Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, and SanDisk Monday announced plans to jointly develop better security for memory cards, embedded memory, and other flash storage devices.

The joint effort aims to create ways to protect high-definition content that runs across multiple platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and Blu-ray players.

The companies said the so-called “Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative” will include the development of a unique ID technology for flash memory and copy protection based on public key infrastructure.

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Why the heck would Apple want to buy Hulu?

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve heard that question since Bloomberg reported last week that the two companies were in early talks. Apple, with its already extensive iTunes Store catalog of TV shows and movies, would seem to be a strange bedfellow for the predominantly TV-streaming site that’s jointly owned by big media names like News Corp, Comcast, and Disney.

While the attention has focused around why a Hulu-Apple deal doesn’t make sense, in some ways the two make perfect partners: Hulu has a large catalog of video content that consumers want to watch, and the licenses to stream them; Apple has proven experience in delivering content to users on a variety of devices. Despite what might seem like a considerable amount of overlap, there are good reasons why Apple might seriously consider acquiring Hulu.

Really, though, it comes down to just one: Apple has done TV, but it’s never done it right.

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As you may have heard, on Tuesday Netflix raised its rates for combined DVD and streaming subscriptions. Previously, customers on the one-DVD-at-a-time plan could also stream movies from the service’s Watch Instantly service, for $10 a month. Starting in September for existing customers (and immediately for new subscribers), the price for that plan jumps to $16 per month (other DVDs plans go up as well). Although there may be legitimate reasons why Netflix needs to charge more, many customers find themselves less than thrilled by that 60 percent price hike. I count myself among them.

I decided to take a closer look at Netflix’s new plans, and compare them to the offerings from various Netflix competitors. Is the newly pricier Netflix still the best option for my entertainment needs? Or should I jump ship?

My setup

Before you can adequately determine which movie and television subscription service to choose, you need to figure out what you want, as well as what services your entertainment setup supports. At my home, we’ve long relied on Netflix as an alternative to paying for premium movie channels. We’re aggressive about watching (and returning) our DVDs, and we use the Watch Instantly streaming service plenty too. We rent both movies and TV shows, and we use Watch Instantly when we have neither TiVo’d shows queued up nor a Netflix DVD at home. And we stream shows like Dora the Explorer and The Backyardigans for our kids.

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Even in a world where every Blu-ray player has an Internet connection and several streaming options, the NSZ-GT1 stands out. You can thank Google TV—which is Android for your television—for that. But lackluster image quality, a very high price tag ($400, price as of January 7, 2011) some poor design choices, and an infuriating remote control make this model a questionable choice—especially when matched against less-expensive, higher-image-quality models such as the Samsung BD-C7900 ( ) and the LG Electronics BX580 ( ).

Virtually all Blu-ray players these days can stream Netflix and at least one pay-per-view service, and most players work with YouTube and Pandora, as well. The NSZ-GT1 comes with all of these capabilities and a few more, including CNBC Real-Time, HBO Go (available only if you get HBO through your cable or satellite provider), the Onion, and Twitter. The not-yet-available Google TV Market promises to let you selectively add many more.

The NSZ-GT1 also comes with the Chrome browser, so you can surf the Web from your couch. This means that you can stream videos that aren’t available via the apps—in some cases, anyway. Since there’s no Comedy Central app on the player, I visited the Daily Show Website and watched a show segment that looked more than acceptable. But when I visited Hulu, the site recognized Google TV, blocked its videos, and promised a future app that would play Hulu Plus content exclusively.

In the spirit of Google TV, which tries to bring Internet video and traditional television together, Sony designed the NSZ-GT1 to be able to control and stream content from your set-up box or DVR. The idea is that all of your shows—whether they come over the Internet or arrive by more-traditional means—end up in the same cache. But the arrangement isn’t seamless. In most cases, you’ll need to use the included infrared blaster to make the other device do the player’s bidding. And the only video input connection on the NSZ-GT1 is HDMI, a design choice that freezes out basic cable and over-the-air broadcasts.

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Certainly it allows you to load music, photos, and home videos for easy viewing (more on the unit's excellent multimedia capabilities below), but you can use an inexpensive external hard drive for the same purpose and plug it into the BD590's USB port. Though the player offers a better user interface when you play media off of the hard drive, that advantage alone doesn't offset the higher price.

On the other hand, if you use Vudu's on-demand video service a lot, and if you prefer buying movies from that service to renting them, the hard drive becomes much more valuable. You can download the movies you buy to the drive, resulting in more-dependable playback and better rewind and fast-forwarding. Vudu's DRM policies prevent you from doing the same things with an external drive. In addition to Vudu, the BD590 brings CinemaNow, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and other Internet offerings via an ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to your home network.

The same network connection allows you to watch and listen to videos, photos, and music on local computers that are running a DLNA server program. Whether you play media over the network, use a USB storage device such as a flash drive, or rely on the internal hard drive, the BD590 supports .mp3 and .wma music files, .jpg image files, and a good selection of video codecs. You can also play a slideshow with music and transition effects.

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Almost any way you look at it, the Samsung BD-C6500 is a first-rate Blu-ray player. The picture quality is among the best we've seen to date, it has audio options that are particularly friendly to older home theater surround sound systems, and it brings Internet services like Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, and Pandora to your television, too. And at $225, this model won't break your wallet.

Our image quality judges gave it Superior grades (our highest) throughout our tests in the lab, with only a smattering of Very Goods. The colors in the computer animated Cars were exceptional. We noted better white balance (when compared to our reference player, a PlayStation 3) and extremely sharp and reflective water glasses in the first scene from the black and white Good Night and Good Luck. And the contrast was superb in chapters 4 and 20 of The Searchers: Skin colors looked especially dramatic, with the tanned, brown skin of the men marking a contrast against the paleness of the women.

It even managed to impress us at the more difficult job of upscaling DVDs. These didn't look as good as Blu-ray discs, of course, but we noted excellent facial details and dimensionality (by DVD standards) in a crowd scene from Phantom of the Opera (2004 version, chapter 3).

Great pictures should be accompanied by great sound, of course. Any Blu-ray player can send high-quality audio to a modern, HDMI-equipped surround receiver; it just has to send the bitstream down the wire. But older, pre-HDMI receivers can't decode the newer formats, and besides that, their optical S/PDIF inputs couldn't handle that much data. Most Blu-ray players support this older hardware by converting Dolby TrueHD to Dolby Digital, DTS-HD Master Audio to DTS, and surround PCM to downmixed, two-track PCM.

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The Panasonic DMP-BD65P's $150 price makes it downright tempting, especially for a Blu-ray player that also streams video via the Internet. But a clumsy remote control and poorly designed on-screen menus make it difficult to use. And the images that the player sends to your HDTV, while usually good and occasionally very good, can't match what we've seen from the best players.

Our image quality judges, for the most part, often found the DMP-BD65P to be slightly better than our reference player, the Sony PlayStation 3. The colors in the animated Cars (chapter 1) were slightly better. Judging from the black and white Good Night and Good Luck (also chapter 1), the white balance was an improvement—by just a bit. There was more contrast and detail in chapter 3 of the Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray (2004 version). One judge thought the DVD version of the same scene was slightly superior to the PS3, but I thought it was slightly worse. In Mission: Impossible III's chapter 7, I simply couldn't see a difference.

The sole exception: It clearly surpassed the PS3 in chapters 4 and 20 of The Searchers, earning its only Superior scores. Why that film and not the others? Perhaps there's something about the lush, 1956-style Technicolor and Vistavision photography that the DMP-BD65P could handle better than it could more recent films.

The DMP-BD65P comes with quite a few Internet streaming video options, including the usual Netflix and YouTube. Netflix is still the older interface, which requires you to set up your Instant Queue of movies on a computer (by contrast, the Vizio VBR200W allows you to select movies directly, without your computer). The Netflix image quality is watchable, but as expected nowhere close to Blu-ray.

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Measuring less than an inch and a half thick, with a slot instead of a tray for discs, the BD-HP90 looks like no other Blu-ray player. In fact, it looks great. You even have the option to lay it flat or mount it vertically.

This original design has some problems, however. To make the BD-HP90 look sleek, Sharp tucked the HDMI, ethernet, power, and other connectors into a hidden compartment. The result: You can't plug anything in without first turning the player upside down. And the bundled stand for mounting the player vertically isn't stable unless you drill a hole in the desk or table you plan to mount it onto and screw it down.

Once you turn the BD-HP90 on and go to the Settings menu, you'll find a functional but unexceptional user interface. It offers explanations for the options, but they're not always helpful. For instance, the Control Panel option is explained with the question "Do you want to turn on the control panel function?" You have to check the manual to discover that the control panel is part of HDMI CEC.

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Our lab doesn't test 3D image quality, but the 2D quality wavered between very good and superb. It always outdid our reference player, a Sony PlayStation 3, and in only one test (chapter 3 of the Phantom of the Opera DVD) was the contest even close.

It received straight Superb scores on our black-and-white Good Night and Good Luck Blu-ray test (chapter 1), as well as on our large-format test using the Blu-ray of The Searchers (chapters 4 and 20). The detail on both of these was astonishing, revealing props and minutiae not visible with the PlayStation 3. The Searchers, shot in 1956 in a large format called VistaVision, looked the way we'd expect a big-budget Western from that era to look. The deep colors showed heavy saturation without seeming artificial.

The images weren't quite as impressive in chapter 7 of the Mission: Impossible III Blu-ray. Perhaps because of that sequence's bright, Mediterranean sunlight, the scene exhibited a tad too much contrast. Detail was still excellent, though.

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No one would mistake the Insignia NS-WBRDVD2 for a great Blu-ray player. Its images, while often very good, don't measure up to the best players. It can't access media files off your home network. And using it can often be clumsy and irritating. But you have to expect some drawbacks in a $150 player.

The drawbacks start when you turn it on for the first time and go through the initial setup wizard. The NS-WBRDVD2's menus have a clean, attractive appearance, but in one respect, they're a little too clean. No onscreen explanations help you with your choices. For instance, the TV Aspect setting has options like "16:9 Pillarbox" and "4:3 Letter Box," but doesn't describe what these mean. (For an explanation, see Why Do I Still Get Black Bars On My HDTV?.)

The manual doesn't help much, either. It describes, but doesn't show, how to tell what kind of TV you have, and fails to define terms like Pillarbox.

Another shortcoming will probably hit you the second time you turn on the player. Unlike every other Blu-ray player I have looked at, you cannot turn on the NS-WBRDVD2 by pressing either of the Open/Close buttons (the one on the player or the one on the remote). When you want to play a disc, you must first turn on the player, then wait for it to power up, and then press Open/Close.

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Tthe BX580 produced particularly impressive results in our regular 2D tests. It received grades of Superb on most of our tests, and never scored less than Very Good.

It received its worst scores (straight Very Goods) on our Phantom of the Opera DVD test (chapter 3). Even there, the sense of depth it produced in one long shot was simply amazing--for a DVD, of course. In other shots, however, it showed only slightly more detail than our reference player, a Sony PlayStation 3.

No such qualifications are necessary when praising its Blu-ray image quality. Everything looked dark in a night scene from The Searchers (chapter 20), yet no details were lost, and John Wayne's suspenders seemed to jump out of the screen. In the black-and-white Good Night and Good Luck test (chapter 1), extras who looked out of focus on the PS3 were near razor-sharp here. And on the Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray test (chapter 3), we saw makeup details on an opera singer that we'd never noticed before.

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Creating a Mac mini-based media center and finding the right combination of hardware and software can be a lot of hard work. At Macworld 2011, OWC demoed its attempt to simplify the process.

The system is built around the 2010 Mac mini ( ), which you provide, and includes the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 4-bay RAID with either 4TB, 8TB, or 12TB of storage.

OWC will also install the Plex Media Center software, and create folders on the RAID that link to the software. The company also pre-loads HandBrake and MakeMKV to let you rip your purchased DVDs and Blu-ray discs for use with the system. An external Blu-ray drive will be an optional add-on, as will be additional RAM and either Elgato’s EyeTV HD ( ) or EyeTV Hybrid ( ) TV viewing/recording hardware.

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On Friday, Orb Networks announced Orb BR, software that lets you use your Internet-connected Blu-ray player to stream content from your computer to your TV.

The $20 Orb BR, which should be available by the end of February, comes on a disc that you insert into almost any Internet-connected Blu-ray player or PlayStation 3. Once you install the free Orb Caster server software on your Intel Mac running OS X 10.5 or later (or PC running Windows XP, Vista, or 7), you can use the free Orb Controller iPhone app to control playback.

You can watch TV shows from sources such as Hulu, CBS, ABC, Comedy Central, and YouTube; stream movies from Netflix and Amazon On Demand; and access audio, video, and photo content from your computer.

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If you’re interested in shelling out more money for watching ad-supported television, then you’re in luck: Hulu Plus is now out of preview and available to all. The video-streaming site officially launched its premium program on Wednesday with a new partner and a new price.

Hulu has followed in the footsteps of Netflix by teaming up with hardware manufacturers to build in support for its service. The newest addition is Roku, which has announced that support for Hulu Plus is now available on all of its networked players, both past and present. That’s in addition to Hulu Plus’s existing support for the PlayStation 3, iPad, and iPhone and its forthcoming appearance on Blu-ray players, HDTVs, DVRs, and the Xbox 360.

In addition, Hulu announced that it would drop the price of the service’s monthly subscription fee from $10 to $8 and that new subscribers will get a free week to try the service out. Users who had already signed up will get both a refund of the difference in prices as well as a credit for a free week. Plus, if you refer a friend to Hulu Plus, both they and you can get two free weeks.

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Samsung has brought out its first portable Blu-ray 3D player, as well as 3D TVs priced starting at $1100, in an effort to make 3D products accessible to buyers.

The BD-C8000 player allows users to watch full high-definition movies on the go, or to watch 3D movies when connected to a 3D TV, said John Revie, Samsung senior vice president of home entertainment, at a press event in New York.

The portable player has a 10.3-inch screen and built-in Wi-Fi. It runs about three hours on batteries and connects to 3D TVs via an HDMI 1.4a port. The HDMI specification allows for content in 3D formats to be transferred between devices, including movies based on the Blu-ray 3D format.

The player is priced at $500 and is available now, according to the company.

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Currently, Sonic’s RoxioNow distribution technology and Widevine’s multiplatform DRM and video-optimization technology powers products such as Best Buy’s CinemaNow movie purchase and rental service.

By expanding the technology to work on devices such as the iPhone (and the iPad and iPod touch), you’ll be able start watching a movie using your TiVo or Internet-connected HDTV or Blu-ray player, and then head out the door and continue from where you left off by streaming directly to your iPhone, for example.

[Editor’s note: The MPAA and most media companies argue that you can’t legally copy or convert commercial DVDs for any reason. We (and others) think that, if you own a DVD, you should be able to override its copy protection to make a backup copy or to convert its content for viewing on other devices. Currently, the law isn’t entirely clear one way or the other. So our advice is: If you don’t own it, don’t do it. If you do own it, think before you rip.]

Regular readers of this column know that I’m a classical music fan. As such, I have a number of Blu-ray discs of classical concerts and operas. I recently got it into my head that I wanted to rip the audio from some of these to be able to listen to them on my office stereo. I wasn’t interested in the surround-sound mixes—I don’t have the appropriate equipment to play back music in such formats—just the stereo tracks. So, to this end, I bought an external Blu-ray drive and set out to figure out how to get the music from my Blu-ray discs into my iTunes library. (I’ve already written about doing this from DVDs, and assumed it would be a similar process.)

For starters, you probably know that Macs don’t support Blu-ray playback. Famously described as a “bag of hurt” by Steve Jobs, Blu-ray uses a complex system of digital rights management and High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). Apple clearly doesn’t want to get involved in such licensing issues, and feels that if you want HD movies on your Mac, you should simply buy or rent them from the iTunes Store. Given that there seem to be no classical recordings in the iTunes Store’s Movies section, there aren’t many choices for those wishing to see a concert by a pianist or an opera in HD on their Macs.

However, Macs do support Blu-ray drives as data sources. I bought a Plextor PX-B120U external Blu-ray drive and connected it to my USB hub. When I popped in a disc and closed the lid (yes, it’s an oddly anachronistic top-loading drive), the disc showed up in my Finder sidebar. If it were a data disc, I would be able to copy any files it contains; I just can’t play its video.

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HDMI has become the way to connect your home theater devices to your HDTV. It’s easy to see why: High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) handles video and multi-channel audio in a single cable. To get HD quality otherwise, you need an analog component video cable—which has separate connectors for red, green, and blue—as well as a digital audio cable. HDMI equals less cable clutter.

You’ll now find HDMI ports on cable boxes and DVRs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, Apple TVs and other streaming media boxes, many point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras, and more. However, as the number of components in your home theater grows—you might have even picked up a few more over the holidays—you’ll run into a problem. Namely, you have more HDMI-enabled products than HDMI inputs on your HDTV. Many HDTVs, especially older ones, come with just one or two HDMI inputs.

Rather than constantly unplugging and replugging cables, there’s a good solution to that problem that doesn’t require buying a new TV. HDMI switches—also known as HDMI switchers or HDMI switching boxes—are hubs for your home theater’s audio/video connection needs: These simple devices accept input from multiple HDMI sources and send the signal you choose to your HDTV through one HDMI cable.

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Time was the only way you could access Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature was on a Windows PC. Now you only need to watch on a computer (Intel Macs included) if you want to. There are now many different ways to enjoy streaming Netflix content where you really want to see it—on your TV.

Each of the options has different strengths—including cost, video quality, and convenience. There’s one big difference among all these: The user interface is different from device to device, so the elegant view you see on Apple TV won’t be the same one you find on a internet-connected DVD player, for example.

Which one is best for you? Check out your options below.

1. Streaming video players

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