I consider the audio video receiver (AVR) to be a critical home theater component, but aside from a basic understanding of what’s inside my knowledge of what is actually in the black box in the stack is pretty limited. That’s not to say I’m not curious, just a little leary of cracking open a very expensive component just to have […]
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If you saw the recent Intel Haswell NUC D54250WYK announcment and thought “hey, that would make a pretty slick HTPC” – go ahead and sit down. Not only does it have all the good stuff like IR, SATA, USB 3.0, etc. that we mentioned before. It also has the HTPC_HEADER on board. Unfortunately, there isn’t space in the stock chassis […]
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If you’ve been following the Chromecast, Google’s latest foray into TV Land, there appears to be quite divergent opinions on how useful it is for consumers. What I haven’t seen before, is a discussion on how the existing STB/pay-TV provider views the device. I’m not sure if I agree with the conclusions, but I won’t spoil it. No matter where […]
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Looks like the NUC is getting a Haswell update, and it’s not just the IPG (i5-4250U with HD 5000) that changed with the updated system also getting IR, SATA and four USB 3.0 ports. With all that good stuff and a fast 2.5″ hard drive and/or slim-line Blu-ray drive this could be a killer fullsize HTPC replacement given the right […]
Read moreAs much as I like the sound of 4K OTT, it just doesn’t seem realistic in any reasonable time frame. So I was thrilled to see a report on HDTVtest that SINGULUS appears to have outed the devices required to manufacture 100GB Blu-ray discs. Hopefully they are correct and it’s exactly what we need to get 4K movies out sooner […]
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To show off how cool it is to combine IP control + Home Automation (HA), the Z-Wave Alliance and Kwikset are having Mariusz Malkowski climb the six highest mountian in the world during CEDIA. While that is slick, it’s not as personally applicable as the $500 worth of Z-Wave kit and a Kwikset deadbolt lock if you can guess when […]
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In what has to be the most bizarre press release ever JRiver announced yesterday that it had hired Hendrik Leppkes, or as he is better known on the Interwebs “nevcairiel”, the author of the best DirectShow filter suite – LAV Filters. For those, like me, who have found JRiver Media Center (JMC) to be the best way to consume media […]
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It’s unfortunate that the SiliconDust HDHR we saw at CES 2013 haven’t meet their dates, it is refreshing to see that they are still coming – just a bit tardy coming late 2013 (US) and early 2014 (EU). Besides this tidbit coming from IFA, SiliconDust has also announced a partnership with StreamTV to build an over-the-air (OTA) DVR with over-the-top […]
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If you were in the market for NETGEAR’s XAVB5601, but held back because it only has one Ethernet port — NETGEAR has just the thing for you; the XAVB6504. I have to admit that it is a great idea, and excellent way to extend the product line. They also annouced the XAVB5401 at IFA 2013, but I’m not sure what […]
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When pulling Cat 6 Ethernet cables through the walls is out of the question there are a few options for enabling a high-bitrate-media capable network. MoCA is usually a reliable source of the 100Mbps required, but limited to existing cable infrastructure. New kid, wireless 802.11AC shows significant promise, but won’t come home for anywhere near the price where Powerline networking […]
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