Comcast Corporation and IFC Entertainment announced today a groundbreaking agreement to offer IFC in Theaters, marking the first time selected independent films will be available in customers’ homes through Comcast’s ON DEMAND service on the same day that they are released in theaters. Unlike other day and date concepts, IFC and Comcast will use video on demand to create the first nationwide destination for critically acclaimed independent films. MORE »

Dave Zatz is complaining (among others recently) that Netflix is not delivering new releases to people in an adequate amount of time. He notes that he’s been waiting for The 40-Year-Old Virgin for two months. In fact, he goes on to say that the service is “causing family strife.” Ouch. Feeling his pain I left the following comment suggestion on his site: MORE »

A Gizmodo reader tipped off the editorial staff that DIRECTV is getting set to roll out a new on-demand service that will feature “hundreds of movies and thousands of hours of non-movie content.” Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing at this time. But, if the video feed is being beemed from a satellite and provided at a competitive price, it will most likely be a big hit with subscribers because it means no more ugly load times or waiting for scheduled showings. Not only that… I’m guessing this service will tie in nicely with the company’s upcoming portable video player device. I’m just curious what the other non-movie content might be.

OK, OK… so it’s not a Home Theater PC on par with current Windows Media Center Edition offerings that many of us were hoping for, but for less than $800 you get a sleek little powerhouse that has the “potential” to be expanded for other uses. According to CNET’s Gadget Blog, “Jobs announced two models of the Mac Mini. One, for $599, has a 1.5-GHz Intel Core solo processor with a 60GB hard drive, combo drive that plays DVDs and burns CDs and 512MB of memory. The other, which goes for $799, has a 1.67-GHz Core Duo processor, an 80GB hard drive, 512MB of memory and a SuperDrive that burns CDs and DVDs. Both will be available starting today.” MORE »

PC users have Videora to do our free, video conversion for iPods. Mac users, ever the neglected bunch, now have their own application to boast about (via PVRblog). Mac users have had Handbrake for converting DVDs into iPod format, but many of you have lots of videos already ripped and ready that need iPod Video loving. iSquint fills this gap nicely, and according to PVRblog, can handle “virtually any video format” that you can throw at it. Again, let me reiterate a striking beauty of the software - it’s free, although donations are accepted. And if you’re using a Mac, you’re rolling in the money anyhow, so throw a few bucks down for the goodness you’ve been shown.

No sooner had we told you about a new product that would send video and audio signals over Cat 5 from Bluedelta than we found out that yet another manufacturer is sending audio and video signals over Cat 5 cabling (via The Red Ferret Journal). This time, the product appears to be geared towards Hi-Def connoisseurs by providing support for component cables and digital audio outputs. The boxes turn unbalanced signals into balanced signals to be transmitted over the Cat 5 cable. One it hits the receiving balun, the balanced signal is “unbalanced” so that the receiving unit can process the information. The V3AD Balun supports up to 1080p video, so you’re set as long as you have the $121.95 per unit.

Poor TiVo. The company whose name is now part of the modern lexicon is struggling. With 4 million subscribers (many of which are with DirectTV), the company is looking for ways to quickly ramp up their subscriber base to appease Wall Street. Well, on the wings of a previous promotion that all but gave TiVo units away, Reuters is reporting that TiVo may just give their boxes away for free - and this is straight from the mouth of Tom Rogers, the CEO. The cost of the unit would be offset by bumping up the monthly cost of service which currently sits at $13 a month. What a strange world it would be if we referred to “TiVoing” a program when a TiVo no longer existed. I hope we don’t see the day and hopefully, a plan like the one proposed will help prevent it.

Do you hear that? You know… that sound? Ah, Yes… BUZZ in anticipation of a new wonder product that Microsoft is getting set to unveil – either tomorrow evening (after Apple’s launch event) or March 9th – called Origami. As of right now, all we’ve got is speculation on specs, but from what’s floating around the Web: Origami will be no larger than 10-inches in width, weigh less than a pound, run a version of TabletPC, play all sorts of digital media, offer GPS/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/3G network connectivity, and sell for around $500. MORE »

I really like using the Apple iTunes music store to browse new music and even buy tracks for my iPod nano. What I don’t like is not being able to use iTunes inside of Media Center. In HP’s failed attempts to sell their own branded iPods they did make a program called HP Tunes that provides an interface to iTunes within Media Center. HP Tunes use to come standard on all HP Media Center computers but if you look in the right places then you can find the stand alone program to download and install. MORE »

Matrox Graphics Inc., the leading manufacturer of graphics solutions for professionals, announces Extio™ F1400, the world’s first remote graphics unit. With this solution, the user interface of the computer – the keyboard, mouse, monitors, audio peripherals, and graphics hardware – are separated from the rest of the computer by up to 250 meters (820 feet) of fiber-optic cable. Designed for professional applications, this product supports up to 4 digital or analog monitors at a time, and has passive (fanless) cooling. MORE »