Web content on TV screens is an idea whose time has come – the logical step beyond DVRs. Silicon Valley start-up Snapstick has taken a novel approach to bridging that gap, combining a set-top box with a downloadable app that turns your cell phone into a remote. Where Snapstick really distinguishes itself, says co-founder and CEO Rakesh Mathur, is its ability to pull in any and all offerings on the web. It’s also very resource-efficient, in that it doesn’t “stream” content from the control device, but taps into the existing home Wi-Fi network to send URL info to the set box, freeing the phone or computer for other tasks.

In addition to cell phones, tablets and laptops can also work as controller devices, with a clickable button replacing the gestural “snap” of the phone to TV, and Snapstick works remotely, over the Internet, to control sets that are thousands of miles away (although each set – whether in the same home, or remote location – requires its own box).

Mathur said the Redwood City-based firm, which came out of Beta in December, has developed platform specific advertising opportunities that he and partners Ash Bhardwaj and Balaji Krishnan expect to be “a rising tide that lifts all boats,” in the modest world of online CPMs, nudging them toward the TV range. Snapstick technology allows for the insertion of video ads on the screen, and text messages to the control device.

D-Link will be the first manufacturer of its boxes, with Q2 shipments expected and additional hardware deals forthcoming. The one-time box cost hasn’t been determined, but will be competitive with other products in the space, at $100-200 per unit.

Snapstick has a two-minute online demo.

Digital content has quickly become the norm in a user’s daily life. And the need to be able to share, move, and enjoy the content at home in a seamless unified way is quickly becoming a demand that must be met. If digital is the way of the future, users must feel comfortable and have the means to share and move content around, without having to worry about the logins, IP address, or network settings.

Aiming to make it easier for consumers, Samsung has introduced AllShare, their software platform that uses DLNA to move content around a user’s home network. AllShare will allow many of Samsung new products such as the Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy smartphone, Blu-ray players, TVs, and home router to move content around the network seamlessly.

Using AllShare, a Blu-ray player can stream a movie out to a Galaxy Tab or smartphone. Also, the user can share photos from their Samsung camera or mobile phone and stream a photo slideshow to their TV. The platform even allows cameras to automatically back up photos to a computer, even if the camera is turned off.

2D-to-3D conversion has essentially become a standard feature in 3D products from leading CE manufacturers.

Among these products are some of Samsung’s latest 3D Blu-ray players. The product line also offers Samsung Smart Hub via integrated wireless and Smart Blu-ray features. With Smart Hub, users can search for movies, shows and videos across connected devices, browse the Web and access Samsung Apps.

Getting a lot of attention was the wall-mountable Samsung BD-D7500 3D Blu-ray player (pictured here), which also includes a 250GB hard drive for storing content.

From developments in Blu-ray players to 3D glasses, Samsung also previewed light-weight prescription-ready 3D active glasses and a wireless charger for 3D active glasses. The SSG-3700CR glasses weigh just under an ounce. Viewers who wear eyeglasses can order special prescription lenses that attach to the SSG-3700CR. For those who plan to wear their own eyeglasses, there is also a new temple design that connects to the top of the frame.

Recharging options include a USB cable or Samsung wireless charger; an indicator on the side of the glasses gauge battery life. Samsung reports that the glasses will automatically turn on when moved or placed on the face and power off when motion or touch is not detected by the embedded sensors.

Pricing was not available.

Prepare to be dazzled at the Samsung booth…

Crowds were gathering around eye-catching 1080p imagery, playing on a prototype of an ultra-thin, 75-inch, Full HD 3D LED TV.

The prototype is Internet-enabled, supports 3D, and includes a touchscreen remote. Samsung also explained the display is power efficient since it features LED backlighting.

The prototype is roughly an inch thick, though a company spokesperson said that could change before release, which is slated in Q4. A 55- and 60-inch version of the TV will also be available.

Pioneer has announced a new platform that is immediately available to developers, and hopefully in the near future to users.

The Platform for the Aggregation of Internet Services (PAIS), will enable users to have a single login that can access all of a user’s social networking, music, video, contact, calendar accounts and much more from multiple content/service providers.

The PAIS API allows users’ devices to seamlessly access and share information among a variety of services, allowing for a new level of interactivity among the various users’ accounts. For example, using a PAIS-enabled TV, a user can look up a restaurant on Yelp and send out an invite with directions to their Facebook friend seemlessly. Then when the users get in their car, the PAIS-enabled GPS would automatically input the address. When the user arrives at the destination, their PAIS-enabled mobile device can let the user connect to friends who have already arrived.

Many in the consumer electronics industry feel that the future of applications and services will always be fractured, and by introducing the PAIS layer, Pioneer hopes to enable mashups from multiple information sources. This is one of the first attempts to consolidate and wrangle the myriad of user accounts and put them in a single place. But what’s the most compelling is the attempt by Pioneer to have PAIS manage and marry the various pieces of information and services into a single seamless user experience. As it stands right now, Pioneer has managed to release PAIS ready built with services from VoiceBox, AccuWeather.com, Yelp, Wcities, Facebook, Twitter, Slacker Radio, Google Calendar, and more to come.

Ultimately it will be up to devices and services developers to enable PAIS, before consumers can even imagine a seamlessly integrated world.

Verizon — partnered with Panasonic — is streaming Full HD 3D, in a technology demonstration set up in the South Hall Blogger Lounge. The companies suggest that this is another way of delivering quality 3D content to the home.

Plans are to offer this capability through FiOS, which in the demo was used to stream at 18Mpbs from its media server to a Panasonic Blu-ray player, which handled the decoding.

The demo showed Alice in Wonderland, streaming at half resolution, compared with A Christmas Carol, at Full HD.

A start date for this service has not been set.

In the South Hall press room, Verizon is showing additional services: Flex View, a new feature of FiOS TV that allows customers to display content on a TV, online and on select mobile devices (Q4 availability); and a home control system, enabling users to control devices in the home using a TV, smartphone or the web (a pilot program begins in late January).

Haier arrived at CES with a new range of LED displays powered by Yahoo!’s Connected TV platform. These Net Connect displays also feature Wi-Fi.

Augmenting the services on the Yahoo! Connected TV platform include Amazon VOD, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, Showtime, NBC, eBay, YouTube and Pandora, Haier also has Hulu Plus, Blockbuster on Demand, Film Fresh and Netflix.

Buttons specifying Netflix — including some featuring the iconic red Netflix logo — will be situated prominently on remote controls that operate certain new Haier Blu-ray Disc players, and the Netflix one-click button will be included on remote controls for the Net Connect TVs.

Haier is also demonstrating Yahoo! Connected TV’s new broadcast interactivity feature and has plans to participate in the pilot program.

Further details on release date, pricing and additional specs for the TVs were not made available.

DivX continues to move beyond their codec product and further into the content aggregation space with a controlled content anytime, anywhere, any device environment.

As has been the case, any product bearing the DivX logo must meet their technical certification standards, which include quality of service, quality of video stream (‘quality of content’), and securely designed hardware and software specifications.

Now, in concert with their recent acquisition of Roxio, they are developing DivX TV. DivX TV serves up and manages content licensed to DivX by content partners. Their proprietary interface allows for search by genre and other criteria. DivX curates the video service to guarantee that only quality content is served to customers of their service.

Content uploaded to the customer’s locker is converted to approximately 24 formats. The network is smart enough to know what format and bit rate (‘adaptive streaming’) to serve to any device authorized in the customer’s personal network. The DivX UltraViolet-compatible controlled network solution allows the content to be streamed or downloaded to the number of devices authorized by the licensee. The customer can start watching a program on one device, then move to another device and pick up the program where they left off.

DivX TV will be available in Q1 2011. It will allow content discovery, acquisition, and playback.  The first iteration will not contain social features or Internet search capabilities. It also will not allow customers to log into their account from devices not registered to their personal network, so a customer who wants to show a program to a friend will have to carry a video player registered to the customer’s network.

Technicolor brand RCA is showing something that is similar, but not quite, Google TV. The new RLC3291 TV is running Android 2.2 “Froyo” on a 32-inch HDTV (AND42LA45RQ). Version 3.1 of Android may be installed by the time the set launches later this year.

Wi-Fi, Ethernet and DNLA capability is built in and the company says an Android mobile phone could be used as a remote control. It is designed and manufactured by On Corp.

Pricing, full specifications and launch date were not available since the product is still a work-in-progress.

Imagine all-you-can-watch Internet access on your TV for less than $100? iGUGU’s InterneTV does just that. At least it will hope to if it meets a planned launch later this year.

Still in beta, InterneTV is a part hardware, part software solution. The software part pulls content from a PC (not supplied) to serve content right off the Internet onto your television while a bespoke search function unifies Google, YouTube and iGUGU.

It comes with an RF remote control and receiver. Currently available for download only, the company says it is negotiating with Best Buy and WalMart among others ahead of commercial launch.

They claim it doesn’t suffer from a lot of content blocks like Apple TV or Google TV. You decide.