It may not have a catchy name yet but we’re told that Virgin Media will be releasing their own take on the Sky Player in 2010 – bringing Virgin TV content to a new audience through online and mobile phone access. This was alluded to rather than officially announced at the IPTV World Forum last week in a speech by Virgin’s Executive Director of TV and Online Alex Green, but it fits in very well with the plan to incorporate TiVo web technology into the Virgin Media offering as discussed in this earlier Virgin TV and TiVo Premiere post and could therefore be reasonably expected to be unveiled at the same time, probably late 2010.

Sky have announced today that a deal has been struck to launch Sky Player on a range of web connected TVs and set-top boxes, which will give customers another way to receive the selection of Sky’s live and on-demand TV that Sky Player offers.

The deal involves Cello, a TV manufacturer who pioneered web-connected TVs in 2009 with the iViewer and 3View, who produce personal video recorders (PVRs) which combine access to internet video services with digital TV broadcasts. Director of On-Demand at Sky, Griff Parry, said of the news:

“The coming together of ground-breaking video services like Sky Player with innovative platforms like Cello and 3View demonstrates the vibrancy of the evolving internet video-on-demand sector.  We will continue to look at opportunities to distribute Sky Player across new platforms, to give consumers even more choice and control over how they access high-quality pay TV content.”

Sony have produced the first TV set in the UK market with a Freeview HD tuner built in, and with BBC and ITV HD channels becoming available on Freeview, with others to follow in the coming months it’s a very timely release.

It’s a 37″ model, full HD 1080, Wi-Fi Ready LCD TV with Motionflow 100Hz – this is Sony’s technology for reducing blur on fast-moving images like sports TV and action movies which gives a smoother picture than a conventional 50Hz TV. Other features include online services which let you connect to Sony’s internet TV for things like news and weather widgets and a range of power saving options that make it (like the rest of the Bravia range) a very eco-friendly model.

At around £800 this is bound to be a very popular model for those wanting to get hooked up to HD on a minimal budget.

There’s a new digital TV service in the US called TiVo Premiere that’s going to be incorporated into Virgin Media’s TV packages and take their service to the next level. TiVo Premiere provides a link between your TV and the web , so while you may be watching an episode of Glee, say, on a channel in your TV package you’ll also be able to access any related episodes, information, behind-the-scenes specials and so on that exist on the web. This is done by having a ‘discovery bar’ at the top of the screen which displays related material available (whether free or paid) and is so seamless that the impression you get is one of a totally integrated service (TiVo invented the personal video recorder that many of us now know as Sky+ so they know their stuff).

This is how TiVo’s Chief Executive Tom Rogers puts it;

“Broadband and broadcast are integrated and the user doesn’t need to know how. This is the next revolution in television”

In the UK TiVo Premiere will be available later in the year as part of Virgin Media’s TV package, with new V+ boxes planned to incorporate the new functions like the discovery bar and the dedicated remote control with a flip-out QWERTY keyboard. The TiVo boxes in the US come with 320GB or 1 Terabyte of memory so Virgin TV will probably produce something similar, although depending how long it takes to reach the UK there may be a new standard of over 1TB by then.

So what exactly does it do? Starting with the obvious, you’re watching your favourite programme and you can very quickly see a list of any other episodes, related documentaries or even games available. Then you can click on the name of a cast member and see other shows and movies available on the web in which they feature. The clever thing is you can then mark one of these discoveries as a ‘favourite’ even though it’s out there on the web rather than in your package of channels – as long as your broadband is on it’s there for you ‘on demand’. This is what the main screen looks like…

What it’s really doing for you is gathering and organising all of the related TV content out there and giving it to you on a plate. Word is that Sky are working on a similar service but one that will not need a change of set-top box – more details on that as they come out.

It’s been announced that Sky are to launch their Sky 3D channel on April 3rd with the match between Chelsea and Manchester Utd, which will be seen by punters in around 1000 pubs all wearing 3D glasses (the punters, not the pubs…)

This 3D treat will be followed by at least another 5 Premier League games – details to be announced – before the end of the season on Sunday 9th May, and the Coca-Cola Football League Play-Off Finals from Wembley Stadium at the end of May.

As discussed here some of the leading electronics manufacturers have unveiled 3D TV products recently so with the official launch of the UK’s first 3D channel it looks like it’s all systems go for the new format – time will tell.

Time for another ‘Deal Alert” – Sky have started to offer the Sky+HD box free even if you don’t take out the HD pack at £10 per month (although there is a £30 set-up fee). Until yesterday you had to pay £49 for the box if you didn’t take it in conjunction with the monthly HD Pack.

Here’s the difference – take the box with the HD Pack and you’ve got Supertelly (as long as you have an HD Ready TV then you have everything you need for full HD glory, which is what Supertelly is all about). Take the box without the HD Pack (deals start at £18 a month) and you’ve essentially got yourself a free Sky+ Box – although as already mentioned with a £30 set-up fee. The box is identical but without the HD Pack it’s a Sky+ Box rather than a Sky+HD Box – geddit?

So money-wise if you want HD channels and pay £10 a month for the HD Pack you’ll save £30 on set-up fees, as the Sky+HD Box is still free with free set-up on this deal.

The old standard Sky Box remains available only as part of a new Multiroom subscription.

Virgin Media have announced a new addition to the range of Virgin TV boxes, the V HD Box, which will sit in the middle of the range between the basic V Box and the V+HD Box. The idea is to give customers access to the growing range of HD channels without necessarily upgrading to the top V+ service, and is similar to what Sky have recently done in making the Sky+HD box standard issue to all new customers. The difference is with Virgin the basic box will still be available (at no charge) and the V HD box at £49 but with no extra subscription for the HD channels (as long as you have the M+ TV package or above). The new box will be available from 22nd March.

So here’s a run-down of the 3 boxes;

• Virgin V Box – 1 tuner – no HD capability
• Virgin V HD Box – 1 tuner – HD channels available – PVR built in (record, forward and rewind TV)
• Virgin V+HD Box – 3 tuners – HD channels available – PVR built in (record, forward and rewind TV)

The latest in our series of locally focused switchover advice pages deals with the Wenvoe transmitter in Wales, which covers Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan among other counties – check it out!

3D TV will be the big story in 2010, and we’re starting to see some actual products entering the US and Japanese markets – here’s a summary of what three of the big hitters – Sony, LG and Samsung – are doing.

Sony have updated their Bravia range to include 3D compatibility, the flagship model being the LX900. A striking TV set on account of the screen going right to the edge of the display, the LX900 comes in 40″, 46″, 51″ and 60″ versions and comes with 2 pairs of RealID Active shutter 3D glasses – retailing for between £2,500 and £5,000 in Japan.

LG have unveiled a range of 3D TVs and also a 3D Blu-ray player, and the 3D standard for Blu-ray has only been announced very recently. The star of the new LG TVs is the LX9900, a 3D LED backlit model in 47″ and 55″ sizes which features two very impressive LG developments, Trumotion and Netcast. The former is 3D-specific and helps to counter the blur often experienced as images are screened alternately to each eye, while Netcast is a widget service that integrates your TV with web favourites such as YouTube and Picasa. Connectivity is excellent as you’d expect too with USB, Bluetooth and 4 HDMI 1.4 ports. The Blu-ray player, the BX580, also features USB, the Netcast service and HDMI 1.4 as well as WiFi and even access to the Gracenote music recognition database, as used by iTunes to identify a CD when you pop one in. Pricing for the LG 3D range is yet to be released…

Samsung have really gone for it on the 3D front, with TVs and a Blu-ray player announced in a range of price brackets. The TVs come in 3 types – conventional LCD, plasma and LED (which uses LED-backlit LCD panels). LCD is the cheapest option, with the 46″ model expected to be around $1,700 when it comes out in the states, followed by the plasma range which starts at $1,800 for the 50″ and goes up to $3,800 for the 63″. Finally the LED range starts at around $2,000 and will go up to $3,200 for the 55″ model.

As well as with the product ranges, Samsung have shown they are fully behind 3D TV by doing a deal with DreamWorks to give Samsung an exclusivity on certain 3D versions of DreamWorks films, including all 4 Shrek movies. They have also put together a package where anyone who buys a 3D TV and Blu-ray player together will get 2 sets of 3D glasses (which will be fairly pricey themselves) and a 3D copy of Monsters vs Aliens.

Expect a lot more news throughout the year…

We had to feature this story as a bit of local interest – The Royal Oak in St. John’s Way, Archway looks like being the first pub in North London to sign up for 3D TV from Sky. They’re hoping the attraction of being able to watch Premiership games in 3D will help to bring in more punters as it’s a tough time for traditional pubs at the moment, with many being forced out of business. Good luck to them, let’s hope 3D has the desired effect – you can read the full story in the local paper the Islington Gazette.