TV

Now that the combatants for this year's big game have been decided (and who doesn't love a battle of brothers?), perhaps you're ready for a big, new TV on which to enjoy the game.

For a limited time, and while supplies last, TigerDirect has the Sceptre X508BV-FHD 50-inch LCD HDTV for $399.99, plus around $30 for shipping. That's your after-rebate price, but, hey, some deals require a little delayed gratification.

As you might expect from the price, this is an entry-level TV. It's not especially thin, and it lacks apps and Wi-Fi and all … Read more

As Manti T'eo and Lance Armstrong have discovered this week, you attain true credibility only when people make jokes about you.

Credibility -- true, natural recognition from the man in the tram -- is something Silicon Valley has craved for quite a few years.

Sadly, its first attempt -- Bravo TV's "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley" -- delivered all the credibility of a rubber cowboy boot.

Here were vacuous people uttering vacuous thoughts in a vacuum.

It was not a hit. Indeed, Bravo says it currently has no plans to revive the corpse.

HBO, though, is undeterred by the interred. Indeed, it has ordered a pilot of a show currently named "Silicon Valley." … Read more

If you've ever thought seriously about cutting the cable-TV cord and saving yourself a big chunk of change every month, you've probably looked at PlayOn, a PC-based media server that lets you stream tons of TV content to just about any home and mobile device.

And if you love your Netflix and/or Hulu Plus subscriptions but don't always have an Internet connection for streaming their content, you need to know about PlayLater, which turns your PC into a DVR that can record those and other sources for later viewing.

All of which brings us to this … Read more

Apple's next-generation iPad Mini will feature a high-resolution Retina Display, says KGI Securites analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In an investors note detailed last night by MacRumors, Kuo projects that the iPad Mini 2 will come with the same Retina Display already offered by its larger counterpart.

The upgrade will be beneficial not only to consumers but to developers who can then design the same high-resolution apps to fit both iPad models. The next version of the 9.7-inch iPad will also lose some weight, get much slimmer, and take on the same thin bezels used on the Mini, according to … Read more

There could be some trouble in social TV land. Viggle and GetGlue, two competing companion mobile applications for television viewers, announced they have terminated their agreement to merge.

Viggle, a TV loyalty platform that automatically identifies the shows people are watching, said in November that it would acquire TV guide and manual checkin app GetGlue for $25 million and 48.3 million shares. The split is being described as cordial by both sides.

"During the time we started talking to GetGlue about an acquisition and since the merger agreement was signed in November, we have seen impressive growth in … Read more

Lightning has struck more than once for Russell Simmons -- the man created successful TV shows like Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam and made himself an entertainment mogul -- but he knows he's losing out now because he's not creating content for every device.

"I'm really late, but I came to the party and there's still a block, there's still a hole in the market," he told an audience at CES 2013 today.

Simmons is gearing up to build a new network with new stars -- plucked from YouTube fame -- … Read more

Courtroom challenges haven't put a damper on Aereo's ambitions.

The upstart TV service announced today that over the course of 2013 it plans to expand beyond its birthplace to 22 cities nearly coast to coast, from Boston in the East to Salt Lake City in the West and Birmingham, Ala., down South. To date, the Barry Diller-backed streaming over-the-air TV service has been available only in New York City.

Investors, too, still seem intrigued by the company's prospects. Aereo, based in Long Island City, N.Y., also said today that it has closed a $38 million Series … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Last year, if someone asked for a recommendation on which TV to buy the discussion usually started and ended with the excellent Panasonic ST50. This year the ST60 again looks like that TV.

Panasonic reps told me that the ST60 has a few picture quality improvements over the ST50, namely a slightly better screen filter, but I took that to mean the two would perform basically the same. That's not a bad thing; the ST50 was one of the best-performing TVs of the year, despite a modest price.