There has been a lot of talk lately about all the various boxes that now stream Netflix's on-demand service, but Blockbuster is apparently eager to remind us that big red isn't the only game in town. Starting in the fall, owners of certain Samsung Blu-ray players and connected HDTVs will have access to Blockbuster's online catalog content available for rental and purchase. Since the model is different than the Netflix service, which many Samsung devices already support, it should be a nice compliment. And hey, more content options are always better, especially if they don't require getting up and hucking it to the video store. Now if only they could find a way to stream Sour Patch Kids. Take the jump for the list of effected devices.
Continue reading "Blockbuster streaming coming to some Samsung BD players and HDTVs" »

Two years ago, we reviewed the
Kaleidescape Movie & Music Server, a rack-mounted home theater beast that could store all of your albums and DVDs on its hard drives. It was big and expensive, but did its job really well, to the extent that we gave it a Certified & Recommended rating.
Kaleidescape has since expanded its library and feature set, and is finally offering an all-in-one system that can fit under your TV, and not in your gear closet.
The Kaleidescape Mini System takes the server and player components of its original system and shrinks it into a set-top box that measures just over 17 inches wide and weighs just over 21 pounds with maximum storage.
Continue reading "Kaleidescape's new Mini System offers a more compact way to serve up your DVDs and albums" »

Vudu has been streaming for over a year now, and it's a pretty nice service (just ask
our own Gadget Gary Del'Abate). Get the Vudu box (now available in rack-mountable flavors for home theater buffs with a big gear closet), hook it up, and watch your favorite movies for a price. You can simply rent and stream the movies, or buy and download them to the Vudu's 250GB-to-1TB hard drive. Unfortunately, until now you could only buy and download standard definition movies. HD movies were only available to rent, and once the rental period was over, they fluttered back off into cyberspace. That's finally starting to change.
Continue reading "VUDU to start offering HD movies to buy, not just rent" »