue reading: "2009 Panasonic Blu-ray players get Amazon on Demand with software update"

Web TV is picking up steam: survey

Okay, so maybe good ol' fashioned cable TV isn't in danger of going out of business just yet. But just wait until the current generation of youngsters have the cash to plaster a brand spankin' new web-connected HDTV on the wall.

A recent survey by Pew features some revealing stats about the state of online video viewership. Consider this:

• 62% of adult net users have watched video online (an increase from 33% 2.5 years ago)
• 35% of net users have watched a movie or TV show online (2x times that of 2007 survey results)
• 23% of these people have hooked up their PC to a TV

Now consider these stats:

• 89% of youngsters watch video online
• 36% of youngsters watch online video in a typical day

What do you think? Is cable heading for an eventual demise a la newspapers?

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