It looks like despite some denials from Sony in the past, a survey is being conducted to gauge the public’s interest in streaming movies and TV shows to their game console. The service on PS3 might require a one-time purchase of a $9.99 “Netflix Instant Streaming Disc” that would be inserted to stream video, but otherwise the cost would be free.

The survey asks which is your favorite console, then if you’d be interested in this service. Seems like the Wii would be a natural contender as well. At any rate it looks like it is coming our way soon. You can check out the survey below.

Samsung’s new value priced Blu-ray player has been overlooked in favor of other better equipped players, but that doesn’t mean it’s not out there and being spotted at retail stores. This one was spotted on a Best Buy shelf.

Supposedly Blu-ray player prices will be dropping across the board, and it looks like Samsung is positioning the BD-P1600 as one of their lower-end models. $300 may not be dirt cheap but Netflix subscribers will probably like the unit. However wireless networking requires purchasing a Samsung USB accessory that isn’t released yet and BD Live requires at least 1GB of external storage.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says that by late this year or in 2010, Netflix might let users get rid of the red envelopes and subscribe just to their streaming service. Reed realizes that in order to maintain their current level of success, it has to “nail” the streaming aspect.

Most of us envision streaming becoming more popular in the coming years. It’s faster cheaper and it’s great for them if they can strong-arm studios into providing new releases for download. There was no talk of pricing, but Netflix has always been pretty fair.

Slacker has announced a version of it’s free internet radio app for the smartphone, with 100 expert-programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or tons of custom stations. You can even listen to music without a network connection using Slacker’s station caching, which is exclusive to BlackBerry devices

It lets you store your favorite stations on a memory card instead of streaming them over the network connection you’re using. That way you have access to them even when there’s no signal. Slacker claims that it will also reduce battery consumption by as much as 5x.

Sony has introduced the LocationPorter, a realtime video streamer that streams footage from a connected camcorder or camera across whatever connection you have available, to a second remote LocationPorter device. The device uses the internet via a LAN or 3G connection.

The streamer can combine both connections to support up to a 352 x 240 64fps video at 320kbps. A single 3G card can give you a video of the same resolution, at between 5 and 15fps with bitrates from 64 to 160kbps. When connected to a LAN, the video can be streamed up to 30fps at 1024kbps max. No word on pricing and availability yet.

Laptops are great for viewing various youtube videos and the like, but when you get a few people huddled around the screen you are forced to deal with awkward viewing angles on said laptop. If you want to watch Youtube videos as a family, the VuNow Pod is another option.

It’s a palm sized set top box that is also the first solution to allow consumers to watch content from the web directly on their television, without having to connect a computer. It lets users experience the content together on the big screen TV. Best of all, no awkward viewing angles etc.

Nintendo has done everything it can to stay one step ahead of those crazy modders, but it hasn’t slowed them down. Now we have FLATMII, a device that plugs into the Wii’s drive ribbon and lets you stream ISO backups of games (or whatever) from your Windows XP or Vista PC.

The console thinks it’s a DVD drive. It’s for cautious Wii owners who want to backup games that they own legally. Users who would never steal software. If you fall into that category, check out a video below.

LG isn’t standing still with their Blu-ray disc players. Instead they are taking them to the next level for ‘09, promising support for YouTube and CinemaNow videos on their next generation decks. Along with Netflix, which is now standard, owners can browse CinemaNow pay-per-view offerings and other stores powered by the service.

You’ll also be able to sort through YouTube’s immense catalog directly from the device. No word yet on price and we’re waiting for some more detailed specs, but hopefully we will know more in early January.

Looks like Western Digital has entered the world of HD media streaming. The WD TV HD Media Player is said to “turn your USB drive into an HD media player, allowing you to watch your favorite HD movies on your TV.” So, basically it lets you plug in a USB hard drive and play multimedia clips up to 1080p on your HDTV via HDMI/composite outputs. Comes with a remote control and browsing software. The small 1.6- x 4.9- x 3.9-inch box is pretty portable and the $129.99 price doesn’t hurt too much.

Online movie rentals are one of the most convenient ways for movie fans to get their favorite films without leaving the house. The catch is that many of the newest releases aren’t available for streaming rentals. Netflix offers a streaming on demand library of 12,000 movies and TV shows to its subscribers.

Several hardware devices will allow Netflix members to access the streaming content including the Xbox 360 and some DVD players. Netflix and TiVo announced today that TiVo DVR subscribers would be able to access the streaming content library over certain TiVo DVRs.

Netflix has proven to be very successful with its online movie rental service. Netflix also offer subscribers a streaming instant movie service that allows users to watch movies on the PC or TV with appropriate hardware.

The problem for users on Mac computers that are Netflix members is that there was no streaming media player for the Mac. Netflix has now announced the latest version of its instant watching service based on Microsoft Silverlight. The new player will allow users on Intel-based Mac systems to enjoy streaming titles.

This concept is designed by Ashley Payne and called the Zune Bug. Think of it as a low-power light source that can stream music to guide you in the dark. Like an update to the classic night lite that’s been used forever to scare off monsters. It sports a light sensor, will turn on automatically in the dark and it will even change color depending on the mood of the music that is being played. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see something like this go into production, minus the Zune aspect.

Not sure how much we are willing to believe this, but AppleInsider has found a patent that apparently shows music over the internet streaming to your iPhone and iPod touch. You wouldn’t have to sync content to your device. Instead, you’d sync only the metadata and stream whatever you wanted direct from your computer. Like i said, we aren’t sure if we’re buying this just yet, but it’s interesting. My guess is that there may be just a smidgen of truth to this, but we’re missing some kind of important piece of info. While you’re waiting on this, get an iPhone arm.