Hasta La Gadget!

And now, there’s a name. The iDevice streaming adapter that we spotted a couple of months ago finally has a proper affiliation, with the PCD Bigstream being quasi-revealed today as the run-up to CES continues. Fundamentally, it’s pretty simple — just plug a nub into the 30-pin Dock Connector of your iPod, iPhone or iPad, and then connect the tent-like transceiver to your television. Once connected, users will purportedly be able to beam “Netflix, Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go, and iTunes content, among other apps,” directly to their set sans cabling. It’s difficult to tell if PCD has actually landed licensing agreements with these media portals (or if it’s just really, really good at circumventing DRM), but all should be revealed at the 2011 edition of CES next month. The system relies on a 5.8GHz wireless RF link to distribute signals, and as you can tell, it’s entirely more flexible than AirPlay — a protocol that can only stream video from Apple’s own iPod and YouTube applications. Curiously enough, the first version will only support 480p transmissions, though a 1080p model should hit shelves later in 2011. Here’s hoping we’ll get a good look at how exactly it performs in Vegas.

Continue reading PCD Bigstream iPod / iPhone dongle revealed, looking to one-up AirPlay next month

PCD Bigstream iPod / iPhone dongle revealed, looking to one-up AirPlay next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not like anyone could predict the media streamer war that would erupt in 2010, but it looks like Western Digital’s taking things pretty seriously. The company has just issued a somewhat major overhaul for its WD TV Live Plus and WD TV Live media players, adding Facebook support while also giving US-based users the ability to instantly rent or purchase movies via Blockbuster on Demand. Post-firmware update, users will also be able to tap into Deezer (an on-demand music service), Flingo (another internet TV portal) and AccuWeather (a place that “forecasts” what’s happening in our “atmosphere”). Potentially more important than all of that, however, is the addition of USB wireless keyboard support — simply plug in a USB wireless dongle that ships with most every wireless keyboard out there, and you’ll be free to update your Facebook status or search for “Bed Intruder Song” through YouTube, all from the comfort of your sofa. Huzzah!

Continue reading WD TV Live media players gain Blockbuster on Demand, USB wireless keyboard support

WD TV Live media players gain Blockbuster on Demand, USB wireless keyboard support originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your Apple TVs and your Google TVs hold a lot of potential, but their limited access to content freely available to any ‘ol PC and Mac is what you’d call a bit of a problem. The latest product from Orb fixes that by being a simple media streamer, relying on a computer elsewhere on the network to pull that content locally before turning around and pumping it back out to the company’s new Orb TV coaster, which in turn displays it on your actual TV. Since the content is hitting the computer first (the “Orb Caster”) Hulu is available on-tap, but somewhere along the way support for HD video quality goes out the window: this thing maxes out at VGA. Sure, you can already do this with your TVersity’s and the like, but the Orb TV is a lot smaller than your average media extender hardware, has a very handy remote control app for iPhones and Androids, and kindly will support multiple Orb devices on the same network. Best of all? It’s shipping right now, so make with the clicking and get your Gleek on.

Update: We’re being told the Android app is available now as well.

Orb TV is the $99 video streamer that will do Netflix and Hulu, but not HD originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Media Link DLNA media streamer dances through the FCC with 802.11n WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hard to say if it’s too little, too late, but one thing’s for darn sure — Acer definitely has a lot of competition to shake off if it wants this Aspire RevoView to truly succeed. Announced originally way back in May, this here network media streamer is just now gaining an image, price and release date. It’s able to fetch content from USB hard drives, an internal 3.5-inch HDD, a memory card slot or the world wide web, but the latter seems contained to just YouTube, Picasa and Flickr for the time being. It’ll push things out via an HDMI socket on the rear, and the bundled remote will keep your keister firmly planted while it’s in operation. No word on whether or not this fellow will ever leave the confines of the UK, but it’ll go on sale there next week for £119.99 ($193).

Continue reading Acer Aspire RevoView network media streamer ships this month in the UK

Acer Aspire RevoView network media streamer ships this month in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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