set-top box

A new Apple TV featuring 99-cent television show rentals is currently in the works, a report from GigaOm blog, NewTeeVee, claims.

According to NewTeeVee, which cited unnamed sources, Apple is currently trying to coax television studios into allowing the company to offer TV rentals for just 99 cents each on the as-yet announced new version of the Apple TV. Currently, Apple offers consumers the chance to buy television shows on its Apple TV set-top box for $1.99 for standard-definition episodes, and $2.99 for high-definition episodes.

Although details from NewTeeVee's sources are scant at this point, the blog … Read more

Are you looking for an easy way to bring Netflix Watch Instantly movies to your TV? Look no further than the Roku HD-XR, a tiny set-top box that streams Internet content from Netflix and a variety of other sources.

This top-end model normally costs $129.99, but today only, Amazon has the Roku HD-XR for $99.99 with free shipping. Plus, Amazon is throwing in a $10 credit for its Video on Demand service.

Roku's other channels include MLB.com, which, like Netflix, requires a subscription, Blip.tv, Flickr, NASA, and Pandora.

The Roku player connects to the Internet … Read more

Ultimate Fighting Championship fans are getting another forum for watching the latest bouts. UFC has signed a multiyear agreement to stream live fights on Roku set-top boxes.

The agreement kicks off May 29 with a match between two former UFC champions. Roku owners will pay $44.99 per fight, the same as on pay-per-view, a Roku representative said.

UFC fans will still have the option of watching games on pay-per-view through their satellite or cable provider.

As part of the new deal, fight fans will also have access to UFC Vault channel on the Roku box. The channel includes pre-fight … Read more

When we reviewed Seagate's FreeAgent Theater+ USB media player last year, we gave it good marks but lamented the fact that it didn't offer the Netflix streaming capabilities of the Roku HD Player. Well, now Seagate's added Netflix streaming via a firmware upgrade, so we'll have to update our review and eliminate that critical sentence.

If you're new to the whole USB media player category, it goes something like this: storage brands like Western Digital, Seagate, and Iomega are looking for ways to tap into the growing number of consumers who have multimedia files stored … Read more

Cisco Systems is set to make a major announcement Tuesday morning that the tech company says "will forever change the Internet."

Could this announcement include an AppleTV-like set-top box that does just about everything?

Exactly what Cisco will be revealing is still under wraps, but some industry watchers are speculating that the announcement will include several products that will provide a grand overview of Cisco's end-to-end vision of the Internet that will include new infrastructure products, as well as new consumer devices for the home.

One of the products that could be announced is an AppleTV-like set-top … Read more

LAS VEGAS--On his first visit to CES as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski on Friday reiterated key policy objectives to free up more wireless spectrum and encourage competition in the TV set-top box.

Top on the chairman's list of issues to emphasize while chatting with Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro here at 2010 CES was the need for more wireless spectrum to be used by wireless broadband providers. He said spectrum scarcity is a key issue that he faces on a daily basis as he deals with communications policy. And he said it was crucial … Read more

Aiming to expand beyond movies and baseball, set-top box maker Roku is adding 10 new content channels ranging from social networking to music and podcasts.

Roku, which makes a small, wireless device that can stream content from the Web direct to any TV screen, is expanding from 3 channels to 13, as expected. Channels for Blip.tv, Facebook Photos, Flickr, FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, Motionbox, Pandora, Revision3, and TWiT will join the current lineup of Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and, more recently, MLB.TV. All of them will be available in the newly christened Roku Channel Store.… Read more

Motorola is looking to sell its business for TV set-top boxes and network equipment for about $4.5 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday.

The newspaper cites people familiar with the matter who say Motorola is in the early stages of finding a buyer for the business unit. Potential buyers include private-equity firms and competing equipment makers.

Motorola representatives declined to comment, citing a company policy not to comment on speculation or rumors.

The company has three major units: mobile devices, enterprise mobility, and home and networks mobility. And all three business units have been struggling over … Read more

Networking giant Cisco Systems announced another acquisition this week. This time the company said it will buy the set-top division of a Chinese digital cable technology company.

Late Monday, Cisco said it would pay a total of about $44.5 million for the set-top unit of DVN. It will pay $17.5 million upfront, and the remaining $27 million will be paid over four years, based on the unit achieving sales milestones.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, and it is subject to the approval of regulators and DVN shareholders.

Cisco is also … Read more