Filed under: Media PCs, Networking

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, Networking

It’s been over a year since we first spotted Metalink’s draft-802.11n components designed for networked home theater gear, and now it seems that the company has finally found a partner willing to include the technology in a slew of next-generation products. Known as WLANPlus, the chipset family is poised for integration into TVs, DVRs, and DVD players from Chinese manufacturing giant Haier — perhaps best know around here for the pen-like P7 cellphone — which will allow consumers to broadcast multiple high definition streams around the house thanks to draft-n transfer speeds in excess of 200Mbps. The two companies revealed their partnership at this year’s SINOCES, where Haier had several WiFi-equipped TVs on display in a multi-room setup meant to simulate simultaneous streaming in a household environment. GigaOM points out, however, that it may be awhile before we see actual products stemming from this deal hit the marketplace — if we ever see them at all — as Metalink doesn’t seem to be in the best financial shape, having already lost $4.1 million in the first quarter of this year alone.

[Via GigaOM]

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As companies such as Toshiba, Samsung and LG allude to dual-format Blu-ray and HD DVD players, Ricoh jumps in with a tiny optical device that makes a goes-both-ways player easier to execute. The company said it has created a 3.5mm diffraction plate that can rock pretty much any format, including Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD and CD without the need for multiple pickups and lenses. Ricoh will offer the technology to all takers by the end of this year.

A spokesman for the company also said this diffraction device, which will sit between the laser and objective lens, will make it possible to not only build switch-hitting players that can deal with all the optical formats, but recorders as well. Ricoh said it will offer the device for players first, and burners will come along later as soon as blue lasers with higher power are rolled out. By then, hard disks will be so cheap the entire issue of burning data onto slow, removable media—regardless of its format—will be irrelevant. – Charlie White

Optical device could help read most disk formats [EE Times, via digg]

Xbox-Scene got a tip about the new Xbox 360 board supporting HDMI. The parolees at Kotaku don’t believe it, citing Xbox-Scene forum posters and their “apeshit” denial over the eventual obscolescence of their first-run Xbox 360s.

We, on the other hand, aren’t so sure. If the 360 were to someday get an eventual HD DVD drive—we’re not saying anytime soon—then an internal HDMI port would definitely make sense. As HD DVD hardware prices fall over the years, wouldn’t it make sense not to ship two drives with one box? So if B follows A, and A is true, what do you have? That’s right, an HDMI port and a bunch of angry early adopters.

Of course, we’ll have to wait a few years to find out. – Jason Chen

New Xbox 360 Coming with HDMI port? [Xbox-Scene via Kotaku]

What people will do for traffic. Our friends over at TechEBlog have been on a "Top 10" kick as of late, so we thought we'd take a moment to get you up to speed on some of their goings on after the jump.

10. Top 10 Strangest Japanese Gadgets and Accessories

Many of the tech toys that we enjoy oh so much come from Japan, and this is but a small sample of the wildest and craziest. You'll find plenty of pointy objects designed to clean out your ears and other orifices. Here, we have one combining MP3 with a toilet (above), since reading the newspaper in the bathroom is so last century. You'll never think of Whitesnake the same way again. See them all here.

9. Top 10 Strangest Chairs

Sitting in a chair all day doesn't have to lead to painful blood clots. Well, it might, but at least you can develop said clots while sitting in any one of these off the wall chairs. Our favorite is the Tank Chair. What could be more fulfilling than trolling around the neighborhood with "Flight of the Valkyries" blaring? See for yourself here.

8. Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Past

This crazy watch radio isn't actually a watch, but it is capable of sending and receiving short waves while listening to standard radio broadcasts. Check out the rest of the old-timey goodness.

7. Top 10 Strangest Retro-Styled Gadgets

Along the same lines of gadgets from the past are gadgets inspired by the past, like the Digital Cowboy's Classic USB Skype Phone. Besides looking like something The Man with No Name would use, you can bother your Skype friends with it. What fun! Check out the rest of the retro-styled goodness.

6. Top 10 Strangest Cameras and Accessories

Nearly every day we bring news and purdy pictures of digital cameras. Perhaps even better are the camera-related gadgets out in the wild, like this Lego Pinhole Camera. It uses a manual crank to power a former Polaroid 95a. Other goodies include a camera the size of a pencil tip and a a frisbee camera. Find the rest here.

5. Top 10 Coolest iPod Accessories and Projects

Not a day goes by without us mentioning iPod accessories. The iPod Shuffle NES Controller looks great and is an iPod Shuffle stuffed inside an NES controller. Yep, we're tool makers all right. There's plenty of other useful items here, too.

4. Top 10 Strangest Computer Setups

"Post your setup!" Don't you just love those forum threads, where supergeeks post pictures of their wicked computer setups? Here's a collection of setups that probably put yours to shame. Our favorite is the Ultimate Mac Setup, since we're so biased and all. Your eyes don't deceive you: that's three 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays. Other memorable entries include a wall of monitors and a computer running out of a whiskey bottle. Ah, drink, you never talk back. The rest aren't bad, either.

3. Top 10 Strangest Luxury Gadgets

Oh, yeah, we're living in a gilded age all right. Take this $25,000 gold-plated GameBoy. The screen is lined with diamonds and the case is made out of 18K gold. Other gems from the list include other gold and diamond-encrusted cellphones. Notice a pattern? The rest of them are worth checking out.

2. Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future

Just like the 10 strangest gadgets of the past, TechEBlog's got the 10 strangest gadgets of the force. Hopefully in the future, we'll all be using things like this transparent toaster. A self-cooling beer can and a video game-themed urinal are other highlights. The future looks bright, indeed.

1. Top 10 Strangest Custom Gaming Systems

The moment you've all been waiting for, Gizmodo's number one top 10 from TechEBlog's top 10 lists. Unlike Letterman, there's no pseudo-hipster pun topping this list. Nope, just good, old fashioned video games, like the portable Dreamcast. Yes, the Dreamcast died an untimely death, but at least now you can take it around with you wherever you go. There's a few other home consoles modded into portable units, like a portable Gamecube and an Atari Jaguar. Feast your eyes on the rest of the list. – Nicholas Deleon

TechEBlog

Filed under: Home Entertainment

We know that as a network executive, ABC’s President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw has a vested interest in the survival of the traditional 30-second commercial, but his recent assertion that consumers don’t really care about the ad-skipping functionality of their DVRs strikes us as being way off the mark. Following ABC’s latest rate-setting powwow with advertisers, or upfront, Shaw opined that he wasn’t sure “the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials,” and that the appeal of such devices “really is just a matter of convenience — so you don’t miss your favorite show.” He even went so far as to say that he “would love it if the MSO’s…would disable the fast-forward [button]” on their next generation of set-top boxes, suggesting that “people can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand, that you can’t skip commercials.” Once again, we follow the logic here — commercials do help keep programs we enjoy on the air — but instead of embittering folks by forcing them to sit through ads, maybe Shaw should encourage his advertising partners to follow KFC’s lead and create spots that people actually want to watch. Remember, Mike, that’ll you’ll catch more flies with delicious honey than the sour vinegar you’re currently trying to force down our throats.

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B&W must be real proud of itself, releasing these svelte-looking XT speakers that would look great pretty much anywhere. There's four models in the XT series and they each serve different purposes. The XT4 is a three-way speaker; the XT2 is a two-way speaker; the XTC is a two-way center channel speaker; and the PV1 is a subwoofer, which may or may not fit in your low-rider.

Each model comes with the high quality components that you might expect from Bowers & Wilkins. The XT4 has a Nautilus tweeter located on the top, which is supposed to provide "wider dispersion for a better image stability." The XT2 also has its tweeter up top, but is a little smaller than the XT4. Meanwhile, the XTC can be used vertically so as to function as front speakers and not just a center channel. Finally, the PV1—that's the one that looks like a bowling ball—performs as admirably as a subwoofer can be expected to. It produces 500 watts of "ICEpower amplfication" and can accept both speaker and line level inputs. The PV1 can be had in a number of different colors, including silver or gray, and the other three can be gotten in the silver you see here in the picture.

The XT4 costs about $3,129 per pair; the XT2 costs $1,287 per pair; the XTC is $1,011 and is sold singly; the PV1 is $1,749, also sold singly. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Bowers & Wilkins UK via Tech Digest]

It is July, 2006, right? I’m just wondering because Marantz is coming out with a dual transport cassette deck later this year, the SD4051. That’s right, a cassette deck. Color me surprised because I thought I had a better chance of seeing Windows Vista released than seeing a cassette deck ever again. While it does look nice, the mere thought of incorporating a cassette deck into my home audio system sends shivers down my spine.

Phobias aside, the SD4051 does have a few advanced features that might make you want to consider it, especially if you’ve got a bunch of tapes laying about. Users can control variables like pitch and playback transport in order to make sure that recordings sound as close to perfect as possible. Sound recording bias is automatically adjusted by the unit and the recording side makes use of auto reverse. Normally, I just burn MP3s, but this sounds much more fun. And easier.

Since your dusty old cassette tapes probably have probably been around for a while and don’t necessarily sound as good as they used to, Dolby B attempts to decrease that annoying hiss.

It’s scheduled to be released in late August in Japan for about $320. – Nicholas Deleon

Press Release (in Japanese) [Marantz Japan via Fareastgizmos.com]

 
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ReplayTV Back for a Replay

By Brian L. Clark

Yesterday, I watched a Frontline documentary called “The Dark Side,” which covered Dick Cheney’s efforts to expand executive powers after 9/11. That’s not such a big deal, but the fact that I watched it online at www.pbs.com, I think, is. Here it is, weeks after originally the original airdate, and I can go to a website to see a show I missed last month. I like that kind of convenience, but as you’ve heard me say before, the option to aggregate those shows in one central location is something I want even more.

Well, this week, I may have seen another step toward that kind of integration when ReplayTV, which was first to market with digital recording, announced it had an Alpha version of DVR software for the PC. ReplayTV lost the initial DVR Wars to TiVo. But the company is shifting its focus to concentrate on allowing PC users to do all the same things you used to be able to with their box.

Well, this week, I may have seen another step toward that kind of integration when ReplayTV, which was first to market with digital recording, announced it had an Alpha version of DVR software for the PC. ReplayTV lost the initial DVR Wars to TiVo. But the company is shifting its focus to concentrate on allowing PC users to do all the same things you used to be able to with their box.

So last week, while TiVo was touting its new Series2 DT DVR, ReplayTV was demo-ing its PC Edition software, the company’s latest foray into digital recording. ReplayTV claims the program “offers TV enthusiasts the ultimate DVR experience.” Bill Loewenthal, ReplayTV’s vice president and general manager gave me a walk through the software, which, at the moment, only works with Hauppauge WinTV/PVR tuner cards. “We had to look at where we were headed as a consumer brand,” says Loewenthal. “And we believe TV and video will follow the path of music and photos, and migrate to the PC.”

Given the emergence of sites such as YouTube, which just signed a partnership deal with NBC, and Guba.com, which recently signed a pact with Warner Brothers to distribute films via their site, it appears the company is on the right track.

The software is a lot like ReplayTV’s box. It lets you discover and record shows and movies by genre, actors or director. It also allows you to record programming on one PC and watch it on another. The interface is clean and intuitive, and features a Recorded Shows screen that groups your latest recordings, and an overlap manager that allows you to record a second show even if the one your already recording runs a few minutes long. And Quickskip (a 30-second skip forward) tries to preserve one of ReplayTV’s best features–the ability to de-commercial your television viewing.

Cool as ReplayTV’s PC Edition is, however, it still doesn’t allow me to record the Internet broadcasts I want. Loewenthal assures me that’s coming, but can’t offer a time frame.

Back in the day, when TiVo and ReplayTV were battling it out for DVR supremacy, I always liked ReplayTV better. Then the company’s troubles began and I never bought one. But now, I’m being given a second chance. And when the folks at ReplayTV add the ability to record Internet broadcasts, I’ll be among the first in line.

Folks interested in the ReplayTV replay can go to www.replaytv.com and download a free trial version. (Remember, you have to have a Hauppauge video tuner card.) If you like it, you can buy the ReplayTV PC Edition for $99. That covers the first year of service, which is $20/year thereafter.

Update: This week, the Senate Commerce Committee took up John McCain’s pet project, cable a la carte, and roundly rejected it, 20 to 2. Ironically, the provision was part of a bill that allows phone companies to get into the television business. In short, the Senate gets to keep everyone–except consumers–happy. While Olympia Snow and McCain were the only two to support the amendment, Senators Ted Stevens and Trent Lott both promised a la carte pricing would come and encouraged cable providers to “get on with this.” Lott even went so far as to say this was the last time he would vote against it. Kind of makes you wonder why, no?

Brian L. Clark is a reporter and consultant on all things digital, runs the The Tech Enthusiast’s Network, and writes for Inc., Men’s Health, and Laptop. Read more Tuning Fork here.

 
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Considering most companies have a policy of not addressing rumors, Microsoft sure has been a nattering Nancy lately. It appears that reports of Redmond including an internal HD DVD drive in the Xbox 360 console (as opposed to the external drive which they announced earlier this year) were wildly off base. A representative from the company said, “What we showcased at E3 was an external HD DVD drive, and we’re sticking with that…So: no plans for an internal HD DVD.”

Wow, way to keep your options open, Microsoft. First no price drop and now no internal high definition disc drive, which must perturb Toshiba just a little bit. That’s either extreme arrogance or blissful ignorance talking. Time will tell. – Nicholas Deleon

No Internal HD DVD Plans [Gamerscoreblog via Kotaku]

 
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Two new LCD TVs from JVC announced this week may not be 1080p, but they use JVC's new Clear Motion Drive to make images smoother with less ghosting than regular LCDs. The Clear Motion Drive sets the refresh rate at 120Hz, which means it's twice the refresh rate of the signal, at 60Hz. To make up the difference in frame rate, the technology inserts an interpolated image between two images so there's a smoother transition between frames. The result is less motion blur and ghosting.

The displays have an "ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuner, two HDMI inputs, two component inputs, two S-video inputs, 15-pin S-sub PC input, and both analog and optical and analog audio output. "

The larger, 37" LCD (LT-37X987) will cost $2,700 in August, and the smaller 32" LCD (LT-32X987) will cost $2,000 in October. – Jason Chen

Press Release [JVC via Digital Trends]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

In what may turn out to be yet another crushing blow to HD-hungry consumers, it looks like Samsung could be joining Sony, Pioneer, and, um, itself, in playing the Vista-like Blu-ray delay game that continues to amuse and frustrate us. As of right now, the facts are these: UK tech site Pocket-Lint sent an email to Bite Communications, Samsung’s British PR firm, in order to confirm what we all thought was the BD-P1000‘s June 25th release date; instead of a confirmation, however, Pocket-Lint received a surprising reply stating that “unfortunately, the release of the Blu-ray has been delayed until September.” Before you start freaking out, though, keep in mind that at this point details are still very thin — we can’t even be certain if this supposed delay applies to the US launch, or only affects our friends over in Great Britain. As you’d expect, we have our crack team of low-paid interns furiously dialing every Samsung representative we can find a number for, and you’ll be the first to know when we can finally pin someone down on a solid release date, so stay tuned.

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According to a leaked script, three of our favorite consumer electronics are going to do a little “transforming” in the new Transformers live action movie courtesy of Michael Bay.

The Xbox 360 game console, iPod music player, and plasma televisions are going shape-shift to become, well, we don’t know what yet. Maybe the Xbox 360 will turn into a PS3, the plasma into an LCD, and an iPod into Steve Jobs?

We’re undecided on this here at Giz HQ. Personally, I think this is wicked rad awesome, but some of the other guys think it’s the complete opposite of that. Whatever. You guys suck. I’m telling your mommies. – Jason Chen

A Second Look At The Transformers Script! (Contains script spoilers!) [The Movie Reporter via Gamespot]

 
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Shuttle is going both up and down in size from its standard Mini PCs. This M2000 has some of the same case stylings as the X100, but in a set-top-box form factor.

The specs are:

• Core Duo T2400 1.83Ghz
• 512MB DDR2-533 RAM
• nVidia GeForce 7600GS PCIe w/ 256MB RAM
• Realtek 7.1 channel audio
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 4x DVD Dual Drive
• 250GB SATA2 Hard Disk
• Card Reader
• 802.11b/g

It also supports Viiv and has component out (no HDMI, sorry). CNet’s got a review of it that says the unit performs well but needs more than its basic 512MB of RAM.

No pricing on this yet. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Shuttle via Blurtek]
CNet Review

 
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Sony quietly announced on its Sony Style website that the BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc Player won’t be shipping until “on or about August 15, 2006.” This is not quite the date the company had originally announced for the $1000 player, which was to coincide with the launch of the first disks. Samsung’s first Blu-ray player has its launch planned for around that same time, still on track for its scheduled June 25 rollout.

Let’s just hope when it finally does arrive, this Sony Blu-ray player not as half-baked as the lame Toshiba HD-A1, the unfortunate poster child for those who urge consumer electronics manufacturers to rush their products to market. – Charlie White

Sony Bumps Release of First Blu-Ray Player to August [High-Def DVD Digest]

 
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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Pioneer launched a slew of HDTV and home entertainment gear this week, not the least of which being their 1080p switching Elite receiver series. Models VSX-80TXV, VSX-81TXV, VSX-82TXS, and VSX-84TXSi have 1, 2, 3, and 4 HDMI source ports, the top two models featuring a Genesis DCDi Faroudja video scaler, iPod integration, XM Connect & Play, and even a USB port on the VSX-84TXSi. Expect to pay between $650 and $1,500, depending on your options and features.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Under heavy pressure in the form of a lawsuit filed by nearly all of TV land’s major content providers, industry giant Cablevision has announced that it will delay the rollout of its networked DVR offering until the service’s legality is confirmed in court. The lawsuit, filed by the four key networks and their parent studios, claims that Cablevision’s plan to store customers’ recorded swag on their own servers as opposed to local set-top boxes constitutes a retransmission of copyrighted material, and therefore violates pre-existing agreements the company has with its providers. Cablevision, on the other hand, argues that networked DVR services are only facilitating “fair-use” of their broadcasts by consumers, who have already paid for any programs they intend to record. The outcome of this suit will be closely monitored by other players in the cable industry as well, because a victory for Cablevision would allow Cox, Comcast, et al. to begin offering their own remote storage — good news for consumers, but perhaps bad news for our old friend TiVo.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

In what could turn into a preemptive strike against the further decline of DVD sales in the face of competition from digital downloads as well as Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, major retailers may soon be installing kiosks in their stores that give customers access to on-demand, feature-length films on DVD or their portable devices. According to Reuters, the major movie studios are reportedly in talks with retail heavyweights like Wal-mart to theoretically offer their complete archives for downloading to in-store terminals with high-speed connections, where they would either be burned onto DVD or transferred to unspecified devices, a la that proposed DVD Station service we saw awhile back (which seemingly never materialized). While the prospect of having immediate access to almost every movie ever made is admittedly appealing, we’re not really sure that we want to drive all the way over to Best Buy just to stand around waiting uncomfortably with our fellow patrons as we all clutch our iPods, nervously tap our feet, and wish we’d all just stayed at home and settled for whatever was on Moviebeam.

[Via Slashdot]

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TechEBlog has compiled a list of the top 10 strangest things people have done to their consoles to make it better, cooler, or more portable. Among them, the Dreamcast portable, the PS2 portable, and the Atari Jaguar Portable.

Our favorite, the NES+Sega abomination that nature never intended. It’s like watching someone force a panda and a giraffe to mate. – Jason Chen

Top 10 Strangest Custom Gaming Systems [TechEBlog]

 
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Digital CowBoy, not to be confused with Analog CowBoy, released a DVD/HD based media player. You can choose either a DVD or HD drive to put inside, and out comes a full HD video (1920×1080). Connect this to your HDTV set watch all your ripped movies. The formats supported are: “Mpeg-1/2/4, DVD (IFO, ISO, VOB), WMV HD, MP3, WMA and OGG.”

Remote also included. Price unknown. – Jason Chen

Digital CowBoy WMV HD DVD – HDD Media Player [Akihabara News]

 
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Related: Dell Releases 2 High-Brightness Projectors
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In the latest step toward taking over the entire world, Dell has announced two lower-end, high-brightness projectors that are designed for the home office, classroom or maybe a home theatre.

The 2400MP is an XGA projector with a 3,000 ANSI lumens brightness rating, 2,100:1 contrast ratio and retails for $1,099. The 1200MP is an SVGA projector with a 2,000 ANSI lumens rating and retails for $699. Now while these projectors have excellent brightness ratings, the low resolutions aren't helping them as possible home theatre units. – Travis Hudson

2400MP & 1200MP [Via Digital Trends]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs, Networking

There's definitely no shortage of media extender options on the market, but that isn't stopping Digital Deck from releasing a new solution that not only manages the digital content on your PC, but plays nice with TiVo as well for viewing your recorded swag all over the house. Make that a small house, because the Media Connector box (or boxes, if you're doing the multi-room thing) gets its data over an old-fashioned wired Ethernet connection, meaning that there's no place for this system in the sprawling Engadget Mansion. Apartment dwellers, however, may find this setup to be just what they're looking for, as the included Media Center software promises to make controlling your gear a breeze, allowing you to seamlessly stream live and recorded content, plus flickr photos, back and forth among your various pieces of equipment. On the specs tip, the set top box can handle MPEG-2, MP3, WMA, AAC, and AC-3 formats, features component and digital audio hookups along with the obligatory composite and S-Video jacks, and will set you back a cool $500 plus $300 for each additional room you want to connect.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

Perfect for the kitchen, bathroom, or other room where there's no cable outlet, the Princeton WiFi LCD TV lets you enjoy the big game no matter where you are. Grabbing another snack and dropping the kids off at the pool no longer need to wait until commercials.

The TV comes with a tuner that plugs into the coax jack and transmits using 802.11a—which operates not on the 2.4Ghz frequency that b/g does—for a fast and low interference signal.

Available in Japan for $445.

Princeton [via Newlaunches]

An enterprising Mac gamer (I thought they all dual booted to Windows?) created a USB driver for your Xbox 360 controllers to use on OS X. It's released under GPL, so if there are any problems you can go ahead and fix them yourself. Most things work, but there are still some items yet to be fixed:

• I don't think settings are persistent
• More settings, e.g. trigger deadzone, button remap
• Force feedback may elongate effects
• Force feedback (DirectInput-style interface) emulator may need more work
• Preference pane currently only tests rumble motors, by creating a force feedback interface but then just using the Escape functionality
• Driver needs to handle more possible errors.

Mac OS X Driver [Tattlebogle via Digg]

Toshiba, that Japanese fireplug of a company, introduced its next generation of HDTVs today. Nine models, either available now or by August at the latest, will round out the company's product line. All DLP-based, and 720p or 1080p depending on whether or not you want to get a second mortgage for your house, the new HDTVs range in price from $1,700 for a 42-inch 720p projection TV to $4,800 for the 72-inch 1080p cinema series projection series. Of course, this latest wave of HDTVs all portend to boast exciting new features that, in all likelihood, mean nothing to those of us in the real world. They do include an ATSC/QAM tuner, useful if you live in an area where HDTV is broadcast over the airwaves, a CableCARD slot and HDMI so you can connect your $600 PS3.

Toshiba Details New DLP Televisions [Digital Trends]