Hasta La Gadget!

This one’s been on the books since September of 2007. Now it looks like the first retail product based on Intel’s Canmore System on Chip (SoC), aka the CE 3100, will take its first step into the spotlight at Computex with this “ready-to-market” Mediaconnect TV. The highly customizable Mini ITX device runs a Linux-based Metroconnect OS that supports all the major video codecs and Dobly Digital/DTS decoding over 7.1 channels — the CE 3100 then acts to hardware accelerate sourced 1080p video stored locally or streamed over DLNA / uPnP from anywhere in the house over fixed gigabit Ethernet. Standard features include a pair of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI 1.3a/component/composite and TOSLINK jacks, an SD/MMC card reader, and up to 2TB of on-board (SATA) storage. The box itself is highly customizable with options to include UMTS/HSUPA radios, DVB T/C/S tuners, Bluetooth (for mouse and keyboard), and 802.11n WiFi to take your media streaming wireless. It even features a webcam of unspecified quality. The built-in web browser with Adobe Flash 9.0 support means all the Hulu you can eat and optional dual DVB-T tuners will give you simultaneous over the air TV reception and recording. It remains to be seen how much of this customization will be made available direct to consumers as opposed to the cable companies and telcos that Metrological will ultimately partner with. Nevertheless, they’ll be at Computex next week where we’ll be on hand to bring you more detail. A second picture of a different Mediaconnect TV, or the same device sans faceplate, and meta shot of the main menu UI after the break.

Continue reading Metrological’s Mediaconnect TV: the first Intel CE 3100 retail device?

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Metrological’s Mediaconnect TV: the first Intel CE 3100 retail device? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 06:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Media Center Extenders — remember those? Yeah, those things were all the rage at CEDIA 2008, and right around four hours after the show closed up, you and the whole world forgot about ’em. Honestly, the concept and execution was flawed from the start. These standalone boxes provided exactly what media loving consumers didn’t want: yet another set-top-box crowding their space. Furthermore, most were priced at or above the cost of an Xbox 360, which — lo and behold — could be used as an MCE as well as a darn good gaming console. See the holes in this plan yet? Furthermore, most of ’em, particularly those that relied on WiFi, were utterly unreliable and offered disappointing streams. High prices plus lackluster results yields low demand, who woulda thunk it?

Essentially, manufacturers were hoping that those with loads of media on Windows-based PCs would jump at the chance to get all of that material on their HDTV with the addition of one little box. And in theory, at least, that does sound somewhat attractive. Unfortunately, only a few of these were announced in Denver, and almost all of them suffered from inexcusable delays. By the time they hit the market, all of the buzz generated at the trade show was extinguished, and early reviews were less than positive. It didn’t take long to see prices begin to plummet, all while fence sitting companies realized that avoiding this niche would likely be most beneficial to their longevity.

Today, we’re seeing Linksys’ DMA2100 and DMA2200 listed as “Discontinued” at a number of legitimate e-tailers, and while D-Link’s DSM-750 and HP’s MediaSmart Connect seem to be hanging around at near-full price, we can’t say the same for Samsung’s discounted MediaLive Digital Media Adapter. Heck, Niveus Media doesn’t even list its Media Center Extender – EDGE as a product on its website anymore. It shouldn’t be any real shock that hardly any other companies have jumped in since these first few, and we’re having serious doubts about the future of the dedicated MCE. Are you getting the same vibes? Do you think these things could thrive at the right price? Let us know in the poll and comments below!

[Via GeekTonic]

Update: Turns out HP is axing its MediaSmart HDTV / Connect lines as well. It’s full statement sent to us is after the break.

Continue reading Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Networking

Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 May 2009 10:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What, you didn’t even know VTech was dabbling in home audio now? You should be ashamed! All jesting aside, the outfit’s first-ever WiFi radio — which was introduced “way back” at CES — is now shipping. Priced at $199.95, the Wireless Music Hub boasts built-in 3W stereo speakers (not to mention a 10W subwoofer), 802.11b/g support, an FM tuner and an auxiliary audio port. Additionally, it can play back MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and RealAudio files stored on any nearby WiFi-enabled computer, though it can’t actually get more beautiful with age. Sorry.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

VTech’s $200 IS9181 WiFi radio now shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll be perfectly honest with you — the Atom-powered RipNAS definitely caught our interest when it launched with practically no major competitors back in February. Now, the RipNAS family has grown by two with the introduction of the Statement SSD and Statement HDD. We’re told that the former is the world’s first SSD-based CD ripping NAS device, and we’ve absolutely no reason to believe otherwise. The totally silent, all-silver box is based on the Windows Home Server OS and handles a cornucopia of tasks: CD ripping, media streaming and networked file storage. Internal specifications include a dual-core Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM and four USB 2.0 ports. The Statement SSD arrives in a 500GB configuration (2 x 250GB SSDs), while the Statement HDD holds 3TB by way of two 1.5TB drives; mum’s the word on pricing, but don’t bank on ’em being cheap.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage

RipNAS Statement: world’s first SSD-based CD ripping NAS device originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 May 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t tell you precisely how much we’ve been yearning for an L-shaped media streamer, but we can tell you that Compro has made the hopes, dreams and wishes of quite a few content junkies come true with the debut of its VideoMate T1000W. Showcased late last week at SecuTech Expo 2009, this network media streamer is an all-in-one solution that handles content shuffling, TV tuning, internal storing of files, expansion ports, WiFi access, support for USB DVD players and even BitTorrent files. As expected, pretty much any file format you could think of is supported here, though the DVB-T tuner won’t do us Yanks much good in the homeland. Fudzilla asserts that the unit should hit shelves overseas this May, though the £200 ($293) price tag just might scare away most potential buyers.

[Thanks, TheLostSwede]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Compro showcases VideoMate T1000W network media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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