TV

We knew it was only a matter of time before cable companies offered video streaming services.  As cable prices skyrocket, Americans have been turning to online video streaming companies to meet their television needs.  Online video streaming companies such as Netflix have been stealing thousands of customers from cable companies forcing the cable giants to reconsider their service packages.

To meet this new challenge, Comcast has launched its own online video streaming service called Xfinity Streampix.  This new subscription video service will offer customers the opportunity to view television shows and movies on demand.  Right now, Comcast is working with Warner Bros., Sony and Universal for content deals.  Comcast customers can add Xfinity Streampix service for an additional $4.99 each month.  Customers can stream Streampix videos to their TV lift cabinets, computers or mobile devices.

Unfortunately, this service is currently only being offered to existing Comcast customers.  It is questionable whether the added-value service will be of much benefit to existing cable customers.  If you already pay a premium for cable television service, why would you need Xfinity Streampix?  Perhaps for the customers who are traveling and wish to stream content to their phones this will be of use, but for the typical Comcast customer will this service be necessary?

Comcast would be better positioned to compete with Netflix and Amazon by offering this service to new customers.  After all, the reason most defected to Netflix and Amazon in the first place was because they could not afford cable packages.

DirecTV and TiVo are now launching their new TiVo HD DVR across the United States.  The partnership that started in 2008 between DirecTV and TiVo has finally created a strong product to offer to DirecTV subscribers.  The new TiVo HD DVR (THR22) can fit into all TV lift cabinets, record up to 100 hours of HD programming or 400 hours of standard definition shows.  The THR22 also has the ability to record two shows at a time and can access 7,000 movies on demand.

The two companies did a soft launch of the THR22 in December to select markets for its trial period.  The trial markets included New York, Denver, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.  Now after two months of test trialing, both companies feel comfortable with releasing the TiVo HD DVR to the rest of the United States.  Clearly, the trial period produced positive results.

The biggest game of the year is right around the corner. Super Bowl XLVI will go down this Sunday in Indianapolis in a contest between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. So fire up the grill, grab a cold one and gather around the TV lift cabinet. Here is a round-up of Super Bowl predictions going into the weekend of the big game.

The Giants last won the Super Bowl in 2007 in a heated battle against their current foe, the Patriots. In the third biggest upset in betting line history, the score was 17-14. This time, who do the Giants have on their side? ESPN.com, CBSSports.com and FoxSports.com to name a few. Going into the game, the Giants appear to be heavily favored.

On the other hand, New England had a better record this season and they are perennial contenders. Not to mention, vindication for Super Bowl ’07 is on the line. Will the Patriots get revenge on Sunday? According to Boston.com, the Miami Herald, San Jose Daily News and Boston Globe seem to think so.

Tune in to NBC at 6:30pm on Sunday to check out all the action of the game as well as the much anticipated Half Time Show featuring Madonna.

We give you another reason to turn on your TV Lift Cabinet this Sunday.  Madonna is scheduled to perform at the half-time show at the Super Bowl!  For those “Material Girl” fans out there, her show is sure to be her usual over the top performance.

For twelve minutes Madonna will be performing with the help of M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj.  She will be singing four songs total.  We don’t know what all four of her songs will be, but we do know one of the songs will be from her new album MDNA called “Give Me All Your Luvin”.  The other three songs will be from her older hits.

Also after the game, be sure to head to your local movie theater and check out the new Hunger Games movie.  The Hunger Games movie is based off of Suzanne Collins’ first book of her Hunger Games trilogy, and is already receiving great reviews.  This futuristic story takes place in Panem, where the countries of North America once existed.  The Capitol, a highly affluent city, holds absolute control over its twelve districts.  The Hunger Games were created to punish the districts from rebelling against the Capitol.  One boy and one girl from each district ages 12 to 18, are selected through a lottery to compete against one another in a televised battle.  They are competing to survive as only one of them can live.

Sunday is looking like a very exciting promising day to watch great entertainment.

Is Netflix making a comeback?  Netflix, Inc. saw its stock go up in value yesterday after the company was able to secure more U.S. based subscribers than expected in their fourth quarter.

Netflix has suffered in recent months after they announced an aggressive price increase which split its DVD mail-service from its streaming video service.  The price increase outraged many of their existing customers causing 600,000 subscribers to cancel their plans and its stock to plummet.

It looks like the company is slowly climbing its way out of the hole.  It is reported that the company added 610,000 new subscribers in the United States, increasing revenue by 47 percent to $876 million. Netflix’s plan is to offer more content for customers to stream to their TV lift cabinets.

Analysts doubt that Netflix will be able to return completely to their glory days as there is now too much competition in the market with Amazon and Hulu Plus gaining momentum.  Netflix casually dismissed their competition but it should be interesting to see which way viewers will sway.  Ultimately the winning company will be the one that has the best streaming content to offer customers.    With this in mind, Netflix is spending their money wisely to acquire more relevant movies and TV programs to their streaming business.

This past Sunday was a great day for watching football.  The New England Patriots played the Baltimore Ravens, while the New York Giants faced off against the San Francisco 49ers.  Both games were incredibly close but in the end the Patriots and Giants were the victors.  Now Patriots and Giants will play for the Super Bowl Championship on Sunday, February 5^th.  Are you ready for your Super Bowl party?

It is time to impress your friends this year with your TV Lift Cabinet.  Yes, that’s right. You have the large flat screen TV and the wow factor of the lift machine.  Of course, your house is the ultimate place to throw a Super Bowl party!  Now make sure to sport your team’s jersey, get the snacks and beverages ready and have that remote in hand. And just remember even if your team doesn’t win, you will still have bragging rights with your friends because you have a TV lift cabinet and they don’t.

Hulu, the popular video streaming service, has stepped into the forefront of streaming TV shows and movies to TV lift cabinets, PCs and smartphones. It seems only natural that the next step would be its own original series. The idea has long been discussed among executives and Hulu fans alike. Today, Hulu has officially announced the confirmed debut date of February 14^th for the Hulu original series, “Battleground”

“Battleground” is a political comedy that is centered on a primary campaign for a Wisconsin senate seat. Hulu will air 13 episodes of the new series beginning in February. It is the first of three original shows that Hulu plans to air over the coming months. In addition to “Battleground”, Hulu will introduce “A Day in the Life” (a documentary about fame) as well as a travelogue from the director of “Dazed and Confused”, Richard Linklater.

Original programming seems to be the latest venture for online streaming services like Hulu. Demand for inexpensive options to watch TV shows and movies continues to rise as consumers become more discouraged with increasing cable costs.  Hulu is not the only streaming service to jump on the original programming train. Their main competitor, Netflix, recently announced its own plans for an original series entitled “Lilyhammer”. With a 60% increase in revenue last year for Hulu, there is plenty of opportunity to expand original programming if the initial offering is a success with viewers.

This year at the Annual CES show in Las Vegas, there was definitely buzz generated around Smart TVs.  Television makers were aiming to impress and bring forth cutting edge technology.  Here are some snippets of what TV lift cabinet owners can expect to see come to market within the next year.

• Samsung and LG are increasing their sets’ processing power and memory to give television watchers the ability to streamline content and videoconference via Skype with friends.
• Samsung, Sony, and LG are using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.  OLED can glow without separate light source.  In laymen terms, enabling them to produce wafer thin TVs.
• LG will sell these OLED televisions with a motion sensing Magic Remote.  Their new Magic Remote has voice recognition capabilities.

According to Technology News website CNET, Toshiba has confirmed that they will begin shipping a Glasses-Free 3D TV to the U.S. in early 2012. No indication was given to CNET on possible sizes for the TV. Toshiba currently has glasses-free 55” 3D TVs for sale overseas in Germany and Japan where they sell for over $10,000 apiece in each country.

The glasses-free model will be a welcome development for a large percentage of 3D TV fans and TV lift cabinet owners. Common complaints from 3D TV viewers, as well as those who have tried but shunned the devices: A) Glasses are inconvenient and can interfere with performing multiple tasks while watching 3D entertainment and B) The 3D glasses and resulting images can cause headaches.

So, how does it work? We frequently touch on the topic of 3D TVs on our blog and the topic of Toshiba’s glasses-free 3D TV has been discussed previously when it was more in its infancy. 3D TV works by presenting each eye with a slightly different image, giving the viewer perceived three dimensional pictures. Typically, the glasses would combine the two images to result in the 3D picture. In the glasses-free model, many tiny lenses project two different pictures from the screen, one to each of the viewer’s eyes. This effect is easier to achieve with only one viewer. With multiple viewers, the TV must ‘learn’ where the faces are located and project images accordingly. This is one major difference between Toshiba’s 3D TV and watching a standard HD TV. With Toshiba’s 3D model, the viewer(s) will need to press a button on the remote to launch facial recognition software. This allows the TV to present the best possible image for all viewers – pretty incredible stuff. We can’t wait to read more about it when the newest prototype is unveiled at CES on Sunday.

While Apple is busy keeping their planning under wraps, the rest of us are busy trying to discover what they are up to, especially when it comes to their iTV.

What has been leaked through the grapevine is that Samsung Electronics in Korea has started producing chips for the iTVs since November 2011.  Sharp also is rumored to be producing the displays for the new TVs.  The screens will be relatively small for the initial introductory phase at between 32 and 37 inches and will be better suited for the small foot of the bed TV lift cabinets.

Sterne Agee Analyst Shaw Wu wrote, ““We continue to hear what AAPL would love to do is offer users the ability to choose their own customized programming, i.e., whichever channels/shows they want for a monthly subscription fee. This is obviously much more complicated from a licensing standpoint. And in our view, would change the game for television and give AAPL a big leg-up against the competition.”

Wu goes on to write about how the biggest obstacle right now for Apple to iron out its content partnerships and licensing terms.  Apple has content and licensing agreements in place for iTunes but only for movie rentals, not TV shows or live broadcast television.  Apple would like live television offered via the internet or IPTV instead of through cable providers.  That is the direction Apple would like to go in and is currently in discussions to make this happen.