Hasta La Gadget!

I hate TV. It seems so limited. Ads, fixed schedules and limitless
junk floating through the airwaves seems so primitive. I haven’t owned
a TV for five years — everything comes through BitTorrent or via
podcast.

But I hate speaking bad Spanish even more, which is why this weekend
I picked up Elgato’s EyeTV Hybrid, a USB stick which will let me watch
as many culebrones as I like. My teacher tells me I should watch more TV to help learn the language, so I decided to do it on my MacBook.

The Hybrid is, as the name suggests, a mixture. It can pick up analog signals along with digital broadcasts and also FM radio. I won’t go into the specifications here, as they are both extensive and available at Elgato’s site. Instead, we’ll take a look at a few of the neater features the stick has.

This is the box. In it you’ll find quite a lot of kit. There is, of course, the stick itself, the size of a rather bulky pen drive. When plugged in it blocks the second USB port on my Mac, so the included USB extension cable comes in handy. There is also an antenna with a magnetic base, a suction cup with a metal plate on top (for window mounting), an ugly remote control and a break out cable for hooking the EyeTV up to a cable box or set top box via composite or S-Video:

Set up is simple. Plug the dongle into the Mac, hook up the antenna (the included one or the coax cable from your wall) and fire up the included software. Auto tuning doesn’t take long, and afterward you are left with list of TV stations. Digital stations have their names alongside.

And here’s the listing guide. The EyeTV comes with a year subscription to various online guides. In Europe you get TVTV.

This is where the first problem occurs. You have to assign the guide to each channel manually. You must click in the EPG column and then choose one of the channels listed. Matching entries have exactly the same name as the channel listing itself, so I’m not sure why this can’t be automatic. If you never move around, then this won’t be a problem. If you use a laptop, you’ll have to assign the channels every time you scan for new ones. You can, at least, save the groups for later use.

The remote is, like almost all remotes, ugly. It allows you to control pretty much all aspects of the EyeTV: navigting the channel guide, pausing live TV, recording, you name it. Fortunately, the dongle will also work with the Apple remote, which is both more elegant and easier to carry in a bag. The dongle has its own IR port, which means that the EyeTV actually adds remote functionality to older Macs.

So, how is it? Aside from the annoying TV guide setup, the software is great, and very Mac-like. You can surf your recordings in cover flow view, beam recordings over the network (or internet) to an iPod or iPhone, organize the recordings into smart folders, have EyeTV automatically add new video to iTunes (for syncing to iPods) and even edit out commercials. These are the advantages of watching TV on a computer.

Picture quality varies, of course, depending on reception. This is less of a problem with digital broadcasts – it’s either on or off – but analog can break up. That said, the small supplied antenna pulls in some very good pictures in the Lady’s apartment. In mine, however, even the rooftop antenna can only manage FM radio. Add that to my lack of home Internet and you’ll see why I have got so much reading done recently.

The EyeTV has a ridiculous amount of functionality which I haven’t even touched yet. As a straight up TV replacemant, though, it is outstanding –good quality and easy to use. There’s also something neat about watching the telly on a laptop screen, and if a movie comes on I can just hit the "record" button, just like the old days of VHS. Mine cost me €130. List price in the US is $150.

Product page [Elgato]

There’s no question the creators of mini projectors want them to become the popular portable alternative to expensive TVs and big projectors, just like the netbooks have cut into the market for laptops.

But looking at recent announcements of high-quality mini projectors, like that of the Syba RCG RC-VIS62002 this week, we find that the comparison is not yet apt. Mainly, they’re still too expensive.

Let’s first take a look at the Syba RCG. It’s pluggable to your notebook (or DVD player), and displays images at a 640×480 VGA pixel resolution (though it’s also mentioned it can go up to a 1024 x 768 resolution, probably with interpolating with XGA).

I like the fact that company is willing to come out and say the optimal size of the projected screen (at 25 inches) instead of giving us the largest potential size possible. That happens when the projector is pulled away the farthest from the distance of the wall, a max that always turns out to be unwatchable.

This is not a pocketable projector, despite the early claims. Just like the EyeClops Mini Projector and the similar LG, it’s a light (80 grams), mid-range, palm sized box that fits better in a large purse or backpack. And this is the key. If someone is willing to carry a projector in a bag separately, they might want to get the projector with the best image possible, and it’s not going to be the smallest Pico. It will probably be one at this size or a normal-sized projector.

But the rub is that this one is going to be almost $400, just like the LG. Put in an extra $50 or $100 at most and you can get a regular-sized, higher-quality projector. At this point, if you can carry the larger one, the mini is not cheap enough to be worth it.

Netbooks don’t face the same close price range with their competitors. The best cheap laptop comes in near the $1000 mark, twice as much as most netbooks. And they offer a similar quality version of the most popular and basic apps – word processing and internet browsing. A projector’s most basic app, the image, still can’t come close to the resolution quality of an LCD at the same price. Check out these available TVs from Amazon for comparison.

We’re going to love testing this one out when it’s available, but they’re gonna have to lower it to really take off.

Did you love Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Maybe you prefered Firefly, but wished it didn’t get damned by Fox executives? Do you just think Eliza Dushku is hot? All are valid reasons to watch Dollhouse.

Premiering tonight on Fox at 9/8C, Dollhouse is the story of a young woman named Echo (Eliza Dushku). She’s essentially a human wiped of personality, exploited for missions by an underground agency. So each week, her mind is remapped with a new personality and set of skills. Meanwhile, the FBI isn’t too happy about it all, which is where Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett, who you may know from Battlestar Galactica) comes in.

Given that our brain is literally shaped by our thoughts and experiences, the idea is only moderately far-fetched. In other words, it should make for great sci-fi.

Fox has only signed for 13 episodes so far, but series creator Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity) has leaked that he has a five-season plot arc in mind. Let’s hope Dollhouse is as great as we expect and its complete story comes to fruition. [Dollhouse]

Vudu on Monday slashed the price of its TV set-top box in half.

The price cut brings the Vudu HD movie rental box down to $150 — about $80 less than its major rival, the Apple TV.

Vudu launched its set-top TV box for $400 in September 2007, and just four months later the price dropped to $300. The company’s EVP of strategy Edward Lichty said the "reaping awards of success in the retail channel over the holidays, lower component prices and higher movie revenues" enabled Vudu to reduce the price.

However, Vudu declined to provide sales numbers to substantiate its success. And Wired.com finds the claim dubious, as we believe the price cut has more to do with competing with Apple than high sales. The price cut appears long overdue, as Apple TV dropped from $300 to $230 in January 2008.

When Vudu launched in 2008, Forrester analyst James McQuivey said he was skeptical that the start-up could compete with Apple. He noted that Apple was at an advantage because it already has an established customer base in the iTunes Store. 

However, Vudu argued that it was well positioned to compete with Apple, citing a larger collection of titles. The Vudu offers about 5,000 movies for rental. Apple TV’s library only holds about 1,500 movies. (Despite our skepticism in Vudu’s success, Wired.com has given the set-top box positive reviews.)

Pricing of Vudu’s content remains the same. For example, standard definition rentals range from $1 to $4; high-definition rentals cost between $4 and $6.

Product Page [Vudu] (Thanks, Erika!)

See Also:

• Vudu Application Brings Remote Rentals to iPhone
• Vudu Software Update Adds More HD Content
• New Vudu Comes on The Scene With a Big Rack
• Vudu Box Comes Down in Price to $300, Gets Ready to Fight Apple TV
• Is Vudu a Dead Man Walking?
• VUDU Box Set To Bring Movies Direct To Your TV
• Wired Test 2007: Best of Test, Cine Sinners Beware of the Easy …

Photo: Tom Schierlitz

As the Feb. 17 deadline for the digital television switch program looms, the rush to get one of the coupons that will subsidize the cost of a new converter box is on.

And there’s a supply and demand issue there. Retrevo, a consumer electronics exchange, says there are still at least three million people without coupons. Those viewers could be left behind when broadcaster switch to digital transmission in two weeks. At the same time about 11
million coupons are not being used. Every household is entitled to two coupons.

That’s why Retrevo says it has created an exchange for DTV coupons. Think of as a Cragislist just for DTV coupons. The idea is to match consumers
in need of coupons with people who are not using theirs, says the company.

There are an estimated 300 million TVs in the U.S., of which about 70
million use antennas and require a converter box to switch to DTV. Though broadcasters and viewers have had years to prepare for the switch, as the deadline nears the process has been mired in confusion.

A few weeks ago some Congressional representatives and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration warned funding for
the converter box
coupons that can make analog TV sets digital-ready could fall short.

The NTIA has said it expects to receive about 60 million coupon requests by March 31,
2009. However, the current level of funding can support only about 50.5
million coupons.

That means many consumers who want to make the switch could be left
watching snow flurries on their TVs instead of Grey’s Anatomy, Lost or
24.

Meanwhile lawmakers are battling to change the deadline as bills to postpone it fly back and forth between the Senate and the House. Last week, the Senate voted to delay the transition to June but the legislation was shot down in the House.

Another House vote on the issue is scheduled Wednesday.

Retrevo says for couch potatoes, whether the Feb. 17 deadline changes or not, the coupon exchange can ensure the TV stays on. Users who have an extra coupon can mail it or have someone pick it up. All buyers and sellers need to give is their email address and zip code.

Buying and selling DTV coupons is not allowed on the site, says Retrevo.

Photo: DTV coupons (ThisIsIt2/Flickr)