Hasta La Gadget!

Yes, the world needs another high-definition media streamer like it needs a shot in the foot, but never let it be said we passed up the chance to try a promising product simply because the competition was good. We’re talking about the Uebo M200 –a never-before-seen box from storage company UIT — whose claim to fame is a $130 price for everything-but-the-kitchen-sink media center functionality. Out of the box it’s your standard streamer, playing loads of media formats from memory cards, attached storage and thumbdrives, plus ShoutCast internet radio, RSS feeds and UPnP shares from your PC, but also the usual suspects Hulu, Netflix, CBS and more via PlayOn media server. Pop in a 3.5-inch SATA disk, however, and things get more entertaining, as the box itself turns into an external hard drive, a network-attached storage device and even a Bittorrent client. It also doesn’t hurt that the Uebo can hook up to most any entertainment system, with not only HDMI, component and composite connections but also every standard (HD, NTSC and PAL) video mode, there’s a $30 optional wireless dongle, and the digital audio front includes both optical and coaxial jacks for output.

Sadly, in practice the above functionality isn’t as streamlined as it sounds — as is usually the case with these devices image quality can suffer slightly, and Uebo’s GUI has a face only a mother could love. While the device admirably played the vast majority of one editor’s anime music video collection (though it stumbled over XviD and Sorenson Video 3), sorting through nested menus to get to our content was a hell of a chore. PlayOn and Bittorrent seemed to work, though their roundabout implementation left much to be desired, with the former only accessible through a deep dive of the UPnP menu, and the latter requiring torrent trackers to be uploaded from a separate PC using a web client. We had a couple of crashes when testing the device, too, including a Bittorrent-related one where the Uebo completely stopped responding to input, but the majority of the time we enjoyed HD and SD content on the fairly capable little TV server. All in all, it’s not the most polished product and shouldn’t distract you from popcorn-eating elephants in the room, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative it’s hard to argue with Uebo. Take a brief tour with our gallery below, or hit up the more coverage link for a full datasheet.

Uebo introduces versatile M200 media streamer, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We thought we had another week or so to get ready, but no, the Popbox is on sale already, with some preorderers reporting they got shipment notifications as early as yesterday. In case you’ve forgotten since CES, the $129 box takes the Popcorn Hour into a more general consumer friendly form with an all new interface and SDK, YouTube access, support for 100Mbps bitrate 1080p video and more — just not the Netflix access (at least for now) we were originally promised. According to the official Twitter account — also accessible with a new “Popapp” — a quicker than expected route through customs is to thank/blame for the launch, but whatever, we’re one step closer to the 2010 media streamer battle we’ve been waiting for. It’s your move, Boxee Box.

[Thanks, Jason]

Syabas Popbox surprises everyone, including Syabas, by going on sale today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our wait for the Syabas Popbox just got a little longer, with the official blog announcing it will not ship from Amazon until July 23. Like the Boxee Box, the delay is being blamed on software being not “quite where we wanted it to be” but the real bad news here is the official list of content partners which, for the time being, is missing Netflix. Also not included (but likely not as missed) is SDTV support — even via analog outputs, the Popbox is apparently an HDTV only affair. As far as whether we will ever see Netflix support Syabas is still giving it the Voldemort treatment, but without naming names it refuted rumors regarding a lack of hardware DRM support with the claim that “the PopBox that ships is, TODAY, capable of supporting all foreseeable App partners in the future WITHOUT requiring a hardware upgrade.” Check the blog for a complete list of content providers (Revision3, YouTube, Picasa, Clicker, Twitter and others will be ready to go) and decide if that preorder is still worth holding on to.

Popbox’s Netflix-less launch now scheduled for July 23 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enjoy copying DVDs onto $5,000 boutique home servers? If you’ve got the dough, ReQuest has got you covered — CEO Peter Cholnoky says that even if California courts make the practice illegal, his firm isn’t afraid to push back. When CE Pro asked whether he was concerned about the fallout from the Kaleidescape lawsuit, he said, “Nope, should I be?” adding that ReQuest could convert existing equipment to use third-party DVD-copying software “in two seconds” should the courts try to shut him down. Given that the company’s new $1,200 MediaPlayer (above) doesn’t have the requisite DVD drive for ripping discs anyhow, that sounds an awful lot like braggadocio, but we have to say we love Peter’s stick-it-to-the-man tone. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that MediaPlayer is slated to ship in June; you’ll find a full spec sheet at our source link.

ReQuest threatens to enable DVD piracy on its media streamers, announces one sans DVD originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 19:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate’s FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player has quite a few competitors surrounding it, and for the most part, it didn’t really offer a huge competitive advantage when we peeked it back in September. ‘Course, that’s before support for Netflix‘s Watch Instantly came along, and today, the tables seem to have turned. The aforesaid storage outfit has announced that a gratis firmware update will enable this here player to stream Netflix as well as content from YouTube, vTuner and Mediafly. For those just now willing to give this unit a second look, it also doubles as a UPnP / DLNA streamer to play content stored on networked PCs and drives, and it can procured for right around $100 sans a FreeAgent HDD. So, Roku — you just going to sit there and take this, or what?

Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player gains Netflix streaming originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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