S1Digital intros P500 Media Center, updates ProLine Series of HTPCs

It’s been a hot minute since S1Digital tickled our attention with a new media center, but the outfit is hitting back this year with a new machine along with updates to a number of its ProLine Series rigs. The new kid on the block is the P500 Media Center, which is available with up to four CableCARD tuners (plus a QAM / ATSC tuner), support for internal RAID5 storage, HDMI / DVI, 7.1-channel audio output and Intel’s latest Core 2 Duo processors. As for the refreshed bunch, you can catch the S800 and P600 with Blu-ray drives as standard, quad CableCARD tuners and support for home automation integration with Crestron, AMX, RTI, HAI and PC based-touchscreens over IP or RS-232. Every machine mentioned here can be ordered up now, with the new P500 starting at a staggering $5,999 sans tuners.

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S1Digital intros P500 Media Center, updates ProLine Series of HTPCs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Phantom Lapboard Review

The Phantom Lapboard is one of those fabled legends of the gadget world, a keyboard and mouse that you can use comfortably on a couch—in the making since 2004.

Phantom was kind enough to send us the first final production unit off of the line—preorder shipments should be fulfilled starting Feb 20th. It’s unfair to judge any product with higher standards only because of funding and manufacturing delays—even if the Phantom Lapboard is the Duke Nukem Forever of the keyboard world. But despite these delays and issues, there’s still no clone or ripoff to compare it to.

Phantom’s pitch is a wireless, ambidextrous keyboard that can be used via lap for a home theater PC with a full-sized mouse. The keyboard itself pivots vertically, lifting the keys from the platform on your lap to make room for a mouse, while simultaneously spinning 360 degrees horizontally so that it works for righties and lefties.

In use, the lapboard functions as promised. It synced instantly to both my PS3 and Mac through a 2.4GHz USB dongle (though, I should mention, I had left mouse button recognition issues on the PS3). The keyboard locks after a gentle tilt, and you can actually spin it round and round indefinitely…which can be addictive.
Typing, however, is a bit more problematic than I expected. It’s certainly possible, and the keys are clicky and responsive. But the keyboard tilts a bit too much for my taste (a full 22 degrees) and I found myself typing with one hand uncomfortably higher than the other. I wish there were two tilt settings—one that would just fit your mouse hand under it, and one with a little more clearance. That said, a few hours of hands-on gaming would probably put you more at ease with the design.


To tilt the keyboard back down, you push in on a semi-awkward rubber latch.
The mouse has a subtler style than you’d expect to see with a hardcore PC peripheral, with a one-piece plastic top creating two buttons with perfect resistance. (There’s also a clicking scroll wheel.) It’s rated at some insane DPI—it felt accurate enough—but there’s one downfall to gamers. The board for the mouse is just too slippery. At the slightest angle on your lap, the mouse will literally slide off. I’m actually tempted to sand the plastic or add new pads to the mouse because this very small (overlooked?) detail makes the lapboard far less pleasant to use.
I find the Phantom Lapboard’s $130 asking price a bit steep—but if it cost less than $100 it would be a strong recommendation. Using the mouse can feel a bit like walking on ice and the keyboard tilts a lot, but given that there are few competitors that can offer a full keyboard/mouse that fit comfortably in your lap, I’m glad to see the still-fresh idea finally come to market. [Phantom]

Ace Computers promises $999 CableCARD HTPC at CES 2009

HTPCs may still be a niche market, but getting one equipped with a CableCARD for under a grand could do great things for adoption. Little-known Ace Computers will reportedly debut such a rig at CES, and the machine will be known as the LMS 250. It’ll be made available in a few configurations, one of which includes a triple-core AMD Phenom X3 and one that houses an Intel Core 2 Duo E7300; the former will be built around AMD’s Maui entertainment platform, while the latter could quite possibly be the last to use Intel’s own impossible-to-understand Viiv technology. Prospective customers with fatter wallets can upgrade the baseline rigs with a Blu-ray burner, but even the $999 edition will include 2GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD, internal ATI Digital Cable Tuner and between 8 and 12 USB ports. Sadly, we’re not tipped off on a release date, but hopefully we’ll learn of that — along with many other delicious, heart-healthy tidbits — in just a few days.

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Ace Computers promises $999 CableCARD HTPC at CES 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS offers up branded keyboard / mouse combo, remote for Eee Box

If your Eee Box experience is lacking something that you can’t quite put your finger on, we’re 85.32% sure we know what’ll fill that void. According to Eee PC News, ASUS is gearing up to ship an Eee-branded wireless keyboard / mouse combo in both black and white motifs, and if that’s still not enough Eee to cure your fever, the multi-function remote should handle those media center duties with ease. There’s no mention of a price or release date, so we suppose you should assume these are completely fictional until proven otherwise.

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ASUS offers up branded keyboard / mouse combo, remote for Eee Box originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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