Streaming

The big game isn't far off, though we don't yet know which two teams will square off. The field is, however, narrowed down to four contenders. Will the Broncos or Patriots win? Can the Cardinals triumph in Carolina? Those questions will be answered soon and subsequently followed by two weeks of hype.

If you've disconnected your cable or satellite service and are wondering how you will catch the big game then Roku has a solution for you.

It's that time of the year. Campaign season, like the holiday shopping season, seems to begin earlier all the time. It's fascinating in some inexplicable way, but then again people slow down to look at car wrecks also. Regardless of who you are throwing your vote behind, it's good to watch the seemingly endless debates to get a feel for each candidate in the presidential election. And with Iowa right around the corner it's crunch time.

Tonight is the final Democratic debate and, unlike the plethora of folks on stage in the Republican contests, there are only three to focus on. We won't go into the good and bad of any of them, that's personal opinion and you should make up your own mind.

The NFL playoff games continue this weekend with some big contests including some of the hot teams. Those games require viewers to have cable or satellite TV, or do they? If you have a Roku device then there is a work-around to watch at least a couple of games.

Who will win it all? You'll need to watch the games to find out. Roku's CBS Sports Channel will bring them to you. Obviously this only brings you the AFC games, but that's at least half of the weekend. Today you can catch the Steelers and Broncos at 4:40 ET.

Netflix is set to clamp down on VPNs and proxy tools used to access its services. A large proportion of Netflix content is region specific, and to get around licensing issues it has become increasingly common for people to spoof their location so they can watch their desired videos.

Netflix says it is doing what it can to ensure that people around the world have access to the same content, but until this is officially the case, the company is looking to enforce geographic restrictions more stringently. In the coming weeks, anyone who uses a proxy is likely to find it impossible to access content that is not licensed for viewing in their country.

The wild card games are out of the way now and this weekend the NFL heads into the next round to find out which teams will square off in the respective championship matchups. Can the Patriots repeat? It's hard to say, especially since the squad limped into the playoffs, though a first week bye may have provided some recovery time.

If you aren't near a TV then you can still catch all of the action from Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and the rest. You'll be doing so via the radio broadcasts, but that's not too bad since you'll still have a play by play coverage option.

Following exhaustive tests, a BBC research team has confirmed that the H.265/HEVC video compression standard offers huge bitrate savings compared to H.264/AVC. The BBC R&D video coding research team focused primarily on UHD content and found bitrate savings of up to 50 percent.

With more and more content being streamed, and increasing demand for high definition and UHD content, finding ways to most efficiently deliver video will become increasingly important. The study found that greater savings were possible with larger pictures -- something the corporation says is key to the future of UHD delivery.

It has taken a while to sink in, but on 11 January the world became a sadder and duller place following the death of David Bowie. As fan around the world struggled to come to terms with the tragic and untimely loss, they turned to the one things they all have in common -- Bowie's music.

At turns an artist, actor, poet, digital pioneer, style icon, and cultural behemoth, Bowie was predominantly a musician. His (as it turned out) final album, Blackstar was released just days before his death, and the lyrics and video for the second single from the album -- Lazarus -- took on a new, beautiful and heart-wrenching meaning. Bowie meant a lot to people the world over, and the level of affection felt for the ever-inventive musical chameleon can be seen by the surge in digital downloads and streams of his albums on the likes of Spotify and iTunes.

Whole-home audio has become popular recently thanks to products like Sonos making it easy. In the old days speaker wires had to be fished through walls, but those days of cables and intense labor are gone. Now it can be done via a wireless means and almost everyone has a home network -- something else that was once the domain of geeks and experts.

Now one of the top-tier makers of home audio equipment is getting in on the act as Harman Kardon announces its newest offering at the Consumer Electronics Show taking place this week in Las Vegas.

Netflix, which began life as a DVD by mail service that took off, has been slowly expanding to countries not named the US. The growth speaks well for the business model and the company has long since left DVDs behind in favor of online streaming. That makes for easier expansion into new markets.

Today the company is announcing it is expanding to pretty much all markets. We'd list them here, but with more than 190 countries it would be tedious for you and us. That's 130 nations that previously did not have Netflix.

There's already a lot of noise coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, even though the actual event hasn't yet begun. It seems almost every company will have at least some sort of representation present in Sin City.

Set-top box maker Roku will be there to unveil its plans for 2016. The company claims it has grown its smart TV market from zero to eight percent this past year.

Earlier in this NFL season TuneIn landed a deal with the league to bring listeners radio broadcasts of all the games, which likely beefed up its subscriber numbers. Other sports were already participating in the broadcasts and now you can add one more to that list.

The National Hockey League is arriving on the streaming network, bringing radio broadcasts of the games for your favorite NHL teams from the US and Canada.

'Twas the night before Christmas and....the Beatles came to streaming services everywhere, making the rounds quicker than old Saint Nick. Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music and several others were the lucky recipients of this amazing catalog of tunes.

Now Spotify is revealing just how successful this launch has been, and the numbers revealed prove the band is still relevant 45 years after the members parted ways.

It's been a long and winding road to get the Beatles on your devices and streaming services, but you've finally reached your destination and the iconic band has given in to demand. Sadly two members of the Fab Four won't be around to experience this blockbuster event, but you can still enjoy the magical mystery tour of the group's catalog of hits and more obscure songs.

At 12:01am local time on December 24th the Beatles music officially launches on streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, Slacker, Tidal, Groove, Rhapsody, Deezer, Google Play and Amazon Prime.

Set-top boxes have become increasingly popular, with Amazon, Apple and Roku all on the market and doing well. One of the great things about these devices is the ability to easily search for whatever content you want, so what did people look for in 2015?

Well, the big one is, of course, movies and Back to the Future manages to edge The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part one. Others that made the cut into the top ten include Frozen, Jurassic Park and Gone Girl.

2016 is shaping up to be the year of 4K. Some is already available and much more is on the way, and there is a growing number of TVs that can handle it. For those purchasing a new set in the near future it is a prudent move to future-proof and be ready for what is coming.

Now UltraFlix is announcing its plans to provide a lot more content in the way of movies, TV shows and concerts, all using this new technology. The company boasts more than 1,000 Hollywood pictures as well as IMAX documentaries.