The ZeeVee ZvBox allows you to watch streaming online content from your computer on your home HDTV with a remote control.

What the ZeeVee System is All About

ZeeVee ZvBox allows you to stream any HD content from your computer to your HDTVs. It’s a clever system in which the computer broadcasts into the television via an unused cable channel.

Once running, you can basically sit on your couch and use the ZeeVee remote to view online content from your PC. Various sources of ZeeVee ZvBox content from your computer can include:

• Streaming television content from major networks, most in HD (e.g. shows from ABC online like ‘Lost’)
• Movie download services, like NetFlix and iTunes
• The computer’s DVD player, that can be controlled by the remote with any of your HDTVs
• Content from YouTube and BitTorrent peer-to-peer sites
• etc.

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2010 will be the year that web TV set-top-boxes start to make it into the mainstream. The recently announced Popbox priced just shy of $130 has received a lot of promising buzz, but does it deliver?

The PopBox is replacing its predecessor, the Popcorn Hour box with newer features and a sleeker interface.

Content Partners

The PopBox has partnered with a number of companies to bring a variety of video. It’ not got everything, but it’s got decent selection to keep you busy.

• Netflix – rent and buy movies instantly.
• Crunchyroll (Asain entertainment site)
• BlipTV – video clips and independent episodes
• NextNewNetworks – independent web TV shows
• Revision3 – independent web TV shows with a tech focus
• Livestation – live TV from various worldwide sources
• Internet Video Archive – archive of public domain video and old movies.
• MalaysiaKini – Malaysian videos

App Innovation Myth?

Apps were certainly big in 2010 on cell phone devices, and Popbox is trying to cash in on the app craze for the set-top-box.

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The PS3 is a brilliant games console. The BBC iPlayer is a brilliant catch-up television service.

And now that the two have been seamlessly combined, both are reaping the benefits as a result – with increased sales and increased viewing numbers respectively.

Online Video On Consoles

I’ve long argued that games consoles are an important point of contact for the IPTV industry. Here are Internet-enabled set-top boxes hooked up to HDTVs and used by generally technically-minded younger people. What more could you ask for?

And now comes proof that games consoles have the capacity to increase the volume of viewers and scope of options available to purveyors of online video. And it comes courtesy of how the BBC iPlayer is being consumed by PS3 owners in the U.K.

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The set-top-box market is slowly but surely building. Every company seems keen on getting a device out there and in to our living rooms capable of streaming video from the Internet. And there’s now a new contender on the scene.

We already have market leader Apple TV, as well as other alternative such as VUDU. But there are many more devices entering the fray.

New Competition

May saw the release of the sub-$100 Roku box complete with Netflix streaming capabilities built in. Since then, Roku has stated its intention to increase its content partners, with YouTube and Hulu the front runners to be added in the future.

Then there is the emergence of games consoles as a viable device for video distribution. The Wii has the BBC iPlayer, the Xbox 360 is due to get Netflix, and the PS3 is getting its own video download service.

LG BD300

At the end of July, we saw the first sighting of a forthcoming Blu-ray and streaming video hybrid from LG called the LG BD300. Now the company has filled in the details.

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Can you tell the difference between what all of the different makes of set-top-box are offering? Me neither, which makes any initiative an important one for anyone interested in purchasing one the many on offer.

VUDU is a set-top-box that rivals, and does pretty much the same thing, as Apple TV, Roku, and a host of other similar products.

Adult & Family-Friendly Content

Last week saw the company announce on-demand porn films via an Adult Video Network (AVN) channel. Adult movies can be bought or rented for between $6.99 and $29.99. But this week’s offering is a bit more family friendly, and judging by the premium prices charged for adult material, more friendly to your wallet as well.

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Netflix has added another content partner to its increasing roster, and this one combines digital downloads with Blu-ray movies. Good news for the companies involved, the consumers, and digital distribution?

Movie and television content streaming company Netflix seems intent on making its service as accessible to as many people as possible, setting multiple partnerships in an effort to enable its content to be delivered to the maximum number of homes.

Sub-$100 Roku Box

This strategy started back in May when Roku released its new set-top box, which came with the ability to stream Netflix movies. The box may have been derided in some quarters, but at just $100, it opened up digital content to a whole new level of consumers on a budget.

Since then, Roku has announced that the box will expand to include other content partners in time. YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon Unbox were cited as the most obvious candidates, but no names have yet been revealed.

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It’s been expected for some time, but yesterday finally saw the new YouTube service come alive on TiVo. The service will roll out on all TiVo Series 3 and HD boxes over the next few weeks.

The service comes as part of the 9.4 software update, and means that all YouTube videos will now be viewable on TiVo in H.264. This is the first time TiVo has rendered content in anything other than MPEG-2.

Streaming YouTube On TiVo

TiVo owners can now stream all YouTube videos, watch them in full-screen, and fast forward, pause and rewind them in the same way as any other video on your TiVo.

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