TechRadar: Television news

Updated: Apple iTV release date, news and rumours

Dan Grabham — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:05:00 GMT

Apple iTV rumours: what you need to know

We love the Full HD Apple TV box, but Apple really isn't so sure: the company has seemed more interested in getting iPads into your living room than its Apple TV box.

Apple says the Apple TV is a hobby, but the company is thinking bigger. Much, much bigger: it wants to sell you the entire TV set, not a little box beneath it.

In an early 2012 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted again at the release of something bigger and better than the current Apple TV.

Is Apple iTV confirmed?

"With Apple TV, however, despite the barriers in [the TV set top box] market, for those of us who use it, we've always thought there was something there. And that if we kept following our intuition and kept pulling the string, then we might find something that was larger.

"For those people that have it right now, the customer satisfaction is off the charts. But we need something that could go more main market for it to be a serious category."

However, it is possible that he meant a set top box, and rumours have continued to rumble on that Apple is in talks with US cable providers over a new version of its existing Apple TV box.

FutTv : SNcCn61A339dr

Stronger hints came in a December 2012 Tim Cook NBC interview. "When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years," Cook told Williams. "It's an area of intense interest. I can't say more than that."

Apple isn't the only one dropping big hints either - manufacturer Foxconn had to refute reports in late May 2012 that it had begun to produce the Apple iTV after a story emerged quoting chief executive, Terry Gua, as saying Foxconn was "making preparations for iTV."

More speculation citing Foxconn involvement emerged in December 2012 and then again in late March 2013, especially as the company has decided to move into TVs.

Here are all the rumours and speculation surrounding the Apple iTV, which some have also claimed may end up with the surely unlikely name of the Apple iPanel.

Apple iTV release date

Most rumours predict a 2013 Apple iTV release date. The New York Times says that price, not technology, is the problem: Apple is waiting for the cost of large LCD panels to fall further before building iTVs.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggested in November 2012 that the iTV would come out a year later, in November of 2013.

According to Market Intelligence Center, David Einhorn from Greenlight Capital, recently told his investors that he believed Apple would come out with its next "blockbuster product" - the iTV - soon.

This is big change in Munster's thinking. Earlier this year Munster was calling for Apple to announce the Apple television in December, then release it in the first half of 2013.

As AppleInsider says. "Most notably, he expects Apple will launch a television set in time for the holiday 2013 shopping season. He expects the product to be priced between $1,500 and $2,000, with screen sizes between 42 and 55 inches."

As Business Insider says, Munster doesn't provide any reason for his thinking.

However, some rumours in May 2012 suggested that we won't see the Apple iTV until 2014 and these rumours continued into early 2013.

In December 2012 Wall Street Journal sources said that various TV prototypes have been on the company's slate for a number of years.

Apple iTV design

In mid-May a new report from Cult of Mac claimed one of their contacts saw a working prototype of the Apple TV. The report claimed that Siri and iSight will feature (so face and voice recognition then), while the design is similar to that of an Apple Cinema Display.

The Telegraph says that "sources within the company" say that Jeff Robbin, the man who helped create the iPod, is leading the team. Apple has seemingly denied rumours that it is working with French designer Philippe Starck. Remember when he worked with Microsoft on a mouse?

However, it appears that Starck was actually working on another project, a yacht, with Steve Jobs before his death.

On 13 May 2011, we reported that Apple is rumoured to be in talks to buy TV manufacturer Loewe. AppleInsider wrote that talks have entered the advanced stages and Loewe is expected to make a decision on Apple's offer within the next week.

Apple iTV specifications and display

Engadget predicts an A5 processor and 1080p video - neither of which are a huge surprise, granted.

Australian tech site Smarthouse says that the Apple iTV will come in three sizes, including 32-inch and 55-inch models.

Sources at "a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV" reckon the sets will have the same processor as the forthcoming iPad 3, which presumably means an Apple A6.

Smarthouse isn't usually the go-to site for Apple rumours, but its report echoes similar claims by respected Apple analyst Gene Munster, who told the recent Future of Media conference that Apple will make its TV in a range of sizes.

"The smallest one will be 42 inches in size, followed by a 52 inches one and a 60 inches iTV (coincidence or not, these exact sizes are available on Sharp TVs, too)," said Gozmorati. This information was repeated in several similar stories.

March, June and December 2012 rumours pointed at Sharp being the manufacturing partner. SlashGear says work on components is already under way. In mid April, Sharp announced it had begun production of 32-inch HI-DPI LCD panels at its Kameyama Plant No. 2 - could these be the panels destined for the Apple iTV?

Apple contractor Foxconn's parent company has made a rather large investment in Sharp - does this indicate something we wonder?

Both companies were apparently working together to 'test' TV designs in the December 2012 rumours.

Rumours also continue to circulate that Samsung could be heavily involved in the iTV project, not least because of features such as TV Discovery, enabling you to easily find programming.

An early 2013 patent, reported on by Macworld, describes "a sound system that could be launched as part of its iTV. The intelligent system could determine where a user is in a room, and if he or she was not within the optimum range, the processor could modify the audio output, says the application. It could also adjust based on which way the user is facing, and the environment that the user is in," Clever stuff.

Apple iTV 4K?

New rumours from the ever-questionable Digitimes suggest we could be seeing a 3,840 x 2,160 display from Apple. Apparently LG would manufacture the display. We'd be amazed if this one was true.

Apple iTV operating system

As with the Apple TV, any iTV is likely to run iOS, albeit in slightly disguised form. Compatibility with other iOS devices is a given: current Apple TVs already accept video streamed via AirPlay and access shared iTunes libraries. We'll be amazed if the iTV doesn't get apps.

Expect Apple iTV and Apple TV to work more like iOS does on the iPad; the newest iOS 6 Beta for the Apple TV enables app icons to be moved around the homescreen just like on the iPhone and iPad.

That has led some observers to conclude that the rumoured App Store for Apple's favourite 'hobby project' might be on the way sooner rather than later.

Apple iTV and iCloud

Steve Jobs told his biographer: "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

According to one source which claims to have seen the device, the new TV has Siri and FaceTime.

Apple iTV remote control

Munster says the iTV will come with an ordinary remote control, and will be controllable with iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, but the real remote control will be Siri.

Apple's voice recognition system will be the heart of the new Apple TV, enabling you to choose channels and control the TV's functions with voice alone. That means " the simplest user interface you could imagine" is voice.

However, according to a new patent filed in March 2012, Apple has come up with the design for an advanced universal remote that would also be compatible with your iPhone and iPad.

But could Apple also be thinking more about games? Some sources say so, with an official joypad-type device possibly on the cards to work alongside Apple TV.

Apple iTV AirPlay mirroring

After AirPlay mirroring from Mac to Apple TV was present in the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, it's not a great leap to suggest that the Apple iTV could mirror the display of your Mac or iPad wirelessly too. AirPlay mirroring is now 1080p with the new iPad and new Apple TV.

When a prototype was reportedly 'seen' it did feature AirPlay.

Apple iTV programmes

While the iTV will get content from iTunes and iCloud, it's not going to be completely separate from current TV broadcasters: Munster says that you'll still need a cable TV subscription and decoder because Apple doesn't have enough content.

We're not sure whether it would play nicely with Freeview and Freeview HD here in the UK, but perhaps a DVB-T compatible unit will arrive as part of a second generation.

As of 6 March 2012, rumours were continually doing the rounds that, as the New York Post reports, Apple is planning to launch a music streaming service this side of Christmas.

On 13 March, Les Moonves, who is CEO at CBS, says he was the recipient of a pitch from Steve Jobs regarding his network's participation in a subscription-based service, but turned him down. Apple is also rumoured to be talking about getting partners involved for movie streaming.

His reasoning? Moonves says he was worried about damaging the network's existing revenue streams through broadcast and cable television.

In February 2013 it became clear that Apple had hired James (Jueng-jil) Lee, a former senior researcher at LG. According to the OLED Association, he had been working on a printed AMOLED TV display.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Lee lists his role at LG as "OLED Technology Development for TV Application" and he said he was "developing the Soluble Technology (RGB Type) for OLED TV application at LG Display".

The main question is whether Apple will open the door for third-party content, like the BBC iPlayer, Sky Go and 4oD and other apps we've seen on connected TV platforms. These may well arrive with apps - the Apple TV SDK will pull on the iTV ecosystem and we're expecting apps to be available for Apple TV too.

Mind you, it's also been claimed that Apple will seek to cut traditional TV providers out of the content loop.

Apple iTV price

Gene Munster reckons that the iTV will be twice the price of a similarly sized TV. Ouch. However, new March 2012 rumours point at a subsidised launch - courtesy of various partners.

Apple iTV picture quality

If the iTV does appear, it won't leave manufacturers quaking in their boots. That's according to Samsung's Chris Moseley who told Pocket-Lint in early February 2012 that the firm isn't overly concerned with what Apple launches if it decides to enter the TV market

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is that they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category," he says.

"They don't have the best scaling engine in the world and they don't have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else."

Apple iTV gaming and apps

Although most of the rumours so far have been about the hardware involved in the iTV, gaming may be a major focus of the new device. Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in mid-April at the HQ of Valve Software, the company behind gaming platform Steam. Some rumours are drawing more from this meeting, saying Apple could be producing a Kinect-style gesture-based console. But this is likely to be part and parcel of the iTV.

Will Apple iTV do well?

With smart TVs taking over the TV market, analysts reckon that the time is ripe for an Apple iTV to be launched. Smart TV adoption grew from 12% in 2011 to 25% in 2012, according to a new report from TDG.

Shining bright like a diamond, Samsung shows off new screen tech

JR Bookwalter — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:50:00 GMT

Screens, screens, screens - Samsung has a one track mind so far this week.

Samsung Display announced Monday the company will unveil a pair of new screen technologies during Display Week 2013 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, which runs through May 23.

The Korean manufacturer has chosen the annual Society for Information Display industry event to highlight its latest Diamond Pixel LCD technology on screens big and small.

On the larger end of the spectrum is an 85-inch Ultra HD LCD TV panel with a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 featuring local-dimming control, which consumes 30 percent less energy than traditional LED displays while retaining vivid color reproduction.

Keeping up with the amped pixel theme, Samsung is also showing off a 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) LCD for tablets and a 13.3-inch LCD for notebooks. The company claims both can deliver 30 percent greater power-savings than existing LCD tablet screens, though we'll believe that when we see it.

Diamond sharp text

For phones, Samsung Display is demonstrating a 4.99-inch, full HD (1920 x 1080) AMOLED display, which the manufacturer claimed has the broadest color gamut to date.

Since the human retina reacts more to the color green over red or blue, Samsung's Diamond Pixel packs more green pixels into a display panel, resulting in a sharper screen that accurately reproduces roughly 94 percent of the Adobe RGB color space.

As a result, Samsung Display said text messages will appear 2.2 times clearer than 1280 x 720 HD displays, holding up against magnification of up to three times with fewer jaggies than conventional LCD screens.

Samsung has yet to confirm when Diamond Pixel technology will begin shipping, but Display Week attendees can check out the tech - plus a prototype 23-inch multi-touch LCD display capable of picking up 10 touch points simultaneously - through Thursday.

Read more about Galaxy S4 updates that could soon make it to the Galaxy S3.

Tutorial: Watch and record live TV on your Raspberry Pi

Graham Morrison — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Many of those set-top boxes hidden under televisions are already running Linux. And despite their lack of CPU power, they're all more than capable of recording and playing several channels at the same time, as well as streaming the data across your local network.

The Raspberry Pi is perfectly suited to this, too, and with the appropriate hardware it can be turned into a powerful low-cost digital video recorder, complete with media streaming, scheduling and time shift.

8 great Raspberry Pi projects created by kids

The appropriate hardware is the key phrase in the previous paragraph, because a painless installation is mostly dependent on your television-grabbing hardware 'just working'.

Fortunately, Linux has support for a great many such devices built in to the kernel, so many will work without modification.

And while these instructions start from the command line, we've split the entire tutorial into 10 different steps, hopefully making the project as easy to follow as possible.

Raspberry Pi tutorial: how to do more

At the end of this project, you'll find yourself with a fully-fledged digital TV recording platform, capable of recording multiple programmes from multiple sources, all running from the humble Raspberry Pi. It's the perfect backend for the just-released XBMC, which you'll be able to use as a front-end from any other computer on the same network.

1. Our hardware

We tested and configured two USB receiver devices, one for grabbing terrestrial digital television through an aerial and another for grabbing the data from a satellite feed. We'll include instructions for both.

For DVB-T (terrestrial) reception, we used a Sundtek MediaTV Pro, for DVB-S (satellite) reception, we used the Sundtek SkyTV Ultimate. The latter includes a 12v power adaptor that also needs to be connected.

But here's the most important requirement: these USB devices must be attached to the Raspberry Pi through a powered USB hub. We wasted two days trying to configure the system, firstly without a hub and secondly with an incompatible hub. In both cases, everything appeared to work but the devices wouldn't find any television channels in a scan. Switching to a powered hub compatible with the Raspberry Pi solved the problem, so we can't emphasise this point enough.

Plug a hub into a power supply, connect your USB receiver to the hub and the hub to the Pi. And don't forget to connect the aerial or satellite feed to your receiver.

2. External storage

We're assuming you've got a Raspberry Pi pre-configured and updated with the Raspbian distribution. We're also assuming it's connected to the internet and that you're typing your commands into the console directly or over an SSH session.

Our next consideration is going to be where you store the television recordings. We'd recommend connecting an external USB hard drive, as the constant read/write access will test the average SD card to its limits.

To add storage like this, simply plug the device into a spare USB port and check the output from the system logs by typing tail /var/log/ messages. You'll see output similar to usb 1-1.3.4.2: New USB device, and you'll need to look for the device identifier, which should look something like sda: sda1 – sda is the device itself, while sda1 is a partition.

Type sudo mkdir /mnt/storage to create a mount point and sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/storage/ to connect it to your external device.

3. Install the drivers

Depending on the television hardware you're using, this step might be unnecessary. If you've chosen a device that's compatible with Linux and requires no additional driver files, then you can simply plug in your device and move on to the next step.

For our Sundtek devices, we need to download and install a driver. This is easy. From the Raspberry Pi command line, type:

wget http://www.sundtek.de/media/sundtek_netinst.sh
chmod 777 sundtek_netinst.sh
sudo ./sundtek_netinst.sh

The final line will execute the script that's downloaded in the first line. It will then detect the system you're running and install the latest version of the drivers. It will leave the drivers running and configured to launch at boot.

For users of the DVB-T version, you will also need to execute this command:

/opt/bin/mediaclient --setdtvmode=DVBT

This will ensure the card is configured for terrestrial reception, rather than a 'cable' source, which the device is also capable of.

4. Install Tvheadend

The piece of software we're going to use to record and stream the digital television signal is called Tvheadend. There's a plugin for the just-released XBMC that will turn this awesome media player into a fully-fledged digital video recorder, with Tvheadend doing the hard work in the background from your Raspberry Pi.

Because Tvheadend is a tool that's constantly being developed, we used the development version, but you could just as easily use the OpenElec distribution instead of Raspbian if you wanted to skip this step.

Fortunately, building it is easy. First, install the development and DVB tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unzip libcurl4-openssl-dev pkg-config git build-essential dvb-apps gcc-4.7

The final step is to download the latest version of Tvheadend from the developer's repository using git, and to build this using the build trinity of ./configure, make and sudo make install:

CC=gcc-4.7 ./configure; make; sudo make install

5. Configuring Tvheadend

Tvheadend's user interface is accessible through a web browser, but first you need to start it. As this is the first time, we're going to run the service in Configuration mode, and as a daemon, which means it becomes a background process. To do this, type the following:

tvheadend -C -d

Now open a browser, preferably from another machine on the network, and enter http://ip_of_rpi:9981/extjs.html

You can discover the IP address of your Raspberry Pi by typing ifconfig and looking for the value next to the 'inet addr' field for the 'eth1' device. Your browser will load the default frontend to Tvheadend. This is where you'll eventually see all your program data and set up and view recordings.

We need to tell it how to use the TV hardware we've connected. This can be done by clicking Configuration > TV Adaptors and selecting your device from the drop-down menu on the left. As the next steps are going to depend on whether you're receiving a satellite signal or a signal through your aerial, we're going to briefly separate the next steps. For satellite receivers, carry on. For terrestrial reception, jump to step 7.

6. Satellite reception

Satellite reception is easiest to configure. With the adapter selected, the General page will show an overview of the configuration. First, click on the Enable tick box, followed by Save. We want to add some channel information, and this is done by adding the data for finding a satellite and the multiplexes it provides and then searching these multiplexes for channels that can be received.

Tvheadend bundles the data for satellite location, so you just need to click on the Add DVB Network by location button on the left. This will open a window containing a global list of satellites. For the UK and Northern Europe, your best option is Astra_28_2E.

After selecting the satellite, Tvheadend will add a list of multiplexes associated with that satellite to the Multiplexes tab. These will now be scanned for channels, and you can watch the scanning progress in the Capabilities box on the right of the General page.

If everything is working, you should see many services (channels) detected and added to the Services page. For Astra_28_2E, we detected 970 services from 98 muxes. Unless you want to also configure your system for terrestrial viewing, skip to step 8.

7. Terrestrial reception

First, enable the receiver in the general page. Tvheadend includes a broad database of transmitters pre-configured with the details for each multiplex. You'll need to know which transmitter your aerial is pointing at.

In the UK, we've found that www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker is the best site for telling you which transmitter you're likely to be using. When you know, you simply need to click on the Add DVB Network button from the adaptor's General tab and find the transmitter 'By location'.

Our local transmitter wasn't listed. The solution was to go to www.ukfree.tv/transmitters.php, enter our postcode, and add the details for each multiplex manually. This can be done from the Multiplexes tab for the adaptor by clicking on Add mux(es) manually. In the window that appears, you will need to enter the frequency, bandwidth and constellation for each multiplex, while setting everything else as Auto. This data can be gleaned from the website.

You'll typically need to do this for three or four muxes, depending on your location. Tvheadend will scan them for services/channels and add them to your configuration.

8. Adding channels

You've hopefully got a healthy list of services extracted from the multiplexes. The next step is to allow Tvheadend to divine TV channels from those services, and this can be done from the adaptor's General tab by clicking on the Map DVB Services To Channels button. You'll hopefully be left with a list of channels to watch in the Channels page outside of the adaptor configuration area.

The default location for recordings will need to be changed - probably to the mount point we created at the beginning. The location can be changed by selecting the Digital Video Recorder page and changing the Recording System path. You must save the configuration on this page for any changes to take effect.

You will also need to configure the electronic program guide. There's usually a minimum of What's On Now and What's On Next embedded within each channel, but services such as Freeview and Freesat in the UK transmit a more comprehensive seven-day EPG. These can be enabled by selecting the EPG Grabber page, followed by clicking on either service in the Over-The-Air-Grabbers section. Don't forget to click on Save Configuration.

9. Record a program

After a while, you should notice the Electronic Program Guide page starts to populate itself with the broadcasts you can now watch or schedule to record. Clicking on any program will open another window, allowing you to set up a recording.

A secondary option, labelled Autorec, is more interesting. It sets up a search based on the same program data so you can record a full series without relying on series link data being embedded within the EPG. Depending on the number of channels and the amount of EPG data, this view can get unwieldy quickly.

To solve this, you can filter what's shown using the row of options at the top of the list. You can search for part of a title, or limit the list to a single channel or filter tag. If you find a filter you like, clicking on the Create Autorec button will add that search to Tvheadend, which will then record everything it finds that matches the search.

To remove scheduled recordings, click on the Digital Video Recorder tab. Upcoming recordings can be removed from the first page, while Autorec filters can be removed from the last. The centre pages can be used to play or delete recordings that have been made, or check why a recording might not have worked.

10. Watching recordings and live TV

By installing a VLC plugin into your browser, you can watch your recordings and live TV in your browser. We've only tried this feature in Firefox, but when you click on a program that's being broadcast, you get the option to Play. If the VLC plugin isn't installed, you'll be asked if you want to install it.

With the plugin installed, an embedded window appears showing the program. With the controls at the top of this window, you can watch full-screen or pause the current broadcast. You can watch programs you've recorded in the same way from the Digital Video Recorder page.

Supercharge your Raspberry Pi

If you'd rather not use a browser, drag and drop the network URL into VLC on a different machine, or read one of our file sharing tutorials to learn how to share the recordings folder across your network.

However, in our opinion the best way of using Tvheadend is with the new version of XBMC. It includes a plugin that can talk with Tvheadend directly, downloading the EPG from your Raspberry Pi, and enabling you to watch live channels, and schedule and watch recordings. It's simple to set up - just visit XBMC's PVR plugin page; but as we're planning on covering XBMC in plenty of detail next month, we'll leave this as a piece of homework!

LG Google TVs to be updated to Android 4.2.2 in Q3 2013

Matt Swider — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:04:00 GMT

LG will update its Google TV line of HDTVs with Android 4.2.2: Jelly Bean in the third quarter of 2013, the company announced during the Google IO conference today.

Currently, the Google TV-equipped sets like the LG Electronics 47GA6400 and 55GA6400 ar running Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

With this new update, LG TV owners will have the ability to download new apps that require the newest version of the Jelly Bean software, as well as experience a slicker user interface.

Controlling LG Google TV sets will be easier in a few months, as the South Korean manufacturer plans to release a free remote control app to turn Android smartphones and tablets into a remote.

The LG remote app will also act as a two-handed, touch-sensitive game controller for apps, which the company claims is ideal for more complex games.

Broadcasting better TV app compatibility

The LG TV update to Android 4.2.2 will also be a boon for game developers who are looking to make their apps compatible with the Google TV software.

LG, showcasing its televisions with the newest Android operating system at Google IO, said that this latest version of Jelly Bean supports the Android-based Native Development Kit (NDK).

"Smartphone apps designed using the NDK will run on Google TV with little to no modifications," said the company in a press release.

"With NDK compatibility, users can now play more games on a bigger LG Google TV screen. This level of compatibility makes it easier for developers to enter the burgeoning Smart TV app market."

Don't throw away that LG-produced Magic Remote Qwerty just yet. The new Jelly Bean update won't be ready for its over-the-air broadcast until the third quarter.

Just as the operating system download comes to the U.S., LG plans to introduce its first Google TV-equipped televisions outside of the states with a debut in LG's home market, Korea.

Sony announces exciting prices for 4K TVs in the UK

James Rivington — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:30:00 GMT

Sony has finally announced UK prices for its Bravia X9 range of 4K TVs and it's good news. The 55-inch X9000A Ultra HD telly is set to cost just £4,000, while the 65-inch model is 50 per cent more expensive at £6,000.

While these prices are clearly not cheap, they are still the first full-blown 4K TVs to hit the UK market in sizes under 84-inches and at prices below £20,000. The prices compare relatively favourably to the US prices which were announced last month - $5,000 and $7,000.

While Sony is calling these TVs 4K, they're actually Ultra HD which has a resolution just under the 4K res of 4096 x 2160. This is to allow for the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio of livingroom screens.

Ultra HD TVs have a resolution of 3840 x 2160, four times higher than full HD 1080p, allowing you to sit closer to the TV and gawp at the super-detailed picture. While there's no 4K content currently available, the TVs upscale HD beautifully, streaming services are literally in the pipeline, 4K broadcasts are on the way and a Blu-ray disc ratification is imminent.

Pre-order today

The X9 TVs will hit UK shops from mid-June, but if you're committed to getting one of these things in your house as soon as possible, you can pre-order from today.

The X9 TVs are exciting for more than just the ultra high definition, too. Firstly, both models come with Sony's fantastic magnetic fluid speakers which means that not only does the picture look stunning, the sound is brilliant too.

The speakers use magnetic fluid instead of traditional dampers, which improves sound quality by eliminating distortion, cuts energy consumption by 35 per cent and also allows the speakers to be squeezed into much tighter spaces. We've tested them out and can confirm they're probably the best flatscreen TV speakers we've ever encountered.

The TVs also come with Sony's Triluminos colour tech which we've already seen in the impressive new W9 range. And the remote control is NFC-enabled too, which makes it easier than ever to pair your TV with a mobile device and use that as your remote.

Right then, get saving and stay tuned for a review on TechRadar because these TVs have us very excited indeed.

In depth: 8 reasons why you should be excited about Ultra HD

James Rivington — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Like it or not, 2013 is the year of 4K and Ultra HD. The movies are already here, the TVs are coming and the disc format is on its way.

There's more reason to be excited about all this than most advances in display tech, too, even if you were unimpressed by the so-called 3D revolution.

This year, the sizes and the prices of 4K TVs are entering the realms of us mere mortals, and we reckon that Ultra HD will sooner or later persuade you to buy a new TV. Here's why...

1. It looks amazing

Believe us - 4K is not the new 3D. 3D didn't take off for many reasons: the glasses are uncomfortable, it's headache-tastic, the experience just isn't relaxing for the majority. It's also just an extra feature which you either do or (mostly) don't use depending on the content. But 4K is different - the step from HD to Ultra HD is just like the step was from SD to HD.

It's a permanent feature of the screen that gets used every time you watch it. Sharper images, more detail. Amazing eye candy, essentially, offering a more pleasant watching experience. Upscaling on some (but not all) of the Ultra HD TVs we've seen so far has been very impressive, with HD movies looking amazing on big 4K TVs from trusted brands. Native 4K movies are simply mesmerising.

2. You can sit closer to the screen

With a full HD picture, conventional wisdom says that you need to sit three screen heights (3H) away from the display in order to enjoy optimum picture quality: any closer and you'll be able to see the individual pixels, you'll get a headache, and your eyeballs will dissolve.

However, with a far sharper picture, 4K videos can be enjoyed optimally from just 1.5H. This makes large screen sizes far more sensible than they were in the past, you can sit a lot closer which doubles your field of view from just 30 degrees to 60 – giving you a far more cinematic, immersive experience.

3. It makes passive 3D more tolerable

In many ways, passive 3D offers a more comfortable way of watching a 3D picture compared to active 3D. But because the light is split, 3D Blu-rays effectively have their resolution halved. It's much worse when watching a boradcasted 720p sports match - the picture ends up not even being HD.

But with a 4K TV, the resolution is four times higher than full HD which means passive 3D still looks nice and sharp. It's not as sharp as native 4K pictures (just wait, 4K 3D is the next feature on the production line), but still far better than what we've become used to. Of course, you might still hate 3D. But for anyone who really wants to like it but has yet to be convinced, this might be a reason to get involved.

4. 4K OLED is coming

One exciting thing for consumers thinking about upgrading is that 4K and OLED tech is arriving at roughly the same time. LG predicts OLED prices will be at current high-end LED prices in the next two years. What's more, Panasonic and Sony are both completely ignoring HD OLED tech and going straight to 4K OLED.

So for many people, waiting for a 4K OLED 3D TV might be a good option - they're not far away. If you can't wait, of course, Sony's 55 and 65-inch 4K LED TVs are already around here somewhere (reviews coming soon!) and there'll be lots more from other brands launching at IFA in August/September.

5. There are already hundreds of movies out there

If you think there will only be a few 4K movies available to watch at home, you're mistaken. There isn't yet an agreed format or standard for 4K movies on disc, but it's not far off. And when the players start coming out, there will be literally hundreds of movies and TV shows available from the off. Many have been filmed natively in 4K (or above) over the last few years, but even films shot on 35mm film 50 years ago can be rescanned and remastered in 4K.

Sony Pictures alone has already remastered over 100 movies in this way. It's worthwhile, too - the 4K remaster of classics such as Laurence of Arabia will be the first versions of the movie to use and display all of the picture information captured on the original film. So in some respect, 4K remasters will be the definitive editions.

6. TV shows are now shot in 4K by default

It's not just movies that are getting the 4K love, either. If you want to make a new TV show at Sony Pictures, 4K is now the default format. It's the same elsewhere. It's a little more expensive to make shows this way, but the increased value when it comes to syndication later down the line makes it a no brainer for many of the leading US studios. And of course, older shows shot on film can be remastered in 4K just like older movies. Below you can see Breaking Bad being remastered in 4K, one painstaking frame at a time.

7. 4K TV broadcasts aren't far away

A compressed 4K movie stored on a server at a cinema takes up around 200GB of storage space. Sony's market-leading F65 8K camera (Sony shoots in 8K and downsamples to 4K or 2K) can squeeze only around 1 hour of footage onto a 1TB Sony SR memory card. So you'd be forgiven for assuming that 4K TV broadcasts are a long way off, but that's not actually true thanks to advances in compression technology.

The newly ratified HEVC compression format for 4K can deliver a brilliant Ultra HD broadcast picture with a bitrate of just 20Mbit/s. When compared to the 12Mbit/s currently employed for HD, that's not such a huge leap. FIFA will be filming the World Cup in 4K in 2016, and as we found out recently, the BBC is planning to trial 4K broadcasting at Wimbledon this very year. As an aside, YouTube is already serving up 4K video, and Netflix says it's not far behind.

8. Glasses-free 3D is coming

The final reason to be enthusiastic about higher resolution TVs is that they are opening the door for the definitive form of 3D - glasses free - to become a reality. Current glasses-free tech, which is already impressive but not quite ready yet, uses a lenticular-style lens over the screen to separate the light from the panel into two channels - one for each eye. This division of the light effectively halves the resolution which is why glasses free 3D requires at least a 4K panel to be effective.

Opinion: Why the new Xbox will beat the Apple iTV to the Smart TV punch

Rob Hewson — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:58:00 GMT

On May 21 Microsoft is set to reveal the next Xbox console. In the wake of the well-received PlayStation 4 announcement back in February, Microsoft needs to impress the gaming press with its new machine, but the games press won't be the only interested observers and PlayStation is not the only competitor that Microsoft has in its sights.

For the Windows creator Xbox is no longer simply a gaming brand, it is an entertainment brand, and the console itself will be no mere games machine. The next Xbox is the Redmond giant's bid to kick start the Smart TV revolution and position Microsoft ahead of its rivals in the new battle for the living room.

Back in May 2010 Intel CEO Paul Otellini declared that the approaching Smart TV revolution would be "the biggest change since the move to colour". But fast forward less than a year and a half to October 2011 and the chip giant was already announcing its intention to drop out of the Smart TV market due to a lack of demand.

The television revolution that Intel and many others predicted has not really materialised. Although manufacturers have been offering smart sets for some time, consumer response has been muted at best.

Instead of picking up the latest Smart TV, people are opting for cheaper "vanilla" LCD displays and there is little evidence that those who do own smart sets are all that enamored with the extra bells and whistles they offer .

The Smart TV problem

The interfaces used to navigate existing Smart TVs are often clunky and inelegant, the services available are not really compelling enough to register beyond novelty status with customers, and the lack of a standardised platform is frustrating for developers.

The whole situation is not dissimilar to the state of the smartphone market before the arrival of the iPhone. Manufacturers were offering PDA-like devices but consumers were largely ignoring them in favour of smaller, cheaper phones.

As with Smart TVs today, the pre-iPhone efforts had clunky interfaces and fragmented software platforms with "crippled apps" as Steve Jobs referred to them at the original iPhone's unveiling. It took an extraordinary product with an all new user interface to finally usher in the true smartphone revolution, and we all know how that turned out.

So, when Steve Jobs talked about his desire to make an integrated television set in his biography and declared that "it will have the simplest user interface you can imagine, I finally cracked it", anticipation began to build. Surely another world-changing product from the company that brought us the mouse, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad was just around the corner?

Perhaps it still is. Many believe that Apple's revolutionary TV is deep in development but that Apple is struggling to muscle in with the conservative TV networks to unlock content for it.

The other major problem for a dedicated Smart TV set is that you have to fundamentally alter people's buying behaviour. We are all accustomed to replacing our TVs every five to eight years and it would take a truly remarkable product to break this cycle.

Even the revolutionary iPhone, a breakthrough product which was genuinely remarkable when it was introduced, had the advantage of entering a market where people were very much accustomed to replacing their phones every couple of years.

The alternative approach to tackling the Smart TV problem is to circumvent the requirement to sell an all new TV to customers and opt for a connected box instead.

Smartening up our sets

With the right interface, the right platform and the right brand behind it, such a box could transform all of our existing sets into Smart TVs. It would still need to deliver that iPhone level wow-factor to finally break the Smart TV curse, but by augmenting our TVs rather than forcing us to replace them it could finally unleash the potential of Smart TV as a viable platform. This is where Microsoft's new Xbox comes in.

Many have observed that Microsoft seems to have been caught a bit flat footed by the unveiling of PlayStation 4 on 20 February. However, as Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business Phil Harrison stated back in November: "We're no longer just competing with the traditional console companies, but our competitive landscape includes the likes of Google, the likes of Amazon, it includes obviously the likes of Apple".

When the next Xbox is revealed on 21 May, yes it will be following in the wake of the PS4 announcement from that other "traditional console company", but perhaps more importantly to the suits in Redmond, it will be appearing ahead of any possible Smart TV reveal that Apple might be planning.

Gaming is just one part of the new Xbox, just one facet of what it can do. Fundamentally the new Xbox is more than just a games console; it is a Smart TV box.

Microsoft has learnt from the success of the iPod, iPhone and iPad in cracking open new markets. The Windows creator knows that it will take an exceptional product to finally usher in the Smart TV revolution, but the company also knows that the rewards for delivering such breakthrough products are colossal.

It's this line of thinking which has led Microsoft to a shift from a software-centric strategy, to a new focus on hardware innovation as a means of driving software success.

This is why the launch of Windows 8 was accompanied by the launch of Surface, and it will continue with the next Xbox as a Trojan horse designed to position Microsoft at the epicenter of media and entertainment.

The evolution of Xbox 360 is indicative of this, with more and more entertainment and social media applications being added to the mix and SmartGlass being lined up as Microsoft's secret weapon to ensure Xbox is the source of your entertainment, even when the destination is an Android or iOS powered tablet for the moment.

The new Xbox is not merely a traditional console. An upgraded version of Kinect will no doubt be bundled with the console, providing that all important smart-UI, and rumours suggest you can run your television feed through it enabling smart menus and apps to be layered on top.

This is a box designed to finally usher in the Smart TV era and give Microsoft the ownership of the living it has long desired. The next Xbox is a hugely important product for Microsoft, and its betting big on it. If it gets it right, the Smart TV revolution might finally get the kick start it needs.

Microsoft may have built several Xbox set-top box prototypes

Chris Smith — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:09:00 GMT

Microsoft's rumoured entertainment set-top box does exist, but the company remains unsure whether to launch the device, reports claimed on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal's sources told the paper that several prototypes have been built for the simple streaming device, which would allow access to the Xbox Live suite of entertainment applications.

The most recent iteration allowed Kinect-enabled gesture control, according to the report, and would utilise the same user interface as the new Xbox console, set to be unveiled on May 21.

The set-top box, which speculation has suggested would not be a core gaming device, could allow Microsoft to attract more Xbox Live sign ups while challenging the Apple TV and Roku set-top boxes.

New Xbox first?

However, the Journal's sources claimed Microsoft is still in two minds about whether to unleash the Xbox-branded set-top box.

There is concern, one person familiar with the plans claimed, that the launch of a cheaper device packed with all of the same video and audio applications would lessen the demand for the new Xbox itself.

Microsoft will already face huge competition from Sony's PS4 when both devices launch, in all likelihood later this year, while the games console market isn't what it was during the PS3 and Xbox 360 heyday.

If Microsoft does indeed launch this entertainment-only Xbox, it would be somewhat of a shock if it were unveiled on May 21 alongside the new console. We do have the E3 and Gamescom appearances by the Xbox squad to look forward too, however, so Microsoft has plenty of time to introduce new products.

In Depth: Unraveling Aereo: is there a case against the TV-internet streamer?

Michael Rougeau — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:47:00 GMT

The buzz surrounding Aereo has only intensified as broadcasters' legal battle to stop the service in its tracks has earned it tons of free publicity, but it's also left us with plenty of questions.

Aereo is the company that picks up free, over-the-air broadcast television signals on thousands of tiny, individual antennas, then streams it via the internet onto any device. It charges subscription fees to users, but it isn't paying television broadcasters a cent for the content.

The New York-based firm has won every court challenge to its business so far, and Aereo has made its point clear with statements asserting that its legal victories show that "consumer access to free-to-air broadcast television is still meaningful in this country." Aereo, it seems, is on a mission.

Cable companies see it differently, however, and the issue is far from black and white. This is murky legal territory on an issue that could have far reaching implications for how all sorts of programming reaches our screens in years to come.

Filled with questions regarding the legality of Aereo's services, we consulted with David Oxenford (pictured left), a partner at the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. Oxenford focuses on broadcast law and broadcasters' rights, and he's also the author of the Broadcast Law Blog, on which he discusses the intricacies of this complicated area of copyright law daily.

Aereo speedwagon

The Aereo case truly is a big deal. Consumers are hungry for more choices when it comes to watching TV, and that's part of Aereo's appeal.

Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt even said earlier this month that it may begin offering a similar service if Aereo's is found legal. And even though it's unclear how many users Aereo actually has (the company offered no figures we posed the question to it), big networks like Fox and CBS have publicly threatened to take programs off broadcast TV and make those cable subscription-only if Aereo keeps winning in court. Aereo is even attempting to legally block CBS from filing yet more suits.

The meat of the situation, according to Oxenford, rests in whether Aereo's services constitute a "public performance" in the eyes of the law.

"Really it's in the nature of defining what is a public performance," Oxenford told us.

Broadcasters argue that what Aereo is doing is equivalent to what cable networks do when those companies retransmit others' programming. Retransmitting that content to cable subscribers is legally defined as a public performance, which is why cable services pay royalties to those providing the programming.

In the eyes of broadcasters, what Aereo is doing isn't any different, except that it's not paying royalties. Aereo, as you can imagine, tells a different story.

"Aereo argues and what the New York court found…is that it was not Aereo that was actually making the performance here; it really is the individual recipient who is basically telling Aereo's system to pick that particular channel and record it to a digital video recorder at Aereo's headquarters, and then either transmit it immediately or store it for later transmission to the user," Oxenford explained, "and so the Aereo argument is that it's a private performance."

In the public interest

Another argument in favor of Aereo is that it's technically not rebroadcasting the content it sends to subscribers' computer screens. Aereo doesn't change the content; it simply offers the same programming that broadcast TV viewers are already getting for free and presents it in a different format (over the internet).

Aereo has professed in statements issued to the public and press that its service is a simple extension of broadcasters' responsibility to make programming accessible to the public.

Broadcasters use public airwaves to transmit content, and part of what the FCC does is regulate broadcast stations and ensure that the limited amount of spectrum that can be used for television broadcasts is being utilized in the public interest. If more viewers are able to access that content, whether through broadcast TV or the internet, then that's a good thing, Aereo contends.

Last month, Aereo won a court battle in which U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that Aereo's service constituted private, not public, performances. Aereo said in a subsequent statement that "today's ruling to uphold Judge Nathan's decision sends a powerful message that consumer access to free-to-air broadcast television is still meaningful in this country and that the promise and commitment made by the broadcasters to program in the public interest in exchange for the public's spectrum, remains an important part of our American fabric."

But Oxenford said the public interest argument is irrelevant. He compared what Aereo is doing now to what cable systems originally did when it came to transmitting programming.

"Before cable systems had all their own programming…all they did was retransmitted broadcast stations," he said.

"Congress looked at that and amended the law to make it clear that a retransmission of a broadcast signal was a public performance. You can see that a broadcaster really doesn't see any difference to Aereo."

However, much like the other copyright laws that have become archaic in modern times - the House Judiciary Committee agreed that's the case and announced on April 24 that it would undergo a comprehensive review of U.S. copyright law - that law may need rewriting.

Currently, "broadcasters have very specific rights as to what they can do with their programming," Oxenford said. "In many cases [those rights] don't include internet retransmission."

So why should Aereo be able to do with broadcasters' legally licensed content what the broadcasters aren't allowed to do? There's no clear answer, and Aereo has never addressed this question as far as we know. This particular issue may be decided when the House committee makes its copyright law review, or it may be made irrelevant by further court rulings. Either way, there are still other factors to consider.

One giant DVR

Oxenford found a touchstone for the Aereo battle in one Cablevision fought in 2008, when it earned a victory that ensured the legality of remote DVR.

Oxenford explained the argument like this: "If the consumer has a DVR at one end, why not let him put it at the cable head end? It's just moving the DVR from one end to the other, so what difference does it make?"

But is that all that Aereo is? Just one giant DVR sending content out to all its individual users? The particulars of Aereo's streaming process involve individual antennas that send content to each subscriber, a key fact in the company's argument that the service constitutes private and not public performances.

Even that claim may not hold water, as TV stations have argued that the system of multiple antennas is really functionally identical to simply having one large antenna like the stations do, according to Oxenford's blog writings.

Service or sham?

Ultimately the problem, as with many legal cases, is an issue of perception. Broadcasters see things one way, Aereo sees them another, and those views are mutually exclusive. The only question that remains is how the courts will interpret it. So far, the answer has been in favor of Aereo.

That's not to say there hasn't been opposition, even from the people in black robes. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals' recent two-to-one ruling that Aereo's service is a private performance put the company in high spirits, but the dissenting judge called it a "sham" designed to evade the royalties that it should legally be paying.

And as Oxenford pointed out, a similar case involving a smaller company called ivi (pronounced "ivy") that was essentially doing the same thing as Aereo was squashed rather succinctly in 2010 and 2011.

Oxenford noted the Aereo case could ultimately have repercussions across multiple industries.

"If you redefine a public performance as the Court did in [the Aereo] case, one can imagine many other systems, not involving broadcast signals, where the transmission of content on demand to individual users is not seen as a public performance but instead as a private one - in attempts to avoid paying public performance royalties or licensing obligation," he wrote on his blog.

And let's not forget the fact that Fox and CBS have both threatened to switch the companies' entire models from over-the-air broadcasts to cable only. Both companies made it abundantly clear that it's something under serious consideration, and Oxenford said those actions are a definite possibility.

Yet Aereo has no intention of slowing down, recently announcing plans to expand to Boston, and this battle will almost certainly hit the Supreme Court somewhere down the road. As Oxenford pointed out, the only thing we can do now is tune in and watch this 21st century broadcasting battlefield crackle to life.

BT launches new sports channels to take on Sky Sports

Hugh Langley — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:22:00 GMT

In a move taking it head-to-head with BSkyB, BT today announced the roll-out of its BT Sport service, which will offer a range of sports channels to its broadband customers.

The best news comes for existing BT broadband customers, who will be able to access the new service completely free of charge.

BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN channels will be available to BT Broadband subscribers to stream via the web or YouView as well as iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, with an app on its way.

Non-BT customers, meanwhile, will be able to get BT Sport via Sky equipment for £12 a month – or £15 for HD - even if they don't currently have a Sky subscription. Customers with non-fibre connections will be able to get BT Sport via a Vision+ box, however ESPN won't be included in this.

As for content, BT has secured the rights to bring 38 live Premier League matches next season, as well as a range of other sports. It marks the first time that live weekly Barclays Premier League football matches will be free to view.

While BT didn't make any official announcement regarding launch date, Gavin Patterson, chief exec of BT retail division, confirmed in a roundtable that while sales go live today, the channels won't be available until August.

"We're going to connect people to sport in a completely new way," said Patterson. "Our focus on fibre means that we're in a great position to create the next generation of television."

Fruit 'n' Fibre

The announcement comes as BT continues to aggressively roll out its fibre broadband service around the UK. BT confirmed that it is on track for fibre to cover two thirds of homes and businesses in the country by next spring.

As for going up against Sky, a BT spokesperson told TechRadar: "A lot of our broadband customers have defected to Sky because Sky came in with a very aggressive offer... we really want to get those customers back on our broadband"

"There's a degree of BT and Sky rivalry, undoubtedly," he added. "But we're wanting to pinch broadband customers back from Virgin and Talk Talk as much as from Sky."

"This is really a battle for broadband but the TV is the bait."

Updated: Sharp's new flagship TVs want to consume your living room

Hugh Langley — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:46:00 GMT

Sharp's premium Aquos range is about to get a lot more cramped, with two brand new members joining the ranks.

The 80inch LC-80LE857K and the (slightly) more modest 70-inch LC-70LE857K are Sharp's new flagship smart TVs, continuing the company's mantra of "go big when you go home".

As well as coming in hefty dimensions, both smart TVs promise to offer Sharp's "best ever" picture quality, making the most of their Quattron 3D and 800 Hz Active motion technology.

The 15mm pure aluminium bezel and metal stand, meanwhile, keep things as minimal as possible where the screen isn't concerned.

Meet the newbies

Both feature the new AQUOS NET+ browsers, apps and on demand services. They also offer a Wallpaper mode that lets you use the TV to display photos or art when in standby mode. Well, they sure are big enough.

Both models from the new LE857K series will be available to buy this Summer in the UK from "major retailers", according to Sharp.

We're also told that the LC-80LE857K will be given a European guideline price of €8,000 (around £6770/$10,500/AUS$10,300) while the smaller LC-70LE857K will be tagged at €5,000 (£4,230/$6,550/AUS$6,430).

We're also told that a US release is "very likely". So keep your eyes peeled - they won't be hard to spot.

In Depth: Turn your iPad into a great portable TV with these apps and services

Matthew Bolton — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Rumours continue to circulate that Apple will launch a television set, the Apple iTV. There's plenty of speculation about what technology would be in it, what services it would offer and how you'd control it.

But these rumours tend to ignore the fact that Apple has already helped to revolutionise the TV industry with the iPhone and iPad. They're great for watching on, thanks to their brilliant image quality and, in the case of the iPhone 5 and fifth-generation iPod touch, wide screens - but developers have also pushed forward how you find and interact with the shows you love.

Between on-demand services, live-streaming channels, dedicated apps, 3G and 4G coverage and social networking, the idea of watching television has changed. What was once a passive pastime - where you had to hope there was something interesting on - has become an engaged activity where you can seek out the shows you love most, keep up with live broadcasts and chat to your friends about it while you're watching. You can find things to watch that you might never have considered, and catch up with things you missed.

70 best free iPad apps 2013

Whether Apple ends up producing an actual TV set or not, this kind of flexibility is surely the future of television. In this feature, we'll look at the best ways to watch TV live, no matter who your provider is, as well as all the on-demand options you need to either catch up with TV you've missed, or find something from the past.

We'll also look at how your iPhone or iPad can be a companion to a full-size TV, and pick out the accessories that make the viewing experience that much better. Your iPad could become the best TV you've ever used - and you just need the App Store to get started!

Watching live TV

Though there are ways to watch Freeview live TV directly from the airwaves as it's broadcast - using something like the Elgato EyeTV or equinux tizi+, which we'll go into later - the easiest way to watch shows as they happen is generally to stream them over the internet.

If you're on a Wi-Fi network, any iOS device can connect and stream video, while the iPhone and Cellular iPad models can use 3G and 4G mobile broadband connections.

Many TV channels can be streamed with an app from the owner, but the best one-stop shop for watching just about anything live is the TVCatchup app. It offers over 50 channels to watch for free, including the bulk of Freeview channels and all the big free channels from the major UK broadcasters. It's a free download, and the Universal app supports iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, so you can watch on any of them.

On the iPad, you can see a channel list with a now-and-next guide alongside a small video window, or easily expand the video to fit the screen fully. On the iPhone, you still get the guide, but it fills the screen, as does the video when you tap on a channel.

The quality of the video streams is really solid and reliable, though the level of detail isn't all that high, and the app's adverts never get in the way. TVCatchup really does an amazing job of turning your iOS device into a TV - it's so good, in fact that Tap! readers voted it the Best App Ever last year, beating the likes of Tweetbot and Hero Academy.

Giving you much less in the way of selection but keeping it simple, the BBC iPlayer app and ITV Player app both let you watch their respective channels directly through the apps, and in the case of iPlayer, you get a much better guide to what's on that through the minimal but effective interface of TVCatchup.

The BBC and ITV's offerings aren't the only official broadcaster apps to offer something along these lines. The Sky Go app allows Sky subscribers to watch up to 32 live channels, depending on their subscription. All the Sky Sports channels are available, along with Sky Movies and Sky's own other channels, including Sky1 and Sky Atlantic.

You don't have to be a Sky home subscriber to get these channels, though - Sky Go subscriptions are available without you having to get a satellite installed, so anyone can use the app. Just like TVCatchup, it works over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G, so you can get your fix anywhere.

Virgin Media TV customers with the latest TiVo box can also watch over 20 channels of live TV using the Virgin TV Anywhere app. Not only can you watch the channels live, but you also still have access to the TiVo box's clever recommendations and ratings systems. Unfortunately, it currently only works over Wi-Fi, so you'll need to be somewhere with a solid local network for it to work - you won't be able to catch up at the bus stop.

TV on demand

In just a few years, the way we think about watching shows has changed a lot. Starting with DVD box sets, it became normal (and completely acceptable) to devour whole television series in a matter of days - and that torch has now been passed to on-demand services, letting you watch whatever you want, whenever you want at a pace that suits you.

There are a ton of them available, but one of the pioneers was the BBC with its brilliant iPlayer service. The app lets you browse through a featured list of recent shows, or to search or go through them by category to find what you're after. It's also unusual in allowing you to download shows to your iPad for watching when there's no internet connection - all the other services here require you to be online.

ITV Player, Channel 4's 4oD app and Channel 5's Demand 5 all let you catch up with shows from their respective networks, and 4oD offers a good range of older shows as well. All of these apps are free to use, but what's available on them isn't always totally comprehensive - there may be shows that you can't watch.

The Sky Go app gives Sky subscribers access to its on-demand library, which includes many shows that are exclusive to Sky1 or Sky Atlantic, as well as productions from Sky Arts and some sports highlights.

LOVEFiLM and Netflix are the two big paid-for on-demand services. In both cases, you pay a monthly fee and can watch as many shows as you want, as often as you want, across multiple devices, which works out as a really rather good deal.

Both services made their names offering films, but now offer plenty of television shows as well - Netflix is more expansive in this regard, though, offering multiple series of many shows. It's a much more comprehensive service in America, but in the UK it still offers a great choice of television. LOVEFiLM isn't quite as wide-ranging, but is expanding in this area.

They cost similar amounts (approximately £5 per month) for streaming on-demand shows, so there's not much to choose between them on that front. Netflix is more TV focussed, with an easier-to-use interface and better recommendations, though.

Both services can remember your place in a show across devices, so it's super-useful if you start watching on your computer and have to stop, because then all you have to do is simply pick up where you left off on the iPad or vice versa, if that happens to be the case. Needless to say, we're big fans of both services.

There's also a newer service from Tesco called Blinkbox, which is a little different to the likes of Netflix or LOVEFiLM. With it, you pay for shows individually (or you can buy series), rather than pay a monthly subscription, but it offers lots of shows that aren't available elsewhere, or are brand new - new episodes often go on the site just after they've been broadcast.

You can't actually buy shows from the app, though - you have to purchase them through the website and then add them to your library, which can be accessed through the app. Blinkbox purchases are available on other devices, including Mac or PC, Xbox 360 and some smart TVs.

If you always want to be up-to-date with shows, it's a good way to go about it, though there's also Apple's own iTunes Store offering for TV shows (which we'll go into in the next section), which you can browse and buy from directly on your device.

TV from iTunes

If there's a specific show you want to watch, it won't always be available on the subscription on-demand services, but there's a good chance it's on iTunes.

The iTunes Store lets you buy TV series either by the episode or in whole series (and it will occasionally offer bundles of series), giving you flexibility. In some cases, episodes of a show will go up on iTunes almost immediately after they're broadcast, and you can buy 'Series Passes' for these, where you pay for the whole series up front, and they're available to you as soon as they're ready.

Individual episodes are typically £2.49 each in HD or £1.89 in SD, but of course, you make a saving if you buy the series as a whole. The HD versions are, of course, crisper and more detailed, but also take up more space on your device, and take longer to download. It's worth noting that the quality of Apple's shows - particularly in HD - is great, too. You can access and download individual episodes directly from your iOS device, using the iTunes app.

The great thing about buying from iTunes is that these will also be available through iTunes on your computer, from your Apple TV, or on any other iOS devices, provided they're all signed in with your Apple ID. And because they download to your device - rather than stream as you watch - you can grab what you want to watch before you go travelling, and that way you'll have plenty of entertainment to keep you going for long journeys or quiet nights in.

What about my DVDs?

If, like us, you've built up an impressive, somewhat intimidating collection of DVD TV box sets over the years, you might want to transfer them to your iPad to watch on the move.

Sadly, despite a recent Government report concluding that transferring media from one format to another like this should be permitted, 'ripping' your bought DVDs to your computer will still not be allowed. This is because commercial DVDs include technical protection measures (TPM) to stop you copying them, and the licence for you to use the DVD does not permit you to break the TPM, even though you own the disc.

This is specific to DVD and Blu-ray discs - CDs aren't protected, so once the new legislation is in force, copying your music to your computer will be permitted. You can, of course, rip any DVDs that you've made personally to your computer and then transfer them to your iPad or iPhone - for further tips and information, we've got easy guides for PC users and Mac users.

TV accessories

The inventiveness of developers means that apps alone are all you need to do a lot of TV watching on your iOS device, but a few accessories can make the experience even better.

We've already talked about how you can connect to many set-top boxes directly with apps, but these accessories give you flexibility in other areas, from getting Freeview signal anywhere to turning your iPhone into a universal remote to streaming and controlling any kind of set-top box.

PCTV Broadway 2T - £150

This Freeview tuner connects wirelessly to your home network, allowing your iPhone or iPad to connect to it and stream the channels it's receiving. You can even connect to it from anywhere over the internet, to get your home channels. It connects over Wi-Fi, so is flexible (though it still needs to be hooked up to your aerial by a cable), and can still act as a Freeview box for a TV, thanks to its twin tuners and video outputs.

Read the full PCTV Broadway 2T review

equinux tizi+ - £150

This teeny, tiny Freeview tuner (it's smaller than an iPhone!) can be placed anywhere to pick up a Freeview signal, which it then sends to your iPhone or iPad over Wi-Fi. This means you can watch TV channels even if there's no internet connection available.

It has a rechargeable battery, so it can run completely cable-free, and has some built-in storage for recording shows, from which you can expand with a microSD card.

Read the full Equinux Tizi review

Jabra Solemate - £100

If you've set up your iPhone or iPad in a room to watch something, the built-in speakers might not be quite enough to make all the dialogue and music crisp and clear. A Bluetooth speaker is a great option, because it keeps things portable, but can provide plenty of volume. Once it's wirelessly paired with your device, the Jabra Solemate can be placed anywhere, thanks to its built-in battery. The quality's really impressive too, and it's a durable, small design.

Read the full Jabra Solemate review

SlingBox Pro-HD - £160

The SlingBox idea is simple: watch your home TV from anywhere, no matter what kind of set-top box you have. The SlingBox sits between your set-top box (say, a Sky box) and your TV, passing through the video so you can watch TV as normal. But it also takes that video and streams it over the internet, so with SlingPlayer's app on your iPhone or iPad you can watch anything you could at home (instead of a limited subset of channels, as with the Sky Go app), and control the set-top box from your device.

Read the full Slinbox Pro-HD review

Griffin Beacon - £40

The Griffin Beacon is an infrared controller that sits near your TV and turns your iPhone into a universal remote. It's roughly the size of a cupcake, so there's no need to worry about it cluttering up your television set-up.

Basically, you use your iPhone to wirelessly control the Beacon, which then sends commands to your TV or settop box just like a normal remote control would. You can set it up simply with a huge range of devices using the built-in library of commands, or there's a learning feature for adding new controls.

Read the full Griffin Beacon review

Apple TV - £99

The Apple TV does a couple of great things on its own - it lets you watch TV shows from the iTunes Store or from Netflix for starters - but it's even better when you connect it to an iPhone or iPad. With AirPlay, you can send video from your iOS device to your Apple TV, so you can watch it on the big screen. This could be something from apps like iPlayer - however, take note that not all video playing apps support AirPlay - or something you've found on YouTube.

Read the full Apple TV review

YourTV sidekick

The idea of having a 'second screen' while watching TV has taken off hugely since the launch of the iPhone. The idea is that you can enhance what you're viewing with apps, whether you're playing a game along with it, looking up that actor you recognise but can't remember where from, or chatting with friends about what's happening.

One of the best companion apps is Zeebox, which pulls together social network feeds about shows, information about who's in it and related apps, as well as a TV guide, so you can see what's on (there's also a TV Guide app, if you don't want the social extras).

If you just want to talk to people about what's going on, you can use the Twitter app to follow along - big TV events will often be trending or have a hashtag you can follow along with to get into the conversation. And if you want to look up more information about a show or actor, try the IMDb app.

You can also use your iPhone or iPad to control what happens on your TV - the Sky+ app lets you set recordings and control your Sky+HD box directly from your iPhone, while the Virgin TV Anywhere app lets you do the same for the newer Virgin TiVo boxes.

YouView box owners can do the same with the YouView iPhone app; we've also reviewed the View21 Freeview HD box, which has an app that lets you watch live or recorded shows, and control the box as a remote.

Some apps even let you add to what you're watching: the BBC's Antiques Roadshow app lets you play along by guessing how much things will be worth as they're shown on-screen, while the Sky Sports app offers companion video and data for F1 races, and even split-screen viewing of multiple live football games (or just stats for games, if you're a little intimidated by that thought).

Video aggregators

RSS helped revolutionise the internet of the early 2000s, bringing news articles to users' screens based on a simple subscription model and a set of search criteria. While RSS has taken a back seat in the tablet revolution, the essence of aggregation has never been stronger, with fantastic personalised news apps such as Flipboard, Pulse and Zite.

But this is a world dominated by on-demand video, right? Well, your iPhone and iPad are certainly well catered for in that regard too, and the apps are almost always free.

The App Store has blossomed with video aggregators that will grab you great news videos, funny YouTube clips and sports highlights, just based on what channels you subscribe to, what topics you select as being of interest, or simply based on your watching habits. Algorithms for choosing the content are similar, but interfaces and features vary.

As with personalised news apps, it often comes down to a usability preference, but the two Universal apps we recommend are Vodio and Showyou.

Vodio has an interesting carousel interface with videos presented in a vertical Cover Flow view, scrolling down to see more videos. To add a channel, tap the + icon in the top right-hand corner and choose a category to bring up a list of feeds. Vodio collates most of these, but there are many others from individual sources.

Showyou opts for a grid-based approach that is intelligently organised, with the upper-left being reserved for the latest videos posted by your Facebook friends or by people you're following on Twitter. As you scroll down and to the right, you get related videos from other ShowYou users - helping you identify new people to follow who have related interests.

Indeed, all good aggregators not only let you choose your own channels or topics, they connect to all the usual social networks to deliver your personalised content.

No do-overs: Aereo aims to block CBS from suing it a second time

Luke Brown — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:37:00 GMT

Cable networks have become the grumpy, old curmudgeon to the internet's hipper, younger streaming providers.

Constantly shouting in the wind for the young ones to get off their lawn, networks like CBS, FOX ABC, and NBC have been trying to fend off the changing trends in how viewers watch programming for years.

The latest upstart to draw the ire of the old guard, Aereo, has already won a small fight in court against the likes of CBS in New York, when earlier this year the networks alleged Aereo was stealing copyrighted material.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District disagreed, allowing Aereo to continue its planned expansion into more than 20 new markets, including Boston, later this month.

That hasn't stopped CBS from continuing to pursue Aereo like a fugitive across state lines.

Aere-go again

Anticipating more trouble from CBS, which promised to pursue further litigation against Aereo, the streaming service filed a declatory judgment against the network and its affiliates.

"The fact that CBS didn't prevail in its efforts to enjoin Aereo in its existing federal lawsuit doesn't entitle the company to a do-over in another jurisdiction," Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam told CNET.

"We are hopeful that any such efforts to commence duplicative lawsuits to try to seek a different outcome will be rejected by the courts."

For its part, CBS was having none of Aereo's public posturing, claiming the streaming service was performing "illegal" actions, and doesn't intend to give up its fight quite so easily.

"These public relations and legal maneuvers do not change the fundamentally illegal nature of Aereo's supposed business," said CBS spokesman Dana McClintock.

"The issue of unauthorized streaming of copyrighted television programming is now being contested in the 2nd Circuit and the 9th Circuit, and wherever Aereo attempts to operate there will be vigorous challenges to its illegal business model."

Battleground states

With expansion plans taking Aereo across the U.S. through the rest of 2013, what happens next in Boston could prove to be an indicator of CBS' chances around the States.

With New York already giving Aereo a pass, it will be interesting to see which cities back big networks, particularly in locales like Philadelphia, home to NBC.

Aereo will supposedly have the power of AT&T, DirecTV and Dish on its side, as it is currently in talks with those providers for a partnership.

The Boston service isn't set to go live until May 15, but we'll be keeping a close eye on further developments in this ongoing war as Aereo spreads throughout the U.S.

Google says YouTube has already ousted rival TV

Lbrown — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has grown exponentially from the home of quirky cat videos to home of quirky cat videos plus music videos, vlogging and a boatload of original content.

In that time, the site has seen its visitor count steadily increase from 30 million users a year to an insane 1 billion unique users per month.

As a result of the prominence of web video over the past eight years, there's been much debate about the viability of television, with its high production cost and (sometimes high) cost of entry, versus web video, with its anyone-can-do-it attitude and free-to-watch mentality.

Though some pundits speculate the future doesn't bode well for television, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt believes that the future is already here, and television is so yesterday.

Mediums and messages

Speaking to a collective of digital advertisers, Schmidt was asked when he thought internet video would finally surpass traditional television.

"It's already happened," Schmidt said, as reported by The Telegraph. "It's not a replacement for something that we know. It's a new thing that we have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms."

YouTube has already gone to great lengths to bring a multiple slates of original content to the platform, though some of the channels created with the various investment initiatives have been more successful than others.

What truly helps YouTube stand out, at least in the eyes of YouTube Global Head of Content Robert Kyncl, is the interactivity the site brings to media.

"I thought that YouTube was like TV, but it isn't. I was wrong," Kyncl said. "TV is one-way. YouTube talks back."

Google has also been trying to stretch YouTube into the living room with GoogleTV, as well as its apps on gaming consoles and mobile devices.

All that said, YouTube still doesn't have the staying power of television, with web users sticking around for far less time daily on YouTube (20 minutes) than when watching standard TV (4+ hours).

That may not matter to advertisers though, as YouTube currently attracts the most members of the key 18-34 male demographic than any other network in the U.S.

Just how many of these viewers YouTube will continue to attract if it adopts a pay-to-watch model remains to be seen, but advertisers and users are watching, and that seems to be all that matters.

LG and Google plotting Nexus 5, Google TV?

Hugh Langley — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:43:00 GMT

LG is pretty busy right now if these latest rumours are to be believed – the company is said to be working on a Nexus 5 and a new Google TV set.

The Korean Times states that Google CEO Larry Page recently met with Koo Bon-joon, LG's chief exec, and the two bashed out some important details regarding the successor to the Nexus 4.

Google was also apparently very interested to talk all things OLED and reports claim that an LG OLED with Google TV on board was another big topic of discussion.

Could a curvy Google TV be on the cards, now that LG has announced its 2013 rollout of curved displays?

Five alive

After the Nexus 4 supply issues, there were questions over LG's role in the delays although LG denied that it was in any way at fault.

Either way, it looks like both companies are keen to continue their partnership - but as for this Nexus and TV speculation, we'd take it all with a nice dose of salt for now.

But with Google I/O now very close, it might not be long until we hear more about what's in store for Google's partnership with LG.

Dish Network: Our merger with Sprint would be good for America

Matt Swider — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:12:00 GMT

In its bid to take over Sprint Nextel, Dish Network is hitting back against rival suitor SoftBank, citing that, as an American satellite provider, it could better control Sprint's operations.

"We are an American company, and the modernization of Sprint's network will have to be done from the U.S.," said Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen to USA Today.

"You have to climb the towers here, and you'll have to have U.S. employees who speak English. Operations command control will be in America."

"That's good for jobs," he pointed out.

Ergen noted that it doesn't mean "the other guys," meaning Tokyo-based SoftBank, are bad. He claims that Dish's regional proximity is an advantage.

Softbank hits hard

The Dish Network chairman's comments regarding the contentious bid for the third-place U.S. carrier are in response to some fighting words by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

Son had called Dish's offer for Sprint Nextel "incomplete and illusory" this week, according to USA Today citing the Associated Press.

The rhetoric comes as SoftBank's $20 billion bid for Sprint for a 70 percent stake in the company has been challenged by Dish Network's $25.5 billion offering in cash and stock.

Softbank CEO argues that despite Dish's higher bid, marrying the U.S.'s third-place TV provider with its third-place wireless carrier isn't going to create as much value.

Instead, Son sees a merged Dish-Sprint company saddled with more debt.

SEC dishes out SoftBank approval

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved SoftBank's buy out of Sprint-Nextel, clearing a major hurdle for the Japanese telecommunications company.

"Spectrum is a national security issue," said Ergen, referencing Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission setbacks that SoftBank has faced.

"You want that network to be secure," he said of the rival Japanese company's bid.

The ultimate decision will be made by Sprint shareholders, who are closing in on a June 12 vote in which they will either approve or pass on a SoftBank-Sprint merger.

The shareholders could turn down the SoftBank offer in an effort to lure the Japanese company into raising the stakes so that it meets or exceeds Dish's bid.

Or, as Ergen hopes, the shareholders could opt for Dish Network's higher bid.

"We're offering a higher price," said Ergen "That's just math."

Sky's the limit for on-demand with 460% increase in TV downloads

Kate Solomon — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:27:00 GMT

We just can't get enough of on-demand TV, it seems, with Sky now revealing huge leaps in the number of people downloading programmes to their set top boxes.

In the first three months of 2013, the average number of weekly downloads of shows and films to Sky boxes hit 4.5 million.

That's a lot of Mad Men, and a massive 460 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.

Time shift

But it's not just TV shows that are proving alluring for time shifters: Sky Movies also hit record-breaking heights as over 200 million films were watched on-demand last year.

It comes as no surprise that Game of Thrones was a big on-demand hitter, with 1.4 million people tuning into the first two seasons in the week following the third season's premiere alone.

As a special treat, Sky is giving customers a week's headstart on new dramas including Hannibal, Mad Dogs, Trollied and The Borgias, making the first episodes available on demand before they're aired on TV.

Exclusive: Loewe confirms it's after a TV partner; Apple TV tie-up more likely than ever

Hugh Langley — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:54:00 GMT

With rumours bubbling over the last year regarding the part Loewe might be playing in the rumoured Apple TV, we caught up with Loewe's UK MD to discuss where the company stood on the speculation right now.

"There are a lot of rumours around," said managing director James McConnell in an interview with TechRadar, before telling us: "We are looking for a partner".

Could said partner be Apple? McConnell wouldn't confirm or deny, though he did add: "There's a lot of similarities between what we do and what Apple do."

Partner up

Loewe, which is about to roll out its new flagship TV range, the Reference ID, has been long-rumoured to be partnering up for the Apple iTV, though the German company has previously denied the claims.

Referring to Apple fully entering the television market, McConnell went on: "It's very difficult to enter the TV space and it's not like a computer model; there you have the same model that works in every single country in the world. You have to change the TV per country. It's not the Apple model."

On the partnership it's currently eyeing, Loewe's head of product marketing Martin Steib also told us: "This is one of the most urgent issues currently taking place"

Loewe gets personal with new HD TV range

Hugh Langley — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:58:00 GMT

Just as we were wondering where Loewe had disappeared to, it's returned with an aggressive new line of HD TVs.

Named Reference ID – a bit of an odd title, we agree – the television boasts 400Hz picture quality and high-quality contrast filter. It also comes in three sizes: 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch, all of which offer Dolby Digital sound.

As for design, the Reference ID comes in an aluminium frame with chrome finish and a black rear panel, but Loewe is also offering a bunch of customisation options, including an option for monochrome LED backlighting.

The Loewe down

According to Loewe, the Reference ID will launch in three phases. July will see the initial launch, while more frame colours and designs will arrive in the third quarter of 2013, and finally the "bespoke Tailoring" concept will launch in the fourth quarter of the year.

On to the pricing - this is the part where you might want to look away. The 40-inch set will be priced at £4,500 (around US$7,000 / AUS$6,800), the 46-inch at £5,500 (around US$8,550 / AUS$8,300) and the 55-inch at £6,500 (around US$10,100 / AUS$9,820). Certainly not cheap.

Loewe also used the TV launch to announce its battery-powered Speaker 2go, which will come NFC and Bluetooth equipped and accommodates two full-range speakers, woofer and bass reflex tube.

The Speaker 2go will be available from June for £269 (around $420/AUS400)

Freesat added 'more homes than Sky and Virgin combined' this year

Patrick Goss — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:56:00 GMT

Freesat arrived in more new homes in the last 12 months than Sky and Virgin Media combined, according to the company's latest figures.

The subs-free satellite platform apparently added around 150,000 homes in the past 12 months, which it claims is significantly more than its pay rivals in both dish and cable.

Therefore it's holding on to its title of being the fastest growing established TV platform - which presumably comes with some kind of medal. Or hat. Or belt.

Squar(ial) brackets

Whatever, it's clearly been a decent year for Freesat, with storng growth of its pretty but horribly named <free view> connected boxes and tipping over the 1.7 million homes mark.

That's still some way short of Sky's total of 10.3 million homes, claimed back in their last set of released figures from the period ending in December 2012.

Virgin Media's last tally was 3.7 million television subscribers - with terrestrial digital television leading the war of the platforms with 11 million homes.

Of course, at the rear of the pack is the still fledgling YouView - which is coming from naught so it technically the fastest growing non-established TV platform. There's no hat/medal for that. Probably.

LG betting big on UltraHD, with curved OLED on the way

Nick Broughall — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:49:00 GMT

While the Ultra HD market is currently overwhelmed with high price tags and limited stock, LG Australia unveiled its plans to change all that by announcing a new range of UHD TVs launching in August.

In addition to the 84-inch behemoth that launched last year, LG are introducing both 65 and 55-in versions, making the new format almost affordable. LG claims that the 55-incher will only be a $2,900 premium over its top of the line 1080p panel when it launches.

In addition to increased resolution, LG has also upgraded the UHD range's speakers, with an integrated soundbar that drops from the bottom of the panel when switched on.

While the updated 84-inch UHD panel retains teh $16,000 price tg, its 55-inch sibling will only cost $6,999, while the 65-inch model will sell for $8,999.

The arrival of OLED

LG also took the opportunity to show off its upcoming curved OLED screen at the launch. At 55-inches and measuring just 4.3mm thick, the new panel is expected to mark the launch of OLED TVs in Australia later in the year.

LG kept quiet on exactly when we can expect to see the TV in Australia, although it was indicated to arrive in the final quarter of the year.

Similarly, LG refused to comment on price for the OLED product, although they did refer to the Ultra HD panels as being "relatively affordable", so you should probably start saving.

F^&king good tellies

For maximum impact, LG has recruited Star Wars prequel star Ewan McGregor as a brand ambassador, and the actor was on hand to launch the new range.

When asked his opinion of the TVs, it was hard to tell if McGregor was showing refreshing candour or jumping off script by telling the assembled media, "they're just f%^king unbelievable".

He went on to explain that the colour reproduction in the OLED panels meant that images on screen managed to reproduce the same experience intended on film through intensive light riggings.

""I spend hours and hours of my working day waiting for the lights, waiting for the scene to be lit, and usually when it's on the television it doesn't look like that, but these televisions make it look like it should," he said.

In Depth: Digital-age dodos: 10 things tech is rendering redundant

Gary Marshall — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:45:00 GMT

Technology is the great transformer, and the pace of change is accelerating: Google's running robot cars, you can own your own helicopter and you can access all of the world's information from a device you keep in your pocket.

But technology is a destroyer too. It can destroy entire industries or remake them entirely, render everyday objects obsolete, and change the way we shop, entertain ourselves and communicate with one another. Let's discover the items and ideas that technology is rendering redundant.

1. Bezels

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdqMKdGUn1o

In the 1950s, television sets were more bezel than screen: for every twelve inches of screen you'd have seven feet of bezel. Over the next decades screen technology improved but bezel technology didn't, and even relatively recent flat-screen sets came with enormous black bezels around their LCD panels. Today, though, bezels are an endangered species: space-saving LED panels mean that even the biggest HD TVs come with barely a whisper of bezel, and small-screened devices such as smartphones and tablets are getting edge-to-edge displays too. Bye, bezels!

2. Cables

It's taken a bit longer than we'd like, but cables do appear to be on the way out: wireless soundbars such as the Sonos Playbar replace the traditional spaghetti junction of home entertainment cables; most smartphones sync - and in the case of recent Nokias, charge - without wires; network storage is going wireless; and TVs such as Panasonic's TX-L42DT65B can even stream media to iPads. We're not completely cable-free yet - that day is still some years away - but we're definitely heading in the right direction.

3. Discs

Bill Gates said Blu-Ray would be the last disc format the world would ever see, and it looks like he was right: from iTunes tracks to Netflix subscriptions we're getting more and more media delivered digitally instead of on shiny plastic discs. Instead of packaged software we have apps, instead of CDs we have MP3s, FLAC and AACs, and instead of DVDs we have downloads. Discs of all kinds are going the way of C90 cassettes, 8-track cartridges and wax cylinders.

4. Desktop PCs

Sales of laptops overtook desktops back in 2008, and this year's numbers show a sustained decline in the overall PC market too: tablets are doing to PCs of all kinds what laptops did to desktops. Desktops won't disappear altogether - recording studios love their Mac Pros, while gamers will never tire of shoving ever more powerful graphics cards into chassis - but the future of everyday computing is mainly mobile.

5. Video cameras

Camcorders are being squeezed on two fronts: on one flank there are the smartphones, which these days are offering rather good HD recording, and on the other flank you have the digital SLRs that do video too. Smartphones have already replaced compact cameras for many of us, and their ever-improving video capabilities mean camcorders are likely to become increasingly niche products for prosumers and pros.

6. Landlines

For ordinary people, landlines don't make sense any more: if we want to talk to you we'll call the phone you carry with you everywhere, not the phone that lives on a little table in a building that you're sometimes inside. For consumers landlines are only necessary because you can't get ADSL without one.

7. Privacy

One day we'll look back on the pre-internet era with amazement. "You mean you weren't on camera all the time?" "No, and nobody was tracking everything I read, said or thought either." Our smartphone-packing, social media-sharing world enables companies (and if you're feeling paranoid, governments) to amass truly extraordinary amounts of information about us: who we are, what matters to us, where we go, what we buy and who we like to communicate with. God knows what it'll be like when everyone on the train's wearing Google Glass and the skies are thick with camera drones.

8. Netbooks

They came, they drove Windows PC pricing into the ground, and they're off again: according to analysts at IHS, the netbook will be extinct by 2015. IHS's Craig Stice says that the arrival of the iPad and its imitators lead to a "massive loss of interest in netbooks." Netbooks peaked in 2010, selling 32 million units, but IHS predicts that in 2014 the number will fall to around a quarter of a million and "00.0 million" in 2015.

9. 3D Glasses

We've said it before: 3D TV is a failure, and it's largely due to those silly specs. Multiple surveys commissioned by the BBC say that more than 50% of people can't stand the damn things, and it seems that while 3D TVs are selling in reasonable numbers people aren't actually using them to watch 3D content. 3D TV currently has two possible futures: either glasses-free 3D will save the day and make 3D properly mainstream, or we'll forget all about it and go for Ultra HD instead.

10. Politeness

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhk_OL-5aVo

People in supermarkets keeping their earbuds in when the assistant scans their shopping; smartphone addicts checking social media instead of listening to the people they're with; idiots soundtracking bus journeys with their phones' tinny speakers; complete strangers calling each other terrible things on Twitter; people blocking your view with iPads - iPads! - when they decide to record gigs... these things have become so ordinary we barely notice them any more. We've known for many years that getting behind the wheel of a car turns some people into ignorant, insufferable arses. Sadly it seems that for some people, switching on a gadget has a very similar effect.

LG opens pre-orders on world's first curved OLED TV

Hugh Langley — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:38:00 GMT

LG doesn't hang around. After the South Korean company stated just two weeks ago that its curved OLED TV would be coming later this year, it has now officially begun the process of rolling it out to living rooms.

The 55-inch TV, which we saw displayed at CES this year, is now up for pre-order in South Korea and the first deliveries will begin "next month", according to the official release.

The 55EA9800, as it is named, is 4.3mm in depth and weighs just 17kg. Its bendy form, meanwhile, means you'll be able to get the IMAX theater experience in your living room.

Convention-bending

It also features LG's WRGB and Colour Refiner tech for giving a nice vibrant picture to go with those immersive dimensions.

As for pricing, the TV is currently up for a pre-order price of 15 million KRW (Around $13,500 / £8720 / AUS$13,100).

Shipping will begin next month in Korea, while LG says that release for other markets will be announced in the coming months.

Quickflix bundles post and streaming services in pricing revamp

Joe Hanlon — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:04:00 GMT

Australian entertainment service Quickflix is combining the old with the new, introducing a single pricing scheme that offers customers movies both by post and by streaming over the web.

There is only 3 pricing plans in the new model: $14.99, $24.99 and $34.99. Each plan gives unlimited access to movies and TV shows either on disc, delivered in the mail, or via the Quickflix streaming service.

The tiered pricing indicates how many discs you can have delivered at one time -- between 1 and 3 discs depending on how much you pay.

In total, this gives Quickflix customers access to a collection of 55,000 movies and TV shows, with the vast majority of these titles being on physical media.

This price does not include Pay Per View rental titles, which cost about $5.99 per title. HBO's popular sword and sandal drama Game of Thrones will soon be part of the pay-per-view catalogue.

Digital pioneer

Quickflix is still enjoying a period in the Australian entertainment landscape where it is the one of the only company offering a subscription-based streaming. Competitors like iTunes and BigPond movies offer an on-demand rental service, but not an all-you-can-eat style back catalogue.

Fetch TV is the only other service with a subscription payment model, but is different in that it offers a collection of 30 on-demand titles which rotate out seven old for new movies each week.

It is also unique for not being available directly to the public, but by selling its service through a dedicated set-top box via internet service providers, like Optus and iiNet.

In Depth: Ultra HD and 4K: Everything you need to know

James Rivington — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:35:00 GMT

Today's 1920 x 1080 resolution Full HD TVs present us with an image of around 2 megapixels, but a new generation of screens are coming that deliver an 8 megapixel image from hi-res cameras.

With new Ultra HD TVs arriving this year from the big TV brands, it could soon become a format for both broadcast TV and Blu-ray.

What is 4K?

Technically speaking, 4K denotes a very specific display resolution of 4096 x 2160. This is the resolution of all 4K recordings, though many people use 4K to refer to any display resolution that has roughly 4000 horizontal pixels.

Ultra HD TVs have a resolution slightly lower than that - 3840 x 2160. That's exactly four times higher than the full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Many current movie cameras already film above 4K resolutions, for example the RED Epic which can film at a 5K resolution of 5120 x 2700 and the Sony F65 8K which films at 8192 x 4320.

How big is an Ultra HD TV?

So far it's been monster Ultra HD TVs all the way, with Sony's 84-inch 84X9005 and LG's 84-inch 84LM960V leading the way alongside the now-a-bit-old Toshiba 55ZL2, a 55-inch TV whose real claim is glasses-free 3D TV (though there's more where that came from, this time from Philips).

Don't forget the Panasonic TH-152UX1W, a 152-inch plasma that was the first television to boast Ultra HD resolution. Expect 2013 to see a flurry of new Ultra HD TVs at almost acceptable prices, though some will remain monster-sized - like the 84-inch Toshiba 84L9300.

Smaller Ultra HD TVs in 2013

Thankfully, they're getting smaller - and slightly more affordable. The first half of 2013 will see the launch of the 58-inch Toshiba 58L9300, 65-inch Toshiba 65L9300, 55-inch Sony KD-55X9000A and 65-inch Sony KD-65X9000A.

Samsung's delectable 55-inch S9 Ultra HD LED TV - rumoured to cost US$37,900 - will follow later, but are we jumping the gun? After all, OLED TVs are just coming through from LG, and CES 2013 was awash with stunning combinations of both Ultra HD and OLED in prototype form - check out these 56-inch Ultra HD OLED TVs from Sony and Panasonic. These TVs are both fruits of a joint R&D effort by the two Japanese corporations, though we've a soft spot for Samsung's luscious Curved OLED screen, too.

Do I need an Ultra HD TV?

High definition comes in two flavours: 720p (HD ready) and 1080p (Full HD), both of which offer more picture information than the standard definition formats. The more pixels that make up an image, the more detail you see - and the smoother the appearance of curved and diagonal lines. Ultra HD just takes that on to the next level.

A high pixel count also enables images to go larger before they break up, which suits the trend to bigger TVs. Ultra HD is already making big inroads into the world of digital cinema; almost all major Hollywood movies and TV shows are filmed in 4K - or even 5K.

Of course, perceived picture resolution is as much about viewing distance as resolution. What's the real difference between 720p and 1080p? The answer is about two metres. Increase the pixel density and you can sit closer without the pixel grid becoming obvious; a 2160p image - or Ultra HD - enables you to sit 1.6m from the screen.

Some engineers dispute that you can see a difference between 2K and 4K on any screen less than 100-inches; go larger and the subtle nuances that make up a 4K picture certainly become easier to appreciate.

Can I buy an Ultra HD home cinema projector?

Yes. The first genuine Ultra HD consumer product to hit the streets was the Sony VPL-VW1000ES in 2012, a home cinema projector that borrows technologies originally developed for the brand's commercial digital cinema projectors. Indeed, the VPL-VW1000ES conforms to the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) specification, which uses a slightly different resolution (4096 x 2160 pixels) than Ultra HD TVs.

Not to be confused with JVC's DLA-X95R, DLA-X75R and DLA-X55R '4K branded' projectors, which actually deliver a Full HD picture but use pixel-shifting panel technology (called e-shift2) to produce a more textured and detailed image, the Sony VPL-VW1000ES has a native UHD 8.8 million pixel SXRD panel, to deliver true Ultra HD resolution.

The Sony VPL-VW1000ES can accept Ultra HD content over HDMI and display it natively, as well as up-convert any incoming source.

What is Super Hi-Vision?

There's another spanner in the works in the shape of Super Hi-Vision, an 8K format created by Japan's national broadcaster NHK. It was trialled extensively at the London 2012 Olympics by the BBC, but doesn't appear to have much chance of becoming a bona fide format just yet. It's certainly one to watch; at double the frame rate of HD (at 120fps) and with a 7680 x 4320 pixel resolution (that's around 32 megapixels), Super Hi-Vision demos have featured stunning 22.2 surround sound, too, thanks to twin subwoofers each the size of a small car.

Technically Super Hi-Vision also comes under the umbrella of the Ultra HD specification, which could store-up problems for future; how will anyone be able to explain the difference? Super-Ultra HD, anyone? Mega HD?

Will Ultra HD ever be broadcast on TV?

Technically it already is; Eutelsat Communications launched the first Ultra HD demo channel in Europe in January 2013, on its EUTELSAT 10A satellite. In the UK, the BBC has plans to film some documentaries with 4K equipment in 2013, though it's actually trialled Super Hi-Vision - or 8K - broadcasting as recently as the London Olympics.

Just as Planet Earth was one of the first programmes to be shown in HD, the BBC's Natural History Unit have been handed the task of filming Survival in Ultra HD.

South Korea currently leads the way in Ultra HD broadcasting; its KBS Kwanak Transmitter uses DVB-T2 architecture (the tech behind Freeview HD in the UK) to send an Ultra HD signal compressed using HEVC encoding.

A six-month trial of the same tech in the US is scheduled for 2013 that will attempt the broadcast of Ultra HD TV signals in the Baltimore area, while at Mobile World Congress 2013 a Spanish telecoms company, Abertis, conducted an experiment to broadcast Ultra HD TV pictures using DVB-T2 and an 84-inch Ultra HD TV.

Meanwhile, the 2014 World Cup Final from Brazil will be shown in Ultra HD to satellite viewers in Japan, though that country may attempt Super Hi-Vision broadcasts as early as 2016 or 2018.

Will Blu-ray support Ultra HD discs?

Probably, yes, thanks to that new compression codec called HEVC, though the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has yet to ratify anything.

The good news is that there is Ultra HD content already available in the vaults of the Hollywood majors. Increasingly movies are mastered at 4K resolution, both for commercial distribution and restoration projects. Hollywood has also begun shooting movies in Ultra HD and beyond.

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was shot on RED Epic digital cameras that are capable of 5K resolution, while Sony's 4K-capable F65 camera is commonly used in film and TV, too. Many US TV dramas are already filmed with one of these cameras, including Made In Jersey, Justified, Save Me and Masters of Sex, according to The Hollywood Reporter, as well as ER, Criminal Minds and Justified.

Quite whether studio bosses actually want this level of picture quality in the hands of consumers remains to be seen. Naturally Ultra HD Blu-ray discs would also require a new generation of BD hardware; so-called 4K-ready Blu-ray players including the new Sony S5100 and Samsung BD-F7500 machines - due for launch in spring 2013 - are only able to upscale regular Blu-ray into Ultra HD-quality, and almost certainly won't play the yet-to-be-invented new Ultra HD discs.

How can I get Ultra HD films onto my Ultra HD TV?

In the absence of shiny discs, the first generation of Ultra HD TV owners will have to rely on 'content delivery systems'. Sony will supply with its new 4K TVs a server containing seven native 4K movies - titles TBC - though heavily compressed downloads from Sony (in summer 2013) and others looks to be the next step.

Destined to be the first 4K player to go on sale, the Redray 4K Cinema Player will cost US$1,450 when it launches in spring 2013. Equipped with a 1TB hard disk, this machine can play 4K content stored on an SD card or USB slot, too - such is the file compression on offer - though it's networked and can stream 4K video from a central server, Lovefilm Instant/Netflix-style.

These two innovations aside, the Ultra HD YB market will be mostly about upscaling for some time to come, and the savvy buyer will carefully consider how good a particular Ultra HD TV is at taking a standard or high definition signal and blowing it up onto a big screen. From the demos we've seen of Blu-ray being upscaled to Ultra HD, the big brands seem to have put a lot of work into this; they all look amazing.

When will Ultra HD become standard?

The floors of CES 2013 were packed with them, but it could be a difficult birth. With arguments and a lack of industry standards on displays, broadcast and playback of Ultra HD material, the introduction of these cutting-edge TVs will prove complex in the extreme.

Introducing an Ultra HD TV isn't like adding LED backlighting to an LCD screen. It's about orchestrating a seismic shift in the broadcast and entertainment infrastructure, not to mention rewriting the consumer electronics handbook.

Currently the only devices to offer Ultra HD play-out are ultra high resolution PC graphics cards, which typically use a quartet of SDI or HDMI outputs to deliver 8MP of video.

There are also myriad disagreements about what exactly Ultra HD displays and equipment should offer in terms of the exact colour standards, frame rate, compression codec and broadcast technology.

In fact, Ultra HD doesn't yet exist - it's a logo-free collection of guidelines that manufacturers should adhere to. Once they're signed, sealed and agreed and a delivery mechanism - 4K Blu-ray, or 4K downloading - along with a tweaked version of HDMI, is all in place, it's possible that existing Ultra HD TVs won't be up to the task. Who'd be an early adopter?

What about Ultra HD for photographers?

The picture's brighter for digital photographers. The PlayStation3 now displays digital still images at 4K resolution over HDMI (how about a PS4K, anyone?), while Panasonic has been busy prepping prototype displays aimed at image-makers. As well as its 4K resolution 20-inch TV, Panasonic recently presented an identically-sized 4K tablet aimed at designers, photographers and architects.

So despite the excitement in the world of TV, a lack of agreement throughout the industry means that the first enthusiasts to benefit from Ultra HD technology could be photographers, and not cinema enthusiasts.

However, manufacturers have already shown that they think the sweet-spot for Ultra HD TV sits between 55 and 65 inches; isn't that the size you'd like your next TV to be? With a couple of games consoles, some Blu-ray players capable of spitting out Ultra HD resolution images, and a BBC UHD trial channel, we're convinced that within a few years most TV buyers won't be able to resist the temptation of making sure their purchase is at least future-proofed to Ultra HD.

And today's future-proofed TV is tomorrow's cut-price commodity... though is that what they said about 3D TV?