Sony's just announced a video service for their PS3 called VidZone, which somehow offers up free music and videos, albeit only in PAL regions for the time being. It'll allow you to streaming unlimited music on demand for free, but it's unclear whether it'll be ad-supported, or whether the catalog will be full of only Sony BMG tracks, or whether these are horrible tracks that nobody wants to hear anyway. We'll update with more info when we get it, but this is separate from the current PSN service which already lets you buy and rent movies (which is shown in the screenshot above). [Maxconsole]

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The longest service disruption in Netflix history has apparently been resolved, with normal service resuming today. The company will compensate affected customers by adding a 15% credit automatically to their next bill. [Physorg]

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Netflix's bonered shipping system hasn't magically fixed itself yet, but Reuters reports that they're resuming shipments to the affected customers. The company, which shipped nothing early Thursday morning, wants to get back to normal sometime on Friday, which may or may not be the case. The good news is that they've fixed most of the problems (or so they claim), but if you really need something to watch, their Watch Now streaming is still up. [Reuters via CrunchGear - Image Credit]

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The 2008 Olympics have begun, and now that we've had a few days to digest the coverage, we've found the best (and worst) things about watching the games online and on your TV. Those of us stuck here in America and not lucky enough to own Vista must deal with NBC's often delayed event broadcasts. Sure, if it's American basketball or track you're looking for, you can find everything you need without stepping away from your HDTV set. But if you've waited four years to watch table tennis or want to see how that Latvia-Angola rivalry plays out, you'll definitely have to use NBC's streaming online player. Here's a rundown of the tradeoffs between HDTV and NBC's online viewer, and some helpful tips to keep you from getting too mired in the programming.

AU: Nice to know what the US is bitching about, when all we have is Yahoo!7...

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The 2008 Olympics have already started, but those of us stuck here in America and not lucky enough to own Vista must deal with NBC's often delayed event broadcasts. Sure, if it's American basketball or track you're looking for, you can find everything you need without stepping away from your HDTV set. But if you've waited four years to watch table tennis or want to see how that Latvia-Angola rivalry plays out, you'll definitely have to use NBC's streaming online player. The Silverlight-based player runs well—even on a Mac—but it has a few rough spots when it comes to interface. If you want to make the best of your Olympic experience, here are the things you need to know.

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Sonos upgraded their ZonePlayer lineup to the ZP 90 and the ZP 120. The ZP 90, which connects to existing home theatre amplifiers, is essentially the same as the ZP 80, but now features SonosNet 2.0, which combines MIMO antennas with Sonos' existing mesh network. The ZP120, Sonos' main amplified unit, also includes SonosNet 2.0, but is also smaller (17.8 x 7.6 x 20.3cm vs. 25.4 x 10.2 x 20.3cm) , lighter (2.3kg vs. 4.5kg), and has more power (55W vs 50W) than the previous ZP100.

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LG's Netflix-streaming, Blu-ray 2.0 playing BD300 made its public debut tonight, and we're impressed. The box is slim and it won't take up more space on your shelf than any other player. An LG exec confirmed a September launch for the sub-US$500 player, so check out the gallery and start lickin' your chops. [LG]

We've been waiting for this since January: LG's promised Blu-ray player with built-in Netflix movie streaming is official. Available this fall for "well under US$500," the BD300 is the third major box Netflix has invaded with its unlimited streaming service offering over 12,000 titles.

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Subscribers hoping that Netflix would get into the pay-per-view space will be slightly disappointed, as its CEO reiterates that they will always be in the subscription business. Reed Hastings says, "We don't plan to enter the pay-per-view segment, where Apple, Amazon, Sony and others focus, or the ad-supported segment, where Hulu, YouTube and others compete," which is probably a smart idea, seeing as all those companies are already crowding each other for the limited amount of room. Best to stay put where you're in good shape. [Hollywood Reporter]

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