If you're tired of flipping through boring old TV guides, then you might want to try the iTV app for iPhone. It's not only a good guide, but a great way to research new and interesting programs. You can even use it to program your home DVR to record shows or notify you when your favorite shows are set to air and keep you informed of all of the latest entertainment news.

Scott Steinberg, Tech Industry Insider, is here to answer any and all of your questions related to technology. Whether you're having a hardware hassle or you're simply curious about the latest trending topic on Twitter, you can ask Scott at TopTechExpert.com. Today's topic: Netflix, price plan changes and thousands of angry customers. What's the connection?

Whether you're

searching for a movie

to watch at home, in the theatres or online, Flixster helps by providing

movie information, reviews

and more. You can

rent movies right through iTunes

or Netflix, or if you're looking to go out for a date you can even

find theatres and restaurants nearby

.

In this episode, we kick off our list of

top 10 free iPhone apps

by introducing you to the first five

free iPhone apps we picked

, in no particular order. These include:

Words with Friends, Groupon, Peel, Dropbox and Fandango

. All of these apps serve totally different purposes but all are awesome for the same reason: they're totally free.

If you need to set the

parental restrictions and controls on an iPhone

, then you can access them

using your iPhone Settings

. Once in the

parental restrictions

menu, you'll be able to

restrict access to the camera

or choose to

restrict TV shows, movies and even apps

. We'll show you how in this tutorial.

In this episode, we'll show you get your

notebook computer

set up with a Blu-ray player. While it is theoretically possible to

replace your optical drive

with a

Blu-ray drive

, it's not very practical. A better way is to get an

external Blu-ray drive

. Keep in mind that you'll still need both your display and your video card to be

HDCP compatible

.

Amediasoft's iPad Video Converter does just what the name says: it converts video from just about any format you can throw at it into an iPad compatible file format at a size perfect for 720p playback on the iPad's fairly large screen. No need to re-rip DVDs or re-download digital copies.

Here, we explain

what Blu-ray is

and why it is superior to DVDs. If you know why DVDs are better than CDs, then you're pretty much on the right track.

Blu-ray discs

can

store much more data

than DVDs but require special drives to use. This makes Blu-ray discs ideal for housing

HD video

like movies and is the reason

Blu-ray drives

are becoming commonplace.

First there were CDs, and then came DVDs, and now we have Blu-ray. More than just a technology for

watching movies

on your

high-definition screen

,

Blu-ray is an optical storage medium

that can

store many gigabytes of files

, not just video. In this series, we explain further

what Blu-ray is

and show you

how to install a Blu-ray drive

and

burn a Blu-ray disc

.

In this episode, we show you how to

watch Netflix videos on your iPhone

using the Netflix application

. We'll also talk a little bit more about the various

Netflix-enabled devices

so that you can

stream Netflix videos

whenever you want.

If you want to

stream movies via Netflix

straight to your TV, then you're going to need a

Netflix-enabled device

. You'd probably be surprised at how many devices are Netflix-enabled including many

HD television units

and

Blu-Ray players

, but even if you've got an

Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii

you'll be good to go. We show you how to

use your Netflix-enabled device

in this episode.

In this episode, we show you how to

manage your queue on Netflix.com

. Your queue is where the

movies that you've ordered

to watch go so that when you return an item that you've finished watching you'll receive another automatically. You can

add movies to your queue

or

change your Netflix

queue order at any time.

In order to

rent movies through Netflix.com

, you'll need to

create a Netflix account

. A

Netflix account with a subscription

allows you to

rent movies and TV shows

through Netflix. We show you how to

set up your Netflix account

and give you a tour of the

Netflix account menu

.

In this episode, we introduce you to

Netflix.com

, the

online movie-renting service

that allows you to

rent movies by mail

or

stream movies into your home

through the Internet. With

unlimited movie rentals

for $8.99 a month Netflix is a great way to entertain the family, offering hundreds of movie titles at your fingertips.

In this episode we'll show off some of the more

advanced multimedia features

of

Windows Phone 7 devices

. Not only can you

play music, movies and podcasts

on your Windows Phone 7 smartphone, you can also

listen to FM radio

and

stream media

to other devices. We'll show you how to do all that and more in this tutorial.

If you own an iPad, then you've probably noticed its flaws when it comes to

video playback

. Fortunately, there is now a free app for that provided by the VLC team.

VLC Media Player

allows you to

play videos, music

and almost any type of media file with ease and can be easily found through iTunes.

Unless you're using a laptop, you're going to need to

find a monitor

to use with your

PC setup

. There are many different

types of monitors

available and we'll walk you through some of them in this episode and show you how to

hook up your monitor

once you've picked one out.

In this series, we show you

how to use AppleTV

. AppleTV is a

multimedia streaming device

by Apple that allows you to stream media to your television set. Whether you want to

stream photos, videos or music

, or even if you want to

rent movies or television shows

, AppleTV can do it. In fact, it can even

access Netflix, YouTube or Flickr

, and we'll show you how to do all that and more.

Another way that you can

rent movies and television shows

through your

AppleTV

is by using Netflix. In this episode, we show you

how to access Netflix

through your AppleTV and allows you to browse the Netflix library of videos and TV shows. Netflix will even give you a list of

recommended videos

based on your rental history.

If you want to

rent movies or TV

shows

using your AppleTV

, then you'll need to

set up your Apple ID

. This is the same as your

iTunes email address

, so if you use iTunes, then you can use your email address for your Apple ID. We'll show you how to set it up in this episode.

In order to interact with your

AppleTV device

, you'll need to either use the

remote control

provided or use an

iPad, iPod or iPhone

with the remote app set up. In this episode, we'll focus on

using the AppleTV remote

and we'll start by showing you how to use it to

navigate through the AppleTV menus

.

If you need to

find movie showtimes

while you're on the go, you can

use Fandango from your Android

. Fandango is a

free application

that you can download from

Android Market

. It can even help you

look up movie details

and

buy tickets

.

Since time immemorial (ok, just over the last decade or so) we have been looking for practical ways to get downloaded and streaming video content off the computer and onto the TV. Now, with HDTVs in many North American living rooms, that quest has taken on a new importance. Seagate with its FreeAgent gear that we've looked at previously on the show has another great solution to offer. The FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD media player.

If you are a frequent movie-goer and happen to have an

Android phone

then you'll be pleased to know that there is an application available on

Android Market

that will help you

find movie showtimes

on the go. Movies and Showtimes is a

free application

so there's no harm in checking it out. We'll show you how to put it to use in this tutorial!

If you have Netflix then you know how handy it is to

access your favorite movies

from the Internet. And if you think that's cool, you'll be amazed that your iPhone lets you get to your Netflix account on the go! Wondering how

accessing Netflix from an iPhone

is possible? Simple, just use the

iPhlix application

. We'll show you how in this video.

While it won't fit in your pocket like an iPod, the iPad iPod application actually bests the stand-alone in many ways. We continue our

how to use the iPad video tutorial series

and

iPad new user guide

with a look at entertainment apps included on your iPad.

PixelPipe is a cool site that lets you

share photos, videos

and more with over 100 other sites. Upload once and send your photos and videos to a bunch of different social networking and blogging sites. This saves you updating hundreds of different

social media, photo or video

sharing pages individually. Now you can use

PixelPipe right from your iPhone

with this

awesome free iPhone app

.

FoxPop is an interesting idea: it uses the microphone on your iPhone (or Windows or Mac laptop) to sync up with select FoxPop enabled DVD movies. Launch the app, it'll listen to the movie's soundtrack and pop up interesting facts, quizes, bonuses and extras on your screen. Currently, there aren't a lot of movies using the technology, but it's fair to say Mr. Mobile is impressed. Now, he' waiting for the next round of FoxPop enabled titles to hit his local DVD retailer's shelves.

If you want to go to the movies there's a quick way to

find out where your movie is playing and when

. Simply use use this

Google power searching tip

and you'll be sitting in the theater, enjoying the latest release and lamenting the $20 tub of popcorn you bought in no time.

If you like a visual perspective then Cooliris is something you need to try. You can use it to see videos, news, pictures from around the world and so much more.

We've all likely seen a movie in 3D. However, D-BOX is adding a brand new dimension to movies with its motion experience chairs, available at select theaters. The latest movie to get the D-BOX treatment in theaters is

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

. We chat with Guy Marcoux, Marketing Director for D-BOX about what's in store for movie goers who opt for the ~$7 premium D-BOX experience. D-BOX got its start coding motion for its line of home theatre chairs and also has a line of premium gaming products.

Molly McDonald takes a close look at hulu, the online service that lets you

watch TV shows and movies online for free

. She leads us through

signing up for a free hulu account

to

finding TV shows and movies online with hulu

, joining in with the hulu community and all steps in between.

The

Intelliscanner Mini

is the easiest way to create a home inventory, organize your wine collection, comic books, DVDs, music, books and even shopping lists. Just hit the button to

scan a UPC barcode, connect to your PC

and voila.

Stacy Reed runs down five fantastic online services that let you watch TV and movies on your PC for free. Moreover, these services are completely legal. Fancast, joost, ChannelChooser, Zattoo and of course Hulu each get The Sweet Stuff treatment as Stacy runs down the top five free online TV services and sites.

Cheryl Poirier runs down her favorite new download: Orb. This slick program lets you access your music, movies and other media from anywhere on any computer or online device. You can even connect your home PC to a video source and get free streaming over the Net... like a SlingBox but free!

How do you get massive video files to fit on your portable video player? Easy: DivX! Cheryl Poirier looks at the easiest way to watch videos on your computer, on your portable player or on your TV. Thanks to the ubiquity of DivX video compression technology, chances are you'll run across a DivX format video before too long, if you haven't already. In fact, Cheryl loves DivX Player so much, she wrote a song about it.

Mr. Mobile takes a look at three iPhone accessories that he goes as far as saying are real must-haves for iPhone owners. First, we look at an extended life battery pack that doubles the battery life of your iPhone 3G. Next we see a simple, non-electronic gizmo that improves the experience of watching movies on your iPhone for under $10. Finally, we see an iPhone case with a kick stand, perfect for watching movies on the plane without having to hold your iPhone.

Still cameras that shoot movies, movie cameras that shoot stills. Invariably, when opting for a multi-purpose product, there have been some sacrifices to be made. Not so any more, according to Panasonic: its Lumix GH1 cams do it all.

Have a video file that won't play on your computer? Or do you want to convert a video file or DVD into a format that will play on your iPod, iPhone, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360 and so on? It's easy to do with Handbrake!

Molly McDonald, AKA Demo Girl runs through

beginner, intermediate to advanced iTunes

tips, tricks and techniques that will help you get the most out of Apple's audio and video player and

iPod syncing program on PC or Mac.

She'll show you how to find the content you're looking for, how to organize it and even where to look for the elusive iTunes freebies!

To reward us all for taking the time to learn the finer points of iTunes, Molly McDonald makes with the free iTunes content in this installment of Tune In: Novice Guide to iTunes.

The iTunes Store can be a little overwhelming thanks to the sheer volume of content available. Molly McDonald breaks down some practical tips for navigating the iTunes Store to find what you want quickly and easily, without getting lost.

The whole idea behind iTunes is that it acts as your one-stop media library. All your music, movies, TV shows you've downloaded, iPhone apps you've grabbed, podcasts you subscribe to and more are all there. To avoid information overload, Molly McDonald has some practical tips for navigating your ever-growing iTunes library.

After searching for and finding the movie, music or TV show you want to purchase, you'll want to look at the price. While the cost of individual items is reasonable and largely universal, the price varies between different types of media. You'll also want to keep an eye out for the elusive "free" tag. More on getting free stuff from iTunes in a future episode.

As soon as you've installed iTunes on your Mac or PC, you can start looking around for movies, music, applications, podcasts and TV shows that are of interest to you. Whether you missed the latest episode of your favourite cop drama or you're looking for the slow song they used to play at every high school dance, you can probably find it in iTunes.

You probably have hundreds of hours of video and music and thousands of photos on your computer. Meet Boxee. It grabs data for your movies and music to give you DVD covers, subtitles, reviews, lyrics and more. Connect with friends over Boxee to give them movie and music recommendations.

In this series we show you

how to use AppleTV

. AppleTV is a

multimedia streaming device

by Apple that allows you to stream media to your television set. Whether you want to

stream photos, videos or music

, or even if you want to

rent movies or television shows

, AppleTV can do it. In fact, it can even

access Netflix, YouTube or Flickr

, and we'll show you how to do all that and more.

First there were CDs, and then came DVDs, and now we have Blu-ray. More than just a technology for watching movies on your high-definition screen, Blu-ray is an optical storage medium that can store many gigabytes of files, not just video. In this series we explain further what Blu-ray is and show you how to install a Blu-ray drive and burn a Blu-ray disc.

Molly McDonald takes a close look at hulu, the online service that lets you

watch TV shows and movies online for free

. She leads us through

signing up for a free hulu account

to

finding TV shows and movies online with hulu

, joining in with the hulu community and all steps in between.

Molly McDonald, AKA Demo Girl runs through beginner, intermediate to advanced iTunes tips, tricks and techniques that will help you get the most out of Apple's audio and video player and iPod syncing program on PC or Mac.
She'll show you how to find the content you're looking for, how to organize it and even where to look for the elusive iTunes freebies!