Recently in Video Hardware & Software Category

TechCrunch, much like the Digital Freedom Campaign, believes we need a Digital Bill of Rights to serve as "a consistent policy governing everything from Internet Protocol regulations to intellectual property on the Web."

The Digital Freedom Campaign focuses on the first three issues laid out in the TechCrunch piece -- "The Right to Use and Reuse Content," "The Right to Control Digital Property On Your Own Device" and "The Right to the Free Flow of Information."

The presidential election gives us a chance to turn the page and move forward, with support and guidance from policymakers, into a bright digital future.

Now let's see if anyone in Washington is listening.

Read more about it at TechCrunch.

And then cast your vote!

With such television makers as Samsung and Panasonic unveiling flat-screen sets that are capable of displaying 3-D content, the format is widely considered the next leap forward in TV technology.

So far, 3-D programming has been about stunts and gimmicks rather than an earnest play to engage viewers on a deeper level. With growing competition from other media, however, it may be time for the television industry to push forward with 3-D.

The technological advances are the necessary foundation that network programmers need before they invest more in 3-D.

As consumers invest in televisions that can handle 3-D content -- either over-the-air or through Blu-ray players -- networks in turn will have an incentive to invest in both producing and broadcasting content in 3-D.

More at TVWeek.com.  

Check out this cool new converged prototype device from Motorola that combines a picture frame with touch-screen, video camera, Bluetooth headset, VoIP, femtocell, and video streaming. A femtocell is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments that allows you to use your mobile phone in your home connecting to your femtocell access point.

Femtocells essentially are an alternative way to deliver the benefits of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) without the need for a dual-mode handset. In the Youtube demo video below demoed by Motorola representative Harsha Hegde, you can clearly see they're using the popular Counterpath Xten SIP-based softphone - also shown in the screen grab above. Motorola also demonstrates a femtocell mobile-to-mobile VoIP call, which is pretty cool.

Memorex is doing its part to lower Blu-ray prices with the upcoming release of its MVBD-2510 Blu-ray player.

The MVBD-2510 features 1080p playback at either 24p or 60p frame rates.

Audio playback includes: Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding and bit stream output, as well as Master Audio bit stream output.

The MVBD-2510 also includes 7.1 HDMI digital audio output and 5.1 analog audio output.

The player will be available in November for $269, which certainly correlates with the recent reports of Blu-ray prices dropping.

But, then again, the Blu-ray Disc Association doesn't foresee prices dropping anytime soon. 

More at CEPro.

SanDisk has introduced a 32-GB CompactFlash card, the company's largest CF storage device for professional digital photographers and videographers.

The latest Extreme III CompactFlash is twice the size of SanDisk's previous largest product. The new card has read and write speeds of 30 MBps.

The higher-capacity card is aimed at people who use Hi-Def camcorders, enabling users to store as much as 80 minutes of 100 MBps, 10-bit, 4:2:2 HD video, which is of sufficient quality for today's professional video applications, according to SanDisk.

For photographers, the additional capacity is useful for storing pictures shot in RAW format. The format uses 10 times the storage space as regular JPG images, but provides higher-quality images.

The card can operate under temperatures ranging from minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pricing: 2 GB, $45; 4 GB, $70; 8 GB, $130; and 16 GB, $240; 32 GB, $300.

Availability: October.

Get more at Information Week.

DVD-rental kiosks are popping up everywhere, from grocery stores to gas stations and at just about every McDonald's in between.

The trend is expected to be a lucrative one, too: Adams Media Research predicts that there will be about 24,000 DVD-rental kiosks by 2010 and that they'll bring in approximately $760 million in revenue.

Now you know why Blockbuster stores across the country are shrinking and Netflix is feeling the heat, too.

When you say "I want my DVD," what do you do?

Do you check out your cable system for an on-demand DVD treat -- personally, I'm always amazed at how many movies I've never even heard of ... how about you?

Read more about it in the Houston Chronicle.

 

Earlier this week, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin flipped an oversize, symbolic switch in Wilmington, NC, to celebrate the city's early transition to all-digital TV signals.

The first! 

And guess what, by later that day, the FCC had already fielded several hundred calls from local residents who weren't able to watch TV.

All of which did not seem to surprise Martin: "I'm sure we're still going to hear from people who weren't prepared," he said early in the day. "But the bigger question is: What did we learn here that we can replicate around the country?"

Indeed!

Will shall see ... Sometimes those lessons take a while to sink in.

Read more about it in The Washington Post.

The new Sling Media SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD (Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB100-100) are now available for pre-order from Amazon and SlingMedia.com at $299.99 each. Just in time for the Christmas holiday season! Woot! Ok, Christmas is still 3 months away, so I'm getting a little ahead of myself.


The highly anticipated SlingCatcher lets you display video content to your TV using a USB drive, but even cooler it can project your PC's display (Youtube, Hulu, etc) and audio to your TV. It can also directly receive a Slingbox feed.

The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox to stream in high definition (HD) supporting 1080i resolution and 5.1 surround sound. It can serve video up to PCs, Macs, and mobiles. Slingbox PRO-HD supports multiple inputs including of course component inputs to capture HD broadcast content from your HD set-top box. It also sports an integrated digital tuner including both ATSC OTA and clear QAM - a first for any Slingbox. You'll probably need some serious bandwidth to stream HD video over the Internet, so really this is best for streaming on a LAN not over the Internet. Though Slingbox does some pretty good compression and buffering, so maybe it can?

To pre-order the Slingbox PRO-HD from Amazon before the mad holiday rush (Wii shortages?), head on over here

And to pre-order the Sling Media SlingCatcher SC100-100 Universal Media Player for TV on Amazon, click here

Samsung has announced free recycling for all Samsung-branded consumer electronics in all 50 states, beginning October 1.

Samsung has just announced its Recycling Direct, a program that will enable consumers in all 50 states to recycle Samsung-branded consumer electronics devices like televisions, monitors, DVD players, home theater systems, cameras, camcorders, printers, peripherals -- essentially, all Samsung-branded consumer electronics.

(Look for the one in the photo above at a recycling center sometime this century ...0

The exception will be home appliances (too bad about my washer and dryer when that day comes), which can't be accepted at the drop-off points, although a growing number will be accepting them.

Recycling for Samsung-branded electronics will be free; consumers can also drop off non-Samsung electronics for recycling and safe disposal for a nominal fee. The program will include a number of collection sites, including permanent drop-off centers in all 50 U.S. states.

Samsung is working directly with recycling companies rather than intermediaries and claims it is only working with operations that meet Samsung's criteria and are a good match with its environmental philosophy: Samsung says it is utilizing recyclers that do not incinerate, landfill or export toxic waste to developing economies, and that it will be tracking and monitoring all the recycled electronics to ensure they're disposed of properly. The company plans to publish the results of the program on its Web site. 

Now if everybody else will please get in line ...

Qik, the popular live streaming mobile phone video app, is now available on a variety of new Windows Mobile enabled phones including select HTC devices.

New support includes:
• HTC Touch Dual
• HTC Touch Diamond
• HTC TyTn-II
• AT&T Tilt
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Qik added mobile video blogging to the Apple iPhone just last week. I was actually going to use Qik on my Verizon XV6700 HTC Apache Windows Mobile 6.1 device to live video blog Internet Telephony Expo in 2 weeks - but it isn't supported. While the HTC Apache isn't specifically listed, I'm going to try again in a few minutes to see if it works. Many HTC devices have the same core software. Will let you know how it goes. [crossing fingers]

If I can't get Qik to work, I may just use Livecast on my Windows Mobile at ITEXPO. It works just fine. Although not as well known as Qik, the performance was surprisingly good. I'll have to compare Livecast with Qik once I get Qik working.