Recently in Home Entertainment Category

Today, BitTorrent has launched their licensed entertainment networl and an enhanced BitTorrent protocol that will allow it to offer copyrighted movies, TV shows, games, and other media. The BitTorrent Entertainment Network will launch starting with over 5,000 titles, including films from Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros, as well as episodes of TV shows such as 24 and Prison Break.



According to the company, the service is aimed at young males who regularly use BitTorrent to download pirated versions of the same films and who prefer to watch these video programs on their PCs instead of a TV. BitTorrent is used by millions of users and in fact 1/3rd of all Internet traffic is consumed by BitTorrent traffic. The problem from naysayers is "converting" these pirates into legit-paying customers. Of course, the same naysayers were skeptical of Apple iTunes when it launched in the post-Napster age and iTunes is a runaway success.

The BitTorrent company claims that at least one-third of the 135 million people using BitTorrent software will be willing to pay for legitimate content. To entice the pirates, err, I mean potential law-abiding customers, they are featuring popular content at just $1.99 and targetting males between the ages of 15 and 35 years. Full-length movie takes about 30 minutes to download, while a TV episode should only take about 10 minutes. Movies will also be available for 24 hours at $3.99 for new and $2.99 for old titles. Sample movie content includes Superman Returns and Mission: Impossible III. The content will be protected by Windows Media DRM, and will only play back using Windows Media Player. Sorry Mac fans!

The library within the BitTorrent Entertainment Network is very extensive. It includes 3,000 movie and television titles as well as 1,000 games, and 1,000 music titles. Movie and record studios and associations have aggresively tried to shut down various BitTorrent tracker sites, including The Pirate Bay and isoHunt.com. Now that BitTorrent has gone legit, will the studios back off? Not a chance in hell.

Brian Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent has is working on some major enhancements to the BitTorrent client. While many other popular BitTorrent clients exist, such as Azureus, BitComet, etc., BitTorrent.com's client will most likely be the only one to support these DRM-protected downloads. I would venture to guess that both Azureus and BitComet are more popular than the official BitTorrent client, but things could quickly change. So it will be interesting to see if BitTorrent.com's client takes a larger market share and as such, if they start adding advertisements and/or adware to the client. The new version will support BitTorrent DNA Version 2. Unlike current versions of Bittorrent, the new version of Mainline will apparently NOT be released as an open-source client.

According to PC Magazine, the µTorrent client BitTorrent acquired in December will be used for portable apps. With DNA 2.0, users can start a BitTorrent swarm off of any Web object. The technology also recognizes when the user is Web surfing or using VoIP, by gracefully scaling down the network utilization to avoid interfering with the user's other Internet activities.

Ever lose your keys and can't unlock your front door? Ever resort to crawling through an unlocked window to get into your locked house and hope the neighbors don't call the police? Well, I have and it's not fun breaking into your own house.

Kwikset comes to the rescue with a fingerprint reader lock for doors.  Kwikset, one of America’s leading door lock companies, has developered this new keyless lock that scans your fingerprint and unlocks the door. Unlike keys, you never lose your fingers, right? Unless of course Jack Bauer from 24 cuts them off to acquire some crucial information he needs to kill those pesky terrorists. 

The Kwikset biometric lock can be programmed with up to 50 different fingerprints, and has different security levels and "lock out" features. It is powered by four AA batteries, which will last for over one year under normal use. The lock signals ahead of time when batteries need to be replaced. It includes your traditional keyhole -- handy for when you have gloves on or the batteries die.

Here's the inside unit where you program your fingerprints:

Many have heard of the difficulties in implementing AT&T's U-verse IPTV service. AT&T's U-verse network is actually a fiber/copper hybrid, which pulls fibers to 3,000 to 5,000 feet from the homes they serve, where it then connects to mini-DSLAMs called "52B" boxes and then it runs copper the last mile to the home. This hybrid approach is a bargain when compared to the $20 billion Verizon is spending to build-out fiber all the way to the home. This hybrid fiber/copper approach gives AT&T a 20Mbps+ link to customers, enough to offer high-speed Internet, VoIP, and the company's IPTV service. The problem is getting towns to grant public right of ways for these massive 52B boxes, which hold DSLAMS, batteries, and cooling gear in rugged, weatherproof cases. Many towns objected or wanted AT&T to sign video franchise agreements. Lawsuits were filed, including cable companies that want to classify U-verse service as a "cable service" to force AT&T to abide by the same build-out rules, which has drastically affected U-verse deployment . In addition, the IPTV service uses proprietary set-top boxes from Microsoft, which had their own share of problems - mostly software related.


On top of all this, a new IPTV standard (DVB-IPI) is about to be ratified (later this month) by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standards body.  This standard takes a very different technical approach than the strategy embodied in the Microsoft solution that AT&T has implemented, and addresses many of the inherent challenges with IPTV, including quality of service, scalability and fast channel change times. Which reminds me, I really hate the slow channel changing times on satellite TV. I wish the set-top boxes would buffer the next channel UP and the next channel DOWN, so at least changing up or down one channel is fast.

In any event, The DVB-IPI standard is based largely on a hybrid of well-established forward error correction (FEC) technology from Digital Fountain called DF Raptor and a public domain technology known as Pro-MPEG COP3.  These technologies are currently being evaluated by most IPTV providers in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Several new deployments using this technology are expected to be announced later this year. According to Rose Anne Raphael, a representative of Digital Fountain, "Whatever the actual problems in the AT&T/MS deployments (since we're not part of these deployments, we have no firsthand knowledge), the strategy employed is one that inherently poses scalability problems and bucks certain foundation assumptions on which IP networks and broadcast architectures are based."

Could this new standard make AT&T's and Microsoft's gamble on their own proprietary technology be the nail in the coffin for U-verse? Certainly, a standards-based approach will eventually result in lower costs to deploy due to economies of scale when multiple vendors all use the same technology. This could give AT&T/Microsoft's competitors a cost advantage. Who would have thought that mega-titans AT&T and Microsoft would bet on the wrong horse using proprietary technology? Wait a minute, AT&T and Microsoft are the KINGS of proprietary technology, so I shouldn't be surprised. The difference is that 20 years ago you could get away with it - now with open-source and standards along with a global economy, a standards-based approach is the only way to go.

Update (I had some other thoughts and feedback from users)
One person emailed me and wrote:

Read with great interest your comments about the possible doom of U-verse. Taking those concerns into account, would you recommend it to a consumer like me who is considering switching from Comcast to U-verse if and when it becomes available on the west side of Indianapolis? The cost and channel availability seem to have cable beat by a mile, but your technological concerns may trump other advantages.

I'd appreciate your assessment on whether consumers should proceed to "sign up" for this new service.

I responded:

Put to you this way. If I could get U-verse in my area, I'd do it. Yes, I knocked AT&T for not meeting their target goals, as did many media outlets. While I think AT&T & Microsoft were perhaps 1-2 years too early with their proprietary technology, it is still a good solution.I'm just not a fan of proprietary solutions. AT&T and Microsoft have had a bumpy road, but I think AT&T & Microsoft have worked out most of the kinks.

Also, I am the least fan of cable. They are overpriced on everything. When I looked into Cablevision's Optimum Voice I believe it was like $39/month. Their broadband was like $45/month. And to get the channels I wanted, it was like $55/month for a grand total of around $139 for the "Triple Play" package. On top of that, the number of HDTV (high-definition) channels was only like 4 and of course, that was an additional $15/month.

I personally switched to DirecTV satellite, which is better than cable, but isn't a perfect solution either - since I then had to also sign up for AT&T DSL + AT&T Unlimited Voice. So I have two separate providers - a Single Play (DirecTV) and a Double Play (AT&T), which no doubt isn't the most cost effective. I just can't get U-verse or even the competing Verizon FiOS (fiber) solution in my area. I'd take either one. Both AT&T and Verizon are building out their networks as fast as they can - but not fast enough for my tastes.

So if you can get Triple play - voice, video, data using AT&T U-verse, with more HDTV channels and super-fast Internet, I say go for it!

AT&T U-verse is in Stamford, CT, which is where my boss, Rich Tehrani lives. I told him they're offering U-verse in his area. Of course, if he gets this cool Triple Play package before I do, I'll be quite jealous and will be forced to bitch & whine how come AT&T isn't offering U-verse in my neighborhood area. Maybe I'll see if Verizon FiOS is available in my neighborhood.

Don't know why it took so long, but Netflix is finally offering movies and TV shows via download, rather than by its DVD-by-mail service. 

Guess they finally took their collective eyes off of Blockbuster and now are contending with such other online movie delivery services as CinemaNow, MovieFlix, Movielink and Vongo. Oh, and how about  Amazon.com's recently launched Unbox.  Or Oh!, how about Apple's iTunes?

Any, Netflix's Watch Now service is available today to some of its 6 million subscribers, who will get immediate access -- and at no additional charge.

(How about that?)

How does it work? Listen up. After accepting a quick applet, Netflixers will be able to watch six hours to 48 hours of material each month; viewing time is linked to how much customers already pay for their DVD rentals. Under the most popular $17.99 monthly package, subscribers will receive 18 hours of Internet viewing time. (With discs and Internet, that's a lot of movies to watch!)

Only approximately 1,000 movies and TV shows will initially be available for online delivery -- small change compareed to Netflix's DVD library of more than 70,000 titles.

Want another drawback? The system only works on PCs computers and laptops with a high-speed Internet connection and Microsoft's Windows OS.

 Check this out for more details on the movies and the service or the New York Times here.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised read this morning that more of us who rather see the Super Bowl at home on a High Def TV than see the game live.

(Can you believe it?)

Course the survey was commissioned by gadgets retailer Circuit City, which has quite a vested interest in selling you those HD TVs to watch the game.

Anyway, more than 4,500 men and women responded to the "Big Game Survey," and 60% said football is the sporting event they most enjoy watching on TV (the  top choice of 72% of men and 48% of women). When asked how they'd prefer watching the Super Bowl if they had a choice, almost half of the respondents (48%) said they would rather view the game on a new HDTV than attend the game in person (26%).

(And what about the other other 26%?)

To get your fill of survey results, click here.

It's always amazing to me to hear about new products that are expected to do certain wonderful things and then simply fail to deliver.

Now I don't what to knock Microsoft's new Vista operating system (which isn't even here yet), but just checked a report that notes that certain next generation DVDs (you know, those HD ones) might not play on Vista!

(So much for the Microsoft Media Center experience -- the heart of the home! )

The cause of the problem -- the Hollywood studios and anti-piracy devices on the software -- but, of course!

Now if the studios could just figure out a way to get their products into our hands simply and easily -- and at a price point that wouldn't make it worth our while to sit there at home making illegal copies for all of our friends. In fact, why bother, plenty of counterfeit DVDs can be found in any number of places -- do I really need to tell you where to look?

Interesting Bittorrent news I came across on O'Reilly. Here's an excerpt:

One of the key tenants of BitTorrent is that you have to contribute (upload) to receive (download). BitTyrant is a new client that finds a way to be selfish within the BT protocols by selectively uploading to peers based on their upload capacity. It was created by researchers to test the robustness of BT's incentives. From their site:

BitTyrant is a new, protocol compatible BitTorrent client that is optimized for fast download performance. BitTyrant is...
* Fast - During evaluation testing on more than 100 real BitTorrent swarms, BitTyrant provided an average 70% download performance increase when compared to the existing Azureus 2.5 implementation, with some downloads finishing more than three times as quickly.
* Fair - BitTorrent was designed with incentives in mind: if a user is downloading at 30 KBps, they should upload at 30 KBps. However, due to the unique workload properties of many real-world swarms, this is not always enforced. BitTyrant is designed to make efficient use of your scarce upload bandwidth, rewarding those users whose upload allocations are fair and only allocating excess capacity to other users.
* Familiar - BitTyrant is based on modifications to Azureus 2.5, currently the most popular BitTorrent client. All of our changes are under the hood. You’ll find the GUI identical to Azureus, with optional additions to display statistics relevant to BitTyrant’s operation.

If you use this, then you will get a faster download. If someoneelse in a swarm uses this then you will get a slower download. more...

Sling Media launched SlingCatcher, a device similiar to the original Slingbox that let you rebroadcast TV video to the Internet, except now in the reverse - the SlingCatcher lets you broadcast Internet video to your TV! Sling Media Inc. just unveiled its upcoming SlingCatcher product at Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

In addition, Sling Media's Slingbox product line and its client software, SlingPlayer, will include multiple new features enabled by Windows Vista. These new features include a full screen viewing mode that takes advantage of Vista's Aero Glass by allowing SlingPlayer controls and customized TV remote controls to transparently overlay on top of the video stream from the Slingbox. The Windows Vista gadgets feature will also allow multiple versions of the SlingPlayer, each attached to a separate Slingbox, to run in the Windows Sidebar. Even cooler, these individual video streams windows can be resized by the user as interest changes from one specific video feed to many simultaneous feeds at the same time.

The new SlingPlayer for Windows Vista will work both for new and existing Slingbox customers and it will be available in Q2, 2007. In the interim period between launch of the Windows Vista OS and the release of the new SlingPlayer software, Slingbox customers can download and use Sling Media's most recent version of SlingPlayer, released in late December, on their new Windows Vista-based PCs.

The SlingCatcher will let you view clips from a video sharing site, such as YouTube, or films downloaded from an online movie service, such as MovieLink, CinemaNow or Amazon.com's Unbox. Unfortunately, there is one major drawback of this product. Users will have to control what they're watching on their TV using their computer and not the TV. So if you want to play your favorite YouTube video and your PC is in the other room, you have to start the video and then run to the other room before the YouTube video finishing buffering. Well, at least this helps counteract this product's bad influence on making you an even more sedentary couch potato.

You can also use the SlingCatcher simiilarly to the now defunct Windows Media Extender devices, such as the Linksys Media Extender that I reviewed. In conjunction with a Slingbox you will be able to wirelessly deliver your cable, digital video recorder or satellite TV content onto any other television in the home that is hooked to a SlingCatcher.

The SlingCatcher will be available in the middle of the year and is expected to be under $200. Surprisingly, I only see the Slingbox on Amazon and not the new SlingCatcher. Usually Amazon coordinates launches with the vendors.

Update: Ah ha! I found it!

Hollywood studios have approved a new DVD copy-protection technology called Qflix that they claim will remove a major obstacle consumers now face with burning movies they buy digitally over the Internet and burn onto a DVD that will play everywhere. If you recall, I wrote about this here and here

If you recall, I stated back in April - "If Hollywood makes it easy for users to download and play movies on their television, they could make a killing. Just look at what Apple iTunes did after everybody said that no one would pay for music in the "Napster age". Apple proved them wrong. Hollywood could do the same if they make the user experience as easy and simple as Apple did." Ironically, the example I gave - Apple iTunes - is now rumored will offer movie rental downloads. (with DRM embedded, but of course!)

Well, it looks like Hollywood is indeed planning on letting users download movies on the Internet, burn to a DVD, and play on a DVD player. The catch? Well, as I predicted, they plan to install DRM as part of this new Qflix system. Sonic Solutions Inc. today introduced the Qflix system for adding a standard digital lock to DVDs burned in a computer or a retail kiosk. Apparently, it's leveraging the existing “content scrambling system,” or CSS, which has already been cracked by "DVD Jon" Jon Johansen, as well as several pieces of software (DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, DVDFAB Decrypter, etc). However,  CSS comes standard on commercial DVDs and DVD players today already contain CSS decryption which allows for playback. Movie download services such as Movielink, CinemaNow and Amazon.com’s Unbox haven't used CSS because Hollywood fears widespread DVD burning could lead to piracy.

Some download services have experimented with proprietary protection algorithms, but this results in playback problems and usually can only be played on a PC and not a standard DVD player. Who wants to watch a movie only on their PC? With the new Qflix standard, consumers would be subject to restrictions placed by the movie service and studios. For instance, using the copy-protection technology in Microsoft's Windows Media player, a service could specify that a given movie can not be burned more than two times.

According to MSNBC:

Sonic has been working for three years to develop the technology and get studios to agree to amend the CSS license to allow a “download to burn” option."

The initial companies participating in Qflix include Verbatim Corp., which makes blank discs, the movie download service Movielink, video-on-demand provider Akimbo Systems Inc. and the Walgreen Co. chain of drug stores.

Studios must still figure out pricing schemes that appeal to consumers and protect its lucrative retail business. Some retailers, such as Wal-Mart, have talked about starting their own online downloading services or installing kiosks to burn DVDs in the store.

But here's the real catch. Consumers will need a new DVD burner that includes the latest software OR they will have to upgrade the firmware on their DVD player. Raise your hands if you know of someone who updates their DVD player firmware. I doubt mom and pop will do it. Certainly techies upgrade their DVD firmware. But do you honestly think techies are going to install a new firmware that ADDS additional CSS encryption technology? Often times the firmware upgrade fails and you're left with a dysfunctional DVD burner - it's a tricky operation - trust me, I'm bricked a few DVD burners. Anyway, according to MSNBC, Plextor, a Qflix partner, is expected to market Qflix-enabled DVD burners soon.

Of course, even with Qflix copy-protection, I wonder how long it will take before it is cracked. I'm betting less than a day. Place your bets!

Robocommunity has an interesting interview with WowWee CTO Davin Sufer. If you've been living under a rock, or perhaps you just don't have kids, then perhaps you're not familiar with WowWee robots. Heck, I have a daughter that is too young to play with robots, yet I'm familiar with WowWee's cool robots. You can't miss them if you walk into Bed Bath & Beyond - or maybe it was Linens and Things. I always confuse those two stores.

In any event, one of those chain stores has the Roboraptor robot on display with a button that activates its eerily lifelike and some might say "creepy" moves. When I first walked past one, I backed up and said to myself "What the heck is that?" Of course I shoved an 8-year old kid out of the way so I could play with it. I'm kidding... Pretty amazing animatronics technology that you used to only see in Disney World or other amusement parks. Now you can have an animatronic robot in your own home!

Some interesting questions are posted by Robocommunity, including, "Our readers really want to know what evil genius comes up with the packaging for WowWee. We even came up with an unpacking guide! Really... bolts?"

A good question indeed... Those raptors must be mighty dangerous to have them bolted in!

Another interesting question posed was this:
Question: Let's get into some more specifics. What plans do you have for future sensors, servos, software, etc.?

Partial Answer: As far as sensors go, think more intelligent with higher range. We've also been working on new and fun ways for our products to interact with people and each other. We've been adding memory and building engaging personalities.

Go check out the full interview for more.