Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Despite previous statements declaring that their online service would be offering live video streaming some time this year, a source inside now states that YouTube won’t be going live after all. There goes the business plans of several planning to make a buck off the live streaming idea, like the somewhat cult-popular lifecast justin.tv. Some outsiders have thought this was the next expected step for YouTube, being that they make a killing in the market for pre-recorded Web video. Even Steve Chen, Co-Founder of YouTube, lent plausibility to the leap to live streaming when the idea first hit the public’s ear by telling Pop 17’s Sarah Meyer’s “Live video is something we always wanted to do but haven’t had the resources to do it correctly, but now with Google, we hope to launch something this year.” Well, that was in February, and it isn’t happening, and sources say it won’t be happening next year either.

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Get ready, here comes Kodak into the TV set-top box market. Due to hit stores in September, their Theatre HD Player is a Wi-Fi equipped TV set-top box that can stream music, videos, and photos from any computer that is connected to the same network right to your HDTV. It offers 720 playback, HDMI and component output ports, and a USB port.

Sounds decent, right? Sure. Until you take a look at the price tag and then compare it to what is already on the market and comparable. We have the PlayStation 3 and AppleTV. These two alone offer the exact same features and more. The Theatre HD Player will run you $300.  Now, while a 40GB PS3 is a little pricier at $400; it also has a Blu-ray player and the obvious video game console included. The AppleTV costs less than the Theatre HD at $229, and it even allows you to store media.

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In an attempt to be more proactive rather than simply reactive, the MPAA has recently approved the DreamStream system and its 2048-bit “military strength” anti-piracy encryption technology to protect content streamed to viewers online.

First introduced to the MPAA in March of 2008 by Laura Tunberg, MGM’s former vice president of intellectual property enforcement, it was since reviewed by the MPAA and found it to be a viable means for securing digital content. Chief development officer for DreamStream, Ulf Diebel, is excited by this acknowledgment of their product.

“We are very excited to have the MPAA stand behind our technology.”

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Netflix claims that its online DVD rental business can peak within 5 to 10 years. Reed Hastings, CEO of the company claims that even if DVD rentals are still way ahead of online rentals, their business can still be expected to reach its peak. “Everybody peaks sometime,” he claimed.

The company also aims to shift to streaming television and movies online. They have recently introduced the Roku, a Netflix-enabled set-top box that make video-to-television transfer possible. Hopefully, by next year Netflix will be able to get into future game consoles, Internet-enabled televisions, and high-definition DVD players in the future.

Currently, Netflix has 10,000 titles that are available for online streaming. Most of these however, are older and independent films. None are high-definition films, yet. They are working on having the studios provide the rights so the business can have more films to offer moving forward.

They believe that offering a combined online DVD rental and a streaming service for a monthly fee is the right model to compete against the video streaming giants like YouTube, Apple, Amazon, etc. Netflix believes that they can reach up to 20 million subscribers through streaming.

The company stands firm in not getting into advertising for finance, and download fees. It promises to allow their consumers to watch videos, any time of the day, as well. However, Netflix is not bound to introduce a stand-alone streaming service as of the moment.

Read [SFGate]

Hulu.com has seen growing trends in its viewership, so much so that News Corp and NBC Universal have decided to distribute its service to seven new sites. Hulu users watched a total of 63.2 million videos on its website last April and the average Hulu user spends around 129.3 minutes per month. Because of the enormous usage of the site, Hulu is set to distribute its videos on TV.com, TVGuide.com, Break.com and Zap2it.com.

Hulu had been reported to exceed the level of usage of all US television network websites in its first month after the official site launching – as stated in the VideoCensus data by ACNielsen.

Although Google’s YouTube remain to be the unbeatable site for online videos, Hulu has made remarkable milestones as a competitor. Major advertisers like McDonalds and Bank of America have already been attracted by the video website. Now that Hulu is beginning to further distribute its service, it should definitely see continued increase in its viewership.

Read [Reuters]

Microsoft is touting two new LifeCam models which are uniquely designed to have a bendable attachment base. These new webcams which mold to any surface are the LifeCam VX-5000 and VX-500. In addition, Microsoft is also releasing the LifeChat LX-2000, a full-size headset which is bendable as well.

Both of these LifeCams are affordable, easy to use and come with individual features. The LifeCam VX-5000 which comes a colored ring around its front, which you can choose to have in either Cool Blue, Lucky Green or Fire Red. This LifeCam is equipped with Windows Live optimization as well as the latest version of the LifeCam software. Its features include; Windows LiveCall Button, LifeCam dashboard, advanced VGA optics with VGA sensor at 640 x 480 resolution, built-in unidirectional microphone, 3x digital zoom and pan and tilt features.

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Internet TV is cool and is starting to redefine the way consumers watch TV programs. But what would be even cooler is if you can watch your Internet TV programs in high definition, right? Actually you can soon do that with the newly launched and uber-cool device called the ZVBox. ZeeVee, the manufacturers of the ZVBox call this technology localcasting, whereby anything that you have on your PC will be streamed by way of the ZVBox into your HDTV display.

How is this possible? Actually, it works as simple as hooking your ZVBox to your monitor and your HDTV. The ZVBox will stream everything that you do on your PC and localcast this to your HDTV via channel ZV that goes through your cable. What makes ZVBox even better is the fact that it is not limited to localcasting Internet TV programs. Like we said, it can broadcast everything from your PC. So, you can view your own video, view high resolution photos, do your internet activities and many other things. What’s more, you can connect the ZVBox to multiple HDTVs. So, while you and your wife are watching in the comfort of your living room, the kids can watch on their own TV in the comfort of their bedroom.

But of course, all cool devices come with a price, and for the ZVBox it doesn’t come cheap. You can snag one ZVBox by pre-ordering at Amazon for $499. However, you’ll have to wait until June to find out if the price is worth it as that is when they are estimated to begin shipping..

Product [ZeeVee] Via [Gear Live]

With Hulu fresh out of the private beta status, there are now talks that they are looking to expand to other platforms, such as mobile phones. Overall it seems like a logical place to go and although Hulu CEO has made some comments they have been pretty generic up to this point. During the recent NAB video production expo, Jason Kilar was quoted as saying that “anything connected to the Internet” would be a possible match in the future, he also briefly mentioned the possibility of cellphones but failed to commit to any specific platform or device.

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Hulu is reportedly working on finally offering their video streaming service to countries other the US. Based on a recent screenshot (seen below) of a drop down box featured on the Hulu website it looks like Canada, the UK, and Australia are going to be first up.

In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Hulu’s CTO implied that they are currently working on making the videos available internationally but was mum on the subject of when it will officially be launched outside the US. It’s been said that the only thing preventing Hulu from streaming videos in other countries are the rights holders. No word yet from Hulu so let’s just wait and see if they ditch the drop down menu and go global for real.

Via [TechCrunch]

In the wake of the announcement of a joint LG/Netflix set-top box at CES, the Associated Press is reporting that Netflix plans on lifting the limits on internet viewing for most of their customers.Until now, Netflix imposed limits on how long subscribers could watch streamed movies. Those who paid $16.99/mo. could stream up to 17 hours per month. only those subscribers with the $4.99 for two DVDs per month will still have limits on the “watch instantly” service. The change is set to take effect this Monday the 14th.

With all the buzz surrounding the presumed entrance of Apple into the movie rental biz, it seems a safe bet that the power of Netflix’s user base (over 7 million) will be excellent leverage against the iTunes store. And with the new set-top box coming sometime this summer, Netflix seems to be positioning itself for it’s second act beyond the optical disc market.

Read [Associated Press]