Todays Show:

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:

 

TV shows that arent 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.

Download Episode #532