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CE Surprises of Holiday 2009Yesterday

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) hosted a webcast this afternoon with a recap on Black Friday CE spending. There was too much juicy data to report in one post, so for now I thought I’d relate some of the surprises from the holiday weekend. As far as overall spending is concerned, the consensus seems to be that Black Friday shopping was up in 2008 over 2007. Check out recent reports from ShopperTrak and the National Retail Federation.

Smaller TVs
I was surprised to hear a rep at the Sony Style store say that smaller HDTVs in the 32″ range were flying off the shelves last Friday. But according to the CEA, the sweet spot for TVs right now is actually even smaller at 21″-23″. At the beginning of this year, TV sets over 40″ made up more than half of TV shipments. Now they represent only 36%. Again, the only thing I can assume here is that fol

Blockbuster OnDemand Not Ready For Prime TimeDecember 3

As the title states, the Blockbuster OnDemand MediaPoint 2Wire box just isn’t ready for prime time. While the pricing is extremely reasonable ($99 for the hardware, including 25 movie rentals), the interface looks pleasant, and the content selection is solid… the device is in need of a software update before I can recommend it.

Blockbuster attempts to do more than the basic Roku Netflix box, such as couch-based content browsing, but the experience is largely flawed. What started as a minor annoyance has grown for me - many screens fill too slowly. I’m not sure if this is due to the hardware, software, or retrieving network content. Either way, it’s a turn off. (And a reason why I also tend to avoid TiVo’s Java-based network apps.) It peeked when the entire thing slowed down to an unusable state and the power button was ineffective, requiring an unplug. Speaking of unplugging the unit, each time I moved this box room to room it mysteriously forgot my WPA2 passphrase - tedious to repeatedly reenter those 19 characters. I’ve only rented one flick, the latest Indi

Neuros LINK Unboxed & SetupDecember 3

A loaner Neuros LINK ($300) arrived earlier today, and for once I forgive the UPS guy for not hiking up four flights of stairs to make a delivery… The unit is essentially a full-on computer, with the total kit weighing in at about 15lbs.

During the early phase of alpha testing, the Ubuntu Linux system is booting off a 4GB USB stick. The primary function of Neuros LINK is to organize and access web-based video, such as Hulu or Amazon OnDemand. And similar to ZvBox, the main launchpad is essentially a Firefox web browser. While Zv provides a customized build, the Neuros LINK interface is the standard browser running in full screen mode displaying Neuros’ customized site/experience. I haven’t found or tested the browsing functionality yet, but the automatic word complete suggestions via the web search feature is quite nice. I had no problems locating Hulu content and playing it back full screen - both audio and video passed fine from PC to HDTV over HDMI. When not streaming from the web, Linux media center software

Joost Not Dead Yet, Lands on iPhoneDecember 3

During my Dublin vacation, I caught wind of the new iPhone Joost client via Twitter. Putting the hotel’s complimentary Internet connectivity to good use, I immediately downloaded the WiFi-only app. Joost’s content selection, while in Europe, was pretty sparse… especially in regards to what I’d call premium video. (Axl Rose riding an airport luggage carousel isn’t very compelling.) Here in the states, I have a much larger library of “real” content to choose from. Although, the iPhone index suffer from the same problem as the web-based selections: Offerings are entirely random and there may not be anything worthwhile. At my desk, I see this as a shortcoming. However while blowing time at an airport, browsing Joost it could be a fun exercise in discovery and distraction. Of course, I still believe the best solution is a Slingbox with access to my TiVo… So it’s too bad they haven’t released an iPhone SlingPlayer yet.

SageTV Refreshes Extender HardwareDecember 1

If you’re one of the many SageTV users waiting for the return of SageTV HD Extenders, your wait is now over this CyberMonday. The SageTV store has the new version of the HD100, known as the SageTV HD Theater (HD200), available for $200. The smaller replacement model functions just like the former $200 HD100 extenders - handling all of the same video and audio formats plus some, acting as Placeshifter client, etc. The SageTV HD Theater also functions as a standalone media player without requiring a SageTV server connection and can also run without a PC to play media it finds on your local network or on a local USB storage device.

Read the rest of this entry at Brent Evans Geek Tonic »