Blu-ray players aren't the only deal going this weekend (check out our Black Friday roundups for more) but the fabled Blu-ray player for less than a hundred bucks is making an appearance at multiple stores this weekend so we've just got to know, will you be buying one? While Amazon and Newegg dole out LG BD270 players for around $99, Meijer has a Sylvania model for $89 and Wal-mart brings an $80 Magnavox NB500MG1F, matched by hhgregg's $80 Toshiba offer. Not cheap enough yet? onSale.com has refurbed Magnavox's for a mere $70, although with all of these you'll be missing out on some features from the higher priced players. but even the thriftiest among us can grab a Netflix streaming, BD-Live ready Insignia NS-BRDVD3 from Best Buy for a penny under a Benjamin, so what's your excuse going to be?

With LG predicting a 3D television market in excess of 30 million units by 2012 and Samsung busily promoting its related world's firsts, you'd better believe that these powerful South Korean "chaebols" have their government's full support when it comes to delivering 3D content. Just today the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) announced its drive to start beaming 3D broadcasts in Full HD quality sometime in 2010 -- licensing begins in January with first broadcasts expected mid-year. Unlike those 3D satellite broadcasts tested in Japan and the UK, Korea will deliver its 3D content through its terrestrial networks. Of course, Korea's pay-TV providers want in on the action too, with CJ HelloVision set to offer 3D content through its video-on-demand offerings in the next "week or two." CJ HelloVision will initially target about 300 households with plans to extend the service to 1,000 homes by 2012. Viewers will need yet another set-top box to view 3D content likely limited to "cartoons" at first. Pricing has not been set and it's entirely possible that 3D VoD titles will be free at first in order to build momentum and to ensure viewer lock-in of the all important child demographic.

What we're watching tonight:

• CBS (1080i) has The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8 p.m., Gary Unmarried at 8:30 p.m., Criminal Minds at 9 p.m. and CSI: NY at 10 p.m.
• Fox (720p) has Glee at 9 p.m.
• ABC (720p) airs Modern Family at 9 p.m., Cougar Town at 9:30 p.m. and Eastwick at 10 p.m.
• Discovery (1080i) has Mythbusters at 9 p.m.
• FX (720p) has Nip/Tuck at 10 p.m.
• Spike (1080i) has The Ultimate Fighter at 10 p.m.
• TBS (1080i) has House of Payne at 10 p.m. and Meet the Browns at 10:30 p.m.
• Travel (1080i) brings Man vs. Food at 10 p.m.
• Showtime (1080i) has Inside the NFL at 9 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has Heat/Magic basketball at 7:30 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) brings college basketball with LSU/Connecticut at 7 p.m. and Arizona State/Duke at 9:30 p.m.

It didn't crack the podium on our most anticipated Blu-ray poll behind current number one selling Star Trek, but Terminator: Salvation's feature-laden release December 1 has already made the review circuit and come away with some widely varying opinions. The good news is the picture doesn't disappoint, with a clear transfer and elaborate special effects, although BigPictureBigSound's reviewer found a few issues with a bluish matte line appearing at times, plus a few notes about compression and noise in clouds of dust and smoke also noted in other reviews. On the audio front, the DTS-HD MA soundtrack by all accounts is an impressive treatment, with the only "problem" that viewers might want to dial back slightly on the bass to avoid waking the neighbors. Of the extras included in the U.S. release of the film, the only real issue seems to be a lack of seamless branching, requiring viewers to forego the Director's Cut and its extra few minutes of Moon Bloodgood in order to walk through the flick in Maximum Movie mode with director McG and others showing how they pulled off many of the shots. The European edition released by Sony does feature seamless branching, although CNET UK and DVD Times both complained of slow loads and glitches on their players as a result, with the latter also finding some possible compression issues from being squeezed on one disc. Whatever your choice, check the reviews and make it soon as Warner is planning a one time only BD-Live community screening with the director answering questions via audio December 5.

Surveys are really like a bad reality show or a train wreak, we just can't help but read them and this latest one from Frank N. Magid Associates is really something. Beyond the usual suspects, like only 63 percent of HD owners believing they are watching HD, is the fact that 13 percent of the respondents said they'd never heard of Hi-Def. We'd just love to hear how this question was phrased, because even the most introvert technophobes that we know have heard of HD. In fact we just can't think of a scenario where someone who lives on the grid wouldn't know what HD is.

Besides linking up with Google, TiVo has some other big news coming out of its third quarter results, first that it lost less money than expected, a mere $6.7 million instead of the $8-10 predicted. Bigger than that for UK denizens, TiVo has cut a long-term deal with Virgin Media to put its software and UI on the cable company's next gen set-top boxes, including access to online features, due in 2010. On this side of the Atlantic, besides resuming marketing in New England, the company's work with Comcast will continue, including a tru2way mention, while Cox and RCN also deploy boxes throughout next year. The future for TiVo? Expect Best Buy's digital video delivery store to find its way on the box soon, while the company also expands beyond just DVRs expecting to create "some very interesting product opportunities for our next generation TiVo products and services." All that online content means the old peanut isn't long for this world, with development of a new "keyboard remote control" under way, we just can't wait to see if it's beaming commands to any new DVRs at CES.

We're actually sort of surprised that this hasn't happened earlier, but TiVo and Google announced a data-sharing partnership today that'll give the Google TV team access to TiVo's second-by-second viewing data -- anonymized, of course. That means advertisers who buy their TV ads through Google will only have to pay for the ads that customers actually watch -- a system the networks obviously aren't so keen on, but which makes total sense given Google's pay-per-impression online advertising model. Google's already processing a billion remote clicks a day as part of a similar deal it's had with Dish Network since April, so the new TiVo data should just help Mountain View inch its claws even deeper into our everyday lives. Happy future.

LaCie's LaCinema Classic multimedia hard drive was a fine device, but if you're anything like us, you're never perfectly satisfied. Thus, we're stoked to see the outfit issuing a revamped version of the aforesaid device today, with the LaCinema Classic HD including up to 2TB of internal storage space, (optional) 802.11n WiFi and built-in DLNA server capabilities. As you'd expect, this sexy black block will stream multimedia from your Mac or PC onto your HDTV, and the included HDMI port (and cable) should ensure that transfers remain gorgeous. We're told that format support won't be an issue, and if you're a believer, you can get your pre-order in now for $249.99 (1TB). Rear shot is after the break.

What we're watching tonight:

• ABC (720p) has V at 8 p.m. and the season finale of Dancing with the Stars at 9 p.m.
• CW (1080i) airs 90210 at 8 p.m. and Melrose Place at 9 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) has NCIS at 8 p.m. NCIS: LA at 9 p.m. and The Good Wife at 10 p.m.
• Discovery (1080i) has Dirty Jobs at 9 p.m. and Ghost Lab at 10 p.m.
• FX (720p) has Sons of Anarchy at 10 p.m.
• DirecTV (1080i) has Eyes at 10 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has Table for 12 at 8 & 8:30 p.m., 18 Kids & Counting at 9 p.m. and The Little Couple at 10 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has college basketball with Maryland/Cincinnati at 7 p.m. and Gonzaga/Wisconsin at 9:30 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) has Ball State/Western Michigan college football at 7 p.m. and Texas/Pittsburgh college basketball at 10 p.m.

So you've had the Blu-ray drive in your PC, and you just picked up the latest Radeon 5000 series video card, but you still don't have the TrueHD or DTS-HD lights lit up on your receiver. Well the wait is over this Friday -- if you use PowerDVD -- because Cyberlink is set to release a patch for PowerDVD 9 that will enable bitstream goodness to those equipped. Yep, that means the wait is over and you can finally build a HTPC that will match even the best Blu-ray player feature for feature.

Oh how we love the holiday season -- no, not because we just love to argue with our family over a meal, but because it's the best time of the year for movie lovers who would rather watch HD movies at home then to trek out to the theater. And so the season continues with Angels & Demons which is the latest Dan Brown inspired movie. We haven't seen this movie yet, but our eyes were rolling pretty hard when we read the book -- you know, when the main character safely gliding to the ground without a parachute -- so this one isn't exactly at the top of our list. Lionsgate has also opened the flood gates with a large selection of catalog titles.

• Angels & Demons (Sony)
• Air America (Lionsgate)
• Angel Heart (Lionsgate)
• Cujo (Lionsgate)
• Frailty (Lionsgate)
• My Bloody Valentine (Lionsgate)
• New Police Story (Lionsgate)
• The Way of the Gun (Lionsgate)
• Four Christmases (New Line)
• Santa Buddies (Walt Disney)
• Shorts (Warner)
• The Sopranos: The Complete First Season (HBO)
• Funny People (Universal)
• Ghost In The Shell 2.0 (Manga)
• Blood: The Last Vampire (Manga)
• Gomorrah (Criterion Collection)
• Ink (Indieblitz)
• Megafault (Asylum)
• My Brilliant Career (Blue Underground)
• Superstar (Facets Video)

The VUDU web based architecture is evidently really paying off, because this makes the third VUDU update in the last month. The company tells us that since its UI is pulled from the web like any other website, it can continue to easily roll out updates. This week's addition is a welcomed one, as we'll no longer have to reach for our computer or handheld just to look up the details of a movie on Wikipedia. But what's even more useful is the fact that you can browse beyond the movie's Wikipedia entry to the actor's pages, etc., and links are even added so you can quickly get back to actor's list of movies available on VUDU. We haven't been able to try this for ourselves yet, but it does sound like something we'd find useful. Of course the only thing left to add now that Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes are accounted for is IMDB, which can't be far behind -- right, VUDU? There's one more screen cap of the new feature after the jump.

The promotional hype train for Avatar is just getting started, one of the more recent stops was on 60 Minutes for an interview with director James Cameron. Of course one of the segments focused on was the film's potential to push 3D at home and in theaters, with Cameron dropping this interesting line on all the glasses-haters (video embedded after the break) "my goal has been, over the last few years to get people from a point of say "Do I have to wear the glasses?" to a point of saying "Do I get to wear the glasses?" because the glasses must then become associated the sense of a heightened experience, of a journey." Our trip took a turn towards believing in 3D after checking out the BCS National Championship game last year, we'll have to wait for the launch December 18 to see if this very Pocahontas / Dances with Wolves style sci fi tale is a similar turning point for others.

Count another cable company for the online VOD trend, this time Rogers Cable in Canada. Tonight it's showing off RogersonDemand.com, where customers will soon be able to stream video from 19 channels. the beta kicks off for all customers November 30, with all the usual streaming video features (listed after the break) with an eye towards launching more social oriented bits in 2010. Also due in Q2 of next year is streaming to mobile handsets, we'll see if it beats Comcast and Verizon to the punch. Anyone else glad to see Canada's catching up (slowly) in the internet delivered TV programming department?

This is a big one, folks. The new installment of The Engadget Show is jam-packed with goodness. First up, Josh sits down with HTC's director of user experience Drew Bamford to discuss Android, Sense, Windows Mobile and a whole lot more. Then we've got a charming little segment where Paul and Josh go hunting around NYC for KIRFs, and Chris Grant joins the gang on stage for a dissection of the holiday gaming situation... and some demos where the gang gets to show off their totally radical moves. Seriously, Josh and Nilay have a DJ Hero battle, and Paul Miller skates (but doesn't die) in Tony Hawk: Ride. Don't miss this one -- it might just be the best yet! Full video is after the break.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel
Special guests: Drew Bamford, Chris Grant
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Executive Producer: Josh Fruhlinger
Edited by: Michael Slavens
Music by: Glomag
Visuals by: Dan Winckler
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec

Special thanks to VIZIO for providing the 55 TruLED LCD HDTV!

Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 003 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 003 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted)

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

What we're watching tonight:

• CBS (1080i) has How I Met Your Mother at 8 p.m., Accidentally On Purpose at 8:30 p.m., Two and a Half Men at 9 p.m., The Big Bang Theory at 9:30 p.m. and CSI: Miami at 10 p.m.
• ABC (720p) has Dancing with the Stars at 8 p.m. and Castle at 10:01 p.m.
• Fox (720p) has House at 8 p.m. and Lie to Me at 9 p.m.
• NBC (1080i) brings Heroes at 8 p.m. and Trauma at 9 p.m.
• CW (1080i) has One Tree Hill at 8 p.m. and Gossip Girl at 9 p.m.
• USA (1080i) has WWE: Raw at 8 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has the series finale of Jon & Kate Plus 8 at 9 p.m. and Cake Boss at 10 & 10:30 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has Titans/Texans Monday Night Football at 8:30 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) has Texas/Iowa college basketball at 10 p.m.

The agreement between Rovi (formerly Macrovision) and Samsung for EPG data has taken an odd turn with the debut of the TV Guide widget for Samsung's Yahoo! Widget enabled HDTVs. Check the pictures to get an idea of what it looks like, though with host of these televisions likely hooked up to satellite or cable boxes, the usability of these abbreviated "what's on" listings when another click of the remote would bring up a guide that will actually tune to those stations. Still, check the pics for an example of the flexibility of the widget platform, including the option to load up Daily Hotlists from Rovi's editors daily, complete with personal profiles but aren't exactly satiating the appetite we've developed for the Liquid guide demoed earlier this year.

Roku owners already have access to Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and MLB.tv, but now the set-top box is about to get a lot more interesting. Starting tonight and running throughout the next fortnight, existing owners of the Roku SD, Roku HD and Roku HD-XR will receive an automatic (and free) update that delivers ten new content channels. Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe will be joining the fray, and while we wish the likes of Hulu and other television portals were included, we're holding out hope that such channels will be unveiled in due time. In fact, Roku admits that "many other developers are working on Roku Channels now, and Roku expects additional developers to adopt the Roku platform over time." So, have these guys convinced you that you need another box underneath your HDTV yet, or what?

What we're watching tonight:

• NBC (1080i) has Eagles/Bears Sunday Night Football at 8:15 p.m.
• Fox (720p) has The Simpsons at 8 p.m. and The Cleveland Show at 8:30 p.m.
• Showtime (1080i) has Dexter at 9 p.m. and Californication at 10 p.m.
• HBO (1080i) has the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm at 9 p.m.
• Discovery (1080i) lines up Did the Mob Kill JFK? at 8 p.m., JFK: The Ruby Connection at 9 p.m. and Storm Chasers at 10 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) has Cold Case at 9 p.m. and Three Rivers at 10 p.m.
• History (720p) has the premiere of Cowboys & Outlaws at 9 & 10 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has Real Salt Lake/LA Galaxy MLS action at 8:30 p.m.

The Engadget Show is happening again, humans! Today, November 22nd, we'll be bringing that live magic back to the stage as we sit down with Drew Bamford (you can read a bit about him here), director of HTC's Innovation Center (the place where things like the Sense UI are born).

We'll also be joined by Joystiq's Editor-in-chief Chris Grant for a special roundtable discussion focused on gaming, and we'll be demoing a bunch of new holiday titles as well as Spawn Labs' gaming placeshifter!

As a bonus, we've got giveaways for everyone in the audience, plus one of the lucky attendees will walk away with that Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle we just got our hands on -- and HTC will be giving away a Droid Eris Sprint Hero as well!

The show takes place at the Tishman Auditorium at Parsons The New School for Design. As you may already know, we film live in front of an audience once a month -- but if you can't make it, don't worry. We're bringing the video back home to Engadget (and as a free download here, in the iTunes Store, or the Zune Marketplace) for your viewing pleasure.

The beautiful venue (which you can see in a photo after the break) is located at 66 W. 12th Street between 5th and 6th Aves. Seating is limited and tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis -- which means if you want to join us in the audience for the show, you'll have to arrive early and be prepared for a little wait.

Here are the facts you need to know about the show:

• The show is graciously sponsored by Nokia, and hosted by Parsons The New School for Design
  
• The total show length will be around an hour
• The amazing Glomag will be performing live along with visualist Dan Winckler!

Here is what you need to know if you want to be part of the audience:

• There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
• The event is all ages
• The venue seats just over 450 people
• Parsons students are welcomed, and we encourage them to come!
• Tickets will be available for pickup at the Tishman Auditorium at 2PM on the 22nd, and we're strongly encouraging people to get their tickets and not stand in line -- if you have a ticket, you'll have a seat!
• You'll need to hold onto your ticket stub to be eligible for the giveaways
• You cannot pick up tickets for other people -- if you want your friend to get a ticket, bring your friend!
• The show begins at 5PM, and doors will open at 4:30PM

If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget.com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget.com.

Update: HTC actually surprised us with a brand new Sprint Hero instead of a Droid Eris to give away.