It’s been fairly well documented that you can Sling television feeds around the world, but Hobotech Ron and I wondered what type of quality one could expect outputting that signal to TV. So in the name of science, we broke several international laws to conduct an intercontinental experiment. Ron loaded up his Dell laptop with the SlingPlayer and viewed my Washington, DC-based Slingbox feed from his home in Canberra, Australia. As you can see above, video quality was decent on his rear projection TV with a consistent 320kbps-350kbps download bitrate (which is about what I get here in the US). We believe the limiting factor is not distance, but rather my DSL upload speed which is capped at 384kbps.

Ron says: I hooked it up to the RearPro via S-Video and my wife and I watched it for quite a while and came to the conclusion that, while less than perfect we would be quite happy to watch it, if it provided us with material we couldn’t get from any other source. A little bit like food, while one might prefer a steak, a hamburger will usually do quite well if that’s all that’s available!

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Today’s the day… ABC launched their two month trial (5/1 - 6/30) offering free web rebroadcasts of current, prime time television series. Unlike most streaming content, you do not need Windows as ABC is broadcasting via cross-platform Flash. Of course free is just another word for advertising, but it competes well with $1.99 iTunes downloads. Assuming all goes well, ABC is planning on tweaking the model and relaunching with the fall television season.

Check it out here!

Do I need to watch all of the advertisements?

The advertisements are placed at various points during the show. You cannot advance the show beyond that point until you have watched the ad for at least 30 seconds. You may see a maximum of four advertisements per show.

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Looks like Sling will be getting some more competition… Sony plans to expand it’s LocationFree TV streaming to include Macs and Windows Mobile devices.

Extreme Tech says: Sony Corp. said Tuesday that it licensed its Location-Free technology to Kaga Electronics, which will port the technology to the Mac OS X platform. “Location Free” allows content on supported platforms to be routed wirelessly, through Son’y LF-PK1 basestation, to other PCs, an LCD monitor or even its Sony PSP handheld. Customers will be able to enjoy “LocationFree” with Windows Mobile and cellular phones as well as Mac OS X(R) product, Sony added.

PC Magazine spent some using Peerflix, the online DVD exchange, and settled on a 3.5/5 review. Peerflix allows you to unload discs you no longer want in exchange for Peerbux (quantity based on the relative value of a movie) which are then used to purchase other DVDs. Since there are no subscription fees, Peerflix hopes to make money off the 99 cent charge per trade. They’re still offering a free DVD to promote their service.

Exchange models have always fascinated me, but I’m pretty happy with my current situation… An unlimited amount of DVDs come in from Netflix and movies I own are unloaded via Amazon or ebay when it’s convenient. I have to say it does seem like Peerflix has made it pretty quick and simple to fire off movies, but I still worry about incoming disc quality. Anyone using it?

PC Mag says: Building your list of discs to unload is easy. Simply input their UPC codes (found on the back of the DVD boxes. Unlike the similar service SwitchDiscs, with Peerflix you don’t specify what you’ve included (the case, the artwork, and so on); it’s assumed that you’re including the main movie disc and nothing else—not the box, not the extra discs, not the booklets. One of my discs, Sin City, was requested immediately. I clicked on Mail It Now, printed out the custom envelope on a regular 8.5-by-11 piece of paper (which had my return address and the user’s mailing address all ready to go), folded it around the disc, and sealed it with the disc inside. Then I put a 39-cent stamp on it (69 cents is required for two discs) and mailed it off. Presto—as soon as I committed to sending the DVD, I received three Peerbux and the chance to get another movie.

At long last, HBO has announced release dates for the second seasons of Deadwood and Entourage! Still no word on Rome or Ricky Gervais’ Extras. We watch most television through Netflix these days (no commercials, no scheduling, compressed seasons), and have been anxiously awaiting these discs. Speaking of Netflix television, we’re in the midst of a Sleeper Cell marathon this weekend.

Deadwood Season 2 - 5/23/06
Entourage Season 2 - 6/6/06

I just couldn’t seem to find the time…

• Philips patents digital flags to prevent channel changing or content advancing during commercials. (New Scientist)
• The facts and fiction of 1080p. (Team Xbox)
• Podcasts outnumber radio stations. (eWeek)
• Windows Media Player 11 to be released this summer. (Thomas Hawk)
• Portable VLC released. (PortableApps)
• Windows smart-phone maker HTC profiled. (Business Week)

CNET’s weekly holiday tech downloads must have been successful, because they’ve announced an expansion of VOD segments — this time ad supported. They plan to launch 2-3 hours of monthly programming, broken into 15 minute segments, beginning in June. Neat, I guess… but where’s my TiVo movie download feature?

CNET Announces CNET TV; Cox Communications, TiVo Inc., and TVN Entertainment Sign on to Launch CNET TV On-Demand; CNET to Bring On-Demand Experience to Its Web site

SAN FRANCISCO–April 17, 2006–CNET, a source of information and inspiration for a world gone digital, and a property of CNET Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNET), today announced “CNET TV,” a new video-on-demand (VOD) service that packages a selection of CNET’s popular video content for distribution on television and online. CNET TV will launch initially with partners Cox Communications Inc., TiVo Inc., and TVN Entertainment, as well as on CNET in the second half of the year.

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