Blockbuster streaming coming to some Samsung BD players and HDTVs

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.

Popcorn Hour C-200 ready for a Blu-ray drive

The Popcorn Hour has always been a pretty capable little media streamer, but the newest iteration is substantially more robust than most of its predecessors. On the front, you'll find a swappable bay that can accept a hard drive or even a Blu-ray drive should you choose to stick one in there. Of course, it can still handle just about every video format, but it looks like DivX is conspicuously missing from the list for some reason. It has a gigabit ethernet connection for sharing content from your home network (no luck if you're a WiFi only home) and a display on the front for getting around your conent without taking up your main screen.

The package comes with its own remote and an HDMI cable for $299, making it seem like a pretty solid little solution for secondary rooms that aren't already equipped with decent gear. Of course, it would be nice if it could play back video from video_ts folders, but that's just wishful thinking. It's apparently going to be released next month, so any houseguests before then will have to stick to plain old cable in the guest bedroom.

--Stan Horaczek

Kaleidescape's new Mini System offers a more compact way to serve up your DVDs and albums

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.

VUDU to start offering HD movies to buy, not just rent

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.

Hulu Dumped from Boxee and TV.com

 Just as viewing opportunities come, they go just a quickly. Hulu, with content from NBC and Fox, has pulled all of its streaming goodness from Boxee and TV.com.

From the Hulu blog: "Our mission to make media dramatically easier and more user-focused has not changed and will not change. We will not stop until we achieve it and we are sober in our assessment that we have such a long way to go," said CEO Jason Kilar.

Perhaps the launch of CBS's TV.com had something to do with it. Is Hulu a valuable partner, or potential competitor?

Boxee just added ABC, and both services could work directly with NBC and Fox in the future. Why pay a percentage to Hulu when you can get the whole pie?  --Leslie Shapiro

Electronista

Boxee Gets Lost

We just showed off the prototype boxee set-top box, and now, boxee is in the news again. If you missed the premiere of Lost this week (no you didn't!) fear not: boxee just added support for ABC.com streaming. This brings shows like Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Lost to your Mac. Let's not say anything about The Bachelor, okay?

Right now, boxee is available for Apple Mac OSX 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard) for Intel, Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) at the moment.

With the addition of ABC, boxee now supports all four of the major networks.  Well, at least the shows that they want to have available online.  --Leslie Shapiro

Lifehacker

Boxee In a Box

Boxee is the software program that streams Internet content from your computer to your TV set. Easy breezy.  For some folks. If you don't have the right connections, cables, etc., it's not so simple.

Boxee is actually looking at coming out with a dedicated set-top box that contains the streaming software to simplify the entire process. The box is being discussed on the Boxee blog, in a post initiated by Boxee CEO Avner Ronen at blogg.boxee.tv 

What do you think?  Does a set-top Boxee make sense?  --Leslie Shapiro

Crave