It’s no doubt that creating good content can be a pricey proposition, but if you requisition your own content, you get the bonus of exclusive availability, with the content only being available to Netflix customers. This situation, in effect, puts Netflix head to head with other entities seeking content, such as the cable TV networks. Netflix is even outbidding some of these networks on acquiring the rights to this new exclusive content.

I was intrigued and curious about the new exclusive content, so I checked out Netflix’s first offering, the show “Lilyhammer”.

Lilyhammer stars ‘Steven Van Zandt’, well known for his wise guy roles, as the character Frank Tagliano, a New York City Mafia “fixer”. Frank is quite happy with his place in the Big Apple organization until his boss bites the dust and a “bean counter” becomes the new head honcho. After Frank narrowly survives an assassination attempt, he decides to roll over on his new hefe, testifying for the Feds in exchange for a relocation to the sleepy, snow-covered town of Lilyhammer in Norway.

Frank brings his big city ways and Mafia attitude with him to Lilyhammer and it’s not long before he establishes himself as an important figure in town who can make things happen (mostly for his own benefit).

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the Lilyhammer series. It had me laughing a LOT more than I expected it would. We’re now hoping for a season 2!

More Netflix exclusive content is on the way!

Netflix will be continuing this exclusive content trend, bringing some compelling new shows to its subscribers in the near future, including House of Cards (a political drama starring Kevin Spacey), Orange is the New Black (a comedy from Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds), Hemlock Grove (a horror series directed and produced by Eli Roth) and a brand new season of the show Arrested Development, which will only be found on Netflix.

All of this exclusive content has rekindled my interest in Netflix, but the question is, how will the Hollywood movie and TV studios react? Netflix is now analogous to a premium pay TV channel. Will this new angle of competition make it tougher (or more expensive) for Netflix to acquire the rights to stream Hollywood’s content? At this time it’s not clear, but this is certainly causing quite the battle on the “pay TV” and content access front. It will be interesting to see how Netflix, the pay TV providers and the Hollywood studios duke it out in the coming years.

You can check out a trailer for the Lilyhammer series in the YouTube video embedded below.

Last May, Google launched Google Music in beta. Since then, the cloud-based media delivery marketplace has seen a lot of competition, mainly in the forms of Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud and Spotify.

As a personal anecdote, I’m quite happy I loaded my entire music collection onto Google Music at the time. A couple months ago, my MacBook’s hard drive crashed, so my music collection was saved in the cloud.

And now, Google has added much more to the service and has taken it out of beta. It’s now called Google Play, and provides movies, music, apps, games and books all in one place – and that place is anywhere you are, because Google Play will be available on smartphones, tablets, computers, and more than likely on the newest iteration of Google TV.

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And now, instead of just uploading content, Google is now providing content. Movies, Music, Games, Apps and Books.

And keeping with the trends, the content you’re consuming may be shared with friends via social media.

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The Weinstein Company and Netflix announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will bring certain foreign-language, documentary and select other movies exclusively to Netflix streaming service in the US. The titles will become available for streaming for a time exclusive to Netflix before premium cable gets the chance.

While anyone familiar with Netflix streaming knows foreign films, documentaries and second-tier films are the stock and trade of their streaming service, this year does provide Oscar-nominated films such as The Artist, and Undefeated.

It’s not very often a foreign film is nominated for Best Picture, so I wouldn’t expect this arraignment is going to have much long-lasting effect.

Other films which will premiere on Netflix include Sarah’s Key, The Intouchables, W.E., and Coriolanus.

The cable tuner built into TVs may soon become obsolete. Just a few years after the analog antenna tuner was wiped out by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandating a transition to digital broadcast, a new FCC provision in the Cable Television Protection and Competition Act may allow cable operators to encrypt basic tier cable.

This move would allow cable operators such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast to require the rental of a cable descrambler for all cable channels. Basic tier is not the same as “basic cable,” which usually means the basic tier plus dozens of popular cable networks. The basic tier is generally the broadcast stations. The FCC requires basic tier cable to be unencrypted.

“In the late eighties and early nineties, increasing numbers of cable systems started to encrypt their signals,” said Public Knowledge’s John Bergmayer, “and the rule was adopted to allow people to at least access some programming without renting a converter box.”

The public information advocate organization Public Knowledge had first supported the rule change considering many cable operators have received waives to this rule, and the rule change would possibly encourage operators to upgrade from analog to digital systems. But they are now calling for the FCC to postpone the change in order to thoroughly discover any unintended consequences after a few concerns were raised by Boxee.

Boxee has recently released Boxee Live TV, an TV tuner adapter to the Boxee Box by D-Link which allows the media player to receive over-the-air or basic cable channels and integrate it into their unique graphic user interface. Boxee is claiming that 40% of their users make use of unencrypted cable television. Needless to say, encrypting the signal would damage Boxee’s business model, as well as hamper any new innovative competition in this market, and cable systems are genuine natural monopolies.

The FCC has stated previously that they’re interested in promoting new innovative services like Boxee, which puts the commission in an awkward position. If they proceed with this provision, innovation in this space will be limited to cable operators who have no natural competition except from satellite providers or where Verizon FiOS or AT&T U-verse have managed to install their networks. Most cable companies are way behind in features, using old technologies and even shutting off new features in their current receivers, like SATA and USB storage.

Public Knowledge is encouraging everyone who uses basic tier cable to sign this petition to let the FCC know you support innovations from companies like Boxee, HD HomeRun, EyeTV, as well as tuner cards for PCs.

What do you think? Should cable operators have the right to encrypt the signals they send over their own system, or should there be room for outside competition?

These pieces of legislation are particularly insidious. Crafted by the entertainment industry in an attempt to combat piracy, what they would actually do if signed into law would be to give the Government and private corporations a channel to censor the Internet.

These putrid acts would also have many other unintended consequences if signed into law, such as stifling US technological innovations, instilling a state of fear in all websites across the web (who could easily be banned for “linking” to copyright infringing content), putting huge burdens (both technical and monetary) on ISP’s in order to comply with blacklisting, damaging the Domain Name System and much more. Watch the video below to learn more.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

We strongly oppose SOPA, PIPA and any other legislation that would give anyone the power to censor the Internet any way, shape or form. If you value the freedom of information and the current experience of the web, PLEASE contact both your Senators and your House Representative today and urge them to oppose these acts and any other similar legislation.

For maximum effect, we recommend that you call, email, fax and write a snail mail letter (yes all of those) to your representatives in Congress. The more contact they receive, the more likely they will be to side with their constituents. Ask all of your friends and family to join in and TAKE ACTION, as the fate of the free Internet is at stake.

Call your House rep
Email all your reps (both your House Rep & Senators) through EFF, Google or DownsizeDC
Find your representative to snail mail or fax a letter
Find your Senators to snail mail or fax a letter

In the run up to this year’s CES Expo, a new teaser video has been posted declaring Google TV to be all new for 2012.

If you remember, we were looking forward to Google TV’s release, but when it came it was underwhelming. The remote was unwieldy, and the menus were less than intuitive.

On top of those problems, content providers were blocking the devices so the promising features were damaged.

Here’s hoping Google learned from their mistakes, made a few new content-providing friends, and is finally releasing a product worth buying.

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During the Great Format Wars of 2007, some Outsiders kept their distance from the fray by declaring all physical media a lost cause. In spite of their valiant efforts, Blu-ray Disc sales have grown considerably, and the format is picking up the slack where DVD has left.

But the rag-tag bunch of insurgents would not give up, and now Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, HBO Go and other mercenaries have kept their fight up and streaming video has become ubiquitous. Netflix instant-only subscribers far outnumber disc-only subscribers.

Given all that, nothing comes close to the director’s original intention of a cinematic experience like Blu-ray Disc does. Academy Award-winning director Ridley Scott even wrote an article for the Huffington Post arguing this point:

Blu-ray disc, of which I’ve been a supporter since its inception, is the closest we’ve come to replicating the best theatrical viewing experience I’ve ever seen. It allows us to present in a person’s living room films in their original form with proper colors, aspect ratio, sound quality, and, perhaps most importantly, startling clarity.

The problem with an argument like this is that it is directed at the geeks like me who care about quality over convenience. The people who have massive screens at home who can really make use of the higher definition video, and powerful speaker setups capable of delivering the audiophile-quality Blu-ray Disc provides.

The mass market consumer buys eggs at Walmart because it’s more convenient. They order clothes on Amazon without ever trying it on to avoid going to the store. And for years have complained about DVDs presented in their original theatrical aspect ratio, which lead to the horrific pan-and-scan copies that lopped off the sides of the picture.

Even more damning, the younger generation are watching more video on portable 3″ screens than on larger televisions or computer screens. At that size, high-definition really doesn’t matter.

Ridley Scott argues that, “Technology will need to make many more huge leaps before one can ever view films with the level of picture and sound quality many film lovers demand without having to slide a disc into a player, especially with the technical requirements of today’s 3D movies.” The important part of that sentence is “film lovers.” There are film lovers, and then there are casual film consumers. There is the guy who watched The Tree of Life four times in his local indie theater, and then the girl who stayed up all night to watch the latest Twilight regurgitation.

Personally, I spend more time streaming video from Netflix on my computer than I do in front of my TV with a Blu-ray Disc. This is borne out of practically though, as I can’t really blast my surround sound system while my kids are asleep. What I prefer is the high-definition quality and emotional impact of Blu-ray Disc, but what the reality I’ve come to is compromise happens where the rubber meets the road.

And in the end, I feel like going out to the Imax last weekend to see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was the best compromise of all. Big screen. Big sound. Kids at home asleep.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Roku is offering a limited edition “Purple box” for only $49.99. The Roku LT offers the same features as the Roku 2 HD, except without Bluetooth nor expandable memory slot.

With more than 300 streaming channels including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, EPIX, Crackle, Disney and HBO GO, Roku is considered one of the best choices for streaming video players. The Roku LT streams 720p high-definition video and features built-in wireless.



The Roku LT will be available from Roku.com, Amazon.com and in retail stores.

The most promising content ownership solution from the owners of properties has finally arrived. On October 11, Warner Home Video released Horrible Bosses on Blu-ray Disc and DVD with UltraViolet enabled. Warner is committed to including UltraViolet on all upcoming releases, including Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, and Shameless: The Complete First Season.

Sony has also announced the upcoming releases of The Smurfs and Friends With Benefits will be UltraViolet enabled.

Every major studio except Disney is on board with the technology, and there is massive support on the hardware manufacturer side as well. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) group of companies is hoping to challenge the streaming or renting concept we’ve all embraced for one of true content ownership.

Best Buy and Walmart are both interested in selling UltraViolet hardware.

How it works

UltraViolet logos will be located on compatible Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, and inside there will be a redemption code. The user will set up an account at UVVU.com and enter the codes. The content will then be available for use on up to ten devices (PCs, HDTVs, BD players, mobile devices, etc). Up to six people may be registered on each account with access to the content.

Eventually, UltraViolet content will be available for purchase as digital-only, but this may be burned to disc by the end user.

The caveat

Until UltraViolet-enabled hardware becomes available, owners of Horrible Bosses (and other future Warner Bros. UltraViolet content) will only be able to watch the digital copy at Flixster.com. Hardware support should follow in early 2012.