After coming up with India’s first Conditional Access Module cards to let any DTH user to migrate to DishTV whilst keeping their set top box from another operator, reports are coming in that DishTV is launching Dish trueHD+, an innovative way to enable all their existing subscribers to upgrade to DVR (Digital Video Recorder). Instead of launching another set top box with DVR features which their customers would have been needed to purchase, DishTV has released a software update for their existing HD set top box which lets users plug in their USB HDD (hard disk drive)/flash drive and record live TV on that.

Despite the fact that a user has to purchase an HDD/flash drive for this purpose, this setup is actually pretty awesome considering:

• User can buy desired capacity of HDD thereby enjoying the freedom of recording as many TV shows as possible.
• When a user’s HDD is filled up, they have an option to buy a new one instead of relying on the operator to offer an upgrade program (which, BTW, is not offered by any operator in India currently).
• Users can keep multiple HDDs with their favorite TV shows recorded and can plug them to the STB whenever they want to watch them.
• Users can keep their current HD set top boxes (which would have otherwise been exchanged for peanuts, if they had to upgrade).

However, I do see a few issues with this arrangements:

• Typically, DVRs have two physical tuners so as to let users watch one channel while the other is being recorded. This will not work out in this case if the HD STB has only one tuner.
• There might be limits to the file system and size of the HDD one can plug in the DVR. Also, I am pretty sure that we won’t be able to use these HDD with our computers.
• If a user plugs in a wore down HDD, the recording performance might degrade.
• Users will still need to change their remotes as the current ones they have will not have record & playback related buttons.

However, considering everything, this is a pretty smart move from DishTV. This will surely help them rope in new customers.

There are very few companies other than Apple which make beautiful products which are just as functional. Unity by Engage is one such product. It combines a powerful Home Theater and a beautiful media center (TV stand really) in a stylish package.

Unity is a Home Theater built in the shape of a TV stand. The package features:

• 6 speakers
• Blu Ray Player
• iPhone & iPod Dock
• HDMI connectivity
• Capability to support any HDTV unto 60 inches in size

Here is how the components are integrated:

Looks like an awesome combination of form and function. I just hope they have taken into consideration the vibrations which will be produced from those two 10” woofers. Although I suppose they will be suppressed by the weight of the TV. The speaker placement might not be optimum, but it will be a lot better than a sound bar.

They go on sale this year at a price tag of $999 in the US. Style is never cheap, huh.

[via The Verge]

Everything is getting smart these days. So, why not your good old headphones? Parrot (a company which makes awesome bluetooth gadgets & the famous parrot AR drone) has introduced a pair of over the ear headphones which are smart. The headphones, named Zik,  have bluetooth, accelerometer & NFC chip on board which can be used to:

• Swipe the right touch sensitive panel vertically to set the volume, or swipe it horizontally to skip music forward/rewind.
• Automatically pause the music playback when you remove the headphones (this one is my favorite)
• Pair the headphones to your NFC compatible phone by just bumping them together
• Stream stereo music from your A2DP compatible phone over bluetooth
• Stream music over NFC (if your phone supports it)

The headphones have active noise cancellation (which requires battery). However. if you ever run out, you can use them as standard headphones using wire, without the awesome fancy features. Also, they are designed to reproduce sound as if it is coming from front of your, instead of from your side. Apparently, this produces some concert like listening experience.

Here is a short video demonstrating the headphones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58TCDlyYbzE

The headphones are coming this year. No word on pricing yet, but we are pretty sure they won’t be cheap. Just like all other Parrot’s awesome products.

[via The Verge]

ESPN Star Sports, the body which owns the two first 24×7 sports HD channels in India (ESPN HD & Star Cricket HD) have signed a deal to allow select cable operators in India to show their HD channels. The channels are available to 3 cable networks – Incable, 7Star in Mumbai & UCN in Central India. Subscribers of these digital cable operators can now enjoy these HD channels by upgrading to a HD set top box.

All the cable operators in the metro cities are required to go digital by March 2012. This will be followed by digitization of the entire country’s cable system by the end of 2014. This should give the cable operators in non metro areas to educate their subscribers and start supplying HD compatible set top boxes to them. In the metro cities though, operators will have to launch lucrative schemes and high quality DVR enabled set top boxes at cheap prices if they want to rope in subscribers, as their DTH competitors already have a good infrastructure in place for this.

Nonetheless, this is great news for subscribers. In addition to HD channels, digitization of the cable industry will also enable service providers to offer high speed broadband connections to customers. A segment which desperately needs a healthy competition in India.

BigFlix has launched a NetFlix like online streaming service in India. The new service, called BigFlix Plus is available at a (very reasonable) monthly subscription price of ? 249 and offers unlimited streaming of all the available content. Currently, BigFlix’s library contains around 500 movies.

The service is currently standard definition only, with maximum resolution of 480p (the website says the movies are in HD quality, which is clearly wrong). However, the company executives claim that their infrastructure is capable of supporting streaming of 720p HD content. They will be enabling HD streaming in future. Also planned is addition of more (and popular) Hollywood content which should make the service pretty lucrative.

Owing to not so fast broadband connections in India, the service also allows users to download the content if their broadband connection is not fast enough for smooth streaming. In addition to enjoying the content on desktops & laptops, one can also download apps for iOS, & Android to enjoy streaming video on the go. I was able to check the iOS apps for iPhone and iPad. They are pretty basic in nature and currently DO NOT offer all the movies in BigFlix’s collection. Only a handful of movies are available on these devices. Hopefully, they will be able to stream all the content in the library soon. BigFlix is also working on installable television apps for Smart TVs so that you can stream content directly to your internet ready TV. A pretty big move towards promoting streaming services in India.

And don’t worry, BigFlix is also working with all the ISPs in India to cut some sort of deal to exclude the streaming data from your broadband’s fair usage policy quota. This is a much needed step in order to convince people to subscribe to such a service in India.

[via PluggdIn]