Just hours before the Xbox 360's newest dashboard update hits tomorrow morning (10:00 a.m. GMT), our friends at Joystiq noticed the list of movies available for Netflix Watch Instantly streaming has suddenly dropped. The culprit? Sony Pictures Home Entertainment subsidiary Columbia Pictures, flicking previously available titles like Superbad, Bad Boys, and We Own the Night over to "Not available on Xbox" status (curiously, SPHE movies are still available to all.) Word from the official Netflix blog cites "the ebb and flow" of what is available on license at any given time causing a few hundred titles to be "temporarily" unavailable on the console, while still open for streaming for other devices, with an eye towards licensing them for the Xbox 360 soon. There's no way to know what movies won't work until adding them to your queue, so when you find your Karate Kid trilogy watching time suddenly wide open for more Gears of War 2 or Left 4 Dead action, just remember you have Sony to thank.

[Via Joystiq & Multiplayer]

Given just how far VUDU has been getting into the custom install game, it's no shock at all to see it produce a set-top-box that's less STB and more integrator-friendly. The 1U rack-mountable XL2 sports a classic black motif and plays nice with systems from leading control and automation manufacturers such as Crestron, Logitech, Netstreams, Nevo and Philips. You'll be able to enjoy the spoils of integrated IP / IR control, a 1TB internal hard drive, optical / coaxial / RCA audio outputs and an HDMI port. Sadly, the XL2 can't be purchased online, meaning you'll have to coax a local installer to sell you one for $1,299.

[Via Electronic House]

Chalk another one up for MPEG-LA, as the licensing group's members have dropped lawsuits against Vizio stemming from the one-time value HDTV company's refusal to license MPEG-2 technology, claiming it's suppliers had already paid the necessary fees. Despite Amtran's pleas, just like Target's TruTech brand televisions and DVD players, that argument appears to have quickly folded, . It remains to be seen what direct effect this will have on price, but between this and Vizio's notable Black Friday absence they must be serious about changing to a more upscale image, we wonder if Sony will invite them to a special reception. (Warning: PDF read link)

Man, you just can't win these days. So Apple offers up an energy-efficient, forward-thinking Mini DisplayPort on its latest MacBook / MacBook Pro, and now users that are still rocking displays sans HDCP-compliant HDMI / DVI ports are up fecal's creek without a paddle. Apparently select content in the iTunes Store is laced in HDCP, which isn't all that unexpected in and of itself; the problem comes in when you realize that the new unibody machines don't offer a VGA / VGA-to-component output, meaning that you have to connect it to an HDCP-compliant display if you want to see anything. We know, one word in particular keeps coming to mind to describe this fiasco: awesome.

It took 'em long enough, but Netgear has at long last decided to ship the two powerline adapters it announced way back at CES in January. The Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit (XAVB101; pictured above), which is based on the HomePlug AV standard, and the UPA-based HDXB111 Powerline HD Plus Ethernet Adapter Kit (which is obviously capable of transmitting HD footage) can both be snapped up in time for the holidays. Each set is designed for plug 'n play action and for those who'd rather network their wares via installed cabling instead of running something new. Of course, performance is always the questionable aspect of these type devices, but those with faith (and a North American address) can finally lay down their $149.99 / $169.99 and get busy. The full release and a shot of the HDXB111 can be found after the break.

Just last week we heard that Warner Bros. was ending its home video / DVD business in South Korea due to rampant piracy, and now we've got a report from China suggesting that sophisticated pirates are duping buyers with faux Blu-ray Discs that are actually DVDs. As the story goes, movie pirates in select parts of Asia are ripping bona fide BDs and then burning them in AVCHD format (which uses 720 horizontal lines of resolution compared to Blu-ray's 1,080) on writable DVDs. Word on the street has it that these discs are being offered for around $7 each, and they even boast the BD hologram and the iconic blue hues on the packaging. Reportedly, none of the discs have made it outside of Asia just yet, but stay sharp should you ever get the urge to snag a discounted BD title while traveling abroad.

[Image courtesy of UberGizmo]

Okay, so maybe Memorex's Profile 1.1 MVBD-2510 was only $269 from the get-go, but busting through the unofficial $150 price barrier is a pretty big deal for Blu-ray. Granted, we're totally expecting a few more to join the fold come Black Friday, but who's not all about buying from the comfort of one's home versus braving frigid temperatures only to catch eight airborne diseases and shave 2.85 years from your life due to statistically significant levels of stress on a day off? Bottom line: $139.99 for a BD deck is pretty darn cheap (even for Woot's standards), and even if there's no BD-Live support baked in, it'll still handle the 1080p basics. Order now, debate later.

[Thanks, Jamil]

If you skipped Walmart's pre-Black Friday festivities pat yourself on the back, as -- despite its lawyers hard work C&Ding unauthorized early ad postings into oblivion -- CNNMoney reveals the "doorbuster" highlights probably not worth getting trampled for this year. Between 5-10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving the already-discounted Magnavox Blu-ray player drops from $198 to $128 (a BDP-S300 might still be a better value), 50-inch Samsung plasma of unspecified resolution is only $798 (720p, bet on it), and Xbox 360 + Guitar Hero III & wireless guitar pack (all the real plastic guitar aficionados have moved on to Rock Band 2) drops in for $199. Slightly lower profile are a $398 HP desktop PC and $175 gas grill but c'mon, we all know it's the high definition (it'll be a lonely holiday without the suddenly too-good for us Vizio) that will have you shivering outside your local retailer with the soccer moms and other deal hunters.

[Thanks, Jason]

You know, we typically have nothing but respect for the For Dummies line (with one title in particular being our fav), but this is just downright insulting. For those buying a new HDTV on Black Friday or soon after, 4D Global Partners and Cables To Go have linked up schemed to sucker you into buying this pathetic kit for hooking things up. Ironically enough, this supposedly simple package gets confusing right from the get-go by coming in two versions -- as if HDTV newbies will really understand which one to go for. Beyond that, the only difference between the HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies and the HDTV Premium Cable Kit For Dummies is the number of HDMI cables (two and three, respectively). Each box comes bundled with a few basic HDMI connectors, "additional cables required to connect non-HDMI components," reusable cable ties and a booklet that provides vague installation details for a TV you don't actually own. Worst of all, the For Dummies crew somehow got the idea that pricing these at $99.99 and $149.99 (in order of mention) was a bright idea, which makes us awfully suspicious that Noel Lee has his sketchy hands in this somewhere.

At this point, the whole subtly curvaceous / glossy black motif on the SyncMaster line has become a tad unexciting, but we suppose it still gets the job done. Today, Samsung has unleashed five new ones to chew on, and if you weren't an expert on spotting differences in dimensions, you'd have a tough time telling them apart. For starters, we've got the 15.6-inch SyncMaster 633NW and 18.5-inch 933SN, both of which get stuck with just a VGA port and a 1,360 x 768 resolution. Movin' on up, we see the 20-inch 2033SW (1,600 x 900) and 21.5-inch 2233SW / 23-inch 2333SW (1,920 x 1,080), all of which tout a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5-millisecond response time, 170-degree viewing angles, DVI / VGA inputs and 300 cd / m2 brightness. Expect the whole lot to show up in Japan within the next month for ¥18,000 ($187) to ¥30,000 ($312).

Okay, so maybe Atlona Technologies' latest whiz-bang adapter isn't that awesome, but then again, it's pretty awesome. The AT-HDPiX USB-to-HDMI adapter does precisely what it says by enabling any PC / digital signage display to accept an HDMI cable so long as a USB 2.0 socket is currently unoccupied. The device supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 (or 720p), and because it takes audio from a 3.5-millimeter stereo jack rather than through the USB port, the full bandwidth of the USB connection is reserved for high-def video. Expect this miracle worker to start shipping next month for $179.

Bang & Olufsen knows as well as anybody that you can't (usually) compete only on design and quality these days, people want functionality, and the much rumored, newly official BeoSound 5 is just such a monster. The unit is controlled by the BeoSound 5 controller, a rather large "remote" with a 10.4-inch XGA LCD and an aluminum scroll wheel. On the back end there's a 500GB BeoControl 5 music server running Windows XP Embedded with internet connectivity and patent pending intelligent playlist creation. Naturally there are outputs and inputs galore, and it's not just for audio: the box pumps out DVI-I and HDMI, and can play back plenty of video formats. Oh, but then there's the price. B&O isn't budging on this front, with a £3,500 tag (about $5,262 US) for when this hits in March 2009. We'll take two.

[Via SlashGear]

The new Yankee Stadium is going to be all tech-ed up by Cisco, according to an announcement made by Hal Steinbrenner on an impressive telepresence conference call this morning. The partnership has already yielded about $15 million of wiring and infrastructure for the stadium, with more promised. So what does this mean for you, the rabid Yankees fan, at the game? Well, they're calling it a new "fan experience," but for now, it essentially boils down to 1,100 HD video monitors all over the stadium doing things like playing "interactive" video, giving stats in real time, and offering the ability to do truly wild stuff like order concessions from your seat and see how long the line at the nearest bathroom is. If it sounds too good to be true well, it's not -- kind of. Most of these features will supposedly be available when the stadium opens, though only in the luxury boxes... but Steinbrenner claims that infrastructure is already in place which will allow the stadium to provide these extras for everyone in the house eventually. We also hear there's going to be WiFi throughout the stadium, and that one 16 ounce Budweiser will run you $24.50. As long as we can count on them to use those thousand monitors to get people to do the wave while listening to "Cotton-Eyed Joe," we're there.

[Via The LoHud Yankees Blog; Thanks Joe P.]

Technological progress marches forward, assimilating all those who resist -- we know this well in our line of work, but sometimes you've got to stand up and say, "The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!" Take the digital TV transition in the United States for example: all the analog TV signals will be shut off in February. It won't be pretty, but it'll be progress. Hawaii, though, has a dilemma: it just so happens that the analog towers that'll be torn down are awfully close to the nests of the state's adorable and endangered petrel birds, whose nesting season also occurs in February. Hence Hawaii's digital switch will occur a month early on January 15th, so you 17,000 affected Hawaiians have that much less time to grab converter boxes, or you'll end up watching the next season of Lost in person on your beautiful beaches instead of your ancient tube televisions.

2Wire's announced a 7-inch square set-top box designed to "bridge television and the internet." Called MediaPoint, it seems to be nearly identical to every media streamer we've seen -- it will multitask as a digital media player that delivers HD video and access streaming media on your home network via broadband. The box will boast HDMI ouput, WiFi, USB expansion, UPnP and DLNA compatibility. Sounds unbelievably enticing, right? Well, unlike most media streamers, you'll have to buy MediaPoint through a broadband service provider which will distribute the boxes under their own branding, and you'll presumably have to pay a subscription fee -- hopefully so you can enjoy some WWE Raw. Wow! So a product that's pretty much the same as a bunch of things that already exist, but we get to deal with a cable / internet service provider? Sounds fun, where do we sign up? They're expected to be available "very soon" though there's no word on pricing plans for the box or the subscriptions.

[Via Electronista]