Months after officially opening to the public, Roku has finally settled a deal that will bring NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock to its platform, the company has announced. The news comes only days after the negotiations entered a more heated phase, with Roku and Comcast dragging their drama into the public light alongside the threat of Roku's platform entirely losing NBC TV apps.
Epson has introduced a new ultra-short-throw projector designed specifically for home entertainment needs; it offers 4K Ultra HD resolution alongside Android TV, enabling users to directly access and project content from their favorite streaming apps. As with other ultra-short-throw projectors, the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS500 is designed to be placed very close to the wall or screen onto which the image is projected.
It's no secret that Apple has a fondness for subscription services, as over the past several years it's rolled out subscriptions for music, news, games, and now even fitness. If you're waist deep in the Apple ecosystem, then you know there are a ton of services to potentially subscribe to, and most of us figured it was only a matter of time before Apple decided to bundle them together. It turns out the company is doing just that with a new service called Apple One.
Although its mobile business has definitely seen better days, LG remains one of the big names in the TV and display markets. It is also one of the few in that market that develops and uses its own smart TV platform rather than adopting something like Android TV. While that has the benefit of giving LG more control over the experience, it also means it has less access to some of the apps and services consumers might expect are already there. Case in point, it's only now that Amazon Music is coming to the TV but at least it will be coming even to four-year-old products.
Vizio SmartCast, the smart TV model from Vizio, finally offers direct support for Apple TV, the company has announced. This support eliminates the need to use a third-party streaming device to access Apple's relatively new Apple TV+ streaming service, which has already arrived on a number of other non-Apple devices. The announcement is joined by a special Apple TV+ promotion for SmartCast model owners.
Most consumer electronics come with a two-year warranty, some even just one, and those often apply to software updates for smart devices. That's true for smartphones, which consumers seem to change just as often, but most probably expect larger and more expensive products like smart TVs to get updates and at least promised features beyond that time frame. That is most likely why owners of LG's 2018 TVs are irked by the company's sudden and silent U-turn in rolling out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support that it promised months back.
Despite being mostly an Android and partly a webOS house, LG was particularly proud that it was the first to add support for this exclusive Apple features on its TVs last year. AirPlay 2 would have allowed owners of Apple devices to stream their content to their TVs while a HomeKit app would let them control their connected smart home devices from their couches.
While such new features are often promised to current-gen and future TV models, LG promised in April that it will bring those same premium goodies to its 2018 TV lineup. Excited 2018 LG TV owners were then surprised by the revelation that LG apparently no longer has plans to do that.
https://twitter.com/LGUK/status/1298586491543859200
It isn't unusual for a company to renege on promised features but often those do inform affected users of changes beforehand. That or they put a footnote that the feature may or may not be implemented as promised to keep consumers from putting faith in those promises.
The 2018 LG TVs are barely two years old and, even then, would still be eligible for such updates. LG already has a souring reputation for updates on Android, which it does not control, it certainly doesn't need to gain the same rep for webOS, which it mostly does.
Signify has a new light to brighten things up behind your TV, with the Philips Hue Play gradient lightstrip delivering its first with individually-controllable color segments. Designed to be used with the Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box or the Sync PC app, the new LED strip is no longer locked to just one consistent color, and comes with mounting kits to make it easier to fit to the back of a TV.
Samsung has taken the wraps off The Premiere, an ultra-short-throw projector offering a 4K resolution and a number of other high-end features. The Premiere joins Samsung's Portfolio catalog, giving consumers a new option for setting up their home theater. The company says its new projector, among other things, has a mode that presents movies exactly as the director intended them to be viewed.
IFA 2020 is still happening this year but in a very different way. With limited slots for both exhibitors and attendees, many companies thought it a better to just hold their own events outside of Messe Berlin. LG definitely embraced the opportunity to provide an even more interactive experience than it could in the physical world. That is, of course, through the magic of the Internet, web browsers, and a dash of game technology, all mixed together to bring to life an LG IFA exhibit like never before.
It has been a while since Google launched a new Android TV device of its own, which is probably not surprising considering it's pouring its attention on the Chromecast Ultra. The latter is, after all, the device on which its Stadia is best experienced. That, of course, makes Android TV feel more and more like abandonware, a perception Google is trying to shake off this month. And nothing says "commitment" better than a new Android TV device and one might be coming that's even cheaper than the Chromecast Ultra.
The upcoming Sonos headphones have broken cover, with a newly-granted patent for the wireless headphones detailing their potential design and functionality. Rumored since early in 2019, the headphones are designed to integrate with Sonos' wireless speaker system, as well as potentially include voice control.
Netflix has long been one of the kings of streaming, but these days, it's facing some stiff competition from old foes and newcomers alike. With Hulu, Amazon, Disney, NBC, and more all vying for a slice of the streaming pie, Netflix certainly has a fight on its hands. Perhaps that's why it's now letting people stream some of its original content for free, with no account needed.