Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re undecided about what set-top box to attach to your TV–Roku? Apple TV? Boxee Box?–the field is going to become a lot more crowded in 2010. Right out of the gate we’ve got the Popbox by Syabas, which nails the price ($129) and offers a decent range of content (partners include Netflix and ShoutCast).

This open-platform set-top box lets you stream movies, music, and photos from your networked computers and attached storage devices (including portable video cameras). You can also stream a variety of programs and movies off the Internet, which is really the bigger draw.

The box includes 1080p HDMI video out, as well as component video, and it comes with an included infrared remote. The user interface is especially attractive, and makes it simple to browse content from the Internet or local devices. While the box is certainly missing some premium content partners, the company is hoping its open development platform will remedy that. Media companies can create apps that let them sell content to Popbox owners. The device should be available in March.

I haven’t owned a lot of big-screen TVs in my life. In my basement there’s an old 19-inch Samsung CRT gifted to me in 1988. It still works. After I demoted that TV, I bought a 32-inch RCA tube TV. It lasted for about 12 years. In 2006 I bought my first HDTV–a 42-inch 1080i Plasma from Samsung. It didn’t make it through 2009.

It still runs, sort of. The screen turns on. I can change channels and the sound is fine, but the screen is a pixelated mess.The crazy thing is it started the day off fine. We all watched a movie on it in the morning, turned it off and when we turned it back on, it was a mess. I checked all inputs, everything looked the same. Then I went online.

The problem was not as uncommon as I thought. Other owners of the same and closely-related models reported a similar issue. Most narrowed it down to two circuit boards inside the display–upper and lower buffer boards. I also searched online for Samsung service centers. Samsung’s own site came up with zero options for plasma TVs and my area. My next step was to visit the Samsung’s parts site. The board coast about $130 each and a service manual cost around $30. I thought about ordering them and then hesitated.

This may not be a U.S. story just yet, but it’s worth noting: the Israeli-based Siano Mobile Silicon announced that Garmin, Mio, and Navigon will be sourcing its latest MDTV receiver chips for upcoming mobile TV-capable GPS devices.

That means that the latest MDTV-equipped PNDs (portable navigation devices) will offer broadcast mobile TV, plus new circuitry to ensure crystal clear reception in “urban canyons” (meaning cities with tall buildings) and when traveling at high speeds.

The receivers offer “free-to-the-user” ad-supported mobile TV viewing from major terrestrial broadcast channels. For now, the devices will land in Korea, Europe, China, and Brazil, with different technologies to support the various standards.

Boxee hosted an event Monday night at a club in Brooklyn, where the social entertainment platform joined forces with D-Link for the “Boxee Box” Internet-connected set-top box.

The “Boxee Box” has an odd, “sunken cube” shape, just shorter than a soda can, which Boxee executives said was designed to stand out from the crowd. The hardware was designed by Astro, who was also responsible for the design of the Xbox 360 and Alienware’s computers. Naturally, it connects to the Boxee service, which itself connects to the Web and allows viewing of movies and video from several sources, stream audio from Pandora, and view Facebook and Twitter feeds.

According to Zach Klein, Boxee’s founder chief product officer, the Boxee Box will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where it has already won a “Best of Innovations” award, according to the company. Klein said that the goal was for the Boxee-branded D-Link device to cost about $200 when it ships during the second quarter of 2010.

TiVo is kicking off the holiday weekend with a little deal making.

On Tuesday, the company teamed up with Google to allow the search engine giant access to its data as part of Google’s TV Ad program. Now, TiVo is also partnering with Virgin Media Inc. to develop Virgin’s next-generation TV platform.

TiVo will develop a broadband-enabled interface that will power Virgin America’s high-definition set-top boxes. TiVo will be the exclusive software provider for next-generation Virgin TV’s and Virgin Media will be the only distributor of TiVo services and technology in the United Kindgom.

“The superiority of our fiber-optic network combined with TiVo’s capabilities, will allow us to offer consumers the most significantly advanced and compelling TV service available in the UK, and we believe will do to the TV market what Virgin Media has done to the high speed broadband market,” Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin, said in a statement.

Virgin Media currently expects its first TiVo co-branded product in 2010.