Redbox Instant, the fledgling streaming-media service from Redbox (Coinstar) and Verizon, will get a boost this summer when it becomes available on several of Roku's streaming set-top boxes.

The first Ultra HD TVs we saw cost $18,000 to $40,000, so it was hard not to notice when a lesser-known company called Seiki blew the doors off Ultra HD TV pricing when it recently started selling a 50-inch set (model SE50UY04) for just under $1,500.

The next generation of video-game consoles is almost upon us. Since some details on the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One have been revealed, we wanted to speculate how the two stack up against each other so far.

At an event today called, appropriately, Xbox Reveal, Microsoft announced the next generation of the Xbox, the first new version in eight years: It's an "all-in-one" entertainment system called the Xbox One. Not only has the console's architecture changed both inside and out, but improvements have been made to the Kinect and the remote control, and new entertainment options abound, says the company.

We recently wrote about Panasonic's new ZT60 plasma TVs (TC-P60ZT60 and TC-P65ZT60), which will be the company's flagship televisions for 2013. We knew a lot about the TVs—the 60- and 65-inch screen sizes, the new customizable home screen, the Swipe & Share 2.0 features that lets you send content back and forth between the TV and a mobile device—but we didn't know how much they'd cost.

Think video streaming, from services such as Amazon and Netflix, is killing physical discs? Not quite yet, according to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), which reports that Blu-ray sales were 28.5 percent higher in the first quarter of this year than a year ago.

Would you pay $13,500 to be the first one on your block with a 55-inch OLED TV with a curved screen? Bases on an announcement this week from LG Electronics, which is now taking orders in Korea for the set, that's what you can expect to pay when its 55EA9800 curved OLED TV arrives here in the U.S. later this year. At CES, Samsung also showed an OLED TV with a curved screen, but the company hasn't yet announced pricing and availability.

Recent rumors suggest that Amazon will launch a streaming media player this fall to compete with the likes of Apple TV and Roku. An interesting question is whether it will offer access to Netflix, the company's fierce rival in the streaming video space.

Have you been letting extended family members and friends use your Netflix log-in? Netflix would rather you didn't. The company unveiled a new $12 Family Plan that lets you stream four movies to different devices at the same time. Under the standard $8-per-month subscription plan, you can watch only two video streams at a time.

Are you willing to give Google TV another go? If so, the latest option for adding the Google TV platform to your TV is the Asus Cube, which is now being offered for sale by NewEgg.com for $140.

Up until now, if you liked Panasonic's take on Internet content, you had to buy one of its online-ready TVs. But now there's another, less expensive option: the company's first standalone streaming media players.

If you've been wondering how much cheaper smaller-sized Ultra HD sets will be than their gargantuan ancestors, we're starting to get an idea of prices. Sony just announced that its least expensive UHD TV to date—a 55-inch model—will cost $5,000, and we expect to see some even less expensive models later in the year from a few secondary brands.

Most of us enjoy getting extra content on our living room TVs, but not everyone has a set with that built-in capability. One popular way to add this feature is through a streaming media player, such as a Roku 3 or Apple TV. But there's another, less obtrusive option: a small flash-drive-sized stick that fits into a special HDMI input on the back or side of your TV.

For many of us—especially those with kids—programming the DVR to record shows and movies until it's crammed to capacity is a regular ritual. But how many of those shows do you actually ever watch? Probably not as many as you think. According to a recent study by Motorola Mobility, those of us in the U.S. never watch 41 percent of the programs we record on our DVRs.

If you're still kicking back on your sofa and passively watching TV, you may be missing out. Thanks to a growing assortment of "second-screen" apps that run on tablets and smart phones, you can now engage with other viewers, almost like they're sitting right next to you on the couch, while your favorite show is airing.