Items tagged with Television
Whoever opined that money does not buy happiness has never ridden on a jet ski or dined on a seafood feast at an expensive restaurant. If anything might change that person's mind, however, it could be LG's new 8K OLED TV. I mean, just look at how happy those people are in the press image above! Sure, it's totally staged, but the specs on this thing are beastly. For one, it's the world's first 8K OLED TV (88Z9), according to LG. That works out to a delightful 7680x4320 resolution, or 33 million self-emitting pixels. For comparison, that is a whopping 16 times pixels than a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) TV, and four times higher than a 4K (3840x2160) display. Sure, there's a definite lack of 4K content,...
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Hidden fees, inconsistent pricing, abysmal customer service, and limited content have all become hallmarks of the satellite television providers. T-Mobile hopes to change this and is reportedly “one step closer to taking on Big Cable later this year”. T-Mobile plans to launch its own cable television solution, TVision Home. TVision Home is “an upgraded, rebranded version of Layer3 TV”, which T-Mobile acquired in 2017. Layer3 TV was an internet-based TV platform and it offered 275 HD channels, DVR support with the ability to record 8 shows at once, and access to over 25,000 on demand titles. TVision Home will offer more than 150 channels, 35,000 On Demand movies,...
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After decades of ruling the roost, pay TV services have been hemorrhaging customers in recent years, thanks to the increasing availability of broadband connectivity and the advent of streaming services. Millions of pay TV subscribers have now cut the cord. Cable and satellite TV providers should be worried, though there is also evidence to suggest that the worst losses are behind them. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the terminology, cord cutting simply refers to ditching traditional pay TV services via cable or satellite, and adopting a streaming solution. Services like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, Sling, and YouTube TV all offer streaming options that in some cases can be more affordable...
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The streaming market is booming, and everyone and their dog wants in on the action. Apple has of course been involved in streaming for a while, thanks both to its iTunes store and also its standalone Apple TV device. But as rumor has it, the company is going to begin taking things much more seriously over the next year. It's not difficult to find a streaming device that does the job you need it to for a reasonable price. Google has Chromecast, and then there's of course Amazon's Fire TV and also Roku. The problem for Apple with those devices is that they're inexpensive, and with a starting price tag of $149 for its Apple TV, that requires some serious commitment from those who pick one up. Well,...
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Samsung this week unveiled its 2018 lineup of big screen televisions at the company's First Look event in New York, and one of the features that stands out is a new Ambient Mode. The new mode is intended for wall mounted TVs and is able to replicate the pattern on the wall behind it. This clever visual trickery acts as a sort of cloaking mechanism, as if the big screen display is not really there. We are not so far into the future that this works perfectly, of course, but a look around the web reveals that those who have seen it in person are impressed. Gizmodo, for example, says "the effect actually works surprisingly well," though also notes that it was a carefully designed demo. It remains...
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We will not call it a coup, but the number of people who are willing to ditch their cable or satellite TV service in favor of streaming content through the Internet continues to rise. Not only that, but the number of streaming service subscribers, both free and paid, has grown to 68 percent in 2016, up from 63 percent in 2014, a figure that catches up with and slightly surpasses paid TV service providers (67 percent) for the first time.That's according to the Consumer Technology Association's new study, The Changing Landscape for Video and Content. The study shows that the percentage of paid TV service subscribers has gone done from 69 percent in 2014 to 67 percent in 2016. What that shows is...
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It's no secret that Apple wants a piece of the streaming TV pie, but negotiating terms with big media firms has proven less than easy. That's especially true with Apple unwilling to budge on certain things, such as its insistence with Disney that the monthly rate per viewer it would pay to license the company's channels wouldn't change for several years.According to The Wall Street Journal, Disney was shocked by some of Apple's hard line stances, the cost of licensing per viewer being one of them. Disney, which owns lucrative channels such as ESPN and ABC, essentially told Apple to take a hike, as it's grown accustomed to annual rate increases on licensed content. Even though Apple could potentially...
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Not only is Netflix cheaper than a cable TV subscription, the value proposition is higher—much higher, in fact, which some might find surprising (and even outright dispute) due to Netflix's limited catalog of titles. Be that as it may, Netflix subscribers pay roughly three times less per hour of content than cable TV subscribers.That's one possible takeaway from a comprehensive report by Nielsen (PDF) that examines content consumption across television, radio, TV-connected devices, PCs, smartphones, and tablets. Nielsen didn't set out to compare Netflix to cable TV directly, but using the numbers provided, the folks at AllFlicks did some interesting math to figure out how much Netflix costs per...
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Google today announced that it's adding live TV listings to search. That means when you perform search for a TV show, such as Lucifer or Billions (both highly recommended, by the way), you'll not only see apps and sites where you can catch the latest episode, but also see which channel(s) you can tune to in the evening for a live viewing. Of course, this can be a little tricky with there being so many different cable and satellite TV providers. To make sure the information it's providing to you is relevant, Google will let you select your specific provider for personalized results. You'll also see cards that provide additional information about the content you're looking up. "There are now more...
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Samsung had lots to show off at the IFA event in Berlin, and while some of the focus was on high-def TVs as we'd expect, there was also an unveiling of a product we might not have expected: An "Ultra HD" Blu-ray player. As hard as it might be to believe, Blu-ray content has now been available on the market for over eight years, and admittedly, it didn't take but a few years after its launch when people began to question its lifespan. After all, our Internet connections are getting faster, and services like Netflix have proven that people are fine with consuming media that way. But, let's be honest: streamed content doesn't look as good as content that's already been downloaded or burned to a...
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AT&T is trumpeting the arrival of what it says is the first-ever nationwide package of television and wireless phone service from a single provider. It costs $200 per month and includes HD and DVR service for up to four TV receivers, unlimited talk and texting for four wireless lines, and 10GB of shareable wireless data. The new package, which AT&T is calling "All in One," will be available starting August 10. It's meant to be simple and straightforward, and is one of several new offerings the company has planned after completing the acquisition of satellite TV provider DirecTV for $49 billion. "AT&T is wasting no time extending the benefits of its DirecTV acquisition to consumers,"...
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It's official -- AT&T is now the proud owner of DirecTV, making it the largest pay TV provider in the U.S. and the world. The $49 billion acquisition bumps AT&T's customer base in the U.S. to 26 million, along with 19 million customers in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean. It also makes AT&T and mega-force in the sports world. DirecTV enjoyed exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, an add-on that allows customers to watch every out-of-market NFL game on their TVs, mobile devices, and PCs. As a DirecTV subscriber myself and displaced Boston sports fan, NFL Sunday Ticket has allowed me to follow the New England Patriots. It's a popular service, and a huge win for AT&T....
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If you live in Canada, go ahead and stop reading now to avoid any feelings of jealously and resentment. That's because Samsung is offering one heck of a bundle offer to U.S. residents -- purchase a select 4K SUHD television and receive a 32GB Galaxy S6 smartphone for free, zip, zilch, nada! That's a tantalizing offer that could be of interest to anyone shopping a TV or phone.It's an especially good deal if you're looking to upgrade your aging television to a 4K Ultra HD model. The only caveat is that you have to stick with a handful of specific models, those being the Samsung JS9500 (65-inch), JS9100 (78-inch), JS9000 (65-inch), JS8500 (55-inch), JS850D (65-inch), or JS8600 (78-inch).These are...
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Just when you think you've seen everything, here comes Samsung with the industry's first mirror and transparent OLED display panels. The South Korean outfit rolled out the displays at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and is pitching the displays as being suitable for personalized shopping and informational browsing. Paired with Intel's Real Sense technology, Samsung's displays are able to create an interactive closet or "self-modeling" wardrobe so that consumers can see what different types of clothes and jewelry would look like on them. It's a rather unique angle for the online shopping experience and could help take the guesswork out of ordering clothing...
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Whenever Apple does something, it wants to do it better than the competition, rather than just deliver the bare-minimum to get by. Its upcoming TV service is no exception. Apple certainly won’t be the first to offer such a service when it arrives, and it knows it has to do something special to taste success right out of the gate. One of its biggest goals is to deliver widespread access to local programming. If successful, Apple would immediately one-up all of the competition, such as Sony and Dish, which have only been able to offer local programming in a handful of cities. The problem, not surprisingly, is that dealing with all of the business contracts to make this a reality...
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For years it seemed that every discussion on Apple's new product lines and innovation required mention of an eventual Apple iTV (this writer's moniker for such a device, and not to be confused with that amorphous not-a-TV Cupertino-created product with 'TV' in its name, Apple TV). The company had stylishly cracked digital music delivery, sold tens of millions of pretty mobile phones before finally working out how to offer reliable basic phone function via the device, and opened up the tablet market while managing to leech any retail stigma of the word 'pad' along the way. What lucrative consumer technology market was left for Apple to conquer? The Idiot Box! The Boob Tube! The Telly! Yes. Surely,...
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Overly Paranoid Rob Lowe, Crazy Hairy Rob Lowe, Super Creepy Rob Lowe... thanks in no small part to complaints made by Comcast to the National Advertising Division (NAD), these most unwelcome guests who came into many of our homes via television throughout the 2014-15 NFL season are mostly likely being shown the door (and good riddance, Meathead Rob Lowe!). Taking issue with the "Don't be like this me" statements made by their team of "this me" Rob Lowes, Comcast challenged DirecTV's claims of superiority with regard to better signal reliability, picture quality, customer satisfaction, and sports programming. "NAD determined that a reasonable takeaway from the 'Creepy Rob Lowe' commercial was...
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Google is slowly but surely expanding its Google Fiber Internet and TV service across the United States, and if you ever wondered how the company can afford to offer such comparatively low prices, we have two answers. The first is simply, it's Google -- the company raked in $66 billion in revenue last year. Secondly, and more importantly, Google unveiled a new ad tracking system for its TV network that it plans to test in Kansas City. The ad-tracking system is similar to the technology Google uses online. During the local advertiser portion of commercial breaks, you'll see ads that are specifically targeted towards you. There are several factors that will determine what type of ad is best suited...
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Samsung can't seem to separate itself from drama surrounding its smart TV platform. It started with recent complaints that its TV voice recognition software was eavesdropping on living room conversations, and now users are complaining that Pepsi ads are running when they're not supposed to, like when watching locally stored content through Plex. A user took to Reddit to post his complaint, noting that things have been working fine for the past year but have taken a turn for the worse -- "Recently it has been stopping half way through a show or a movie and has played a Pepsi ad that is muted." According to the user who posted the complaint, the ad doesn't appear on any other platform running Plex,...
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If there's one movie that arguably comes up more often than any other in the tech industry, it's Minority Report, the flick from 2002 starring Tom Cruise in a sci-fi future where police are able to arrest criminals before they actually commit the crime in question. It's filled with technological wonders, including lots of touch and gesture-based computing, making it a prime candidate for comparisons to today's developments in touch screens and virtual controls. And if you thought that might stop any time soon, think again -- the 13-year-old movie is reportedly making a comeback as a TV show.Several entertainment outlets are reporting that Fox has greenlit the TV adaptation of Minority Report,...
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It's the beginning of a new year, one that's already being highlighted by a flood of recent Tizen-based smartphone launches. Oh wait, that didn't happen. Drats, we were cautiously optimistic that Tizen could make a splash in the smartphone sector, and while that's still possible, Samsung is switching focus for the time being to make Tizen a staple of its Smart TV lineup. Not just one or two models, either. Instead, Samsung announced that all its Smart TVs in 2015 will come with a new platform built around Tizen, which the company hopes will spur a bunch of app releases. "Building our Smart Platform around Tizen is a groundbreaking step towards a much more intelligent and integrated...
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There hasn't been a whole lot going on in the 3D display camp as of late, and that's probably because the industry found itself distracted by two other emerging technologies -- virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, and 4K Ultra HD displays. Toshiba didn't get those memos, however, and is still hard at work on a glasses-free 3D viewing technology that it plans to incorporate into a 15-inch 4K LCD panel. As Toshiba explains it, this is a new technology that uses a low-crosstalk, high-definition LCD GRIN lens, or "gradient-index lens." In a GRIN lens, the refractive-index distribution is formed by applying a voltage to the liquid crystal cell. The display in question can switch between...
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