Theatre Times

Kodak announces major upgrade & lower price together

Admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:51:05 +0000

From Kodak’s press release:

KODAK Theatre HD Player

Kodak also unveiled next-generation functionality for the KODAK Theatre HD Player, further enhancing the device as a hub for wirelessly delivering personal content, online entertainment, and much more to HDTVs.

Revolutionizing the way images and videos can be enjoyed in HD via a set-top box, the KODAK Theatre HD Player is an interactive device utilizing a groundbreaking “Point and Play” motion-sensing remote control to display personal content – pictures, video, podcasts, music – and Web-based content on a HDTV, while wirelessly connecting to a household’s private Wi-Fi network.

New features delivered by the KODAK Theatre HD Player include:

YouTube designed specifically for viewing on an HDTV. Consumers with YouTube access can search for videos by keyword, author, featured, top-rated and more; flag, rate and save videos; and maximize them to full screen.

Net Video access to online entertainment. View hundreds of the latest free on-demand video feeds on the web—categories include news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, comedy, family, and nature; add videos to your queue and mark favorites; browse feeds by newest, latest by category, most popular, or the entire selection.

Discovery collage views, a unique new way to rediscover the photos collected on your PC. Select “Today’s Collage” and the KODAK Theatre HD Player locates and displays pictures relevant to today’s date and two weeks forward, such as holidays, birthdays, and special family events; “Random Collage” searches for pictures on your PC and rotates randomly through your entire collection. Pictures you may have forgotten are found and displayed in full HD, and whenever one catches your interest, simply select it to see more from that date or event.

The KODAK Theatre HD Player retails for US $199.99 (MSRP) at Kodak.com and Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, Frontgate.com and Sears.com.

The best YouTube on TV

Admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:12:36 +0000

The Kodak Theatre HD Player has the best YouTube on TV. Period.

The primary reason is because Kodak’s YouTube app was redesigned completely for the TV screen, the pointer remote interface and the 10 foot living room experience. This is a fun YouTube to share with a group of people, the videos look surprisingly good considering the source, and the pointer remote makes searching and discovering easier and more useful.

YouTube Top Screen

There are a lot of implementations of YouTube for your TV. They are in other set-top boxes, game consoles and even some upcoming big screen TVs. But none of the them work as well and look as good as Kodak’s. The Theatre version of YouTube is unique because they did the extra work to the get the details right and they have an unfair advantage – the pointer remote. A basic example is the primary playback screen. Here you have over 20 different user options, which would be hard to navigate, or even understand, with a normal up-down, left-right remote control. But here it is like an average display on your PC, only it’s designed for your TV so you can comfortably use it from the couch.

YouTube Brak

Another example is search. YouTube is so monstrously large that search is a vital and frequent function. But typing search terms with traditional remotes is a pain. It’s tediously slow and diverts you so far from enjoying YouTube that you tire of the whole thing too soon. It’s really different with a pointer. Because the Kodak pointer is so precise and steady, it’s easy to type search terms and they included a smart look ahead feature to bring up likely search terms as you enter letters. It helps make the YouTube application a fun activity for a group of people in front of the TV passing around the pointer and sharing YouTube favorites.

YouTube Keyboard

The picture quality of YouTube has been frequently cited as very good considering the home brew sort of content on YouTube. Digital Trends wrote, “Kodak’s Theatre HD Leads in YouTube Quality: Of all the set-top boxes we’ve seen stream YouTube to the TV, Kodak’s seems to do the best job masking the shoddy source quality.” Wired added, “The player even managed to transform YouTube video into something slightly less horrible — no small feat if you’ve ever watched YouTube on a PS3 or Apple TV.”

Another Pointer Remote Cousin

Admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:43:55 +0000

Yesterday a new company, ZillionTV, announced a service and set-top box that uses the same powerful pointer technology as the Theatre Player. A commentary from the New York Times made the connection, writing:

Hillcrest has licensed its technology to a handful of companies, includingKodak, whose Kodak Theatre HD Player, a $300 set-top box, allows users to get access to photographs and videos, and send pictures to others.

It is worth noting that several articles were especially impressed with the pointing remote and ease of navigating thousands of movies and shows. The LA Times explained:

I watched a bit of ZillionTV in Berman’s office in Santa Monica, and the images were quite impressive… Just as impressive was the motion-sensitive remote control, which enabled Berman to select items simply by pointing at the right spot on the screen and clicking. Taking advantage of the remote’s capabilities, the service’s menus displayed programs as images (picture a tableau of DVD covers) spread across the length of the TV, rather than using the customary TV grid or PC-style folders.

Likewise another NY Times writer loved the user interface and pointer remote, writing:

Wave the remote in the air and a pointer moves around the screen, much like a mouse pointer. This uses technology from Hillcrest Labs. It’s the nicest interface on a set-top box I’ve seen yet… I love the pointer remote. I wish every television and TV gizmo would use this technology instead of the annoying arrow buttons.”

Krunker.com added:

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the service/set-top box is actually the Wii-like motion-sensing remote control. Users can wave the remote to navigate the user interface thanks to motion-sensing technology from Hillcrest Labs.

Of course they could be doing something like this today with their Theatre remote. Given that ZillionTV is not expected to be available until late 2009 and then only through selected ISPs, perhaps now is the time.

Flickr fills the black hole

Admin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:49:20 +0000

Big, beautiful HDTV screens fill the room with light and sound — until they are switched off. Then it’s like a black hole, sucking the light from your life. I’ve seen people drape rugs and blankets over the screen because it’s such a large black space. Your Theatre player can handle this problem nicely and in many ways. Of course you can play your own slides shows and let that fill the space. But you might be like me, and plenty of other people, and maybe your day to day pics at home are not necessarily all winners. Maybe you just want a change. Maybe your PC isn’t on for serving the pictures. Whatever, Flickr offers a cool option.

In Flickr, there is a category called Interesting Photos. This is simply highly rated pictures from the huge Flickr catalog of photos. Most are very good and some are really great. Select this icon, then pick a photo from the screen. Then move your pointer to the bottom of the screen and select play. Photo after photo. And you can accompany it with your music or Internet radio music.

You can start the slide show with fewer steps by clicking on the upper right corner of the Interesting Photos icon. Same shortcut as for other photo features.

This also works if you don’t have a Flickr account at all. It also works if you haven’t linked your Theatre to your Flickr account. And if works if you don’t have a PC server working, it only needs the Internet access — like Internet radio.

You can find Flickr under Pictures & Videos –> Online –> Flickr. You may have to click through a screen urging you to connect your account, but you can simply click OK twice and use the Interesting Photos.

Another tip: Once inside Interesting Photos, you can do a text search and get hundreds of great photos with a word or phrase. So enter “fighter jet, ” play music from Top Gun and sit back — with no black hole.

Wired Review – Feb 2009

Admin — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:12:26 +0000

In one of the more detailed articles about the Theatre player, Wired magazine used, reviewed and definitely enjoyed the little box connected to their big screen TV.

Color us pleasantly surprised then by Kodak’s new Theatre HD player. Within minutes of hooking up this unassuming little black box to our TV, our skepticism vanished faster than Arctic Sea Ice.

They were particularly impressed by the overall ease and simplicity from handling everyday tasks to setup and the joy of pointing with the unique remote — although they weren’t entirely sure about the shape.

As icing on the content-serving cake, Kodak even includes a clever gyroscopic remote. Yes, it resembles a rotten miniature banana. But when it comes to setting up accounts or simply scrolling through hundreds of photos, it makes every other controller look like antiquated junk. Best of all, it’s RF wireless, so there’s no need to worry about line-of-sight or syncing issues.

On the downside they would like to see more Internet content and Mac compatibility. Hard to argue with either. They also would like to see it cost less than $300, but given that it is widely available for less, that is improving today.

The article reinforces a core truth about the Theatre player, if people spend a little time with it, they really like it. Read the entire review here.

Kodak Theatre HD Player with Pointing Remote

Why?

Admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:37:38 +0000

In many ways the Kodak Theatre HD Player is a trendsetting product. It handles photos in more ways than any comparable product. The YouTube feature is simply the best YouTube on TV. The Internet radio, the music, the Podcast and video playback all combine to make a powerful machine. But it’s easy — fun really — because of a new user interface predicated on a pointer remote that is uniquely precise and steady.

There is a lot packed into the black box, and part of the goal of this site is to highlight and explain the many features.

Photos from your PC, viewed in many ways. Maybe organized by Kodak Easyshare software.
Music from your PC, again accessed many ways. Often organized by iTunes.
Enjoy YouTube with the best TV version of YouTube available anywhere. Use your own account, or search on screen.
Internet Radio powered by RadioTime, giving you access to thousands of stations from around the world.
A flexible playlist feature letting you make slide shows and music playlists. Play your photos with your music without leaving the big screen TV.
Access Kodak Gallery or Flickr accounts to see your favorite collections or friends’ photos.
Watch your family videos or downloaded files, streaming from your PC.
Enjoy the world of video Podcasts, perhaps organized by your iTunes.

There is lot to enjoy with the Theatre player, making it a great addition to the family’s HDTV and offering lots of group activities to enjoy together. We’ll cover these and more in the posts. So check back and send comments and requests.