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YouTube Rentals now available

This past Friday, YouTube and Sundance Film Festival made five full-length motion pictures available for online viewing as a paid rental. This is just the beginning of the future for YouTube Rental.

The rentals are available at YouTube Movies at a cost of $3.99 each. You will be required to open a Google Checkout account, if you haven’t already. When you select a movie to play you will be prompted to pay. A simple log in is all you need and your account will be billed.

The initial Sundance Film Festival movies will only be available through January 31st. They include three world premiers from this year’s festival, and two favorites from last year. The titles include: Children of Invention, Homewrecker, The Cove, Bass Ackwards, and One Too Many Mornings.

Watch this instructional video on how to rent movies on YouTube:

New HDMI logos and naming

Over the past several months, HDMI 1.4 has been talked about. There has been a lot of confusion about what exactly the new version will offer. With a huge boost in available bandwidth, support for higher resolutions, 3D video, and even Ethernet. There is even a new mini connector.

While there are still a lot of questions, HDMI LLC, the governing body for the HDMI interface, there is information out about the future labeling scheme. HDMI is attempting to quash product confusion while cracking down on false advertisement and non-certified cables. Below are listed some of the new guidelines.

“The names for cable types shall be used exactly as specified and shall not be modified…in any way.”

This means there can be no descriptor added to the names of the cables. The only cable types allowed by HDMI LLC are the following:

Effective as of January 1, 2012, all non-cable products cannot make any reference to HDMI version numbers. Until that time Adopters can use HDMI version numbers only when the feature or features associated with that HDMI version number is clearly specified. For instance, a manufacturer can describe a product as featuring “HDMI® v.1.4 with Audio Return Channel and HDMI Ethernet Channel,” but may not describe a product as being “HDMI® v.1.4 compliant.”

Hopefully this doesn’t mean we’ll have more labeling issues on the next version.

This is all interesting because when you visit the official HDMI website they have the 1.4 designation all over the place.

Sony introduces network media player

Most of Sony’s 2010 model HDTVs, and all of their 2010 BD players, include what they call BRAVIA Internet Video. Connected to a broadband internet, the devices will instantly stream movies, videos, music and more from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Slacker Internet Radio, Pandora, NPR, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and many more.

Coming in September, Sony will offer the SMP-N100 network media player which provides their BRAVIA Internet Video platform in a simple set-top box. With a suggested retail at $149, the device will feature DLNA, USB, built-in WiFi, DivXHD, and HDMI and component video outputs. The box will be about the same size as the AppleTV.

Proposed Blu-ray capacity increase

A new method for evaluating Blu-ray Disc media has been announced by Sony and Panasonic that can allow for a capacity increase on each layer from the current 25 GB to 33.4 GB.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but the method, called i-MLSE (Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation), will be proposed to the full Blu-ray Disc Association later this year. If approved, each layer can be used to store about a 33% more data.

There still isn’t a lot of information, so its not clear if existing players will be able to read the additional data.

Sony’s new Blu-ray player line

Blu-ray Disc (BD) is commonly referred to as a “Sony” format, yet they have trailed behind other manufacturers in providing cutting-edge features. This is partly because Sony in so inwardly focused they rename universal features for their products. But 2010 bodes well for the Sony BD players.

Three new players will be coming starting in March to replace the three existing models. The basic model is the $199 BDP-S370 and features a new quicker start-up, all high-definition audio codecs, DVD upscaling, SACD for the first time in a Sony BD standalone player, DLNA, Gracenote, BRAVIA internet video streaming, and is WiFi ready (requires USB device).

The next level is the $249 BDP-S570 which adds on-board WiFi, and IP video scaling.



The flagship model comes in at $299 and is the BDP-S770. This is player supports 3D content, and receives a backlit remote.

An interesting feature the new models receive is an iPhone/iPod Touch app which enables control of the player from the hand held device. This app also features the disc’s cover art and other information, plus the ability to search for internet videos.

The BRAVIA Internet Video connects to Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Slacker Internet Radio, Pandora, NPR, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and Sony’s own online store.

Update: Here’s a video from Sony demonstrating the new BDP-S570:

Netflix streaming becomes ubiquitous

The number of products shows at CES 2010 with Netflix streaming is remarkable. Netflix has announced partnerships with Toshiba, Sanyo, Panasonic, Sharp, and even discount brands Haier and Funai. Practically everyone not named Pioneer has Netflix streaming implemented in Blu-ray Disc players, network video set-top boxes, and HDTVs. Netflix expects over 100 devices will stream their Watch Instantly videos in 2010.

It seems like many people are adopting a multiple-sources approach to getting their online video. A Netflix subscription supplemented by rentals from another source, like iTunes, Amazon Video On Demand, or Vudu, seems to be the most frequent.

Do you stream video to your main television? If so, what providers do you use?

Preorder XStreamHD now

Beginning today, XStreamHD will be offering their media server for preorder on their website with a $25 reservation. The balance of the $399 price will be due on April 30 when the product ships.

Now that hardware specs are out, we learn that the HD Media Server includes 1TB of storage (scalable to 4TB), three ATSC tuners for off-the-air reception, pre-fetching of content, and a ZigBee Pro remote. The server is a DLNA device, so the content can be streamed to other devices, such as their HD Media Receiver, and presumably the Sony PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360. The PRO Media Receiver adds multi-channel analog outputs, and other features high-end systems might desire.

They are claiming same-day delivery of movies as the DVD release, but so far there is no indication as to which studios are on board.

The XStreamHD FAST Start includes an HD Media Server, an HD Media Receiver, an RF remote, plus all the cables and accessories you need for hook up. The PRO Start includes all of this, plus a PRO Media Receiver. The FAST Start will sell for $399, and the PRO Start for $499.



When XStreamHD was announced last year it seemed they had something going for them: 1080p video and lossless 7.1 audio. Now that Vudu is streaming 1080p with 5.1 audio, and new partnerships with many hardware manufacturers, it seems they have their work cut out for them.

(Press Release)