Hasta La Gadget!

It’s an interesting time for Roku — the upstart device company has owned the cheap’n’easy Netflix streaming market since the beginning, and its platform has been getting more and more flexible over time, adding various channels like Amazon Video on Demand, MLB.tv, UFC, and others. But cheap and simple aren’t necessarily good enough anymore, not with the new $99 Apple TV set to launch in just a few weeks — and while Roku already took the preemptive step of slashing prices across the board, it’s following up with some promising new hardware and features. The new Roku HD offers basic 720p streaming capabilities for just $59, the new Roku XD adds 1080p streaming support for $79, and $99 Roku XDS — which we tested — offers 1080p support, a USB port for local media, optical and component outputs, and dual-band WiFi. Apart from the new case, the HD and XD are extremely similar to Roku’s previous offerings, but the XDS is immediately interesting — it offers a number of features absent on Apple’s offering. So does the newest flagship Roku have what it takes to remain our favorite inexpensive streamer? Read on to find out!

Continue reading Roku XDS review

Roku XDS review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The universe needs another media streamer like it needs another BP running “cleanup” in the Gulf, but like it or not, Veebeam’s fully intent on shipping its newest duo. Announced today over at the DEMO Fall 2010 conference, the media-focused company has announced the Veebeam SD and Veebeam HD, with the latter obviously catching the brunt of our attention. The idea here is to create a “content agnostic” streamer that simply pipes whatever content you have playing on your Mac or PC (yeah, it plays nice with both) to your HDTV. Sounds great in theory, but the problem is the protocol. Both units rely on Wireless USB to handle their streaming, and unless the standard has seen some huge improvements since our Atlona test a year ago, we’re willing to bet the actual playback performance is less than incredible — particularly if you try to send 1080p content over it. The setup itself is fairly simple; just plug a transceiver into your computer and the base station into your tele. From there, it’s pretty much plug-and-play. The pair is up for order today, with the SD version selling for $99 and the HD model (complete with HDMI, digital audio and two USB sockets) for $139. We’d personally wait for a review before buying in blind — nothing against Veebeam, but we haven’t been overly impressed with WUSB’s ability to handle high-bandwidth applications in the past.

Continue reading Veebeam’s Wireless USB-based media streamers are ‘content agnostic,’ fairly cheap

Veebeam’s Wireless USB-based media streamers are ‘content agnostic,’ fairly cheap originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Veebeam  | Email this | Comments

Looks like Roku’s going aggressive on price with its lineup of streamers in response to Sony’s new $130 Netbox streamer, the upcoming Google TV launch, and rumors that we’ll see that rumored $99 iOS-based Apple TV arrive on Wednesday. The SD box is down to $59 from $79, the standard HD is now $69 from $99, and the HD-XR with dual-band 802.11n and soon-to-be-enabled USB playback support is now $99 from $129. The HD-XR is also due to get 1080p streaming support later this year; it’ll be focused on USB playback at first since most of the streaming channels are 720p right now.

Those prices are definitely getting close to impulse-buy territory, especially since a Roku is now one of the cheapest ways to get Netflix and Amazon VOD on a TV, along with other channels like MLB and UFC. In fact, Roku says its goal is to put three streamers in every house — one next to every TV in the average American home. We applaud the ambition, but we’ve got a feeling this entire market is about get turned upside down once Apple and Google launch their initiatives.

Roku lowers prices across the board: HD box now $69, $99 HD-XR to get 1080p support originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Looking for one box to rule them all? If so, you must have glossed right over Monsoon’s Vulkano launch, but lucky for you, there’s a reminder coming in the form of a ‘now shipping’ proclamation. Just weeks after the $379 mega-box — which aims to replace all of those other STBs under your television — went up for pre-order, the earliest of adopters have started to receive their devices. We’re still waiting on a proper critique, but if you’re yearning to have a glance at what the future of media looks like, give those links below a look. Just kidding about that last part, by the way.

[Thanks, Dan]

Monsoon Vulkano do-it-all media box starts shipping, gets unboxed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Zatz Not Funny  |  Uneasy Silence  | Email this | Comments

Monsoon — after taking advantage of a few delays since our initial hands-on by adjusting the name and pricing — is finally ready to show off the followup to its HAVA line of placeshifting media streamers, the Vulkano. Integrating a video processor and local storage into its slim frame, the Vulkano accepts HD video over its analog inputs for recording and live streaming to other devices (PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, Blackberry and Android players will be available at launch, with a Symbian version on the way) or it can convert recordings locally for them to be downloaded over WiFi or 3G and stored on those devices for offline viewing. Remote scheduling and channel changing functionality (controlling connected set-top boxes via IR blaster) isn’t a shocking new feature, but this goes a step further by bringing internet videos to your TV (YouTube, local UPnP devices) Boxee and Popbox style, and other big names like Hulu, Netflix, Google TV, Amazon Yahoo! Widgets and a full HTML browser are promised to show up in firmware updates soon. Believers can hit the site to preorder now, with units ranging from the $279 Vulkano with 8GB of SD card storage, up to a $379 Vulkano Pro with 1TB eSATA HDD included and other sizes planned in between. Check after the break for a press release with more details, and our hands on video from CES.

Continue reading Monsoon Vulkano all-in-one DVR/placeshifting/media streaming box ready for preorder, ships August 10

Monsoon Vulkano all-in-one DVR/placeshifting/media streaming box ready for preorder, ships August 10 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  My Vulkano  | Email this | Comments