Basically, PlayonHD Mini is a smaller version of A.C. Ryan's original HD media player, but it doesn't sacrifice much other than an internal drive bay and a card reader. It doesn't seem like a bad deal overall, unless you compare it to a full-featured HTPC. [A.C. Ryan and Engadget]

Yes, the ad wizards at Jerry Jones Heavy Manufacturing Concern, LLC, decided that their eleventy-billion dollar show palace, $14 hamburgers, live sex shows (NSFW), cheerleaders, and "Party Passes" (oh, and an NFL game) would not be enough to entertain the 80,000 people who bothered to show up for the 'Boys latest December nightmare. So at the start of the second half against the Chargers, they turned the 160' by 90' superstructure over midfield into a 3-D movie theater so that fans in attendance could experience the wonder of football with length, width and depth! It's like you're actually there!

Now stop and think about this for a second, since no one who works for the organization apparently did. In order to see 3-D images on a television, you need to wear special glasses—glasses that impair your vision of the real, physical world around you. This means that the Cowboys were literally asking fans to ignore the actual live football game taking place before their very eyes, so that they could watch it on television instead. For $300 a ticket. Because that would be more "realistic." The effect certainly is mind boggling.

Since many fans chose not to put on (or couldn't figure out?) the stupid glasses, the video replay board became a blurry red and blue mess to their eyes. According to reports, the loudest cheer of the day came when they finally shut it off halfway through the third quarter.

Of course, the dirty secret of JerryWorld's massive video board is that it so overshadows the playing field that most fans end up staring at it anyway, rather than the flesh-and-blood players on the field in front of them. (Granted, some don't have any choice.) I'm sure that thought will comfort DeMarcus Ware when he wakes up from his coma.

It's hard to see what Dallas Cowboys saw in 3D call [Dallas Morning News]
3D experiment falls flat at Cowboys Stadium [PFT]
Cowboys Stadium 3D scoreboard experiment doesn't go so well, turned off in less than seven minutes [Second image via Engadget]
"3-D" a "3-Dud" at Cowboys Stadium [WPMT]

BRIAN'S $15 BILLION BET

First, let's review the terms of the bet:

* Comcast is wagering about $15 billion (approximately half in cash and half in equity shares in its cable networks) in exchange for half of the New NBC Universal.

* If Comcast gets more than $15 billion back from the New NBC Universal in a reasonable timeframe, the bet will have paid off.

Comcast gets to keep half of the cash flow of the new NBC Universal each year, less interest costs. In 2009, a crappy year, New NBC Universal will generate about $3 billion of cash flow. Subtract, say, $1 billion of interest payments (on $9 billion of debt), and you're left with net cash flow of about $2 billion a year. Comcast's share of that, therefore, will be about $1 billion a year.

Some scenarios:

* Let's assume the New NBC continues to grow. Comcast will get its money back in 10 years. Any more cash or remaining value in NBC from then on will be upside.

* Let's assume that the new NBC Universal never grows again. Comcast will get its money back in 15 years.

* Let's assume that the New NBC Universal starts shrinking but doesn't completely fall apart. Comcast will get its money back in 20 years.

* Let's assume that the New NBC Universal completely collapses. Brian Roberts will be proven to have been an idiot.

So that's the bet.

Now, what is Brian Roberts really thinking?

He's thinking: I've got cash coming out of my ears, I know the world is changing, and I've decided to buy myself a hedge.

A hedge against what?

A hedge against two things:

* Further extortionist increases in cable content carriage fees
* The gradual conversion of cable into dumb pipes that just deliver Internet access and IP-video

THE HEDGE AGAINST CABLE PROGRAMMING FEE INCREASES

Specifically, Brian Roberts is thinking that he's sick to death of that bastard Bob Iger at Disney holding him up for higher carriage fees on ESPN, et al, every few years. And, before he bought NBC, Brian was sick to death of that bastard Jeff Zucker holding him up for higher fees on CNBC, et al. Etc.

Now, in the future, if anyone does any holding up, Brian Roberts is:

1) going to cash in, too (because now he owns a lot of cable programming), and

2) going to have more leverage in telling Bob Iger, et al, to take a hike. Until now, if Brian Roberts wanted to tell Bob Iger to take his ESPN and stuff it, he would risk losing a significant percentage of cable subs who are sports addicts. Now, Brian Roberts will be able to say to Bob Iger, "Actually, we've decided to make ESPN a premium channel, because most of our subs are happy with the many offerings of NBC Sports, including our new NBC Sports ESPN-killer. So if you want to jack up your fees, that's fine, we'll ask our subs to pay you for ESPN directly." At which time, Bob Iger, no fool, might say, "I think we'll stick with our current fees."

Either way, Brian Roberts is okay.

Those two hedges, by the way, may well help either the New NBC or the Old Comcast drive more dollars to the bottom line. If this happens, Brian Roberts will get his money back even faster.

THE HEDGE AGAINST CABLE BECOMING A DUMB PIPE AND PROGRAMMING GOING A LA CARTE

Eventually, the current cable TV business is toast. There is NO WAY today's teenagers are going to be shelling out $150 a month to get 500 channels they don't watch when what they do watch is available for free over the Internet. Eventually, therefore, this whole "carriage fee" game is done—or at least radically changed.

But it's going to take a while. At least 10 years.

And all those future adults who are going to be watching TV for free over the Internet in 10 years are still going to need Internet access (or else how are they going to watch?). And Comcast is in a great position to keep providing it.

So, regardless of what happens, Comcast won't go to zero. But if programming goes a la carte, providers like Comcast won't get to mark up channels by buying them at wholesale prices, bundling them together, and selling them at retail anymore. Instead, they'll have to settle for getting, say, $50 a month for providing your Internet access and phone and just letting all the video providers sell to you directly.

Now, providing a fat dumb pipe is not a bad business. And Internet access might be so important at that point that Comcast might be able to jack up prices to, say, $75, with no programming fees (which would be less than you pay for your internet access and phone now).

But it might be a worse business than the one cable has today. In which case, Brian will have hedged his bets by taking a big chunk of cash and buying something else with it.

OF COURSE, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A GUARANTEE

How can Brian Roberts lose?

A couple of ways.

First, he can blow the execution, like AOL Time Warner did. But this is a business that Brian already knows, and it won't involve smashing two completely different cultures that hate each other together. So the execution risk is less.

Second, cable can become a dumb pipe AND the TV programming business can blow up like the newspaper business—causing Brian Roberts to lose on both sides.

If that happens, Brian Roberts would have been better off selling the whole thing and buying a fertilizer company.

But Brian Roberts is a media mogul. And there isn't a media mogul on earth who would give up being a media mogul to run a fertilizer company.

As it turns out, Xfinity is just a rebranding of TV Everywhere—a free service that allows you to play your tv content on up to three authenticated internet devices. We already knew that would be rolling out in December, but Zats has specified an exact date of December 12th.

As for remote DVR scheduling, details are a little hazier. Comcast has "promised" that the feature is on the horizon, but no specific dates have been announced. [Zats]

In claiming the Hulu is safe from potential fees, Burke is speaking of behalf of the Comcast's recently absorbed NBC Universal, which has a 27% stake in the Hulu venture—the same as News Corp and ABC. In other words, while Comcast execs are now privy to whatever discussions are going inside Hulu, they can't really guarantee anything without cooperation from the site's other partners. Including the one that's loudly demanding that Hulu develop some kind of pay service, soon.

In other words, Burke's answer assures one thing: that nobody, especially Hulu, knows exactly how the site will change over the next year. [Silicon Alley Insider]

This is hardly a surprise. After yesterday's news that GE would buy its NBC stake from Vivendi for $5.8 billion, the closing of the deal was basically a formality.

Now comes the next phase of hard work. The deal is expected to take a year to fully close, as the government scrutinizes it.

Google's game here is obvious: by analyzing this anonymized sea of TiVo viewer data, they can help customers target their ads more accurately. Ad buyers also win, because they have a better sense of exactly how many people are actually seeing their ads. Guess who doesn't like this plan!:

Now, with TiVo's data, collected from millions of digital video recorders across the country, Google can tell exactly which of those commercials are being bypassed. If all the commercials are being skipped, the channel gets no money. It's easy to see why TV executives get heartburn over this.

Between my cable box's DVR function and my computer, I rarely watch live TV. And when I do, I usually end up flipping around during commercials. I know I'm not alone, and I know this is causing problems for networks, who are pushing more and more of their advertising into show, instead of between them.

Google, which already licenses similar data from Dish Network, is giving us a preview of how this kind of thing will work for everyone in the future—soon, data detailing what people are and aren't watching will be too present, too obvious to ignore, and networks will have to acknowledge that hey, nobody is watching ads anymore. In the long term this will make advertising more effective and efficient, but it could also kneecap TV ad sales as a whole. Or not! Says Google:

Our system makes it easy for people to buy TV ads. We're lowering the barriers to entry, which has the effect of growing the market.

Somehow I imagine "lowering the barriers for entry" isn't on the top of NBC's to-do list right now. Google will kill all. [LAT]

They have also significantly upped the price to $18,700—and that's just for the TV, stand and center speaker. Of course, just because you can afford a TV like this doesn't mean you should. Consider the following blurb from the press release:

BeoVision 7-55 integrates the sophisticated Bang & Olufsen BeoSystem 3 video engine, which delivers superior signal processing due to the VisionClear package of picture improvement technologies. In addition, Bang & Olufsen has included double frame rate technology, also known as 120 Hz, with motion compensation and progressive scanning backlight. These technologies significantly reduce the inherent blur typical of LCD screens. With BeoVision 7-55 the picture is clear and sharp even during fast-moving scene

Just the other day we were considering the issue of motion blur in LCDs and how the problem has been all but eliminated in most mid to high end sets. Who knows how much they tacked on to the price tag by exaggerating the importance of technology that probably doesn't do any better than an LCD you bought for a fraction of the price. I mean it's a good looking piece of equipment, but it's not worth all that money just because it looks cool and it was made in Denmark. [Bang & Olufsen via PR Newswire]

In other words, bumping up the refresh rates beyond 60 Hz may have eliminated the problem of motion blur, but some complain that the activation of the ME/MC circuit that kicks in when LCD sets achieve these high refresh rates desegregates the picture. As the video put together by HDGuru illustrates, this is a very real problem.

That having been said, LCD buyers have a few options. Most sets offer an option to turn off ME/MC, although that will result in lower motion resolution. You could also opt for a plasma set that doesn't suffer from this issue. It also reinforces a point I made with yesterday's article—you don't need to spend extra money on a LCD just because it advertises 240Hz. You probably won't see any additional benefit with that set than you would with one that tops out at 120 Hz. Check out HDGuru for the full details and results of the test. [HDGuru]

But don't hold your breath on it happening yet: Peter Kafka has "yet to hear of a single programmer that has made a firm commitment." As he points out, while networks are constantly looking for new revenue, like those asshole aliens in Independence Day moving from world to world consuming every natural resource, they're nervous about the idea for a lot of reasons.

A lot of it has to do with the icky, sticky relationships between networks and cable operators, where everybody's worried about losing out as people start to watch more and more TV content online, not in their living room—where streaming video eats up bandwidth, and advertising revenues aren't nearly as rich (which is why Hulu wants to figure out new ways to get you to pay).

While these little complications might slow the process down, the exodus is inevitable. There's no stopping this. The internet is the new cable: Netflix, Hulu, BitTorrent. Apple might not get to launch it in a few months, but it will happen. Just give it time. The actually crazy part, if you ask me, is that the Apple TV might even live up to its name. [Hulu]

• CBS Audience Network: Featuring a variety of shows from CBS Primetime, Daytime, Extras, and TV Classics, including full-length episodes of current TV shows, CBS Classics TV shows, short clips, and Web originals.
• Full Zune Video Podcast Library: Thousands of hours of entertainment with full TV episodes, webisodes, clips, and videos from providers including ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, CNET TV, Comedy Central, Current TV, The Discovery Channel, Fox, G4 TV, HBO, MSNBC, NBC, Showtime, and Revision 3, along with some of the best user-generated videos on the Web. Some video podcasts are also available in HD.
• MSN and msnbc.com: Clips as well as full length episodes from TV shows such as Arrested Development, news and weather from MSNBC, editor picks and most popular videos, five day weather forecasts, news, video playlists, music videos, movie trailers and more.

If you haven't already noticed the upgrades in your Windows 7 Media Center menu, you can manually update by going into Tasks >>Settings >> General >> Automatic Download Options.

The idea is simple, but the politics aren't. All white spaces networks do is stick data into the unused frequencies that neighbor television signals, but broadcasters are afraid that TV signals aren't robust enough to handle data being packed in so tightly. This trial will be the first real-world test of that belief.

Hopefully all will go well and the tech will be able to provide rural communities with the broadband they've been hurting for. [Ars Technica]

Image via FutureAtlas

The thing I like most about the BeoVision 10 is not the 40-inch LCD panel or the big integrated speaker system or the brushed aluminum frame. The thing I like most about the BeoVision 10 is that it can be hung on the wall, and then it can automagically rotate on one of its sides to fit your angle of vision. So I would be able to see it in the living room and in bed. This is how it works:

Yes, naff, but cool anyway. [epn.dk via Engadget]

"Filming the bouncing toad was very challenging; the remote mountain plateau is one mile high and 26 square miles in area, whilst the toad is one inch long and very elusive. The tarantulas which prey on them are also very hard to find. To give the crew the best chance of finding and filming them, the expert on these creatures came on the shoot. He searched for a week before the crew's arrival to find both species and a location where they could come together and where the toad would demonstrate its bouncing-ball method of escape. This allowed the cameraman to set up his slow-motion camera in the right place. The scientist was able to ensure that the toad was never in danger of being harmed by the tarantula as a result of us filming them. The technique was a total success - the toad tucked its legs in, rolled and bounced, allowing the crew to film its method of escape in slow-motion detail."

"A Jesus Christ lizard running on water is so fast that a human would have to run at 65 miles per hour to achieve the same trick. The speed makes it an enormous challenge to film. After consulting with a scientist at Harvard University who has made a ground-breaking study of the lizard's water sprint, the crew decided that as well as filming the behaviour at normal frame rates they would attempt to capture the close up details of the lizard's run with a slow-motion camera filming at 2000 frames per second (i.e. slowed down by 80 times).

It's very hard to predict exactly where and when a lizard will run, what's more it's all so quick that once the lizard is spotted it's gone in a blur! Learning from the scientist's observation methods was essential and as a result it was decided to film the details of the sprint would need some degree of control to ensure that the crew had some idea of where and when the lizard would run. They travelled to Belize, home of the lizard, to work with local animal experts who had some lizards in natural forest enclosures. If, and when, these lizards decided to run, they always ran along the same stretch of water, where the cameraman could station his camera.

The key to success was using the latest digital slow-motion camera that continuously records into a memory buffer, so that when the cameraman hits the trigger button he downloads the action that took place a second or so before that moment. Whenever a lizard sprinted past the cameraman over the water the cameraman hit the trigger, desperately trying to keep the lizard in the frame and in focus. The final end result of this was stunning, slow motion shots of the lizards, with every drop of water visible as they sprinted through the surface."

OK, we don't actually have any notes on how this was shot. But the macro shot of water beading up on the gecko's hydrophobic skin is gorgeous.

The above clips are from Episode 2: Reptiles and Amphibians. The series is playing now on BBC One.

Again, Microsoft's sponsorship of the show means that it will air commercial-free. Let's hope the final version makes sitting through 30 minutes of this actually tolearable. [win741 via Ars Technica]

The show, which will have some live-action performances of the unbearable musical numbers featured in MacFarlane's animated sitcoms, will supposedly "feature unique Windows 7-branded programming that blends seamlessly with show content." In case you don't remember, or are lucky enough to have repressed this memory, MacFarlane actually teamed up with a giant corporate sponsor once before, and it led to humor abortions like this:

Anyway, it's not totally clear how Windows 7 will be integrated into the special (tentatively named "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show"), but based on the Burger King disaster, it might not be much more than a halfhearted mention here and there and a few "this isn't a commercial" commercials in between sketches. The special will air November 8th at 8:30 PM (PST and EST), and I give that time specifically so you know to avoid all television that day. [Microsoft]

Hellboy, Buffy and a bunch of other Dark Horse IPs are now available in GelaSkin form (heck, there's even some Bettie Page thrown in there for good measure). iPhone skins go for $15 while 13 and 15-inch Macbook/general laptop skins cost $30.

You've likely seen the iconic art before, but that's alright. I could stare at Sarah Michelle Gellar's estranged cousin for days.
[Dark Horse via Lost at E Minor]

According to TechCrunch, UK company INQ is developing the full-out Spotify phone for telecommunications provider Telia. And with recent news that Spotify service is expanding to television (in Sweden), the handset would be a notable multimedia force—even if the iPhone app makes an easier upsell.

So theoretically, if Spotify made its way to the US, and if the Spotify phone made its way to the US, we'd all have Spotify phones. Yes, all. Every single citizen of the United States of America. [TechCrunch and TechCrunch UK and image]