By Daniel Cooper posted Feb 19th 2013 8:29AM 0

BBC Two HD replaces BBC HD channel on March 26th  HD

BBC Two HD replaces BBC HD channel on March 26th

The BBC has decided it can do without a HD channel just to showcase its gorgeous nature documentaries. As such, it's turning BBC HD into a high-definition simulcast of BBC Two, starting March 26th. As it's already been doing that job for a while now, it's hardly surprising -- but does make us wonder where HD shows from BBC Three and Four will be housed in the future. The corporation did tell us that it's evaluating adding more HD channels, but we don't imagine that'll be happening in the near future. BBC Two HD will remain on the same channel as BBC HD, Sky: 169, Virgin: 187, Freesat: 109, Freeview: 102 -- so you don't need to rescan your box to keep watching Eggheads.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Daniel Cooper posted Feb 19th 2013 7:15AM 0

FIFA confirms goal-line tech will be used at the 2014 World Cup  HD

FIFA gives referees 'final word' on goalline technology, defeats point of goalline technology

FIFA's frosty relationship with the future might just be thawing, after Soccer's governing body announced that it will use goal-line technology. After a successful trial at last year's Club World Cup, the organization will use electronic refereeing at the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup. That said, the body is still insisting that human officials will have the final say -- despite evidence to suggest that's not a very good idea.

0 Comments

By Richard Lawler posted Feb 18th 2013 7:36PM 0

Must See HDTV (February 18th - 24th)  HD

After its run on the internet and then cable TV, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is coming to Blu-ray, along with the second season of Game of Thrones and Monsters Inc. Sports fans have NASCAR racing to (try to) replace football, while movie buffs can keep an eye out for the Academy Awards on Sunday. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

Top Gun 3D
After a short run in theaters, Top Gun 3D is coming home on Blu-ray. We've had the chance to watch it already and came away with (mostly) good things to say about the conversion. The 3D conversion is well done and particularly in the action scenes, as one watches F-14s zooming through the air it enhanced the feeling of speed and depth. Now, it's not all good news as we did notice a slightly different color tint on the 3D version, not necessarily bad, but different. Overall we liked it, so if you're looking for another 3D viewing option and are a fan of the original, it's worthwhile, but probably not required viewing. If you're not a 3D fan, this probably won't change your opinion.
($19.96 on Amazon)

Daytona 500
NASCAR is back and in full effect. If you like to see cars turning left then this is the series for you, and in a fresh twist, Danica Patrick will debut as the first female polesitter in race history. This race will also see the new Gen6 cars that are designed to not only be safer and faster, but also more closely resemble production automobiles. Whether you're watching the race end to end
(February 24th, Fox, 12PM)

Read More | 0 Comments

By Richard Lawler posted Feb 18th 2013 6:49AM 0

LG Display invests $655 million to expand OLED HDTV mass production next year  HD

LG Display invests $655 million to expand OLED HDTV mass production next year

Sure, LG's current 55-inch OLED HDTV is pretty pricey with a US MSRP of $12K, but that may start to change next year when panel supplier LG Display kicks its new 8G production line into full gear. LG Electronics holds a 38 percent stake in the company and although it supplies screens to many others as well, the next generation of 55EM9700s will likely be a large segment of the displays produced. Although LCD manufacturers ramped up 8G facilities capable of producing six 55-inch displays from one piece of glass in the late 2000s, oversupply caused prices to drop and manufacturing to slow down, including at LG Display.

Now, new display technology is ramping up investment again, which will see this new line installed at its P9 plant in Paju, South Korea at a cost of 706 billion won ($655 million). Based on LG's WRGB OLED evaporation process, it should be capable of working with as many as 26,000 input sheets per month once it's up to full speed in the first half of 2014. Chief competitor Samsung showed off "production" OLED HDTVs last year and plenty of demo units at CES with a mid-year release planned, we'll see if it manages to keep up before / if the tech goes mainstream.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Ben Gilbert posted Feb 17th 2013 1:00PM 0

Halo creators unveil 'Destiny,' an MMO-like first-person-shooter for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3  HD

Halo creators unveil 'Destiny,' an MMOlike firstpersonshooter for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

When Halo creator Bungie managed to steal away from Microsoft back in 2007, Master Chief's forefathers were afforded a few years to go dark and head down on a brand new gaming universe. Today, Bungie and its new benefactor, Activision, revealed that new franchise as "Destiny," an online-required persistent world first-person shooter. Even though the game's not due out this year, Bungie says it's headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with no mention of next-gen.

The online requirement extends to both single-player and multiplayer campaigns -- your character's achievements remain persistent, and your avatar will seamlessly populate friends' games (rather than futzing with menus and the like), allowing for on-the-fly pairings. Bungie's shying away from outright referring to Destiny as an MMO, a la World of Warcraft. "[The] amount of players you see is design controlled. It's not about stuffing as many people in there as possible," Bungie COO Pete Parsons told our sister site, Joystiq. Of course, with next-gen sounding online connectivity, Bungie's silence on next-gen consoles is little more than a temporary vow -- Destiny seems a lock for (at very least) Sony and Microsoft's next consoles, if not also the PC (Wii U's looking unlikely).

Hard details on Destiny are a bit scarce at the moment -- when it launches, if it's part of a series, how exactly the game will work -- but we've dropped concept art below and a debut video just beyond the break. The video goes into a bit more detail on the universe, and briefly touches on the smartphone tie-in that Destiny will have (think Halo Waypoint), but for a more exhaustive approach to Destiny's debut, Joystiq's got you covered.

Update: In Activision's official PR, Destiny is listed as heading to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and, "other future console platforms."

Read More | 0 Comments

By Richard Lawler posted Feb 15th 2013 8:08PM 0

WSJ: Sony will use Gaikai streaming tech to play PS3 games on the PS4  HD

We're just a few days away from Sony's February 20th "see the future of" PlayStation event where we expect to see the next edition of its home console, and the rumor mill is buzzing. The latest one tonight comes from the Wall Street Journal, with a report that connects Sony's $380 million purchase of cloud gaming service Gaikai last year with a method to provide backwards compatibility on the PlayStation 4. The WSJ reports Sony has been "investing heavily" in preparing Gaikai for an influx of PS4-equipped gamers, while also developing better cameras for its Move and the DualShock+touchpad controllers we've seen recently.

What's not revealed, however, is any potential pricing plan, or whether cloud games will work using existing cloud saves. While buying fully digital copies of games we already own is less than appealing, if Sony can implement something like the abandoned UMD-to-PSP Go "good will" plan, then there may be benefits for all. In the last gen Sony used hardware, then software and then nothing at all for backwards compatible gaming, while Microsoft went all software -- we'll see how it balances out this time around.

0 Comments

By Jon Fingas posted Feb 15th 2013 5:12PM 0

Vizio Co-Star update brings new Google TV UI, native Amazon and Vudu  HD

Vizio CoStar update brings Google TV's voice search and YouTube pairing

Vizio's Co-Star hub is still one of the cheapest points of entry into the Google TV world, so it's comforting to see the set-top box getting an update -- albeit somewhat behind Google's own pace. The previously promised release mostly focuses on giving it the third-generation Google TV interface, including the mini-guide, YouTube pairing and (through a future Android app update) voice-guided search. Viewers on the prowl for more content get a few additional perks through new apps for M-Go and Vudu video streaming, as well as a truly native Amazon Instant Video app. Should Vizio's tiny media center inhabit your living room, you can expect the upgrade to arrive over the air within the next few weeks.

0 Comments

By Donald Melanson posted Feb 15th 2013 3:48PM 0

Criterion cancels your weekend plans, makes its Hulu collection available for free  HD

Criterion cancels your weekend plans, makes its Hulu collection available for free

Followers of the Criterion Collection on Twitter or Facebook have no doubt already dove in, but those that haven't yet heard may want to direct their attention to the Hulu page featured at the source link. There you'll find hundreds of Criterion titles ready for streaming, all of which have been made available for free this weekend (for those that have access to Hulu, that is). It doesn't include all of the films Criterion has released on DVD and Blu-ray, but it's an impressive selection, including many well-known classics and more obscure gems alike; there's even some that Criterion hasn't yet released on physical media.

If you're looking for some science fiction to get started (this is Engadget, after all), we'd recommend an art house sci-fi double feature of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's World on a Wire -- or Chris Marker's La Jetée, the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, if you'd prefer something a bit shorter.

0 Comments

By Ben Gilbert posted Feb 15th 2013 2:42PM 0

Angry Birds Trilogy flutters to Wii / Wii U in celebration of one million sold  HD

Angry Birds Trilogy flutters to Wii Wii U in celebration of one million sold

The Angry Birds and the pigs they hate so are already quite popular on mobile devices, but it turns out that the collected escapades for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo 3DS in Angry Birds Trilogy also did quite well, pushing past one million units since September 2012. Its console success is apparently enough for its Finnish progenitor, Rovio, to release the game for both Nintendo's original Wii and the more recent Wii U at some point in 2013. The trilogy collects the first Angry Birds game with Seasons and Rio for "700+ levels." It stands to reason that the Wii U version will take advantage of the system's tablet-esque GamePad, but we'll have to wait on Rovio for more info as the year goes on.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Billy Steele posted Feb 15th 2013 9:30AM 0

Distro Issue 78: the ASUS TAICHI 21 and Turquoise Jeep's Flynt Flossy  HD

Distro Issue 78 ASUS' TAICHI 21, Nokia's Lumia 620 and a week with BlackBerry's Z10

We've seen our fair share of convertible notebooks and shape-shifting hybrids over the last several months, but one particular offering from ASUS stood out. In the latest issue of our tablet mag, we spend some quality time getting to know both faces of the TAICHI 21. Brad Molen goes in-depth with his first week back to BlackBerry while Sean Buckley discusses Nintendo's digital content issues in Forum. Eyes-On gets modular with rucksacks, Recommended Reading recalls Monster's loss of Beats by Dre and Turquoise Jeep's Flynt Flossy dances through the Q&A. That's just a few pages of another jam-packed edition, so pull up a cozy seat and download your copy via that weekly link of choice.

Distro Issue 78 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro in the Windows Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

0 Comments

By Mat Smith posted Feb 15th 2013 6:00AM 0

Gamestick now available for preorder: stake your claim for $79  HD

The previously Kickstarter-funded games console has launched its pre-order page, powered by Amazon. You'll have to stump up the same $79 premium which nets you the same GameStick that those crowd-funders are getting. Pre-orders will ship once those early orders are fulfilled. However, anyone ponying up today can expect theirs to arrive a good few months before the global retail launch later this year. You also order those dock and case peripherals, priced up at $25 and $10, respectively. Pick any color (as long as it's white) at the source.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Sharif Sakr posted Feb 15th 2013 5:50AM 0

Livescribe renames Sky smartpen after losing trademark dispute with BSkyB  HD

Livescribe renames Sky smartpen to 'wifi smartpen' after trademark dispute with BSkyB

Livescribe v BSkyB was one of the stranger trademark battles we've seen recently, because the two companies operate in such different spheres -- one makes smartpens, the other runs TV and internet services. Nevertheless, the English High Court has now ruled in favor of BSkyB, forcing Livescribe to recall all stock bearing the offending three-letter word and to re-baptize its "Sky wifi smartpen" simply as the "wifi smartpen". Suddenly, the packaging left over from our review of the device just feels so naughty.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Richard Lawler posted Feb 14th 2013 11:26PM 0

Rogers CEO to step down next year, search begins for a successor  HD

Rogers CEO to step down next year, search begins for a successor

Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed took over for company founder Ted Rogers in the Canadian communications company's top post back in March of 2009, and today announced he will step down in January 2014. The news comes along with Rogers fourth quarter earnings announcement, where it noted 58,000 net subscriber additions for wireless and 7,000 for cable. Milestones achieved in the last year include the rollout of NextBox 2.0 features for cable TV viewers and LTE coverage it says reaches 60 percent of Canadians. Meanwhile Mohamed leaves able to note the company becoming Canada's largest wireless carrier during his leadership. We don't know yet who will step up in his place, but the press release mentioned Rogers family members Edward and Melinda -- currently serving as a Deputy Chairman and Senior VP, respectively -- will not submit their names for candidacy. We have submitted the names of Engadget mobile editors (and native Canadians) Myriam Joire and Sean Cooper for consideration, but have yet to hear back from the search committee.

Read More | 0 Comments

By Alexis Santos posted Feb 14th 2013 7:49PM 0

TiVo Premiere now loaded with Flingo LaunchPad, nets more than 70 video apps  HD

TiVo Premiere now loaded with Flingo LaunchPad, nets more than 70 video apps

If that TiVo Premiere of yours still doesn't have enough content sitting in its memory to satisfy your appetite, you're in luck, as Flingo's LauchPad on-demand video platform has just been baked into the hardware. Now, channel surfers can stream content from more than 70 video apps from the likes of A&E, CollegeHumor, Crunchyroll, History, Showtime and others. LaunchPad for TiVo will also feature exclusive content, but details regarding just what it might be are scarce. In addition to the bevy of streaming options, users can even "fling" online videos from other devices to their television screen with the aid of a bookmarklet. Ashwin Navin, Flingo co-founder and CEO, tells Venture Beat that he'd like to implement the firm's SyncApps second screen tech into TiVo's box, but that won't be coming in the near future.

[Image credit: Zatz Not Funny]

Read More | 0 Comments