Samsung TVs offer Skype, YouTube and BigPond video on demand
- — 12 April, 2010 14:30
Samsung's televisions feature an integrated Skype calling service when used with a USB-connected webcam.
Samsung's 2010 range of LED, LCD and plasma televisions will feature integrated Skype, YouTube and Twitter access, and offer DLNA media streaming from a PC, mobile phone or supported digital camera. Samsung also revealed that its televisions should support Telstra Media's BigPond TV video on demand service within 12 months.
At a launch in Sydney today, Samsung's 2010 LED and plasma televisions were revealed to include advanced integrated media functionality to rival Sony's BRAVIA Internet video service. The televisions have Ethernet networking ports, and a wireless 802.11n network adapter can be purchased for $79. When connected to the Internet, the televisions can access a range of applications such as YouTube, Twitter, a weather forecasting service and Google's Picasa image storage site. A Skype application allows the television to be used as a videophone — a compatible multimedia-over-IP camera will be available for purchase from Skype for approximately $210. It has multi-directional microphones and a wide-angle lens to suit lounge rooms.
Samsung also showed off its new plasma and LED televisions' DLNA streaming capabilities — dubbed AllShare — with 720p video streamed wirelessly from a networked PC. Some mobile phones and digital still cameras are also DLNA-compliant. A Samsung representative showed pictures streaming between a Samsung ST5500 Wi-Fi enabled digital camera and a television. The inclusion of DLNA streaming in Samsung's televisions means that a media centre PC will not be required for viewing some compressed video formats.
Telstra's BigPond TV video-on-demand platform will also be available on Samsung televisions within the next 12 months. Chris Taylor, director of Telstra Media, announced that an in-principle agreement would mean television and movie content will be available for download on Samsung televisions through an application currently in development.
Samsung's 2010 LED and plasma televisions will be available in stores from April 19.
