May 25 Podcast #532: Cable Show 2012 and D-Link MovieNite
Each year cable industry people meet to discuss topics like multi-screen video services, cloud-based business applications, and innovations in personalized content delivery. The Cable show is like CES for cable operators. On today’s show we’ll discuss a few items that may have impact on your HDTV experience.
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Today's Show:
Blu-ray Reviews:
News:
- Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air: Prepare To Upgrade Your TVs Again
- Dolby Launches Blu-ray Soundtrack Enhancement
- CBS CEO: Dish's Ad-Zapper Is Illegal
Other:
- Digiboo - Movies on the move
- Prima Cinema - History in the making
- Hulu delivers 10 new original shows for summer
- Eugene Polley, co-creator of the wireless TV remote, passes away aged 96
- DISH and Roku Ink Strategic Partnership for International Programming
- Sony and Sharp officially terminate LCD partnership
- Fox sues Dish Network over ad-skipping feature
Amazon Prime:
Sign up for Amazon Prime and enjoy:
- Free Two Day Shipping!
- Instant Streaming of TV Shows and Movies
- Instant Access to thousands of Kindle Books
- The HT Guys gratitude!
TV shows that aren't coming back next year
ABC
- Charlie’s Angels
- Desperate Housewives
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
- GCB
- Man Up
- Missing
- Pan Am
- The River
- Work It
CBS
- CSI: Miami
- A Gifted Man
- How to Be a Gentleman
- NYC 22
- Rob
- Unforgettable
FOX
- Alcatraz
- Allen Gregory
- Breaking In
- The Finder
- House
- I Hate My Teenage Daughter
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Terra Nova
NBC
- Are You There, Chelsea?
- Best Friends Forever
- Chuck
- Free Agents
- Harry’s Law
- The Playboy Club
- Prime Suspect
- The Firm
CW
- H8R
- One Tree Hill
- Remodeled
- Ringer
- The Secret Circle
D-Link MovieNite
by Thomas Benton
Features
- Stream new movie releases the same day they come out on DVD with VUDU - VUDU gives you instant access to the latest movie and TV show releases and you only pay for what you watch (no subscription or late fees).
- Full 1080p HD Experience – Get the best HD resolution possible with a 1080p HD experience at an affordable price.
- Easy to set up, easy to use and works with almost any TV – built-in wireless, easy onscreen menu and HDMI and composite video/audio connections make MovieNite the perfect media player for any user.
- Instantly watch as many TV episodes and movies as you want with Netflix – Choose and watch as much high quality video as you want over the Internet.
- Enjoy personalized and free Internet radio on your TV with Pandora – Create “stations” based on your favorite artists or songs and Pandora will play their music and more music like it.
- Access billions of videos from YouTube – With the click of a remote you gain access to hours of endless entertainment from YouTube.
The remote control is small and fits in your hand very easy. It has 4 preset buttons for quick access for Netflix, Vudu, Pandora, and YouTube. There are direction arrows, a select button, back, home, and a options (depends on the app) buttons.
There is a remote control app for Android and iOS. I have the Android app and it is like the remote but does not have preset buttons for the quick app selection. The app does not allow for typing to fill in on screen text. You have to use the on screen keyboard that pops up on the TV.
The unit itself has a smooth black finish and measures 4.8 x 4.6 x 1.1 inches (124 x 117 x 27 mm) and weighs 6.5 oz. (180g). It looks similar to the AppleTV, Roku, and NeoTV set top boxes.
The coolest feature I have seen so far is the Mydlink which is a DIY home video system. You have to download the software from their mydlink site. You can also download an app for iOS and Android devices (check your app stores). This feature allows you to access video feeds from supported D-Link cameras on your MovieNite box.
Would I say the price point of $48 is a great low budget price only if you wanted to just watch movies. For right now there is no way to add or delete the apps you want so you are stuck with what D-Link gives you. I would say its a great buy for someone starting out in online media streaming but not for someone who is wanting to cut the cord. This device is great as a spare in a guest bedroom unit.
Cable Show 2012
Each year cable industry people meet to discuss topics like multi-screen video services, cloud-based business applications, and innovations in personalized content delivery. The Cable show is like CES for cable operators. On today’s show we’ll discuss a few items that may have impact on your HDTV experience.
| U.S. Cable Industry Stats at a Glance | |
| Annual industry revenues: | $93.7 billion |
| Advertising revenues: | $27.2 billion |
| Capital expenditures in last 10 years: | $129 billion |
| Capital expenditures, 2010: | $12.4 billion |
| Broadband-Internet customers: | 45 million |
| Broadband reach: | 93% of U.S. homes |
| Cable Phone customers | 24 million |
Further reading:
- TiVo Streams TV To Tablets, Debuts IP Set-Top
- Panel: Nick's Netflix Ratings Troubles Good for Ops
- Motorola Envisions 'Whole-World DVR'
- ESPN 3D to Serve Up Five Days of Live Wimbledon Coverage
- SeaChange and Civolution Partner on PVOD Solution
- NBC To Offer Unprecedented 2012 Olympics Coverage
Reader Comments (3)
i like review of d-link movie nite.but there is omission there.review does not mention if device is capable of streaming local content like WD media players and other do.it is very important feature and for some a deal breaker.
I response to yasiu question. This device is very limited as far as I can see it can not stream local media like the WD media players or like the Roku boxes does with the help of plex channel. As I can see you can not update the channels or apps on this device....it is lock down in other words from D-Link. This device is more like a starter box for someone who does not knows anything about the different types of media players or a spare low cost player for a guest bed room. I hope this helps you out.
For the TV in the garage question, the Boxee Box does have a Slingbox app.