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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
There’s a lot to like about Western Digital’s Red line of RAID friendly NAS hard drives, so it’s really nice to see them expanding the family to include a 4TB model and into the 2.5″ space (little NAS & HTPC friendly) with a 1TB model. PC Perspective has a review up to go with the launch. Head on over and […]
Read more
If after reading our review of the Ceton infiniTV 6 Ethernet, you thought “awesome now to wait for the PCIe version” the wait is over. Not only has the product page showed on Ceton’s site it’s also available from Amazon and Newegg. Having spent some quality time with its sibling, I can attest to the beauty of removing tuner scarcity […]
Read more
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I find HDBaseT an incredibly interesting technology. What’s not to love about simplified distribution of audio, video, Ethernet and control over a single cable? OK, there is one thing – price. HDBaseT is expensive, so it only ends up in the high-end components. Fortunately this is something that they are aware of and […]
Read more
The myriad of network permutations encountered when traveling with multiple devices is so diverse that covering them all seems impossible. Wired only access, web based authentication or per-device access charges? The ASUS WL-330N 5-in-1 Wireless-N150 Mobile Router has it covered, offering five discrete operating modes: NAT firewall router, access point, repeater, Ethernet adapter or [the almost magical] hotspot. Naturally, packing […]
Read more
Remember Cinavia? It was the audio based DRM “protection” scheme supposed to finally put an end to the Blu-ray plastic liberation movement. I don’t have any discs to test it with, but SlySoft is claiming that the latest rev of AnyDVD HD can disable detection in all of the retail Blu-ray players. If someone has a recomended disc to check […]
Read more