tv

Tivo has made a deal with Amazon that could genuinely revolutionize how TV advertising works. Viewers will now be able to order products mentioned in shows with a click of their remote. The system will initially involve chat shows such as Oprah, ... Ellen DeGeneres and the Colbert Report. Whenever a guest talks about a product, such as an author publicising a book, viewers will see a link in the corner of their screens. Clicking on it will either allow them to order it instantly by typing in a PIN code, or to put the item in their Amazon shopping basket to examine on a computer later on. At first ... (view more)

NBC has formally launched its online video site Hulu.com, seen by many as a potential rival to YouTube. The site, which is also backed by Fox's parent group News Corporation, contains more than 250 TV episodes from shows such as The Office and The ... Simpsons, plus movies such as The Big Lebowski. There are also movies and TV shows available in clip-form only. Sports fans can choose from clips of recent NBA and NHL games, or full-length NCAA basketball games from the past 25 years. Around 50 different TV stations, movie producers and websites are represented in the project. Some shows include ... (view more)

Over the last several years, Google has been slowly sucking up advertising dollars that might normally be spent on television. Now, the six largest cable companies want to stop that. To do so, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox ... Communications, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks are planning a joint venture to allow advertisers to purchase interactive and custom ads across their cable systems. Collectively, the companies will invest about $150 million in the project. (Source: nytimes.com ) The announcement of the cable company's "Project Canoe" comes only a week after ... (view more)

Google has added one more method of advertising, as it continues to seek new sources of ad revenue. The question is whether the new technique -- AdSense for Video -- will fare any better than the previous concepts. The newly-minted AdSense for Video ... will provider advertisers a means to overlay video or text ads on a video viewer. The ads will be dynamic, rotating every 20 seconds and will be matched with the content of the video or web page being viewed. (Source: nytimes.com ) The assumption is that the rapidly growing interest in online video and Google's ownership of YouTube justifies the ... (view more)

HBO is launching a 'free' service allowing viewers to watch its programming on computers. The 'HBO on Broadband' system offers a live feed of the television channel, and more than 350 movies and TV shows to download and watch at a later time. That's ... more than most cable TV operators offer through video on demand services. There's no specific charge to use the service, but it's only available to people who subscribe to HBO's television channel. And you must get your broadband access from the same cable company from which you get HBO TV. At the moment it's only being tested on two broadband ... (view more)

Couch Potatoes are becoming YouTube "tubers". Males in the 18 to 24 year old age group are redirecting their time; a 2007 Harris survey discovered that 1 in 3 of the frequent visitors to YouTube claim to be watching less TV as a result of watching ... YouTube and 66% were sacrificing other activities to watch YouTube. Among their sacrifices: 20% were pre-empting their email and social network time, 19% were deferring their work or homework, 15% sacrificed playing video games, and 12% were substituting spending time with friends or family. (Source: lostremote.com ) And we're not just ... (view more)

Not ready to upgrade to a shiny new PlayStation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360, or one of those newfangled Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players you keep hearing about? If you already own a High-Definition Television (HDTV) and a Sony PS2, Xploder may have the solution. The ... company is readying devices they claim will allow your PS2 to play games in high definition and DVDs in enhanced definition. Games Xploder's press release lists the following options: Select a HD 720p or 1080i setting to give a clearer, crisper picture quality for all PS2 games. Play games in Enhanced Definition (ED) TV 480p mode; a higher ... (view more)

Yahoo! recently acquired a company called Meedio, and they have wasted no time rebranding Meedio's PVR technology as " Yahoo Go TV ". The technology is available now as a free download from Yahoo!. From the Yahoo! Go TV web site: " Now you can take ... Yahoo! off your computer and put it in your living room for everyone to see. View photos, search for video clips and watch movie trailers on your TV. Plus, your own digital video recorder (DVR) lets you record and watch your favorite shows anytime for free. Be part of the Yahoo! Go for TV Beta! " (Source: yahoo.com ). Yahoo! Go ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Chris B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read with great interest your latest article, ' Watch downloaded movies on DVD player? '. I have one more suggestion for your Readers -- actually, it's more of a twist on a suggestion you already ... provided. For those who already own a video card with the 'TV out' feature: instead of running cables over a long distance (which may end up costing a fortune), I believe it would be equally feasible (or even cheaper) to purchase a wireless video transmitter and receiver combo package, and hook it up to the 'TV out' port of the video card. The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barbara B. writes: " Hi Dennis, Again, thanks for all of your hard work on your great newsletter, which is so much help for so many people. Now, my husband has a question regarding playback of downloaded DVD videos, movies, etc. ... He can download and burn these videos and can play them back on the computer. However, the problem is that we cannot play the movies on our DVD equipment (hooked up to your family television set). What is involved in this? Is there some kind of solution? Thanks so much for any assistance you might be able to give us. " My response: The ... (view more)