(Credit: Domino’s)Thanks to a new agreement with pizza giant Domino’s, owners of TiVo set-top boxes can now order food from the chain directly through their televisions, and even track delivery time so they know just when the pizza guy will be showing up to bring them a …
Originally posted at News - Digital Media
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
2Wire’s announced a 7-inch square set-top box designed to “bridge television and the internet.” Called MediaPoint, it seems to be nearly identical to every media streamer we’ve seen — it will multitask as a digital media player that delivers HD video and access streaming media on your home network via broadband. The box will boast HDMI ouput, WiFi, USB expansion, UPnP and DLNA compatibility. Sounds unbelievably enticing, right? Well, unlike most media streamers, you’ll have to buy MediaPoint through a broadband service provider which will distribute the boxes under their own branding, and you’ll presumably have to pay a subscription fee — hopefully so you can enjoy some WWE Raw. Wow! So a product that’s pretty much the same as a bunch of things that already exist, but we get to deal with a cable / internet service provider? Sounds fun, where do we sign up? They’re expected to be available “very soon” though there’s no word on pricing plans for the box or the subscriptions.
[Via Electronista]
2Wire’s MediaPoint HD streamer box is special just like everybody else originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Netflix has expanded its “Watch Instantly” movie streaming player to include Macintosh-owning subscribers.
The company announced on its blog Friday that it is past its first phase of beta testing and was inviting subscribers who wanted to opt in to do so. But the company had a few warnings for
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Originally posted at News - Digital Media
We’ve all been there: you’ve downloaded an episode of your favorite TV show to watch on your commute or stream to your living room, but the file you downloaded isn’t supported on the device you want to use it with. Once a significant obstacle to enjoying your media anywhere, this problem is easily solved by any number of free media converters. On Wednesday we asked you to share your favorite media converters, and today we’re back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a closer look at the most powerful and easiest to use media converters, then cast a vote for the one you like best.
Super is a free media converter that acts as a graphical front end to several of the most powerful command line tools like FFmpeg, MEncoder, and MPlayer. The application boasts extensive options for customizing your preferences with virtually any aspect of your conversion. The downside to that control is that Super’s interface is cluttered and intimidating for first-time users. Luckily for most purposes, converting a file to the right format with Super is as simple as selecting your output format (e.g., Apple iPod) and just sticking with the defaults.
Format Factory is a free media converter for Windows that converts video, audio, and even images between formats. With a nice icon-driven interface for helping you choose the kind of conversion you’re looking for, FormatFactory is one of the friendliest batch media converters you’ll find.
MediaCoder is a batch media transcoder that converts video and audio from and to most popular formats through a powerful graphical interface. Like Super, MediaCoder is a front-end for a number of command line media tools, allowing you to get as simple or complex as you want with your conversions. MediaCoder is available on all platforms, but its best supported on Windows. MediaCoder is also available in device-specific flavors for the iPhone and iPod touch, PSP, and more.
HandBrake is a popular open-source media converter that encodes video from DVDs to many popular output formats. Available in both graphical and command line flavors, HandBrake can’t convert the range of formats the rest can—it’s limited to MPEG video (that includes DVD video). HandBrake easily earns its place as one of the five best DVD ripping tools, but it doesn’t have the versatility of many of the other applications featured in this Hive.
FFmpeg is free, cross platform command-line encoding tool that powers many of the more popular graphical applications in this Hive Five. While FFmpeg has more of a learning curve than the rest, it’s also undeniably powerful and flexible. If converting your media from the command line with FFmpeg appeals to you, check out how to FFmpeg your way to media conversion bliss.
This week’s big honorable mention goes to VisualHub, a Mac OS X conversion tool that lost its place in the top five because it mysteriously closed its doors between the time we put out the Hive Five Call and now.
Whether or not your favorite made the short list, let’s hear more about it in the comments.
Virtually every gadget you own is now capable of playing back music and videos—from your computer and phone to your MP3 player and video game console—but the problem is compatibility. Popular format X may play perfectly well on your computer, but it won’t think about playing back on your iPod. Not long ago you needed to hunt down obscure command line tools or purchase specialized converters to get your file in the correct format, but today there are countless free tools available that can convert just about any piece of media to whatever format you need. For this week’s Hive Five, we want you to share your favorite media converter—whether it runs on the web, desktop, or command line. Keep reading for more details and to nominate your favorite digital media converter.
Hive Five nominations take place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Media Converter Goes Here. If you don’t follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you’ve made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.
About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get—”Which tool is the best?” Once a week we’ll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we’ll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week’s Hive Five Best Sites to Stream TV.
If you prefer sticking to the speed of the command line whenever possible, weblog CatsWhoCode details how to use Ffmpeg—the cross-platform command-line tool that runs in the background of most popular media conversion tools—to convert video, audio, and images to just about any format.
Many of the big guns in Hollywood, technology and retailing have joined forces to create the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC—a consortium focused on building “a new digital media framework using industry standards” that will “enable consumers to acquire and play content across a wide range of services and devices.” In a nutshell, the DECE hopes to create a system where users can download content, playback that content on compliant branded products and possibly store that media in a “virtual library” to be accessed at home or on the road. Unfortunately, I see a few problems with all of this.
First of all, this isn’t the first time a consortium like this has been established. For example: The Secure Digital Music Initiative was formed in 1998 only to die a horrible death a few years later. Second, I don’t see any mention of Apple on the list of participants—but I do see Comcast on there. You know, the same ISP enforcing 250GB data caps on its subscribers. So they are all for unlimited access to content…as long as you keep it within reason. It doesn’t seem to be viable to me in its current form, but I will withhold judgment until the full details are revealed in January at CES.
Industry Leaders to Create Global Standard Enabling
“Buy Once, Play Anywhere” Consumer Experience for Digital Media
Major Hollywood studios, retailers, service providers, and consumer electronics and IT
companies to develop framework for bringing together digital products, content and services
for consumers
LOS ANGELES (September 12, 2008) – Today, an international and cross-industry group of more than 20 leading companies announced the formation of a consortium, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC (”DECE LLC”), that will define and build a new digital media framework using industry standards, and will enable consumers to acquire and play content across a wide range of services and devices. Anchored by Alcatel-Lucent, Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Fox Entertainment Group, HP, Intel, Lionsgate, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, VeriSign and Warner Bros. Entertainment, DECE LLC will address growing consumer confusion around buying, downloading and playing digital content offered by multiple services by working toward a simple, uniform digital media experience.
“This is great news for consumers hungry for access to a wider array of digital content they can enjoy on any device they own. We formed this consortium to give consumers that kind of power and choice,” said Mitch Singer, president of DECE LLC, on behalf of its members. “To open up the market for digital distribution, we are developing a specification that connects a wide variety of services and devices. DECE LLC is taking the lessons learned from the successful “buy once, play anywhere” experience that we enjoy with CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray today, and using a similar approach in developing the next generation digital media experience.”
Over time, DECE LLC will issue a licensable specification, along with a recognizable brand and logo for compliant products and services that will assure consumers that content they download will play on their devices. The specification, based on industry standards, will outline the hardware and software requirements for companies to follow as they define new consumer experiences.
The specification will also define how consumers can enjoy their purchased content on an assortment of devices, or even remotely, thereby creating the convenience of a virtual library, accessible in the home or on the road. By offering consumers the same level of confidence and comfort with digital content that they feel today with physical media, DECE LLC believes it can bring real value to digital content.
As DECE LLC moves ahead, it will continue to seek broader industry support across the content, software, hardware, retailer and service provider sectors, and will issue more information around its development and release plans.
Motorola has come out with a phone, the Cliq, targeted at a specific market and utilizing the power of Google’s Android platform. It is the first of a family of new Motorola phones, where the Cliq stands at the patronymic fore. As far as features go, Cliq is doing all right. The phone is complete [...]
For Microsoft Outlook users unfamiliar with Xobni, pay attention. The venture-backed company’s first piece of software, not even two years old, is a powerful advancement for e-mail organization, Outlook style. Wednesday, the new version of the tool is available, Xobni1.8 which provides additional power. In addition, the previously free plugin is offering an advanced version, [...]
Ever since June of last year there has been talks of Verizon and Alltel merging, but now it is official. Verizon wireless has now become the largest mobile carrier with over 83 million subscribers. Alltel will continue to run under the Alltel name until a complete merger of the two brands later this year. Now [...]
Pioneer has released a statement saying they have developed a Super Multi-Layered Disc that will play using current Blu-ray players. The disc consists of 16 layers that can hold 25GB of data each, which totals a 400GB Disc. They plan on having a read-only disc available by 2010, a rewritable by 2012, and a 1TB [...]
One of the biggest reasons most Windows users are sticking with Firefox over Google Chrome is its extensibility—and the most popular Firefox extension by far among Lifehacker readers is Adblock Plus.
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