Roku is best for anyone

Forget $100 -- $50 is the new entry-level price point for streaming video. The Roku LT is the only product at this price point, but it's an enthusiastic Editors' Choice. With built-in Wi-Fi and free control apps available on iOS and Android (and, if you're old-fashioned, a regular old remote), the Roku LT delivers Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu Plus, and hundreds of other streaming-video and audio channels to any TV (including older, non-HD models).

The Roku HD is a nearly identical model with a slightly different remote that's available through different retailers than the LT; it costs $10 more.

If you can spend more, the $100 Roku 3 (new for 2013) offers a zippier processor, full 1080p video, and an Ethernet port. Furthermore, the Wi-Fi remote also includes a headphone jack, so you can stream without disturbing family members nearby -- great for kids' programming or late-night viewing sessions.

If your TV offers an MHL-compatible HDMI port, you can opt for the Roku Streaming Stick ($100), which shrinks the little box into a USB-style dongle.

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com

Key compatible services: Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, Hulu Plus, Vudu, PBS, Crackle, Mediafly, MLB.TV, NHL GameCenter, NBA Game Time, MLS MatchDay Live, UFC, Pandora, Mog, Rdio, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Amazon Cloud Player, Flickr, Dish World, FoxNews.com, NBC News, Facebook photos, Flickr, plus hundreds of others. HBO Go, Epix, and Time Warner Cable are also available, but only for existing subscribers of those channels or services on compatible ISPs and cable providers. The Plex "channel" lets you stream video, audio, and photos from networked PCs and Macs. The "Play on Roku" feature lets you stream content from handheld devices as well. And Roku now offers a handy feature that allows you to search for content across multiple services. (Disclosure: CNET and some of its sister CBS-owned properties -- such as Chow and Showtime -- are also available on Roku.)

Who shouldn't buy it? The Roku is best for anyone who does not need iTunes compatibility. Also, YouTube is a notable no-show on Roku, which could be a deal-breaker for some. If you've got a big DVD or Blu-ray collection, you may want to opt for a Blu-ray player instead (see below) -- though, for $50 to $100, the Roku would still be a great option for a second room.

Apple TV: Best solution for Apple fans

If you want the most diversity of content, the Roku box is the way to go. But if you're a die-hard Apple aficionado, Apple TV may be the better choice. It's the only box that's compatible with iTunes, iCloud, and AirPlay. The latter function allows you to stream audio (like Pandora and other Web- and app-based audio streams), photos, and even some video from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch directly to your TV by just tapping on the screen.

For More Info : www.streamsofpleasure.com

The latest (2012) version of the Apple TV adds support for 1080p video output and an updated home screen. More important, though, are a flurry of feature upgrades that have been rolled out over the past few months: the addition of several channels -- including Hulu Plus, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, and Sky News -- and the cool AirPlay screen mirroring feature. The latter feature allows 2011 and 2012 Macs running the new Mountain Lion OS to "mirror" what's on their computer screens to the TV via AirPlay -- and that includes free Flash video sites such as Comedy Central and Hulu.com.

As with Roku, those cooler services -- HBO Go and Watch ESPN -- require you to have an existing cable subscription in order to use them. (Notably, Sky News is 100 percent free, and offers a live stream -- although the news has a decidedly British slant, given its U.K. origins.)

Key compatible services: iTunes Video, AirPlay, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Watch ESPN, Sky News, HBO Go, Vimeo, MLB.TV, NBA, NHL, WSJ Live, iTunes Match Music, Internet radio, many audio and video podcasts, Flickr, iCloud Photo Stream

Who shouldn't buy it? If you're not an Apple person -- no iPad, no iPhone, no iPod, no Mac -- you won't get as much value out of this device. And if you want services like Amazon Instant Video, you'll need to look elsewhere (namely, Roku).

Worthwhile alternative: If you want more flexibility -- albeit with a far bigger budget -- you could always just attach a Mac Mini to your TV.

Streaming media blu ray players

For More Info : www.streamsofpleasure.com

The Best Streaming Devices

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com 

Picking the Right Streaming Service

New online streaming services offer unprecedented viewing options.There are basically two options: all-you-can-eat subscription services that offer unlimited streaming for a monthly subscription, typically around $8 to $10 a month; and pay-per-view services, where you rent or buy individual movies or shows on an a la carte basis.

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com

If you opt for a subscription, it’s worth noting they tend to have fewer current movie and TV titles than pay-as-you-go options. Pay-per-view titles are often available sooner. Subscription services make the most sense for those who watch a lot of shows and movies, or who like to binge-watch watch several shows or even entire seasons. If you only watch one or two movies or shows a month and prefer more current releases, a pay-per-view services is the better bet. Here’s a breakdown of the top options.

Features of Android TV

Android TV is a clean, intuitive and robust operating system, and the Nvidia Shield takes full advantage of it. The Shield splits the difference between a streaming box and a gaming console, and has a lot to offer on both fronts. In addition to enjoying your favorite shows and movies on apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Plex, you can download hundreds of high-end Android games. You can also stream big-budget titles like Borderlands from the cloud via the Nvidia Grid program. Rounding out the video offerings, the Shield will be able to display and record TV broadcasts when tuners become available in the future. Add in support for 4K content from sites like YouTube and Netflix, as well as the ability to play your own media via USB, the Shield is one of the most versatile streaming players.

For More Info : www.streamsofpleasure.com

Best Streaming Media Players

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com

What to Stream in Streaming Media Player

 Now that you've selected the right streaming player for you, it's time to get down to the business of watching some shows. To get you started we've scoured the options on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Showtime Anytime to bring you the best shows to binge watch. We'll even tell you exactly how long it will take for you to watch every episode.

And when you come to the end of that list we can tell you where to find some other great shows to watch such as Empire, Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey, Vikings, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Peppa Pig. So many shows, so many ways to watch.

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com

How We Test Streaming Devices

 Testing streaming players is usually a simple process that prioritizes content over performance. Any streaming player worth its salt can play video well, but only a good one possesses straightforward navigation, robust search features and a wide variety of content to suit all tastes.
The first thing we evaluate is the setup, to see how quick and simple it is. From there, we take the user interface for a spin to see what content gets highlighted, what gets hidden, and how easy it is to navigate to our favorite channels. We'll also watch a few different shows on a variety of channels to gauge the quality of the video and audio.
After that, it's onto the extra features, like gaming, voice search and screen mirroring. These factors don't weigh quite as heavily toward the final score, but they're nice to have if they work well, and extremely distracting if they don't

For More : www.streamsofpleasure.com

Streaming media players & services

Millions of Americans now watch video that's delivered to their screen over the Internet. Most don't drop TV service entirely but use streaming as a supplement to it rather than as a replacement. Netflix accounts for most of the action in video streaming, but there are several other options as well, both by subscription and pay-per-view.

You should weigh a number of things when deciding which streaming media service best meets your needs, including the selection of titles it carries. Also consider the types of equipment you can use to get streaming...

For More Info : www.streamsofpleasure.com

How does video streaming work?

 There are three major streaming technologies used nowadays: Progressive Download, Traditional Streaming and Http-based Adaptive Streaming. I will introduce Progressive download in this blog, Traditional Streaming in Part 2 and Http-based Adaptive Streaming in Part 3.

Related Link : www.streamsofpleasure.com

1. Progressive Download
According to Figure one, this is how progressive download at its early version. Basically any content provider will encode its video and put up in a normal web server (server we use to host HTTP pages, nothing special). And as viewers, we need to know the URL of the video file, and we download the video file into our computer. We could only watch videos while the download is completed.

Since I mentioned “Encode” just now, I would like to explain the concept of Encode in a nut shell.

Before putting raw file which is the output from your recording device, you need to compress the video into a format that media player could play, and you will need to choose the right quality. So there are two decisions you need to make here: Video Quality (measured by Bit-Rates) and Video Format.

Video Quality: the higher the bit-rates, the higher quality your video has. For instance, a 100kbps streaming video is phone-video quality but a 10 mbps streaming video is DVD quality. The higher bit-rates requests you to have higher bandwidth to consume.

Video format: There are different file types supported by different media player, such as H.264 (MP4), FlashVideo (FLV), QuickTime (QT), Windows Media (WMV) and etc.
You would always want to choose a video format that could be supported by as many as client devices possible. You may ask why can’t I encode videos into all these formats. The answer is simple, encoding is expensive and you have to keep many files for one video.

Later on, progressive download technology also gets improved. Now, you will notice, when you watch video on Youtube for example, you don’t have to wait for the whole video to be downloaded. You could start watching video once the first few seconds gets loaded.

As showed in figure 3 above, the first dark blue bar shows where you watch until and the light blue bar shows how much video you have loaded into your video browser – which is a buffer. Therefore, once the buffer is filled with a few seconds of video, the video will start playing as if you are watching video in a real time.

However, there could be a problem potentially. For instance, you are watching a video for the first 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes, web server continues pushing videos into the buffer and you loaded another 30 minutes of content. However, after this the first 10 minutes, you decide to close the video. You and the content provided both just wasted 30 minutes of bandwidth. However, media channels made a lot of improvements on this, including trying to slow down the speed of video loading, so media player doesn’t keep loading video in the background.

Another character I want to point out for Progressive Download is, when the file start to be served through HTTP, the video quality couldn’t be changed. If you are loading a DVD-quality of video, even though your bandwidth drops, you will still need to wait for high-quality video to get loaded. This clearly isn’t an ideal experience for viewers.

Defination of Streaming Media

Streaming media is video or audio content sent in compressed form over the Internet and played immediately, rather than being saved to the hard drive..

With streaming media, a user does not have to wait to download a file to play it. Because the media is sent in a continuous stream of data it can play as it arrives. Users can pause, rewind or fast-forward, just as they could with a downloaded file, unless the content is being streamed live.

Related Article : www.streamsofpleasure.com

Here are some advantages of streaming media:

Makes it possible for users to take advantage of interactive applications like video search and personalized playlists.
Allows content deliverers to monitor what visitors are watching and how long they are watching it.
Provides an efficient use of bandwidth because only the part of the file that's being transferred is the part that’s being watched.
Provides the content creator with more control over his intellectual property because the video file is not stored on the viewer's computer. Once the video data is played, it is discarded by the media player.
Media is usually streamed from prerecorded files but can also be distributed as part of a live broadcast feed. In a live broadcast, the video signal is converted into a compressed digital signal and transmitted from a Web server as multicast, sending a single file to multiple users at the same time.

Streaming media is transmitted by a server application and received and displayed in real-time by a client application called a media player. A media player can be either an integral part of a browser, a plug-in, a separate program, or a dedicated device, such as an iPod. Frequently, video files come with embedded players. YouTube videos, for example, run in embedded Flash players.

Streaming media technologies have improved significantly since the 1990s, when delivery was typically uneven. However, the quality of streamed content is still dependent upon the user's connection speed.

Google Chromecast Audio

Google's Chromecast is an affordable, compelling media streamer that lets you watch video from your mobile devices on your television. But it only works with an HDMI connection, and that leaves anything without a big screen out of the game. Now Google has released the Chromecast Audio, a new variant designed solely to turn your speakers wireless for music streaming. It works just like the Chromecast, and has the same low $35 price tag, but it lacks video output and instead connects via a 3.5mm audio jack (with support for stereo RCA and optical audio). And, just like the original Chromecast, it does exactly what it claims to do, extremely well, and at a very reasonable price.

Editors' Note: We have updated this review to reflect the addition of support for high-resolution audio and multi-speaker configurations to the Chromecast Audio. As a result, the score has been increased from 4 to 4.5 stars.

Check this http://streamsofpleasure.com

Design

The Chromecast Audio is a small, black plastic puck about the size of a poker dealer's chip. One side is textured with concentric rings around a Google logo, to give the impression of a tiny vinyl record. The other side is a matte gray plastic. A 3.5mm port sits on the edge of the puck (a short, bright yellow 3.5mm cable is included). There's a micro USB port opposite the 3.5mm port, flanked by a small Reset button and an indicator light. The micro USB port is solely for powering the device with the included cable and wall adapter.

Setup

Without a connected screen on which to display information, the Chromecast Audio doesn't guide you quite as directly through the setup process as the original Chromecast, but it's still rather simple. Connect the Chromecast Audio to the 3.5mm input of your speaker or sound system, plug the micro USB port into the included wall charger, and plug the charger into the wall. Load the free Chromecast app on Android or iOS phone or tablet and choose "Set Up a New Device." Tap Chromecast Audio, and the app will walk you through the setup process and get you connected to your Wi-Fi network.

Multi-Room Audio

You can name different Chromecast Audio devices after different rooms in the house and jump between them in compatible apps. At launch, the Chromecast Audio didn't support streaming music to multiple speakers at once, but that feature has recently been added, putting the device's flexibility closer to the standards set by wireless audio systems from Sonos and Bose. You can now group more than one speaker together and play music on several in the same room, or simultaneously to every connected speaker in the house. You can't split channels apart to different speakers for dedicated stereo pairs, however.
On paper, you can connect the Chromecast Audio to a stereo speaker system or A/V receiver with stereo RCA or optical audio cables, but those connections require additional adapters, since the Chromecast Audio only comes with a 3.5mm patch cable for the aux input found on most speakers. 3.5mm-to-stereo-RCA and 3.5mm (mini toslink)-to-optical adapters are inexpensive and easy to find, but the options would have been nice to get in the box instead of just the little 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable.