VUDU brings movies in your home

Vudu box

I already wrote about VUDU - VOD provider from US. It offers approximately five thousand movies, HD films, and TV shows via broadband Internet connection. The movies can be rented or bought.

Actually VUDU does similar thing as AppleTV. But VUDU uses original approach to deliver content to the custom’s box. It something similar to BitTorrent. Requested movie is retrieved not from the central server as it’s done in case of AppleTV. But from the other VUDU boxes where it was already stored. As result the movie will come to your box much faster and network won’t be overladen.

Good approach! VUDU has only one big disadvantage for people who live outside USA. It works in US only. But AppleTV is available everywhere in the world (where high speed broadband exists of course).

See also

VUDU offers HD content

VUDU Box

VUDU started to offer a HD video content. You have to have a fast Internet connection (about 3 Mbps), stylish VUDU box ($399.00), wide-screen TV (box supports resolution up to 1080p) and put 50 buck as deposit which will be used to pay ordered movies later. It’s possible to rent or buy selected movie, store it on the VUDU box internal storage (about 100 hours of video).

I checked the list of offered movies. It’s cool! Thinking about high-broadband Internet connection :)

VDR as set-top-box for IPTV

vdr-logo

Recently I thought about integration IPTV and LinuxMCE. Since satellite or analog TV can be watched, paused and recorded by VDR or MythTV it’d be nice to have similar for IPTV. That plug-in for VDR offers such functionality. IPTV plug-in allows to manage IPTV channels same manner as for DVB once. It supports both multicast UDP/RTP and unicast HTTP MPEG1/2 transport streams. Moreover there is a possibility to get also other formats like MP3 radio streams, MMS video streams and so on.

Personally, I like VDR more and more. Especially after announcing next version LinuxMCE which should contain VDR as alternative to MythTV. But I don’t understand how to connect IPTV stream to the VDR box. All IPTV providers offer TV service only via their own set-top-box (STB). In case of using IPTV plug-in with VDR it’ll be like STB. Will providers allow that? I guess no. But idea is good: consumers get all types of TV in one place - VDR, IPTV providers don’t need a special equipment and UI. But this is just a dreams :)

Ubalance partners with MatrixStream to roll out HD 1080p IPTV in South Korea

MatrixStream

San Mateo, California – September 7, 2007 – UBalance Co. Ltd., a premier IPTV solution provider, has recently partnered with MatrixStream Technologies, Inc. to launch the first Video on Demand (VOD) and live HD 1080p IPTV deployment over a best effort network without QoS (quality of service) in South Korea.
With the world’s highest rate of broadband penetration, South Korea is already wired and adapted for massive IPTV deployment and, moreover, well suited to take advantage of MatrixStream’s HD streaming IPTV solution. “Increasingly fast and affordable broadband that is widely available throughout South Korea, primes the market here for HD streaming video which is of course an ideal market for our XMS based Video on Demand and IPTV solution that will optimize performance efficiencies over the existing public network,” states Jack Chung, CEO of MatrixStream.
MatrixStream’s patent-pending fully integrated end-to-end turnkey HD IPTV system will allow UBalance clients to deploy quickly and readily scale up to millions of users over existing broadband IP infrastructure without major network upgrades – delivering the home theater experience over the Internet to living rooms across South Korea for both live broadcasting and Video on Demand.
Unlike previously tried bandwidth hungry streaming IPTV solutions, typically requiring between 9 Mbps –30 Mbps to stream high definition, that for the most part do not work over a public network, MatrixStream’s HD IPTV solution not only works over a public best effort network, it does so with as little as 3.5 Mbps to stream HD 1080p encoded videos or as little as 1.5 Mbps to stream HD 720p encoded videos.
In summary, MatrixStream’s IPTV solution can deliver full HD quality videos over the Internet. In addition to streaming HD videos, the MatrixStream IPTV platform is already designed to easily add features such as time shift DVR (digital video recorder), t-commerce, interactive gaming, VoIP, personal photo sharing, personal music library, among other applications.
According to Dr. In Sup Kwon, President of Ubalance, “MatrixStream offers UBalance a technically advance, robust system that allows us to provide our clients superior quality and a cost differential that distinctively sets us apart from the competition … moreover, due to the incredible growth of the IPTV market in South Korea, we project that Ubalance can sell up to 10 million MatrixStream set top boxes within three years.”

About MatrixStream Technologies, Inc.

MatrixStream Technologies, Inc., offers a complete end-to-end VOD and IPTV platform solution, utilizing patent pending XMS-HDTM technology that delivers DVD and HDTV quality videos over any broadband IP network to the viewing audience. Currently, MatrixStream is working with 25 major broadband service providers around the world. For more information, please visit www.matrixstream.com.

About UBalance Co. Ltd.

Ubalance, founded in 2002, is dedicated to the development and promotion of core HD IPTV and broadcasting technologies, with the goal of advancing the digital entertainment experience. For more information, please visit www.ubalance.co.kr.

HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner

HDHomeRun

Here is an interesting A/V device - HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner. It allows to you watch over-the-air digital TV from all computers in your home. HDHomeRun has two tuners. So you’ll able to record/watch multiple channels at once.

HDHomeRun supports major DVR features:

  • Pause, rewind, fast-forward live TV.
  • Record all your favorite TV shows by name.
  • Fully integrated 14-day TV guide.

Additionally, HDHomeRun can be integrated with Windows Media Center, MythTV - DVR for Linux, SnapStream BeyondTV - DVR for Windows, SageTV - DVR for Windows, MediaPortal - DVR for Windows, GB-PVR - DVR for Windows, Pluto - Home automation & media system, VLC - Multi-platform media viewer, TSReader - MPEG-2 transport stream analysis.

The HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner is tagged at $169.95 and available on DVRupgrade.

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