We can't help but love when a plan comes together, and if you've been hesitant about replacing your kitchen hood while secretly longing to redirect those funds towards a new LCD, there's a compromise staring you right in the face. Faber's luxurious Imago+ multimedia hood boasts a stainless steel / glass finish, fits nicely above your range and includes a 19-inch LCD TV with a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness and 850:1 contrast ratio. Unfortunately for you Americans, the internal tuner caters to DVB-T signals, though the decent lineup of ports will allow you to connect up other sources of content. Mum's the word on a price, but again, those having to ask will probably be forced to pass.

[Via Appliancist]

So much for early 2008 or even July for that matter. Sony's David Reeves now confirms that PlayTV -- the €99 PS3 TV tuner / DVR add-on -- will hit the UK on September 10th. The service will then march onto the continent before completing the European rollout in December -- Australia and New Zealand get theirs in January or February. Notably, the service will in fact record television in the background without interrupting your regularly scheduled gaming regimen thanks to the recent 2.41 firmware PS3 update. Phew, for a moment we felt threatened by a lack of manufactured distractions.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

Just in case you weren't already watching enough YouTube at work and on your home computer, on your iPhone, Ocean, etc., or on your Apple TV, now TiVo's getting in on the action as well. Originally announced earlier this year, TiVo users can finally expect the update to pop over your TiVo's regularly scheduled updates over the next couple of weeks. Oh, and our man Dave Zatz shot some video of the new feature and put it up on (where else?) YouTube -- check it out after the break.

So Sony's got a $399 Blu-ray player on the market now, huh? Really blasting away at that price point, huh Sony? Really keeping on your toes now that HD DVD is dead and gone, giving you zero competition in the physical format space, yeah? Oh, we forgot, you're using a blue laser, and those require bloody war with dastardly intelligent man-eating monkeys to boot up. We got to handle Sony's new BDP-S350 Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player tonight, and while we aren't mad that the new player draws less power, takes up less space, and supports more technical HD hotness, it literally feels like a $20 DVD player in the hand -- no way Sony has $400 of electronic components in this thing. Even the front LCD is teensy: we've bought $200 home theater in a box systems from Sony with more extravagant displays. We understand Sony trying to make back a few dollars from a pricey format war, but at this point this ridiculous price point is looking way artificial. In other, less insulting news, Sony was showing off the new HT-SS2300 Home Theater System, which is designed to complement the S350, along with the HT-IS100 "Micro System," which we found intriguing. Sony also showed off its HDR-CX12, which is nothing special in person, though we certainly like what's under the hood.

Wow, Toys 'R Us was only a day off. Sure enough, Sony's BDP-S350 -- which was first introduced / spotted in February -- has gone on sale at Sony Style retail outlets, the Sony Style website and other fine retailers near you. If you're looking for a quick refresher, this Profile 2.0-compliant deck supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), but curiously enough, Sony mentions that "a firmware update enabling BD-Live is planned [for] later this year." You'll also find full 1080p output, 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio support and a promise to suck down 21% less power in playback compared to the BDP-S300. All yours for $400 (give or take a few pennies).

What, you seriously expected the $999 VP422 to perform like a $5,000+ KURO? In your dreams, bub. Vizio's latest 42-inch plasma, which certainly looked a-okay on paper for the price, recently hit the test bench over at CNET, and while the overall package was deemed enough to "satisfy casual viewers," those with even a single videophile gene in 'em should be wary. The unit managed to snag an extremely rare 6.0 out of 10 rating, with "highly inaccurate green primary color and poor grayscale tracking" as the two biggest knocks. Granted, reviewers did appreciate the rock-bottom price, respectably array of inputs and the "relatively clean image," but at the end of the day, you can only expect so much from a sub-$1,000 42-inch PDP. Give the full review a look and determine if it's sufficient for your wants needs.

The long delay until Sony launched its video download service (actually more like a few hours), is over. HD and SD rentals, and SD purchases from an assortment of movie studios is now available in the Playstation Store by selecting the video button at the top left. Need to know what's available in your region but aren't near your PS3? Check out the website for a list of what awaits.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Okay, so we don't necessarily see the appeal of having a 19-inch LCD TV shaped like a basketball invade the swank minimalism of Engadget HQ, but we're certain some of you need to furnish your basement rec rooms or something, and Hannspree's got you covered with a new trio of sports-themed LCDs. For $279, you get your choice of basketball, soccer ball, or baseball (which, oddly, is black), each of which features the same middle-of-the-road 1280 x 1024 panel with 5ms response time and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. There's also a $239 model called the "slamma," which sports a different 1440 x 900 19-inch panel with a 700:1 contrast ratio. No word on availability, but Hannspree is calling this its "summer lineup," so we're guessing sometime soon. More pics after the break.

Read - Hannspree Basketball
Read - Hannspree Baseball
Read - Hannspree Soccer
Read - Hannspree Slamma

After months of speculation and rumors, Microsoft just announced that it's partnering with Netflix to allow Xbox 360 owners to stream movies from their Netflix queues for no extra charge. Microsoft says the 360 will be the only game system that allows Netflix access for no additional cost -- which isn't entirely accurate, since it sounds like only Live Gold members will get access. Streaming movies can also be shared with your Live party, allowing you to watch content together. Users will have instant access to their Netflix instant access queues, but it's not clear what resolution the content will be streamed at -- we'd guess it's roughly the same DVD-quality res that Roku's Netflix streamer is getting for now, but hopefully that'll change when the service launches in the fall with the new dashboard.

Microsoft just announced Universal, and NBC Universal programming is coming to Xbox Live, delivering The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, The Mummy, Bourne Supremacy and others to the service. Xbox Live Video Marketplace now claims over 10,000 movies and TV shows on the marketplace, which it says puts it as the number one HD provider. MGM and Constantin are pushing things forward in Europe, adding 700 new titles to the library starting today. Check out more details from the E3 keynote in the live blog.

Looks like Movie Gallery finally got something for the assortment of PBS bandwidth and spare parts remaining from the now-defunct MovieBeam service. The new owner is Indian conglomerate The Valuable Group, headed by Sanjay Gaikwad who apparently thinks serving up a remarkably limited assortment of heavily compressed HD and SD movies on demand is an idea that deserves to fail all over the world, instead of just in the U.S. Since $100 million burned up by Disney and others wasn't enough to make things work, he plans to invest a similar amount over the next two years to relaunch the service in North America, the U.K. and "other overseas markets". Variety notes The Valuable Group already delivers movies digitally to India and South Asian theaters via satellite so maybe they know something we don't about this business model, and with plans to roll out service in three markets with "new, cutting edge features" by year end we'll get to find out soon.

AOC threw down a new trio of displays here yesterday, and we had the pleasure of stopping by to check 'em out in NYC. You've already had a chance to wade through all the specs and official verbiage surrounding the 42-inch L42H861 LCD HDTV, 22-inch 2218Ph LCD monitor and 22-inch 2230Fm do-it-all display, so how's about some good old fashioned pictures? We must say we were quite pleased with the image quality and overall design, though the anti-gloss crowd should probably look out. Also of note, the built-in media player on the 2230Fm was incapable of playing back HD clips, so yeah, kind of a bummer there. Anywho, dip on into the gallery below and have a look around.

When Popcorn Hour's Networked Media Tank / A-100 went on sale earlier this year, we didn't really foresee it gaining so much fanfare. Even months after launch the unit still had a waiting list, and just recently has the commotion died down enough so that supply and demand could meet in beautiful harmony. In all honesty, we haven't heard many negative feelings towards this potent little media server, but as these things go, there's always room -- if but a crack -- for improvement. So, what features would you like to see on the A-100 that aren't there currently? Who knows, Popcorn Hour may grant your wishes in one of its potentially forthcoming successors.

This week's Ask Engadget question is a bit on the specific side, but it's one we've heard asked time and time again. Thus, we figured it was time to finally get it out in the open for you readers to debate.

"I have an extensive DVD library that I would like to archive on a network drive and be able to access via my PS3, menus and all. I am currently using TVersity to stream videos from my PC to the console. I've seen walk-throughs for archiving DVDs, but I haven't seen anything that will present these via a DLNA server (to my PS3) with their original menus intact so that you can access special features such as commentary tracks and featurettes. I am not even sure that it is possible to navigate the menus via the PS3 remote. Any recommended solutions out there?"

Can't you just hear the hopelessness in poor Ron's voice? Throw the guy a bone, will ya? And while you're at it, throw our highly sophisticated email sorter a question of your own at ask at engadget dawt com.