tv

MLB.tv having trouble handling season opening demand

If you're a real baseball fan, watching games online instead of on TV is one of the more frustrating uses of the Internet. But for some fans who subscribed to Major League Baseball's online package, watching the first games of the 2007 season was a study in aggravation.

In the wake of MLB's exclusive deal with DirecTV--in which the season-long Extra Innings package is available only on that one satellite network, rather than on any number of cable networks--many hard-core fans have had little choice but to turn to the Internet to get access to the … Read more

Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Stars

Video games are almost never known for good acting. Voice-overs and cutscenes tend to be stilted, and use lesser-known and, often, lesser-skilled actors to do the dirty work. Occasionally you can find a good actor or two hired to do scenes, like Patrick Stewart in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Vin Diesel in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, or Mark Hamill in Wing Commander 3 and 4, but usually you can expect mediocre voicework and cutscenes at best, bumpers to click through in between gameplay.

Then I started playing Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The Command and … Read more

Netgear's Apple TV competitor plays DRM-encoded songs purchased from the iTunes Store

Kudos to Laptop magazine for getting the scoop, with the one of the first hands-on reviews we've seen of the Netgear EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD. There's just one problem: they got one big detail of the product dead wrong. The Netgear product does play songs purchased from the iTunes Store, as confirmed by hands-on tests in the CNET Labs.

We purchased and played two songs from the store, and were surprised to see that the Netgear was able to stream them to the TV/stereo system in the next room just as easily as it could with DRM-free … Read more

DRM-free iTunes songs boost the appeal of non-Apple music streamers

It's the digital equivalent of the first few cracks in the Berlin Wall: soon EMI will be offering the bulk of its music catalog free of DRM restrictions. Steve Jobs was on hand at the press conference to enthusiastically endorse the idea--he did, famously, suggest as much in an open letter just a few short weeks ago. But is Apple simply fashioning its own hangman's noose? If the other major record companies follow suit, the one big advantage of the entire Apple "digital ecosystem"--iTunes, the iPod, and Apple TV--essentially becomes null and void. Jobs says Apple's superior design will keep the company's software and hardware at the top of the must-have list for digital media. For the iPod, maybe--but for the just-launched Apple TV, the answer isn't as straightforward. … Read more

$100 additional off select TVs from Circuit City more than $999

Save an extra $100 instantly on select TVs from Circuit City starting at $999 and up. Enter this Coupon Code QHARQDAAZ2 on the Circuit City Checkout Page. Regular price:$2,499.99 Save an extra: $100 with coupon code Deal ends: 3/31/07 Go to Circuit City for deal.

Save $100 on select TVs starting from $999 and up from Circuit City!

Check out this great offer from Circuit City. It is only good March 29 through March 31.

Save an extra $100 instantly on select TVs from Circuit City starting at $999 and up. Enter this Coupon Code QHARQDAAZ2 on the Circuit City checkout page.

Here is a sample of the Circut City TVs that qualify.

Happy Shopping!

Sirius TV debuts in Chryslers

Chrysler will be the first car company to offer "Backseat TV" from Sirius. At first glance that reads like a typo--TV from a radio company? But bits is bits and this proves it.

The service gets its name from its target audience: antsy kids in the back seat. They'll have three channels of live, family-oriented stuff to watch from Nick, Disney, and Cartoon Network.

Subscribers will find two small antennas on the roof of their new Chrysler, a receiver box installed inside, and the video showing up screens in the back seat area. Backseat TV and Sirius … Read more

Apple TV for a graduation gift?

Ok, so it may be a bit early yet, but my niece in Florida graduates from high school on May 18, and I think this might be the perfect gift, or perhaps a bracelet from Tiffany & Co. Come to think of it, she would probably disown me if I did the bracelet over the Apple TV. Read more about how Apple TV puts your iTunes library, movies, TV shows, and more on your TV. Check out the user opinions, the Editors' review, and the low prices offered by our CNET Certified stores for this just-released Apple TV here.

Best Buy and the case of the mysterious Apple TV release

Is Best Buy selling Apple TV now? Well, that seems to depend on where you shop.

If you'll recall, last week Best Buy told us that Apple TV would be available starting Tuesday in all of its 800-plus stores a full two weeks before any other retail chain (excluding, of course, Apple's own stores, which have had it for sale since the end of last week).

Then, Best Buy took back its claim of an exclusive the next day.

Then Best Buy customer Chad Stutz of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, told Crave that he went to his local Best … Read more

Apple TV won't handle surround sound

With HDMI and optical digital output, Apple TV should eventually be able to pass DVD-like surround sound just as soon as Apple adds surround-encoded movies and TV shows to its iTunes Store--right?

Wrong.

According to the specs on Apple's Web site, the Apple TV's maximum audio track bandwidth for video files is 160Kbps (that doubles to 320Kbps for audio-only files such as MP3s and AACs). That is far below the 640Kbps and 768Kbps surround Dolby and DTS soundtracks you'll find on any old DVD. And that doesn't even begin to account for the next-gen Dolby Digital … Read more