TVs

What are all those Netflix and Hulu viewers watching, and how are they accessing that content? A new study out yesterday from Nielsen offers some answers.

Among Netflix subscribers, 53 percent watch movies, 11 percent tune into TV shows, and 36 percent catch a mixture of both. But among Hulu viewers, only 9 percent are streaming movies, 73 percent are watching TV episodes, and 18 percent grab both equally.

Those results aren't surprising since Hulu isn't exactly known for its vast movie library, focusing instead on providing current and past seasons of popular TV series. In contrast, Netflix … Read more

Sony took a loss in its fiscal first quarter due largely to the Japanese quake and to lower TV sales, forcing the company to lower its annual forecast.

For the quarter that ended June 30, the electronics giant reported today a net loss of 15.5 billion yen ($199 million), compared with a net profit of 25.7 billion yen a year ago. Revenue dropped 10 percent to 1.49 trillion yen from 1.66 trillion yen in the prior year's quarter.

The weak quarter prompted Sony to lower its forecast for the full year. For the fiscal year … Read more

Televisions that can connect to the Web and offer built-in applications are set to see strong sales growth in the coming years, a new study from research firm In-Stat has found.

According to the company, shipments of smart TVs will be up by an average of 36 percent over the next five years.

Built-in applications are becoming an increasingly common feature in HDTVs. A host of HDTV makers, including Samsung, Vizio, and Panasonic, among others, currently offer users the ability to access apps from their televisions. Several companies offer apps on televisions, including Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube.

In-Stat's study … Read more

Size matters, and LG is upping the ante in the fiercely competitive TV market by announcing its plans to debut a 55-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) giant in mid-2012. At the moment, the chaebol is already shipping a 15-incher based on the same technology and previously showcased a 31-inch prototype at the IFA trade show in Berlin last year.

OLED allows manufacturers to produce exceptionally thin TVs without compromising picture quality, although larger screens remain very costly to make. Early adapters will have to pay a huge premium to own these 55-inchers and we reckon that a 3D-capable version could be in the pipeline, too.

(Source: Crave Asia via Engadget HD) … Read more

It appears a Best Buy Insignia-connected HDTV blessed with TiVo's HD interface may actually be available by the end of July.

The relationship between the retailer and DVR manufacturer started more than two years ago. Then there was an announcement last year that development had started to integrate TiVo's software and services into broadband-connected Insignia TVs. And now it looks like there's an actual product.

Arriving July 31, the new Insignia cTVs (presumably "c" is for connected) will be available in two sizes--32 and 42 inches--and have built-in Wi-Fi for accessing broadband content from Netflix, … Read more

TV makers are expected to ship more than 500 million sets with Internet connectivity by the end of 2015, according to a report from research firm DisplaySearch. This year alone, around 25 percent of all flat-panel sets will come with some form of Internet capability and this trend is expected to grow to 47 percent by 2015.

"The adoption of connected TV is not just taking place in developed regions," Paul Gray, DisplaySearch director of TV electronics research, in a statement. "Emerging markets often have good broadband services, and there is a thirst from consumers to get the best content available."

Propelling the market share of these Web-enabled TVs is the convenience of wireless networking through Wi-Fi and smart-TV functions. The latter is a generic description of panels with the following features, according to DisplaySearch: … Read more

Maksim Ioffe was sitting around his San Francisco living room watching TV one day in 2009 when he noted how ridiculous it was that on his coffee table were no less than five remote controls. He thought to himself, "This has got to go."

But instead of replacing them all with yet another remote, he looked to something he already owned: his smartphone.

Fast forward to 2011, and that germ of an idea two years ago has spawned the Dijit Universal Remote App, which turns an iPhone--or iPod Touch, iPad, or soon an Android phone--into a remote control.

Ioffe is not alone in looking for ways to substitute the smartphone for a remote control. There's actually a whole crop of companies that are trying to break into what some are calling the "smart-remote" business by taking advantage of the device that one-third of all U.S. cell phone owners already have on hand.

There's no agreed-on standard just yet for how best to replace the ubiquitous multibuttoned plastic living room staple. Different approaches are being offered, from free apps that control individual devices, like just your TV or just your set-top box, to a hardware accessory paired with an accompanying app that lets you control both "dumb" devices that only take infrared input and "smart" or Internet-connected devices in your home entertainment setup.

The cost can vary depending on the solution, from free to about $100. The appeal is the convenience: you probably already own a smartphone. And then there's the vast potential that the smartphone, really a minicomputer, brings to the coffee table: a bright screen with rich graphics, the ability to customize onscreen buttons as you wish, and the power of the Web to help you discover new programming or filter for just the stuff you like.

Of course there will be home theater devotees who insist they just can't give up their fancy 80-button universal remote, but there are plenty of advantages that could prove tempting for others looking for a simple and decidedly 21st century solution. … Read more

Editors' note: The lens used in recording the video above makes the television appear smaller than it really is in relation to the presenter, Scott Stein. Scroll down to see a photo that more accurately presents the 92-inch size of the TV.

Does a 92-inch TV sound like overkill to you?

To many, it may. But for the company that makes it, Mitsubishi, it's pretty much the only way to distinguish itself among its competitors and try to stay in the TV business.

Next month, Mitsubishi will officially start selling the behemoth of a television it first introduced at CES in January. … Read more

The popularity of televisions that feature built-in applications and can connect to the Internet is on the rise, a new study from DisplaySearch has found.

According to the research firm, shipments of the more capable sets, better known as connected TVs, are expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 30 percent in coming years, with total shipments of the sets expected to reach 123 million in 2014. In 2010, connected TVs accounted for 20 percent of all television shipments, the research firm found.

Built-in applications such as Netflix and Twitter are available on sets from a number of vendors, including Vizio and Panasonic. Samsung announced in January that app downloads on its line of televisions hit 2 million since its marketplace launched last year. The company also estimated that television vendors shipped 6.5 million HDTVs featuring built-in applications worldwide in 2010. It believes that figure will jump to 20 million by 2012.… Read more