Hasta La Gadget!

Let’s be honest, getting a CableCARD to work with Windows Media Center is far, far, far from a smooth process. Thankfully, the Media Center Integrator Alliance — this sort of the things is its bag, naturally — are set to show off a Digital Cable Tuner Diagnostics tool at next week’s Electronic House Expo. It’ll provide all kinds of information on your tuner and CableCARD, including modulation type, format, frequency, carrier, PCR Lock, encoding level, and authorization — and if all that goes way over your head, there’s an option to export the data to XML and send it to someone who can help. No word on when we’ll see an official release, but no matter what, it won’t be soon enough.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

New CableCARD diagnostic tool for Windows Media Center makes installation slightly less frustrating originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve known for some time that Verizon is fixated on dominating the global roaming market in the US — or, at the very least, catching up to AT&T — and to do that, they’re going to need hardware capable of taking advantage of the very best speeds that those wild and majestic foreign lands have to offer. In other words, no EV-DO-only modem is going to cut it, and an EV-DO modem with a sprinkling of EDGE on the side is a consolation prize that’s going to get frequent world travelers irked after a little while. To that end, we just witnessed this brick of a USB modem pass through the FCC bearing Verizon branding, the A3700 from ZTE. Name a frequency or wireless technology, the A3700 probably has it; in addition to EV-DO, it’s got GSM / EDGE and HSPA, so your bases are pretty well covered wherever you happen to be (hell, it even has North America-friendly HSPA 850 / 1900 in there, though Verizon wouldn’t dream of letting you stray from its own airwaves when you’re stateside). Enticing, yes — but considering that this is one of the ugliest modems we’ve seen in recent memory, you’d better really need that roaming capability when it gets around to launching.

Continue reading Verizon’s global 3G modem from ZTE spotted in FCC

Filed under: Wireless

Verizon’s global 3G modem from ZTE spotted in FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sigma has been doling out bits and pieces of information about its new DP2 camera since last fall, but it’s just now letting folks use it to actually take some pictures and, judging from LetsGoDigital’s results, it doesn’t look to disappoint. Of course, the camera is still in pre-production form, but LetsGoDigital certainly seems to be plenty impressed with its abilities so far, with the “Super Multi-Layer Coating” on the lens helping to reduce lens flare, while the 41mm f/2.8 lens and 14-megapixel FOVEON X3 image sensor combine to deliver some great depth of field. Hit up the link below for some full-size sample images, plus another hands-on look at the camera itself.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sigma DP2 finally takes some pictures, doesn’t disappoint originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video conferencing cameras generally aren’t the most exciting devices out there, but Pixavi certainly looks to be a decent job of standing out from the pack with its new Xcaster ST 5000 camera, which packs some built-in WiFi (802.11n, no less) and about as catch-all a feature set as most anyone could ask for. That includes HD video recording using the h.264 codec, a 4x optical zoom, MEMS image stabilization, a “high resolution” touchscreen, built-in Bluetooth to accommodate a wireless headset, 16GB of onboard flash plus both SD and CompactFlash card slots, a full range of line-in and AV-out ports, and a promised six hours of use from the camera’s 6600 Ah battery, to name just a few features. As you may have surmised, the camera is also fully ruggedized and waterproof, though it expectedly doesn’t come cheap. Look for it to run $7,950 when it lands in May.

[Thanks, Chimin]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Pixavi announces wireless Xcaster ST 5000 video conferencing camera originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gateway’s been on a roll of late with its bargain-minded laptops, so it’s no shock to see the trend continue with its latest addition to the FX lineup. The P-7808u FX is a 17-incher that’s geared towards multimedia freaks, and aside from the lackluster WXGA panel, the specs aren’t half bad for the price. We’re talkin’ a 2GHz Core 2 Quad CPU, NVIDIA’s GeForce 9800M GTS graphics card (1GB of GDDR3 included), 4GB of DDR3 memory, an 8x dual-layer DVD writer, 500GB SATA hard drive, 5-in-1 multicard reader, a stately nine-cell battery, WiFi, three USB 2.0 sockets, FireWire, eSATA and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. All 9.05 pounds can be ordered up from J&R right now for $1,699.99, and hey, they’ll even cover the shipping. Bonus score.

Filed under: Laptops

Gateway slips out 17-inch P-7808u FX multimedia laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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