Cache & Carey

Verizon launches Mobile TV in South Florida

Starting Friday July 3, Verizon Wireless customers in South Florida can watch select television stations live on their phones with the V Cast Mobile TV service.

It's already been available in other parts of Florida, including Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Gainesville. AT&T Wireless just released a similar service to South Florida last week.

Prices for the V Cast Mobile TV service start at $15, but can be bundled with other V Cast services for
$25.

Stations accessible include CBS, CBS College Sports, CBS News, CNBC, Comedy Central, TR3S, ESPN, Fox, Fox News, Fox Sports, MSNBC, MTV, NBC, NBC 2Go, NBC News, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon and NickToons.

Mobile TV only works of the following handsets: Samsung u620, LG 9400, LG Voyager, LG Voyager Titanium, Motorola z6tv and the Motorola Krave.

Product Review: Dynex Portable Digital TV isn't perfect for hurricanes

Happy D-Day! (Digital Television Transition Day, that is.)

This week I reviewed the Dynex 7-inch portable digital LCD TV, which you can find at Best Buy. Overall I liked it, but you better take a few things into consideration before you dish out $149.99 to add it to your hurricane supply kit.

You can't put batteries in this. It can only be recharged via the AC adapter plug. And the power lasts about 2 ½ hours of continuous watching. The car power adapter only gives it enough juice to turn on -- it won't recharge the battery, which is a bummer if you're out of power for several days.

And if you live in an area with poor reception, that can also be a downer. At my home, several HD stations came in clear. But at work, only one station would come in. If that's the case, you might need to buy a more powerful antenna to plug in.

There aren't many portable digital televisions on the market, but this is the first one I've tested and it works dandy.

Or there's always the cheaper storm solution: Buy a battery-powered radio, as my colleague Niala Boodhoo reported this week: Hurricane experts recommend radios over nondigital portable TVs

Comcast and U-Verse additions for South Florida customers

South Florida Comcast Triple Play customers (that's folks with Comcast's cable, phone, and Internet service) began seeing caller ID on their televisions and computers last week. Their Universal Caller ID service puts a pop-up on the television or computer screen with the name of the caller and the phone number -- so you don't need to scramble to the phone to see who is calling.

According to Comcast, the customer can answer the call or select "exit" and go back to their favorite TV show or online activity. The Universal Caller ID service can also be "snoozed" for a period of time if the customer doesn't want to be interrupted while watching a specific program.

The Caller ID to the TV feature will activate automatically so incoming caller information will appear on customers' televisions as the service becomes available to their home.  For caller information to appear on their computer, users will need to download and install the Caller ID to the PC feature at www.comcast.net/callerid.

AT&T spokeswoman Kelly Starling tells me caller ID on your screen is a feature that will be offered eventually to South Florida AT&T customers with U-Verse television service and the U-Verse Voice phone service (it's in other areas, just not here yet). Although its U-Verse television service is being rolled out throughout several parts South Florida, AT&T's U-Verse voice phone service is currently only available for now in West Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast.

But those with the U-Verse television service also noticed a few changes last week -- it added six high definition channels from MTV networks: MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD, Nickelodeon HD, Comedy Central HD and Spike HD.

Product Review: Dazzle Video Creator Plus has a few minuses

What sort of product doesn't come with cords?

That would be the Dazzle Video Creator Plus, by Pinnacle Systems. The device lets you capture video from pretty much any source, like TV, VCR (good for saving old home movies), camcorders -- and then save them on your computer. It also comes with video editing software and you can make it into a DVD.

The only thing was, it doesn't come with any cords to connect it to your VCR or TV... the only connection it comes with is to connect it to your USB port. Aren't cords cheap? I expect connection cords when I pay $89.99 for something.

There are some neat things you can do with the video editing software -- of course it is no Final Cut Pro -- but it offers non-complicated ways for video beginners to do some cool effects with your videos. That is... when it doesn't go glitchy. A frame had a strange flicker of a picture that wasn't supposed to happen, and that error was burned into my DVD (so it wasn't just the preview screen wigging out). It was an easy fix -- I just had to delete that frame and re-create it, but still, it shouldn't have happened.

And when you are importing video from an outside source, it will automatically divide up the footage into different "scenes" if it detects that the video jumped to a different cut or location. That can be a real time saver in the editing process.

Check out my full review online or watch the video below to learn more about the Dazzle:

Free HBO (for some of you) in honor of Obama Inauguration

If you have digital cable, you'll be able to watch the Sunday Inaugural celebrations for free on HBO. Here are the details on what is offered from South Florida's cable providers:

COMCAST:

• Comcast digital and online customers get free HBO from 2:25 p.m. until 9 p.m. to watch the Inaugural Celebration Concert on Sunday, January 18th. At 2:30 p.m. HBO is showing the "We Are One" Concert, at 4:30 there's the documentary "Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House," followed by "Blades of Glory" (Nothing says inauguration party like Blades of Glory??) and then a repeat of the Inaugural Concert at 7 p.m.
• Comcast's On Demand programming will include: Barack Obama's inaugural address, his most famous speeches, his biography, Michelle Obama's DNC speech, a tour of the White House and The history of Air Force One.

DIRECTV:

• Free HBO Preview going on now until January 18th.
• Between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 20th, the DIRECTV Mix Channel will display eight channels on one screen to showcase the best live coverage from broadcast and cable news networks. The Inauguration Mix will replace the News Mix on viewer channel 102 and 352. There will also be a "blog ticker" on the bottom of the screen.

AT&T U-VERSE:

• Free HBO during the Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert at 2:30 on Sunday. HBO will be free all night until Midnight.

ATLANTIC BROADBAND:

• All customers who have a digital box will also be able to watch the concert for free, according to an e-mail from an Atlantic Broadband spokeswoman.

Zune's music now available through Univision.com

Not only can Univision.com visitors read news about Colombian rock musician Juanes, but now they will be able to download his music, too.

Zune, Microsoft's music and entertainment service, announced Tuesday that it has become the exclusive music download service for Univision.com. The new Zune portal on Univision's music channel is part of a three-year partnership between the companies.

Univisión is the most-visited Spanish-language website among U.S. Hispanics, thus giving Zune another weapon in its arsenal against music download giants iTunes and Amazon.com.

"We've been making some real strives to embrace the Hispanic community for the past two years," said Javier Farfan, senior marketing manager at Zune. He added that the company has seen an increase in its Latin music sales. ''We really want to make sure that Latin music is part of our overall Zune strategy,'' Farfan said.

U.S. Hispanics are more likely to pay for music downloads than the average population, said Forrester Research analyst Sonal Gandhi.

They also are using their mp3 players more than the average person, and they spend more on music. The median spent on music downloads a year is $80, whereas it is $100 a year for U.S. Hispanics, Gandhi said, making them great customers.

Click here to read the rest of my story in today's Miami Herald.

Comcast offering free (sort of) basic cable to new customers

As part of Comcast's "Get Ready" initiative for the digital broadcast transition on February 17, 2009, it is offering discounts on basic cable.

Comcast is offering free basic cable for 12 months to those who sign up for at least one additional Comcast service.  New customers who choose not to subscribe to additional Comcast services can get basic cable for $10 a month for a full year.  Current customers can add basic cable to additional TVs at no additional monthly fee. 

Basic cable in South Florida includes 17-25 channels (all depending on your location), including broadcast (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, MyNetwork, Univision, Telefutura, ION, Telemundo, PBS), government, shopping and local neighborhood television channels.  Comcast basic cable does not require the purchase of any new equipment for cable-ready TVs, so consumers can continue to use their existing TVs and remote controls.

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered local TV stations to vacate the frequency locations they have occupied since the 1940’s. The only place viewers will be able to access local channels after February 17, 2009 will be on their new digital frequency locations.

For the estimated 13 million households in the United States that have analog TV sets and use "rabbit ears" to receive programming, there are three ways to get ready for the transition:

• subscribe to cable or another video service provider;
• buy a new digital TV; or
• purchase a TV converter box

Comcast also has a site with more information, at www.comcast.com/dtv

Product Review: VCR 2 PC is pricey way to preserve priceless memories

It's not always easy to figure out how to record videos from your VCR onto your PC, unless you're tech savvy enough to look online and learn how to yourself.

The Ion VCR 2 PC makes it easy if you don't have a clue about such things. But at $199.99, preserving your memories doesn't come cheap.

It lets you copy videos from VHS tapes directly to your PC, saving the video footage as .mpg files. It also has RCA audio/video inputs to archive from external sources like video cameras. The VCR has auto tracking, variable speed slow-motion, playback and rewind, and connects to Windows XP and Vista via a USB 2.0 port.

The software included helps burn your videos to a DVD (as long as your computer can burn DVDs). But the software... well... for $200 I just wish it did more. But at least it works well. If you want to get snazzy with editing those family movies, then you will want to use another movie editor program. If you are making a DVD with the software, it will let you cut unwanted footage -- such as the static at the end of a movie -- but the edits only apply to the DVD you are making.

Check out my video below for more, or read the full review in today's Miami Herald.

AT&T;'s TV service beats Comcast in J.D. Power satisfaction study

AT&T's U-verse TV service ranked highest in customer satisfaction among residential television customers in all three regions where it was ranked, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study.

It's the first year AT&T U-verse has been included in the survey. And it's the first time a telco provider and IPTV service have topped the annual survey.

You can read the full report here: J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study

In the South Region rankings (which includes Florida), AT&T U-verse ranked first, followed by Verizon FiOS, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Insight, Bright House, Cox, Cable One, Suddenlink, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Mediacom ranked last.

The study measured customer satisfaction with providers of home video services, such as Internet Protocol (IP) TV, cable and satellite TV. A total of 18,938 residential video customers in the U.S. participated in the study.

AT&T U-verse is only available in some parts of South Florida now. You can find out if it's available in your area at http://uverse.att.com.

Office Depot gives you gift cards for your old electronics

Have an old gadget just collecting dust? Too lazy to put it on eBay? Don't throw it in the trash. Get some money for it by sending it to Office Depot. In exchange you can get a gift card. But if it has no trade-in value, you can still send it to be recycled.

Office Depot will accept things like mp3 players, cameras, notebooks, desktops, smartphones, televisions and game systems.

The site said I could get $32 for my Sansa San-Disk mp3 player in good condition. Not too shabby... but of course that could go down if the person inspecting it doesn't find it to be worthy of $32. And the site said it would give me $22 for my Sega Genesis with all my games... no way would I give up Sonic for that price!

Go to officedepot.com/techtradein to see for yourself. Just remember to properly wipe out your data before shipping it off.