Qik’s handy video streaming app has been out, in real or test release for the iPhone, HTCs and Nokias, but not Blackberrys… until now that is. The company’s just released an alpha version BlackBerry client, working best under the 4.5 OS, and running on Pearl 8120/8130, Curve 8320/8330 and Bold. A version for the flip 8220 is due soon. [Qik via Slashphone]
The latest to join the Netflix streaming crowd, Samsung Blu-Ray player users can now download a free update for Internet movie watching. The first Samsung players that will definitely support Netflix are the BD-P2500 and the BD-P2550. Netflix members can have their PC queues automatically displayed on Samsung’s players for instant viewing. Using the remote will let you fast forward, rewind, browse and rate movies from your TV set. Both players are $US400. [Engadget]
Qik, the service that turns a smartphone with a data plan into a live-streaming webcam, now works with over a dozen feature/non-smart/dumb phones with a new J2ME client currently in alpha. If you’re a proud owner of one of the following 13 phones, you can start fiddling with the alpha today; and on top of that, Qik wants your help in bringing the Java alpha up to speed on another 10 S40 Nokia phones that are currently unsupported.
Next2Friends has released the first live video streaming client for newer Blackberry phones, like the Curve and the Pearl. Similar to Qik or Justin TV, you download the Next2Friends client to your phone, and it streams to the internet whatever your camera records. Qik has been around on the N95 for so long now that I kinda figured similar services had made their way onto to the Blackberry. I was wrong. In any case the Next2Friends (also available for Symbian and WinMo phones) service is free and available for download now.
We’ve been bringing you news on Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Link for ages (it’s that net-connected, wired, Bravia-TV compatible movie-player device) and now Sony’s announcing official support for Amazon‘s Video on Demand service. So you’ll have “tens of thousands of premium movies and TV shows” for the device, and more importantly “streaming high-definition content” from Dailymotion, Sony Pictures Entertainment and other providers will be available too. Since it also streams YouTube and other sources, is it possible that the US$300 BIVL may make a dent in the home-streaming HD TV market? It could, with the might of Amazon and the sheer number of Bravias sold alone. Press release below.
Yesterday Apple introduced HD TV downloads to the iTunes store, meaning you can watch Peter be super emo on Heroes at a crispy 720p resolution. That’s a higher resolution than DVD, and technically, yup, that’s HD. There’s a catch though. Like every other video download service touting HD videos, it’s all actually lower quality than DVD.
Apparently some Vudu beta testers are being asked to check out new HD downloads that are supposed to match Blu-ray quality. These new HDX flicks are so data heavy, you’ve gotta wait two to three hours just for the flick to start. This actually jibes with what we heard a few months ago–that Vudu was looking at offering two tiers of HD movies, though there’s no guarantee that this is anything more than market research. That’s a long time to wait for a quality (and likely, price) bump that your average Joe probably wouldn’t be able to tell distinguish from their standard HD stuff. [Engadget]
We’ve known Amazon and Sony’s VOD plans since they were in diapers, but today Amazon has introduced their promised instant-view capabilities to their Video on Demand service for both Macs and PCs, and rolled out a beta for Sony Bravia Link owners to start testing–allowing you to pair your TV with your Amazon account for instant purchases and rentals. Your purchases are also automatically added to “Your Video Library” for instant streams from any web browser. [Amazon]
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]
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]
