Blu-ray, DVD, HDTV, Video info and more at WesleyTech.com

Roku offers cheapest ever media player

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.

Blockbuster teams up with Dish Network

Earlier this month, Dish Network and Blockbuster released Blockbuster Movie Pass. This service allows for streaming movies and TV shows directly through the DishOnline.com. Additionally, DVDs and games will be delivered through the mail.

If you have Dish Network, Blockbuster Movie Pass will cost an additional $10 per month. This includes unlimited streaming, and one-disc-at-a-time delivery. The comparable Netflix service will cost $15.98. Upgrades with two and three discs at a time will be $15 and $20 respectively.

Blockbuster claims the available movies and TV shows are over 130,000, with 34,000 available for streaming. This is compared to Netflix with 31,700 streaming titles, and over 100,000 DVDs.

One advantage Blockbuster always had over Netflix was the ability to return movies to a Blockbuster store, where you pick up a new rental while your next by-mail delivery immediately ships. Blockbuster also rents games, which Netflix hasn’t gotten into yet.

Dish Network purchased Blockbuster out of bankruptcy earlier this year for $320 million.

UltraViolet has arrived

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.

Qwikster is dead on arrival

Netflix has a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Less than a month after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced DVD-by-mail would be spun off to form Qwikster, another email is sent out saying Qwikster will not happen after all.

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password … in other words, no Qwikster.

What a horrible year for Netflix PR. They’re flailing to find footing with their established, loyal customer base.

New TV content coming to Netflix

Netflix and AMC announced a new multi-year, non-exclusive agreement today to bring loads of new TV programming to Netflix. (Remember, Netflix will soon be a streaming only service.)

Earlier this year, AMC already brought two of the greatest shows to ever exist to Netflix streaming: Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Now, they’re bringing even more great shows – like The Walking Dead and Portlandia – from AMC, IFC, The Sundance Channel and WE tv.

Since Netflix lost Starz, they’ve had a lot of money in their budget free up to make a lot of new partnerships. Hopefully this will continue. I mean … They’re getting Bridezillas.

Read the press release
Continue Reading »

Hulu has long been one of the many black eyes plaguing the Google TV platform. Shortly after Google TV launched to market, the big TV content providers started blocking all Google TV devices from being able to access online television content from official network websites. Shortly thereafter, Hulu was blocked as well.

This all happened about 9 months ago, when Google TV debuted. This week I jumped on over to Hulu.com from my Google TV browser to see if anything had changed. Sadly, it has not. Google TV users still get the below message when they attempt to access Hulu.

This is the same message that was displayed when Hulu was initially blocked on Google TV. But wait, shouldn’t we all rest assured that Hulu is “working hard to bring our Hulu Plus subscription service to Google TV!”? Uh huh, apparently not. They aren’t working very hard, since it has been 9 months and it still isn’t available.

To me, this message translates as “Screw you Google and screw you Google TV users, signed, Hulu”.

So what is the hold up? Why the heck can’t we watch Hulu shows on Google TV? Danny Sulivan over at SearchEngineLand wrote a good piece on the subject and basically it comes down to business politics and posturing. There is absolutely no technical reason why Hulu doesn’t run on Google TV, it’s just the will of the television networks. The TV networks are in the advertisement business and so is Google, which makes the networks fear the big online behemoth.

I was initially flummoxed by the networks’ decision to block Hulu from Google TV, but especially since Hulu Plus never made an appearance. After all, one of the primary “features” of a Hulu Plus subsciption is to allow access on a wide range of TV devices.

But now things are a bit different. Hulu is up for sale. Rumors are running rampant that Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Dish Network and others are bidding on a Hulu buy out.

With the impending sale now out in the open, I’ve now got to wonder, has Hulu blocked Google TV and refused to provide a Google TV Hulu Plus app all this time simply as a sales tactic? Google is rumored to be one of the top bidders in the sale, so denying their TV product access to Hulu’s vast content library may have been a strategy all along to get the big G interested in a purchase.

No matter what the backroom reasoning is, one thing is for certain, Hulu has pissed off both its Hulu Plus subscribers and other Google TV customers with this anti-customer, content-blocking behavior. We’ll see if that changes once the ownership of the site changes hands, if a sales deal is actually ever agreed upon.

Netflix adds new content partnerships

Amid all the controversy surrounding the changes Netflix has undertaken, what will matter most in the long run is content. This is always the case. Supply and demand.

Blu-ray Disc didn’t just beat HD DVD in the war of ages because it’s a better format, but because the studios backing the format held the vast majority of content available, including 9 out of 10 summer blockbuster movies newly released amidst the format war. Now streaming is the new media war front, and Netflix took the early lead but is stumbling.

The streaming war isn’t a zero sum game because Amazon and iTunes can coexist without forcing consumers to own two set top boxes or chose between the two, but this is where much of the competition has taken place over the past few years. There are two fronts in this war: content and subscribers.

Content attracts subscribers, and subscribers attract content. This is the rule, and it plays out slowly. Investment in content can produce subscribers, as Hulu has done. And subscribers can seduce content, as YouTube has done.

It is in this environment that the Netflix team finds themselves. It’s hasn’t been great for them this year. They’re losing subscribers, and they’ll soon be losing content. They’re so much the leader in video streaming that manufacturers have “Netflix” buttons on their remotes; even Sony does, and they have a competing service of their own.

Netflix is fighting. This month, Netflix has announced Discovery and Dreamworks Animation are both new partners, providing content to their streaming service. (It’s redundant to say Netflix has a “streaming service” because Netflix will soon only be a streaming service.)

Netflix wants your business back.