Vuze Blog

Now playing on thousands of devices…

That’s right…  Device Playback is now being turned on for thousands of your favorite devices.  To date, we’ve focused on adding devices that you’re using in the real world to watch content on your TV and mobile screens.  As a result, we started with iOS, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PSP, and then moved on to Android, Blackberry, and Apple TV (yes, we launched these features years ago, unlike some other very tiny clients that are just getting around to it now ).  Today, we’re continuing this crusade to unleash your content on your mobile and TV screens by adding all DLNA-supported devices (including many of your favorite Connected TVs), a few additional Android devices, and more.

New Devices:  Connected TVs, Android, and More

What’s DLNA, you ask?  Many of the TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, and other devices you’ve bought in the past few years likely included the above logo on the device or box.

Thousands upon thousands of devices from 245 of the top global electronics brands you know and love now include support for DLNA, including Connected TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, and Philips.   In addition, set-top boxes, PCs, and game consoles often include support for DLNA.  With this release, most DLNA-supported devices should now show up in your Vuze Sidebar (assuming they’re connected to the same home network as Vuze) making it possible to stream directly from Vuze to the DLNA device of your choice.  Once you spot your device name under Device Playback in the Sidebar, simply drag-and-drop.

We’ve also added support for Samsung Galaxy S II, Sony Ericsson Xperia, Netgear NeoTV, and Iomega ScreenPlay.

Faster, More Stable

And finally, a Vuze release wouldn’t be complete without updating the underlying code to make Vuze faster, more responsive, and more stable (with the benefits coming primarily from an SWT update in this release, for the geeks among us who care what’s under the hood).

Download Vuze 4.7 and give it a try.

As always, let us know what you think!

Vuze Team

Next Stop: Instant Gratification

Vuze 4.6 has arrived!  The release includes a brand new Play Now feature, faster downloads, and a completely redesigned Sidebar.  At the end of the day, each of these features enhances your ability to quickly download and watch.  Here at Vuze, we’re all about instant gratification.

Play Now

With today’s release, you’ll now notice a green Play button whenever you select a currently downloading torrent containing a video file.

Clicking the green play button will analyze the media file to identify the video bitrate, your current download speed, and calculate the point at which to safely begin continuous playback.  As a result, you’ll now be able to enjoy playback a lot sooner than if you had to wait for the entire torrent to download.

If you’re an existing Vuze Plus subscriber, you’ll get Play Now at no additional cost.  If you’re not a Vuze Plus subscriber, check it out now.

Faster Downloads

In addition, we’ve pulled together a large number of code changes to speed up our communication with the larger bittorrent ecosystem, including support for uTP.  The end result?  Faster downloads across both Vuze (the free version) and Vuze Plus.  In fact, combine faster downloads with Play Now, and you might just be approaching a world of instant gratification (depending on the speed of your internet connection, of course).

Sidebar Facelift

Finally, Vuze 4.6 includes a completely redesigned Sidebar.  The goal was to streamline the features to reduce clutter, and enable you to quickly access the features you use (while hiding those you don’t).

Playback on Apple TV, Blackberry, More Android

You asked for it.  As of today’s release, we’re rolling out support for the new Apple TV, Blackberry devices, and a wider range of Android phones.  For those who have been offline since early 2009, Vuze Device Playback enables you to drag-and-drop files you download with Vuze to easily play back on your TV and mobile.  We launched support for Apple devices and a variety of living room favorites early in 2009 (PS3, Xbox, PSP, Tivo, and Samsung TVs).

We tallied your requests for additional supported devices, went shopping, and are happy to announce Device Playback support for:

• Apple TV (the new version from our favorite hobbyists)
• Blackberry Devices
• More Android Devices (beyond the initial devices launched in August):
  • Dell Streak
  • HTC Nexus One
  • LG Ally
  • Motorola Droid 2
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
• WD TV

Click here for the full list of supported devices, which now includes over 25 major device brands.  In addition, many Android phones will work despite not being included on our official support list.  Broad support should now exist for Android phones from Dell, HTC, Motorola, LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, as well as all Blackberrys.  Even if you don’t see your Android phone or specific Blackberry on the list of supported devices, try connecting it to your PC or Mac with Vuze open.  If the device works, feel free to verify it as a supported device on the official list.

Apple, Google, and RIM… fight it out!  We love you all, and we’ll gladly play Switzerland in your war games.  As Larry David once said:

Switzerland is a place where they don’t like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate.

- Larry David

Alas, our version of Switzerland involves more coding and less skiing, but such is life…

Finally, this release includes a large range of optimizations and improvements in the base code for 4.5.

Give Vuze 4.5.1.0 a try, and let us know what you think!

Chris