I say possibly, of course, because it isn’t like this is the first time Netflix managed to link up with a device provider to make their streaming video a bit easier to deal with.  Samsung, a host of Blu-ray players, lots more.  So now Sony’s Bravia television becomes one more brick in Netflix’s wall of streaming video.

All you’ll need is an internet capable Bravia, and the latest software upgrades, and you’ll be able to stream from Netflix’s pretty well massive library of at last count over a thousand titles.

This is, of course, awesome.  But as far as I can see it’s like polishing the brass on the Titanic.  There’s still a huge portion of the populace that can’t use this service, or can only use it in vastly reduced quantities because they plain old don’t have the bandwidth.  It’s great that the number of devices that can access this service increases almost with every passing week, but until that basic hurdle is overcome, there’s just no way it’ll get as far as it can.

This was an interesting question I heard just yesterday, and no one less than the CEO of Netflix himself, asked it.  He raised a really good point, too, one that I figured would be great to bring to you guys and hash it out.

See, most of the internet companies out there are whining and complaining about how Netflix’s streaming video service is jamming up their pipes and making it impossible to continue making obscene piles of money on the cheap, as well as destroying demand for cable TV.  After all, the networks say, who in their right mind would continue to watch the preset program array, laden with commercials, that is cable when you can get your TV your way with no commercials cheaper on Netflix?

Netflix, meanwhile, doesn’t really deny any of that, but says that their streaming video service is actually DRIVING demand for cable internet services, because people want the biggest, fastest pipes possible to get their TV their way with no commercials cheaper.

This lead to the comparison–if Apple could sell more Macs because they worked with iPods, then cable can sell twenty meg internet because it works with Netflix!

Pay attention, cable companies…it’s a smart move.

Netflix, wow…even they’re starting to feel threatened by the Redbox video kiosks.  And frankly, I don’t know why, not for the life of me.

See, apparently, Netflix believes that the one dollar rental “devalues the content ecosystem”, which is a fancy way of saying “makes people think they can pay less for stuff which in turn drives them to actually DO pay less for stuff and break it off in our collective tukhus.”  Which is an absolute JOKE as illustrated by the equation I’m about to show you:

Netflix charges about twenty four bucks ($23.99) for its four at a time unlimited plan.  Now, let’s assume a thirty day month that has no annoying postal holidays in it (Columbus Day my ENTIRE ass.  NOBODY gets that day off.) and start it up.  Also assume the first day of this hypothetical month is a Monday, and there are six mailing days in a week. Assume further that I keep up that constant flow of watch and return (I work nights, or from home, or I’m unemployed.) every day.

I get my first four movies on the first, watch two of them that afternoon and get them back in the mailbox before the end of the day, and then watch the second two later that night, to put them in the mail the next day.  I don’t get any movies on that Tuesday, but I get a set of two on Wednesday, and a set of two on Thursday, and so on.  Now, what that means is that I basically get two movies a day, every day, for twenty four days in the month, a total of forty eight movies, for which I paid twenty four bucks for the month to rent them.

Getting the picture?  Now, I’m no mathematician…but it sure looks like my total per-title Netflix cost is FIFTY CENTS A MOVIE.  If I stream any titles in the month the cost picture buckles even further. Even if you cut that figure in HALF, and I only get a cycle going of ONE movie per day–not hard with a four-max–then suddenly Netflix MATCHES Redbox!

And they’re whining about Redbox devaluing the content ecosystem?

Parents in the audience–you know what a great day it was when your young son or daughter burst forth into the world, and how much you longed to tell everybody about it.  Fathers, you looked forward to back-slapping congratulations as you handed out the ceremonial cigars (or possibly the bubble gum variety if you’re being more healthful).  And mothers, you knew this was only the start of your greatest achievement, miracle and blessing as you helped mold a young life.

But it probably isn’t a good idea to send streaming video of the delivery to everyone you know.

A lady out in Minnesota decided to stream her birth live to three different sources, including a local television statement, following months of blogging about the incident.  The mother, herself a former teacher, decided to create the streaming video as an “educational moment”, and filmed herself delivering her baby and shot it out to the web.

You know, they talk about how you have to watch your web presence so that you can get jobs in the future…this might be a good example of that.  I know if I’m hiring in a tight economy, and my choices come down to the lady with the clean resume who doesn’t post much of anything online and the woman who gave birth on the internet...well…I think you can fill in the blanks.

I know, that’s a pretty breathless chunk of hyperbole right there, isn’t it?  But it might be true–check this out.

See, as most of us have known for some time now, it’s not exactly tough to hook up a PC to an LCD television.  If you don’t use the HDMI inputs, then you’ve probably got a PC input ready to go.  Older televisions can even get in on the action by way of an S-video port.  But where most people seem to have a blockage (most people that aren’t home theater buffs like ourselves) is in using that PC as a full featured home theater device.  That may all change now.  Dig the word:

Unlike other options—set-top boxes and fancy Blu-ray players—it uses your home computer as the video streaming device, meaning you can add services, browse robustly and even record video like a DVR by patching your cable or satellite TV through your PC. And again, it’s all wireless.

Because the extra hardware you need (i.e., the “extender”) is just a wireless dummy, you’re not sinking money into some soon-to-be-obsolete gizmo, and you’re not limiting yourself to just one service (Hulu and Netflix almost never appear side-by-side on streaming devices.) Your Netflix, your Hulu, your TiVo, even your channel guide gets better when it’s all replaced by a Windows 7 PC.

This is the kind of thing a LOT of people needed to hear.  And it poses the distinct possibility that the home theater PC may well wind up mainstream, and that’s just entirely too awesome.

Hey everybody, this’ll kill you.  Apparently, all this time, you’ve been reading a media expert!

See, I was reading this article about a new kind of download service that’s being started over in Australia, possibly as a way to replace the DVD.  And of course, every time I see that phrase I snort derisively (the last time I did that I learned never to read media articles while drinking milkshakes) and launch into my standard schtick about how it’s NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN until a whole bunch of problems are fixed.

I get midway down the article and, sure enough, I SEE THIS:

But media experts warn there will be plenty of hurdles to overcome before movie downloads become a part of everyday life, including internet download speeds, unrealistic download caps, data costs and the price of movies.

That’s almost exactly my schtick.  In order, almost.

So then I read on about how Microsoft thinks it’s got the first two of those beat by offering a kind of streaming technology that tailors its content to your bandwidth capability, starting out with a really light stream and working its way up.

The problem with this, of course, is that even its minimum is still out of reach for a lot of people.  You have to have a three meg connection in order to watch in 720p.  Satellite and most wireless internet service providers generally offer a top speed of about one and a half.

So it’s still got a way to go yet before it can kill DVD.

It’s probably an idea whose time has come.

We all know how the home theater generally beats the movie theater, so far only losing out in terms of available first run content and the amorphous “theater experience”, but where things are likely to get interesting is the recent migration of the music concert to home theater.

Most of us have been to at least one concert in our lives, where it’s often crowded, smoky, dangerous and expensive, not necessarily in that order. So imagine the idea of seeing your favorite musician or group live, in concert, in your own home.

It’s already started, somewhat, but apparently Sony’s got a serious putsch on to get more concerts migrated toward people’s home theaters.  Which is a pretty smart idea, really; you can go with a pay per view concept–the system’s already in place for that–or you can stream the video online, or you can go with DVD copies for sale or rent.  Or you can do like Sony’s doing and get it to movie theaters proper–they’ll be showing a Creed concert November 19.

I love the thought of being able to do more stuff from home–there’s no place like it, you know.

All right, folks…a little chicanery for you today.

I want you all to know, especially any lawyers out there, that I did NOT invent this process nor do I condone or appear to condone any activity that may even vaguely be construed as illegal, immoral or unethical in perpetuity throughout the universe.

There.  That oughta shut the lawyers up.  Anyway, I found out over on Lifehacker that there’s a way to download streaming video on Netflix.

Dubbed the Netflix Download Links Greasemonkey, which is downloadable online, it allows you to bypass the various DRMs and such that prevent you from watching Netflix streaming content on anything but Windows Media Player, or prevent you from watching Netflix streaming content when you’re not in your house or near a WiFi connection of any decent speed.

In all honesty, we need something like this.  You know how many Netflix users out there don’t have sufficient internet bandwidth to USE a service that Netflix offers freely with subscription?  Plenty, that’s how many.

If you could go somewhere with WiFi and download video off Netflix to watch later, that would be a fantastic service for people with lesser bandwidth.  But, once again, that might fuel PIRACY, and we can’t have that, so for now people will be unable to use a service they pay for just to prevent other people from making a quick buck.

Thanks a LOT, Netflix.

Just a few days ago we told you about Netflix intention to make its streaming service available to PS3 owners. Today we’re happy to tell you that the company is ready to ship the discs you need in order to stream movies on your PlayStation. Sure you will have to ask for one as it will not be magically delivered to your door otherwise. And yes, you definitely need to get the disc if you want to take advantage of Netflix’s streaming service on your PlayStation right now. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until 2010 to get a PS3 update which will enable PS3 instant streaming without the need of any extra disc.

via Engadget

So a new brand of pico projector, the SHOWWX, has burst onto the scene and has already taken orders for the tiny devices.  Microvision, the company behind the SHOWWX, has struck a deal with a European mobile phone producer to basically attach SHOWWXs to their line of phones.

This is actually a really impressive development.  This is the very beginning of the era of the universal home theater, in which content can follow you and be exhibited anywhere under similar conditions to your own home theater.

See, the SHOWWX is intended for mobile devices, and so works well with streaming video, Flash video, and most anything you’d see on, say, YouTube or Hulu.  But that’s not to say that the streaming from Netflix wouldn’t also work.  And since the SHOWWX is designed to throw up an image measuring roughly two hundred inches across, they’re just perfect for home theater, even when you’re not home.  Think about that–watching a movie in a hotel room the exact same way you’d watch it at home?  Oh, sure, the SHOWWX isn’t a match for a 1080p JVC, yet, but this is just the beginning.

Just the beginning….

Okay, while I’ll admit the thought of being able to download the latest movies and watch them, in your home, any time of the day or night thanks to stuff like Netflix and Blockbuster, and TV shows thanks to Hulu, plus any of a dozen less legally clear alternatives, is a massive slice of fried awesome, it’s not a huge surprise that the internet service providers don’t agree.

See, if people can just get whatever they want from the internet, well, then people are basically paying one price for all their entertainment needs.  Suddenly, media companies take a nosedive and the ISPs are left running a massively backlogged information superhighway.  So sensing their opportunity to take THEIR pound of flesh, most of the big providers are already engaged in proactive bitching and moaning about how hard it is to keep all this infrastructure up and running and why, in order to survive, they MUST start gouging their customers by requiring them to pay based on their usage.

You think I’m being funny there, but I’m not.  Check this out:

So the ISPs are eyeing metered usage as a new tactic. Time Warner got as far as running an experiment in Texas and was considering expanding it to other cities until it was beaten back by consumer advocates and Congress, where a bill banning metered usage was introduced. But AT&T has implemented usage-based pricing in Texas and Nevada, Verizon is threatening to do the same, and Comcast has imposed a usage cap.

So can we continue to get all we can use internet?  Or will we soon be facing massive price hikes for literally every second spent online?  Only time will tell.

Or at least, cheap for blu-ray.  Seems that the folks at LG are set to put their LG BD370 out for a hundred and fifty bucks.

Now, admittedly, that’s not as good a deal as the recently announced special from Best Buy in which they were offering their Insignia brand NS-BRDVD3 blu-ray player for a whopping ninety nine bucks, but there is actually a reason to consider picking this one up.

Again, like the insignia, it’s compatible with Netflix’s streaming video.  But the difference here is that LG was the FIRST to do it.

You might be able to wonder if “first”, otherwise known as the most annoying post on any message board, is worth an extra sixty bucks.  And you’d be right to do so, but I ask you to consider just one point:  if LG did it first, then aren’t they most likely to know how to do it BEST?  And that likelihood is probably worth an extra sixty bucks.

Just a couple of days ago we told you how Netflix is going to bring its streaming service to a new gadget out there. As suspected it proved to be a game console. And it’s not the Xbox 360! It looks like Netflix has partnered up with Sony and the PS3 will also be able to let you watch Netflix movies. All you need is a Netflix account and a PlayStation Network account which happens to be available for free.

The service will be available starting with next month so make sure you get ready for it. You’ll need a Blu-ray disk from Netflix in order to be able to access its library until a software update for the PS3 becomes available.

via PlayStation

We still don’t know what the mysterious device is but according to Netflix’ CEO Reed Hastings, the company is getting ready to make Netflix streaming available to a new gadget. The thing in question has a “material installed base” so can we assume that we’re talking about a console? Netflix streaming is supposed to be an Xbox exclusive but does that mean that PlayStation support is out of the question?

And just in case you’d like to be able to use Netflix services in other countries too then you’ll be happy to find out that Netflix is considering expanding internationally next year. Naturally we’re talking about Netflix’ streaming service. Sending DVD to other countries is out of the question!

via newteevee

So I’m still hearing dark muttering out of Camp General Electric, which indirectly owns Hulu, that they need to start making people PAY for this stuff.  But they’re considering a whole lot of different plans, including one I actually suggested a few months back.

After reading Chris’s piece over the concept, my own idea suddenly took on a stark new importance.  Why is Hulu not getting more involved with advertising if it wants to boost its revenues?  They’re talking in that direction, but nowhere near as aggressively as they should.

“I know [Hulu is] looking at any number of things, like adding inventory (more advertising) or creating a subscription model with different windows.”

More advertising.  That’s your ticket right there.  Frankly, I’ve long believed that internet advertising models are WILDLY divorced from reality.  Pay per click?  Excuse me?  No.  You don’t pay a newspaper or a magazine or a TV station based on the number of people who come into the store after the ad.  No. You pay a RATE based on viewership numbers.  Higher the viewers, higher the ad bill.  You don’t like the results, you go elsewhere AFTER you cut the check.

But Hulu’s pretty popular as it sits.  If it can present more ads, or bigger ads, to the wide audience that shows up for free Hulu TV, well, then why not?  There’s how you make your money.  And if a big name like Hulu can help lead Internet advertising AWAY from the pay-per-click model and into a model more in line with the rest of the advertising industry, then what we have here is a whole new paradigm.  Frankly, the world is moving to the Internet anyway–newspapers are shutting their doors, magazines are fleeing to their web sites and dumping their paper equivalents, Kindle is the new bookstore.

Let’s get Internet advertising to a respectable state for all web sites.

This is not a thought that had occurred to me, myself.

If you’ve been here a while, you already know that I went on an extended diatribe a while back about how streaming wouldn’t kill DVD in under five years for a whole panoply of reasons.  In case you’re new, you can find that article right here.  But one wrinkle I hadn’t thought of that I just read about is that streaming video just might kill off Blu-ray.

See, here’s the interesting part.  Streaming video is on par with Blu-ray in terms of quality.  Most of the people who would be interested in Blu-ray technology are early adopters, and most early adopters live in urban settings where they’re most likely to be able to get their hands on the new stuff. They’re also most likely to have the highest speeds of internet access available, and without download restrictions or limitations.

Thus, the people most interested in Blu-ray technology are also the people most likely to be interested and have the necessary infrastructure available to engage in streaming video.  Now why would you get a Blu-ray disk delivered to you, or buy one, when you can simply stream the content directly to your TV?

I can’t think of a reason either.  Meanwhile, the people who are the least interested in Blu-ray are enjoying their DVD libraries, not caring about Blu-ray, and couldn’t get streaming if they wanted it anyway.

So this just might be the end of the format wars.

Coming soon to a Hulu near you–hand over your credit card number to watch?

It’s a downright scary proposition that Hulu may someday go the way of Napster and the like and start demanding payment, but it’s a possibility, according to recent moves by Comcast to acquire a stake in Hulu.

It only makes sense, really–if your options are between watching content from Syfy or Food Network or the like free on Hulu or with pay on Comcast or a similar cable or satellite provider, your first choice will probably be whatever doesn’t require you to pay.  This is just basic math and economics coming together to righteously pound Comcast.

So Comcast, in turn, figures that if you can’t beat ‘em, your next logical step is to buy ‘em out and make them dance to your pay-tv tune like so many puppets.

But then, if you have to pay to watch Hulu, what’s the point of having it in the first place?  This means, of course, that Comcast’s investment will collapse like a toothpick structure being used as a jack for a Cadillac Escalade.

It’s worth watching, one way or the other.

Good, says I–maybe that means they’ll start leaving their regular content alone!

Look, it’s no secret that ever since Google bought YouTube they’ve been trying frantically to figure out how to monetize the silly thing.  After all, how can you get a cut of a video of some guy jumping off the roof of his house?  And just because it’s got lots of traffic doesn’t mean advertisers are terribly interested, either.  Who really wants their ad to go up alongside the charming thirty second epic “Watch Me Pull Out My Blackheads Part 2“? and just in case you were wondering, yes, that IS a real video.  It’s not for the squeamish, either–you’ve been warned.

But they may finally have something with the idea of turning their mass of traffic into the world’s largest online video store. Jeff describes it really well in his article on the subject located here.

This is awesome, of course, but again, the serious problems come into play, like net access and computer capability.  As long as the massive disparities exist in internet access, speeds, and usage levels exist, you can forget about this ever being much more than a small sideshow for the disc market.

But the framework is being laid, and I do hope to see a day in which any movie you want is available instantly, on demand.

It’s called Ziln, ladies and gentlemen, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why it’s called that.

But Ziln does do something very interesting; it provides an array of programming choices all in streaming video.  It includes seven full-on New Zealand channels, as well as fourteen news and business channels, including Al-Jazeera, all piped in through set-top boxes.

It’s designed to provide an alternative to mainstream New Zealand television, and it’s the kind of thing that could definitely take off.  In order to kill a streaming network, you’re pretty much going to have to either shut down the site from which the stream originates or you’ll have to shut down the entire internet.  And once you do THAT, well, all hell’s going to break loose, make no mistake about that.

Anyway, this is a great move for New Zealanders, who apparently have the internet access and bandwidth to handle a streaming network.  Who knows where such a development will lead from there?

Remember when I was talking about streaming media before, and how it’d never replace DVDs in the next five years without a whole set of moonshots?

Well, guess what?  We’ve got at least the start of a moonshot for point three, ease of use.  It’s the Noontec Moviedock A6, and it’s out to make streaming video a lot simpler to manage.  Start with a USB storage device or memory card and put it in the Moviedock, which you then connect to your television via either composite video or HDMI,  Conversely, you can also connect the Moviedock to your home network to stream content from your PC to your TV.

Some people have a problem dealing with the menu, and there are some mentions of the Moviedock getting really, REALLY hot on operation (like too hot to touch hot).  Neither of these is a really good sign, but it’s a start–getting the material to go from your PC to your TV is one of the biggest obstacles to streaming video, and the Moviedock may be part of the solution.