Angry Puppy

In Tuesday’s vlog, we talked about using the Apple TV and Xbox 360 to watch downloaded shows and movies. There have been a few related news stories since then:

iTunes, which feeds content to the Apple TV, now offers TV shows in the Canadian store, a service previously available only in the US and the UK. You can find a mix of local shows and south-of-the-border content, including South Park and The Sarah Silverman Program.

If any US viewers want to see what they’re missing, just use the dropdown at the bottom of the iTunes home screen to switch your country. The interface for TV shows is not as slick as the US version - it looks more like what you see when browsing your own music in list view.

This brings up a general iTunes tip. You can’t purchase content from another country’s store (they know where your credit card is based), but you can browse and subscribe to foreign podcasts. This could be a useful tool to those studying foreign languages. Unfortunately, the only non-Western-European option is Japanese. If any of our Japanese-speaking readers find podcast gems in there, be sure to let us know.

Meanwhile, the Xbox live video store has also become available in Canada and several European countries: the UK, France, Germany and Ireland. The currency is still Microsoft points, a complaint that got edited out of this week’s vlog.

More news bites:

The Apple TV was ranked the second worst gadget of the year by Popular Mechanics. I don’t agree that it’s the second worst, but it is my number one most disappointing. Few devices this year had such potential but fell so short.

Apple TV Source reports a rumor that the maligned device might get an update in 2008, including the addition of an LCD screen. I’d much rather have a software update for what Steve Jobs himself has called a “hobby” project. With the ability to purchase directly from the Apple TV (bypassing iTunes) and the addition of a rental service, Apple TV would find a permanent place in my home theater setup. As it stands, I mostly use the iTunes playlist / iPhoto slideshow combo at parties to give my guests something to look at other than my cramped apartment.

The latest Xbox 360 dashboard update gave users support for DivX and xVid encoded files. Gizmodo reported this week that the PS3 should also have DivX support “soon”. The PS3, unlike the Xbox 360, is expected not only to play back DivX encoded files, but also to allow developers to use the compression format for in-game cutscenes.

With iTunes out of the NBC Universal picture, where will you go to get your Heroes and Battlestar Galactica fixes? Probably not to the SanDisk Sansa TakeTV video player.

According to the SanDisk Press Room, “hit current TV shows” from NBC, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo and “vintage library” shows from NBC Universal will be available in January on fanfare, SanDisk’s web-based service which is currently in beta. And yes, they like it all lowercase.

Cancel your iTunes account? Nope. This is not a replacement for getting NBC content in the Applesphere after Apple and NBC’s public spat, but rather another way to watch purchased content on your TV (and on your TV only).

There are two new parts to this system: the TakeTV hardware and the fanfare web service for downloading content. The TakeTV itself is available now. You can get one with 4GB for $99.99 or 8GB for $149.99. It works on Mac, Windows and Linux machines and lets users drag and drop video files or use the fanfare service to purchase content. It’s made up of:

• Video player (connects to your computer, then to the cradle via USB)
• Remote control (battery included)
• TV Cradle with integrated cables (connects to your TV via S-video or composite video inputs)
• AC power adapter

Supported video formats are MPEG-4, DivX and xVid with resolution up to 720 x 576 and up to a bitrate of 7Mbps.To get purchased content (like stuff from NBC Universal) onto the player, you’ll need to use fanfare, which works like this:

1. Plug the TakeTV player into your computer (via USB).
2. Browse for TV shows and movies on the fanfare site.
3. Download what you want to the TakeTV Player. (Make sure you’ve installed fanfare.exe. Shouldn’t this be step 1 in their list?)
4. Dock the TakeTV into its cradle and watch TV.

How does Fanfare itself work?

• There are no subscriptions fees
• This is not a rental service. You permanently download the shows and store them on your computer’s hard drive.
• New episodes will be available the day after they air on the original network.
• You must watch the downloaded content on a TV - not on a computer or portable device
• System requirements: Windows XP SP2 or Vista. Internet Explorer 6 or above. Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 or above. Adobe Flash Player 9.0

Angry Puppy’s conclusions:

It seems odd to have to physically carry the player to the cradle - especially when almost everything else is wireless these days. Of course, its small size means you can take it with you and watch TV elsewhere, but one of my main reasons for downloading TV shows is to watch on my iPod on trips, not so I can carry it to the in-laws’ place for Thanksgiving dinner.

About Macs, they say this: “Nope. Sorry, the fanfare service is supported only on Windows XP SP2 and above.” About Linux they say nothing, but the same applies. That’s understandable for a beta, but Internet Explorer only? I’m double out.

My favorite lines from the press release:

“Under the terms of the deal, SanDisk plans to use their security expertise in collaboration with NBC Universal to implement a series of measures to protect NBC Universal content, including partnering to explore the implementation of watermarking and filtering technology solutions.”

TRANSLATION: “Consumers will be locked into viewing this purchased content in the way SanDisk and NBC deem appropriate.”

“Additionally, NBC Universal and SanDisk will collaborate on new consumer content acquisition models, including flexible pricing and packaging.”

TRANSLATION “Sucks to you, iTunes. We’ll charge $4.99 an episode for popular shows if we want.”