Sooloos Ensemble System: MP3 Player on Crack

You think your 120GB iPod is hot stuff, right? Think again. Sooloos, maker of high-end home networking and entertainment systems, just announced a lower-cost digital music management / storage / playback system with a terabyte of storage. Lower-cost if you consider $7,900.00 a bargain.

The Sooloos Ensemble System can store compressed and FLAC (lossless) files or both. You can rip about 2,400 albums in both formats, so you have high-quality files for listening at home, and MP3 files for on the go.

But, the Ensemble is more than just storage . . .

Samsung Streaming HD Netflix

Before you head out Friday morning, (or Thursday night, for that matter) for your Black Friday shopping spree, you might want to put a Samsung Blu-ray player on the top of your list. Aren't we nice — giving you a head-start so you can shop around for the best deals?

Samsung just announced that their two new BD-Live 2.0 Blu-ray players will have access to the ever-growing library of HD content on Netflix. It will require a firmware update, but well worth the minimal effort. According to Samsung, the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 are among the first stand-alone players to connect directly to the Netflix HD library.

Do we have to mention you'll need to connect the player to the Internet? That goes without saying, right? What else does Samsung have to say about this?

Atlantic Records: For First time, Digital Outsold CD

We knew this day would happen, and oddly enough, the world is still spinning. Legendary music label, Atlantic Records just reported that digital music revenue has surpassed compact disc sales. Yikes!

Atlantic has said that digital sales, which include downloads from places like iTunes and Amazon.com, plus cellphone ringtones generated more revenue than CD. Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music Group, reported that digital sources only accounted for 27 percent of their American revenue last quarter.

While those numbers might be startling, these from a New York Times story are more sobering . . .

Creative Labs Vado HD Pocket Camcorder

Not ready to plunk down five grand on Canon's latest camera with HD capabilities? Creative Labs comes to the rescue.  Joining the ranks with Kodak and Flip Mino HD, the Vado HD 720P pocket video camcorder is the latest mini with HD capabilities. Plus, for $199.99, what's not to like?

Although it's not Full HD, the 720p capabilities should look great for most home-movie situations. It comes with an HDMI cable, but the built-in USC connector is the first thing that will catch your eye. 

Keep reading for more pics and specs.

HDTV Study: Got HD?

A new study of HDTV owners reveals rather surprising results. Frank N. Magid Associates polled first-time HDTV set owners.  Of the households who just purchased HDTVs, 41 percent don't have any way of viewing HD content from their cable or satellite provider.  Compare that to the 80 percent of long-time HDTV owners who already have HD cable or satellite.

Are consumers just confused about HD, and do they think that the the DTV transition is suddenly going to upgrade their service to HD?

Keep reading to see what the folks at the company who conducted the survey thinks.

TiVo On The Go

TiVo has offered remote scheduling via cell phone for a while now, but it wasn't exactly a simple process, and it wasn't available to everyone. Until now. TiVo just launched TiVo Mobile, a free website optimized for the mobile phone market. It's easy to use from any mobile platform, carrier or browser.  Woohoo!

Next time I forget to record Boston Legal, I'm covered. Not only can I see what's on, I can program my home TiVo to record, from anywhere.

Plus, it's not restricted to TiVo subscribers. Anyone can log on and browse through the guide to see what's on TV through any Internet-enabled phone.

So, where do you point your browser?

Best Buy's TiVo HD/HDTV Bundle

There are ghosts in my machines. I'm convinced of it. Two weeks ago, my trusty 32-inch CRT TV started to fail. The picture would go green, then black and white, and then the death roll. Grrr.  Off to Best Buy to start researching what I wanted.

Not two days after that, my TiVo started in with me. The program would just freeze for a few seconds, randomly. No matter if I was watching live TV (although continually buffered) or playing back from the drive. Uh-oh. It was time to start watching all the movies I had archived on it. Was there a conspiracy in my home theater?

Now I have to wonder if Best Buy has a hand in this. They just announced a new special - save $100 on a TiVo HD DVR when you buy an HDTV. Did they sabotage my home theater? I think so!

Keep reading for the details on the deal.

Blockbuster On-Demand

Blockbuster has yet another way to get their movies into your home.  And this one looks like it could make a bit of a splash. Blockbuster has been losing the battle with Netflix, with hundreds of stores shutting down recently. Their subscription service let them compete head-to-head, and consumers liked having movies delivered to their home.

However, when Netflix unveiled their Roku box that let consumers stream to a box that could be viewed on their TVs, Blockbuster only had Movielink.  Movielink is a great download service, but it confined the movies to a computer - a PC at that - it still is not Mac-compatible.

Blockbuster's brand new on-demand service will rely the MediaPointTM digital media player, on a box made by 2Wire Inc., and it will be similar to the storage device supplied by Vudu.

See how much this pay-per-view box will set you back.

Hellboy II: The Chat Recap

Don't you wish your life had TiVo? I do. A few weeks ago, we told you all about the first BD-Live chat with the director of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Guillermo del Toro. The chat, accessible only through Universal Studio's BD-Live server was on November 23. And I missed it. Darn it.

Luckily for me, and you, the folks at Engadget caught it. The 50 preselected questions were sprinkled through a viewing of the movie, and as the director himself said about Blu-ray releases and extras, "the perfect home theater experience."

Keep reading for a link to complete coverage of this ground-breaking event.

Small LCD HD TV Wars

In a smackdown of very small proportions, HANNspree and Westinghouse are battling for your dollars and shelf-space. Neither name is a heavy-hitter in the US television market, but they do have some interesting new products.

HANNspree just introduced the world's first 28-inch LCD TV with Full HD 1080p capability. The set has two HDMI ports, and a VGA port makes it easy to use as a computer monitor. It will set you back $499.99 - not bad for Full HD.

Looking for something just a touch cheaper? See what Westinghouse is introducing.