Looking a little different than the prototype we got our hands-on at CES, the retail version of the CableCARD tuner from SiliconDust found its way in front of our camera today. Those who preordered this little guy for $249 should start receiving it shortly, as a series of frustrating delays finally come to an end. We can’t wait to plug this network tuner in and toss up to three HD feeds at a time through our Ethernet cabling and expect most others feel the same way. Check out out our pics in the gallery below, we’ll let you know if the InfiniTV 4 has competition worth worrying about — seems like it, given the price drop — shortly.
Once its certification was official we knew a release date for the Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB was just around the corner, and today the company announced it expects to start shipping the external CableCARD TV tuners September 19th. Starting tomorrow, customers can preorder for $299 from Cannon PC and Fluid Digital, with other retailers like Amazon and Newegg getting stock later in September. Also, the price on the existing internal PCIe model has officially dropped to $299, no rebate necessary. The market is suddenly full of options for the HTPC enthusiast looking to get some premium cable TV channels on their Media Center PC, check the press release after the break and let us know if this one catches your eye.
We’re still waiting for a version of TiVo’s official remote to come to Android, but now there’s a homebrew option available in the meantime. TiVo Commander is a free open source app that just hit the Android Market based on the community’s research of how TiVo’s app talks to its DVRs. So far the feature list includes a full remote control with keyboard input, ability to browse recorded shows, search for shows/movies/actors, set recordings and see credits or suggestions for similar content to what’s being watched. Of course you’re giving up some of the slick look and convenient options that are still iOS-only but if you just want to get things working on your Motorola / Samsung / HTC / etc. device right now, that ability is just a click of the source link away.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that The Big Lebowski Special Edition Blu-ray disc came out today, and to mark the occasion Universal has brought much of the cast together in New York for Lebowski Fest. If you can’t be there or haven’t snagged a ticket to sold-out event don’t worry, there’s also a live video stream available via Livestream. Check back here at 6:30 pm (Eastern) for an interview with the real life inspiration for the character The Dude, and at 8 p.m. for a Q&A session with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, John Turturro and T Bone Burnett.
Back with very little delay, it’s another episode of the Engadget HD Podcast. The shocking news of the week is certainly Google’s deal to purchase Motorola Mobility, so we brought on our good friend and industry insider Jeremy Toeman to figure out what Motorola might mean for Google TV. Of course, that’s not all that happened this week, so we’ve also got news from TiVo, Zediva, Warner Bros and Cablevision. Hulu is launching in Japan, the PS3 is a better Blu-ray 3D player and it’s also the season for our back to school HDTV buying advice, so listen in on the reasoning for our picks and see if you agree. Finally, we’ve got Runco’s cheapest projector out, a new push from Niveus and of course our TV picks for the week before getting ready for some football.
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc) Special Guest: Jeremy Toeman (@jtoeman)
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