I have to admit, when a show gets a lot of pre-release hype, I’m a little bit leery. All too often in the past, shows that have gotten a lot of POW!BANG!BOOM! from the networks have turned out to be clunkers in which the network was heavily invested and desperate to see succeed. (Please do not even get me started on Nickelodeon’s campaign with “The Fresh Beat Band.” It won’t be pretty.)

So I approached “Flash Forward” with a hearty amount of skepticism. For weeks, I’d heard “From the people who brought you LOST, a new series that WILL TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY BLOW YOUR ENTIRE MIND APART!!!!” Okay, I’m exaggerating, but this show got a lot of hype, most of it centering around “From the creators of LOST” which are some pretty darn big shoes to fill. (LOSTies, you know what I’m saying here, right?)

Imagine my surprise when I sat down, turned this show on and suddenly, it grabbed my hand, threw me into the passenger seat and said, “Come on! This is going to be one heck of a ride.” AND IT WASN’T LYING. It was fully serious. I was hooked from the moment I saw a battered Joseph Fiennes (Agent Mark Benford) climb out of a flipped over car crying out for “Demetri.”

That ride hasn’t lost any of its thrill in the two episodes since the premiere. I’m just as intrigued about why the world blacked out for 137 seconds as I was in the beginning. I’m just as ready to know what the heck is going on. And I’m going to say something that might have LOST fans ready to send me some hatemail – this show is the answer to my “What will I do when LOST is over” question. Kids, I can’t lie – this show lives up to its hype.

The cast is superb. The plot moves and grooves and sends you unexpected places to ask unexpected questions. It leaves you wanting more, more, more and MORE. While I freely admit I’m a TV junkie, I will also point out that I’m addicted to good television, and this, my friends, most certainly fits the bill. So, please, do yourselves a favor and add this to your Thursday night lineup.

Known initially as The Venice Project, Joost is arguably the highest-profile internet TV service available. It was created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa (both of which enjoyed their own success, popularity and notoriety). Joost promises to deliver television programming and a variety of other content directly to your PC screen. When it was originally launched (in beta), the service attracted attention from the media as well as network TV companies. Most expected it to become the next YouTube, a dominating force that would shake age-old industry dinosaurs to their foundations.

Since then, Joost has been released out of beta. Its inventory of content continues to grow as it negotiates deals with several online and offline properties. Though it’s too early to determine whether Joost will fulfill the expectations of others, we can offer a review of the service.

Content

When launched in beta, Joost’s content offerings were limited. Today, they’ve aggressively expanded their service to include popular programs such as CSI, The Young and the Restless and Ghost Whisperer. Plus, they’ve devoted a part of their service to stream sporting events like golf tournaments and mixed martial arts fights. Joost has also developed specialized channels that are devoted to small segments of content. For example, Amy Winehouse fans will delight in finding a channel dedicated to streaming her music videos. The Australian Food TV channel is devoted to streaming the best of Australian cooking shows. Joost still has plenty of room to continue expanding its content library. But, recent expansions show promise.

Interface

When you first launch Joost, it opens in full-screen mode. You’re provided with an intuitive control panel that includes functions that you would expect (pause, play, stop, volume controls, etc.). It’s reminiscent of the controls for a digital cable service. The control bar includes a search function which allows you to find programs based upon words you type. This will undoubtedly grow more useful as Joost’s content inventory grows. A very nice feature is their channel browser. It allows you to scroll through various programs to choose which to download. The overall appeal of Joost’s interface makes navigating through the service’s features easy, convenient and intuitive.

Widgets And Plugins

Here’s an area where Joost set itself apart from other internet TV services early in its development. Not only do they offer plenty of widgets like instant messaging, chat and a ratings system, they’ve also provided a Joost Widget Developer Site. This allows Joost users to create their own widgets, resulting in the development of a Facebook widget (appropriately called JoostBook), an encyclopedia widget and Joostmarks, a bookmarking widget. To encourage new developers, Joost even provides widget code samples for them to model. As online services and websites become more interactive, Joost’s willingness to allow others to develop their widgets is a smart move that leverages others’ creativity.

Using Joost For Convenient Programming

Free TV over the internet carries inherent benefits. You don’t need to plan your days around the scheduling of your favorite programs. But, Joost goes far beyond to deliver a convenient solution for those who want free TV programming, an eclectic choice of channels devoted to particular tastes and the interactivity needed to make the experience personal. With the financial backing of behemoths like Sequoia Capital along with the creativity of its founders, Joost may indeed by poised to turn the industry on its head.

This Review Was Updated September 5th 2010

Verdict: The Dish Network Family Package is a great choice for families who want a variety of educational and kid friendly programming as well as movies and interesting programs for parents.

If you have a family and are looking for Satellite TV service, Dish Network has a family plan that may be just right for you. After hearing about the family package I decided to sign up and give it a try because I have a family of my own. With my previous package I had a lot of movie channels and what not that aren’t exactly appropriate for my kids and I want them to be watching something educational and engaging at the same time.

The Dish Network Family Package (also called Dish Family)includes popular television channels and shows not only for kids but for adults as well. You receive 40 family oriented channels with this package. My wife and I like to sit down a watch a movie every once and awhile so we needed other content besides kids programming. We were pleasantly surprised with the Dish Network Family package however because it provides your family with something for just about everyone.

I am a big fan of the Discovery Channel and other Discovery Networks because the whole family can watch most of the shows on there together. I was happy to discover that with the Family Plan there are multiple Discovery networks such as The Discovery Channel, TLC, The Science Channel, Discovery Kids, and Discovery Times. The Dish Network Family Package also has networks that your kids will enjoy like Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Games & Sports, Nick Toons, and more.

One thing that I really love about the Dish Network service in general is the parental controls on the receiver. You can easy monitor the channels your kids watch by blocking channels with inappropriate content. I have had this set up for awhile so this is just icing on the cake with the Family Package.

Overall I was very pleased with the amount of family oriented content that the Dish Network Family Package has to offer. If you have a family I highly recommend this package if you are going to sign up for Dish Network. There are a ton of educational channels that will keep you and your kids entertained for hours. You may even want to try to transfer to this package if you are a current subscriber.

You can Sign Up for Dish Network Family Package Here.

Conclusion: The best software around for burning DVD’s, HD DVDs and Blue-ray disks. Loaded with features and an easy to use interface.

I just upgraded one of my computers to Windows Vista in hopes that I would have a better multimedia experience than on XP. Well there were a lot of improvements and I was able to turn my PC into a center for multimedia however, I wanted to move a lot of the shows and movies off my computer and watch them in either my DVD player or my Blue-ray player.

I was looking for software that could burn Blue-ray and HD DVD disks as well as DVDs and thats when I came across CyberLink Power2Go 6. Power2Go has been around awhile as DVD burning software and has established a very reputable name however what really incited me about Power2Go 6 was the fact that it could burn the next gen formats like Blue-ray. Power2Go 6 can burn CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blue-ray Disks. When I upgraded my computer to Vista I also added a Blue-ray burner (I know, I like to stay on top of my game) and I couldn’t wait to test it out.

Cyberlink Power2Go 6 has a brand new interface that is easy to navigate and use. Although I haven’t seen the interface on previous versions, the new interface has the same look and feel as Windows Vista – clean and glossy. The interface relies heavily on icons which as easy to understand and help you navigate and work quicker.

If you have Windows Vista you can also install a Windows sidebar widget for Power2Go that allows you to burn files right from the Vista sidebar. Although you don’t have quite as much control over the burning settings and what not, if you need to burn something onto a disk fast, this is a VERY useful feature.

Although Power2Go offers a ton of burning features, I often don’t like a very technical view and the software accommodates this by offering a simplified burning process. You just select the file, select where you want to burn it and your good to go. If you do like to mess around with the setting, there are A TON of them and you can choose data settings, auto-run, burning speed, and more.

I often move a lot of files from my home computer to work, and I use a password encrypted flash drive but it just doesn’t have the capacity of a DVD or Blue-ray disk. With Power2Go 6 you can protect disks you burn with 128-bit encryption and you can hide file names as well as choose to protect the entire just or just select files and data. I think I will be utilizing this feature a lot when the price of blank Blue-ray disks comes down a bit.

I also used Power2Go 6 to rip some of my CD’s to MP3s. Although this is a feature that has been present in programs for awhile, I’m glad that it was included in the software because It saves me the time of having open up iTunes or an additional program.

Overall Power2Go 6 is the most powerful DVD, HD DVD, and Blue-ray burning software. There are a ton of features that I didn’t have the chance to touch upon – pretty much everything you can think of is included in this program. I love the slick interface and icons. Power2Go 6 makes the burning process fast and easy and thats what’s most important.

You can find out more about Power2Go6 and Buy it Here

Conclusion: If you want to watch DVD’s on your PC this is the software to get. Its powerful, Its easy to use, and its loaded with just about every feature you will ever need.

I’m a big movie buff and over the years I’ve collected a ton of DVDs that I enjoy watching on my home theater system. Now you would think that this would be great, however there is a slight problem. These days I’m hardly ever home to use my home theater. I have been working a lot of long days recently and so I usually end up watching new DVDs I buy on my PC.

I have been using CyberLink’s PowerDVD software longer than I can remember. I think I discovered it about 5 years ago (I think it was CyberLink PowerDVD 3 then). Recently I decided to upgrade to CyberLink PowerDVD 7 because of the new features and I was overdue for an upgrade.

Once I downloaded and installed the software from the PowerDVD site I started it up and instantly I noticed huge improvements with the interface. I started to explore and play around with it a bit and discovered that there are now 5 UI modes to choose from as well as multiple skins. This is a great feature for me because I love customizing my programs so that they are easier to use visually.

I am also a minimalist and the Mini Mode was really a great addition. With Mini Mode you can control your DVD from the Windows Task Bar without having to have a full interface. PowerDVD 7 also sports a great Full Screen Mode that turns your computer screen into a TV expanding the DVD to fit the entire screen. Even though I enjoyed customizing the skin and playing with the UI modes, I mainly ended up using the program in Mini Mode just because it eliminates the interface and unnecessary clutter.

One of the biggest additions in PowerDVD 7, and something I was really excited to try was the added support for Blue-ray and HD DVD movies. You can now watch all of your high definition movies including Blue-Ray and HD DVD with PowerDVD. Full surround sound is also supported which is great if you have a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system hooked up. When I put on “The Fifth Element” in Blue-Ray I actually had to turn down my subwoofer to avoid disturbing my neighbors.

The High Definition Playback with PowerDVD was unbelievably sharp, I was blown away – I’m not sure if this was because of the software or the Blue-ray movie but regardless it looks spectacular. I have a 27 inch widescreen Dell monitor so I can really appreciate HD compared to the standard DVD format. CyberLink is definitely taking their product in the right direction by supporting the various HD Formats. Although I was not able to test out the HD DVD support (I have a Blue-ray player) everything ran smoothly and I cant stress just how amazing the picture quality is with these HD formats.

One of my favorite features of PowerDVD 7 is actually a feature that is easily overlooked called Video Bookmarks. This feature allows you to “Bookmark” certain scenes in a movie, similar to the way you bookmark your favorite websites with your internet browser.

Overall I’m really glad I upgraded to PowerDVD 7. There are a ton of new features and the HD Playback is a major step forward. Although there are some minor interface issues I would like to see improved overall the interface additions and improvements are welcomed and the Mini Mode is great. If you are looking to watch DVD’s, HD DVDs, or Blue-ray Disks on your computer I highly recommend CyberLink PowerDVD 7.

Verdict: Overall a good service, ability to return movies to the store is something Netflix can’t compete with.

Recently we have launched a section of the site that provides information on Online Movie Rental services. After recently reviewing Netflix, I thought I would give Blockbuster Online a shot as well.

Signing up for Blockbuster Online only took a few minutes, about the same time as Netflix. The clear advantage of Blockbuster that was apparent from the start was the fact that you can rent and return your movies from the store as well as online. This is great if you want to rent something at the last minute and don’t want to wait for your movie to come in one business day.

When renting from the store the service works exactly the same was as online. The amount of movies you can take out at one time depends on your plan, the less expensive plan lets you take out one movie at a time, and the best plan let you take out 3.

Once I signed up I made a list of movies I wanted just like on Netflix and they arrived the next day. I watched the movies that night. Everything worked and the movies were in pretty good condition. When I was reviewing Netflix one of the movies was almost unplayable, so it was nice to see that the movies I received from Blockbuster were fairly new. I don’t know if they do a quality check or we just lucked out, but either way we didn’t have a problem.

After I was done with those movies I mailed them back, and the next round of movies arrived in a few days. I wanted to see how the service at the store was, so instead of sending these movies back I returned them to the store. The employees were friendly and I found out that with my Blockbuster online plan I could rent movies from the actual Blockbuster store as well. This was a nice feature, however they do limit the number of in store movie exchanges you can do each month depending on your plan.

I think that ability to return and exchange movies in store is a really nice feature, however most people seem to sign up for online movie rental services for the convenece of being able have the movies delivered directly to your door, and not having to go to the store.

Overall and to my surprise, Blockbuster really held up to Netflix. I would recommend looking into both Blockbuster and Netflix if you want to rent movies online. If you are looking for a more flexible service than Netflix that allows you to return movies to an actual store instead of having to mail them back, Blockbuster is for you.

You can find out more about Blockbuster Online and Sign Up Here.

Verdict: Overall a great service. Movies arrive faster than you expect. 2 Week Free Trial is an awesome deal.

I’ve always been a huge movie buff, and to fuel my obsession I have just about every movie channel possible on Dish Network. That being said, I pay ALOT more than I would like to every month for TV. I have a family and although I do pretty well, sometimes the budget gets a bit tight. Over the past few months a lot of my friends have signed up for Netflix, and they have constantly been telling me how awesome it was.

Last week I finally decided to give in and I signed up through the Netflix website. They are currently giving a way a free trial that lasts 2 weeks, so it’s not like I would lose anything if the service sucked. I figured that if the service was as good as everyone said it was I could drop a lot of the premium movie channels I have and end up saving a good chunk of change every month.

During the Sign up process I chose the “2 DVDs at a time” plan that is around $14 a month. With this plan I also get to watch 14 hours of movies on my PC through the new service Netflix is offering that lets you download movies right to your computer. Although I already have a tv and movies on your PC program, I will give this a shot as well.

For those of you who don’t know how Netflix works, basically you visit the Netflix site, make a list of movies you want to see, and then with in about one business day you receive the first one or two movies on your list in the mail. You can keep the movies as long as you want. When your done with them you just put them back in the prepaid envelope and mail them back. Then in a few days, you get the next movies on your list. Its a pretty simple concept and over the past few years its been extremely successful (pretty much putting Blockbuster and other video rental stores out of business).

The clear advantage of Netflix to Blockbuster and Video Stores is that you do everything from the connivence of your home. It’s really convenient, and most people who join Netflix never go to a video store again. Netflix is also a lot less expensive then renting videos from stores, or from Pay Per View, and as I said before it’s a great alternative to paying for HBO, Showtime and other premium channels with Satellite or Cable.

So far I have received a few movies, and it really has taken only about one business day to receive my movies. I think this was what I was most skeptical about, however every time I check my mail, I’m usually surprised to find another movie waiting for me there. I’ve found the Netflix site pretty easy to use, and they have a great system that recommends movies based on movies that you have requested and movies on your list. Since I’ve already seen ALOT, and I mean ALOT of movies this has helped me discover new movies that I never even heard of.

Overall my experience with Netflix has been overwhelmingly positive. I will be keeping the service and probably canceling some of the premium movie channels I currently get through Dish Network. Once you sign up and get hooked on Netflix you don’t look back. I’m really glad that I ended up giving it a try, this is the best service I have used in a long time, and its not a surprise to me that as a company they are doing really well.

You can Learn More About Netflix and get a 2 week free trial here.

Verdict: Highly Recommended, Great Picture Quality, Thousands of Channels, No Monthly Fees.

When I look back, I have used and written about a TON of different programs that let you watch Satellite TV on your PC. Many of those programs were great at the time, however as internet speeds increase and technology advances some of those programs become obsoliet due to poor picture quality. This is not the case with Satellite TV For PC.

Satellite TV for PC’s 2007 Elite Edition, is probably the most advanced and most up to date Satellite TV on Your PC program out there. We were pleasantly surprised at the wonderful picture quality and great features that the software had to offer. The program only takes about 5 minutes to install and then you are good to go. Satellite TV For PC doesn’t require any extra hardware, you just download the software and you are ready to go. The programs interface is simple, yet easy to use and is loaded with features – and we mean loaded, this is one powerful piece of software.

Our favorite thing about the Satellite TV for PC software is the fact that there are no subscription fees. I love to watch television on my computer while I work and the fact that I get all the channels you get with premium cable and satellite services for free makes me feel all warm inside for some reason. I guess thats the feeling you get when you know your saving money.

As for channels, Satellite TV For PC has literally thousands of channels to choose from. Some of the channels include, CNN, CNBC, ESPN and FOX. There are channels for just about everything, so no matter what you are into there will be channels you will enjoy. The program also includes family friendly channels, and has parental controls so if your kids use it you can rest assured that they are watching appropriate content and programming.

Overall I loved Satellite TV For PC – 2007 Elite Edition, I think it moves Satellite TV on your PC forward in a really great direction. I will be recommending this software because of the great software, large number of channels, and the fact that there are no subscription fees. If you are looking for Satellite TV, go for this program – its a real jem.

You can find out more info and buy Satellite TV For PC – 2007 Elite Edition Here

Verdict: Easy To Use, Great Channels, No Monthly Frees. TV On Your PC Made Simple.

Learn more about My New Satellite TV Here

A few days ago we posted our initial impressions and introduction of the My New Satellite TV service. This service allows you to watch Satellite Television and Programming on your computer. In the past, we have found that Satellite TV programs like this can often be sophisticated and confusing, littered with technical terminology and jargon. After we downloaded and Installed My New Satellite TV, we were surprised at just how easy the program was to use, and install.

Installation took about 5 minutes and then we were on our way. There is no extra hardware required, you just install the software you download from their website on your computer. Even from the initial installation, the program looked really promising, I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to come out with decent software that allows you to watch tv on your pc. I can’t even count how many different programs I have tried to use that promised the same thing as this, but didn’t deliver.

My New Satellite TV has a lot of great programming in channels. When we say a lot of channels, we mean a LOT of channels. There are two different versions of the program that you can buy. The cheaper of the two ($49.95) comes with 1,500 Channels. The better version ($59.95) includes 2,500 channels! With both versions, there are channels for just about everything you can imagine, and the best part is they are the same channels you have to pay for to get on regular Satellite and Cable. This is probably the biggest advantage of the My New Satellite TV software, you pay once for the software and thats the only fee you ever pay. There is no monthly cost, no subscription fees, nothing.

Although the My New Satellite TV Software is easy to use, it also comes loaded with features. Since you receive so many channels its important to be able to sort through them by category, language or country. We would like to see a few more sorting options in newer versions (this is really one of the only cons we could find in the software, and trust me we looked hard) Despite the lack of sorting options, the sorting is a great feature and is sort of like a built in TV guide. There are a WIDE variety of channels to choose from, everything from kids programming to music, family, movie channels, sports channels and more.

We have found that another huge advantage of My New Satellite TV was the fact that you can get television channels from anywhere in the world. This is great for people who’s primary language isn’t English or for those who watch Soccer, which is a worldwide sport and often played in many different country and carried on many different channels.

If you have children, you know just how important parental controls are. My New Satellite TV comes with a built in ability to lock channels and make sure your kids are watching appropriate programming. The parental controls basically work the same was as with your Satellite or Cable service, you set a password and select which channels you want to lock.

Conclusion

Overall we give My New Satellite TV an A. We have never seen Satellite TV on Your PC software that was put together so well. As we said in our initial impressions, the price for the software is low, and there are no subscription fees, which is great. We are really impressed with My New Satellite TV, and I will be keeping the software as I said in the initial impressions post. If you are looking to watch Satellite TV on your PC, this is the way to go.

You can Buy My New Satellite TV Here

When people are looking to sign up for Satellite TV, they may notice that there are always a ton of different stores and dealers to sign up and get it at.  All of these different dealers say they offer the “Best Deals” and often try to offer free satellite equipment or even a few months of free service as an incentive to sign up with them.  What many people don’t know is that there are only a few “trusted” satellite television dealers, and they could be getting into a predicament by going with the wrong one.

Allsat is one of the original Dish Network dealers and has been around since Dish Network was formed in the mid 1990′s.  This has made them one of the most trusted satellite dealers.  Personally, I have had a lot of good experiences with Allsat and have recommended a lot of friends to them.  Since I am always referring to them in posts as the place to sign up for Satellite, I thought I would do a complete review of them and show you why I trust their service and refer people to them.

To me, probably the most important aspect of a company is the way they treat their customers.  Customer support is very important with any service, and satellite tv just happens to be a service.  I have gone through a lot of different satellite dealers, and in my experience AllSat clearly has the best customer service.  Every time I have had a question or problem it has been answered and fixed quicker than I have expected.  They make the process of signing up for satellite extremely easy which brings me to my next point..Easy of Use.

AllSat offers a great tool on their website called the Dish Designer.  This tool lets you design the Dish Network satellite system and service that is right for you.  Some of you may be new to satellite television and unfamiliar with some of the terminology on most sites.  With the Dish Designer it eliminates the hassle of having to know certain terms and names of specific pieces of hardware.  It makes it so anyone and their mom can sign up for Satellite and it provides a fast, and user friendly experience.

AllSat also offers a wide variety of legitimate promotions that you can get free programming and equipment from.  I believe the latest promotion they are offering is 100 Digital Channels, a Free DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and HD DVR Upgrade and Free Installation for just $30 a month.  With this deal they also give you Dish HD free for 6 months and HBO and Cinemax Free for 3 months.  Sure beats Cable !

The final point I really want to make is that AllSat provides everything you need in one place.  You can use their Dish Designer to find the perfect system for you, Ask questions through their great customer support, and even compare satellite providers.  They also offer High-Speed Internet packages through satellite that you can sign up for on their website as well.  I will continue to recommend AllSat as my number 1 pick for Dish Network Dealers, and if you are looking to get Dish Network I highly recommend going through them.   AllSat really has their stuff together.

You can check out AllSat and Sign Up for Dish Network Service through them Here