I Want A New TV

I'm planning on buying a spanking new TV sometime this year and I was talking to CJG earlier this week (or was it last week?) about how I know nothing about TVs. He was gracious enough to give me a run down on the technologies which was a really useful since I'm the kind of person that likes to do a little research before buying anything new. And then today I came across this slide-show on the making of a Plasma TV. Pretty interesting stuff.

Feed: BusinessWeek Online -- Technology & Science
Title: Slide Show: The Making of a Plasma TV

If you're one of the many people replacing an unwieldy tube-based TV with plasma technology, you'll want to see what goes on behind the screen

How about some free HDTV?

Here's an excerpt out of Tracy Swedlow's [itvt] newsletter about a free HD IPTV service. The website is called MyTVPal.com and offers up channels such as ABC News, NBC News and a regional FOX station for free. There are also tons of international channels for anyone from abroad who is feeling a little homesick.

1080P HD IPTV Service, MyTVPal.com, Launches

A service called MyTVPal.com--which claims to be the world's first 1080P high-definition streaming IPTV and VOD service for PC player and IPTV set-top box clients--launched last week. The service, which is operated by IPTV content aggregator, BB Entertainment, and powered by technologies from MatrixStream, a Bay Area-based provider of IPTV solutions (note: to access the service, consumers must have a broadband connection of 1.5Mbps or faster), currently offers over 700 free standard- and high-definition channels from around 70 different countries, and plans to roll out additional channels on a monthly basis; in the coming months, it also plans to offer what it says will be a "wide range" of VOD titles "for a low monthly cost." In addition, it says that user-uploaded content and DVR features will be available as a software upgrade for PC and set-top box clients at some point in 2007. MyTVPal.com claims to be targeting 10 million users over the next five years, and is currently offering a free trial of its PC player to consumers who register on its Web site. In addition, it says that it plans to release 100,000 MatrixStream 1080P IPTV set-top boxes during its first year.

Introduction to IPTV

You would have thought that for a person working in interactive TV industry, I knew exactly what IPTV was all about. I knew a little but this article served as a good intro on the subject - An Introduction to IPTV

Free online DVR service in Germany

OTR claims to be a free online DVR service where the recordings are performed server side. I imagine you can then stream them using your PC. I'll have to check it out later: http://www.onlinetvrecorder.com

Feed: informitv news
Title: Online TV Recorder project seeks investment

OnlineTVRecorder is a free network-based video recorder project in Germany that claims to have reached nearly a quarter of a million users within three months. Its developers are now seeking further investor backing for the service, together with a peer-to-peer live network television system. They will be among a number of entrepreneurs pitching to investors at a Silicon Valley Open Doors conference.