TDG Opinions

May 2010 - Posts

• Google TV Unites Web and TV in One Experience

  This morning, at Google I/O in San Francisco, Google announced a comprehensive push to bring the Internet to TV, an effort dubbed "Google TV." Working with initial partners Intel, Sony, and Logitech, Google is assembling an open ecosystem to deliver web content and applications directly to the TV. As well, rather than ignore traditional TV content, the effort seeks to integrate the Internet and TV into a single seamless experience.... Posted May 20 2010, 03:38 PM by Colin Dixon with no comments Filed under: Blu-ray, Colin Dixon, Intel, Best Buy, Cellphone remote, Cable TV, Google TV, Google I/O

• VP8 Open Source Announcement

  Today, at the Google developer’s conference, GoogleIO, the company announced that the ON2 VP8 codec has been completely open-sourced. The video codec is being united with the Vorbis audio codec under the webm effort. VP8 is available under a completely royalty-free license.... Posted May 19 2010, 01:31 PM by Colin Dixon with no comments Filed under: Colin Dixon, Google, YouTube, ON2, webm, VP8

• What I Took Away From The Cable Show (other than the tsotchkes - Part 2 of 2

  A continuation of my previous post on attending The Cable Show (also known as NCTA) in LA - the annual gathering of the cable industry. Part 1 featured some of my topline takeaways. Here are a few more. ... Posted May 19 2010, 11:25 AM by Bill Niemeyer with no comments Filed under: ESPN, Bill Niemeyer, NCTA, The Cable Show, Speed, BlackArrow, Fox Cable, diginet

• What I Took Away From The Cable Show (other than the tsotchkes) - Part 1 of 2

  Last week I attended The Cable Show (aka NCTA) in LA - the annual gathering of the cable industry. It's a mix of the glitz of the cable network side of the business with the raw excitement of the cable operators' initiatives (maybe raw excitement is overstating it). Nonetheless, there were some interesting trends in evidence, here's a topline look at some of them.... Posted May 18 2010, 02:08 PM by Bill Niemeyer with no comments Filed under: digital media, iPad, Bill Niemeyer, NCTA, The Cable Show, Cable TV, IP

• All Netflix Clients Are Not Created Equal

  It is getting hard to find a connected TV platform that does not feature a Netflix streaming client. The Company is clearly intent on ensuring that Netflix customers are able to access the service from whichever TV-connected device they may purchase. As of May 2010, the Netflix client is available on 12 different TV platforms, including the top three game consoles, TVs and Blu-ray players from Vizio, Insignia, LG, Panasonic, and Sony, as well as TiVo DVRs. ... Posted May 11 2010, 11:07 AM by Colin Dixon with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Blu-ray, Colin Dixon, TiVo, Netflix, game consoles, iPhone, iPad, standards, PS3, Xbox 360, RCDb

• New RewardZone Perks Hint of the Digital Battle Ahead

  Best Buy recently added some new perks to their RewardZone Premier Silver program squarely focused on the digital media space. This includes free Napster streaming and download service and a free monthly video rental through CinemaNow. These changes signify that retailers are rapidly evolving to become more than just hardware sales channels as they look to digital media services as a strong growth opportunity. Will this be their only move into the digital battlefield or is much more about to unfold? ... Posted May 07 2010, 09:42 AM by Andy Tarczon with no comments Filed under: Andy Tarczon, retailers, CE, walmart, Best Buy, Vudu, CinemaNow, OTT delivery