With a 17 watt integrated processor graphics (IPG) in a four-by-four inch chassis, Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC) is of obvious interest to home theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts. This footprint and low-power consumption, coupled with Intel HD 4000 graphics, promises to deliver an incredibly capable client system. It is small enough to hide away, or place discretely next to […]
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OK, they didn’t really kill any puppies (that I know of), but it certianly feels that way because they won’t be building better plasma display panels than the 2013 crop. It’s unclear what this means exactly – hopefully we’ll still be able to buy them until OLED’s production issues are sorted. Update: According to the HDGuru (who asked Panasonic), they […]
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Even those without a Home Automation (HA) system can appreciate the value in a keyless entry option for the home, but the real value for a lock like the Yale Real Living Electronic Touch Screen Deadbolt is realized by leveraging Z-Wave to integrate it in a HA system. After doing that, it unlocks a wide array of actions that simplify […]
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Today Intel announced at the North American Broadcasters show that they will be releasing a version of the Media SDK (MSDK) for Linux. For those who don’t know, the MSDK is the software layer that enables Quick Sync (QS) hardware accelerated video decoding and encoding. Given the location of the announcement Intel is probably targeting MSOs to use this technology […]
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After experiencing NETGEAR’s previous generation NeoTV NTV200, with solid function, value and distinction as one of the only media streamers with HDMI CEC support it was genuinely exciting when the NeoTV MAX (NTV300SL) arrived with a dual-sided QWERTY remote, full VUDU 3D and Netflix multichannel audio with subtitle support–that NETGEAR only asks $70 (MSRP) for the device was gravy. With […]
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Roku makes one of the most compelling Over the Top (OTT) streamers available today, offering oodles of content options, a clean, responsive UI, and (my favorite feature) universal search. Of course for those who want to use more than a few of the 750+ channels the current UI doesn’t scale well, so now we have another reason to like the […]
Read moreAs the months dragged on I was a bit concerned that the issue noted in our review of the TX-NR818 where it converted 23.976 content to 24.000 was not going to get fixed. Thankfully that is not the case because today Onkyo released a firmware update that resolves it (and a couple other issues) – Huzzah! I’ve been running a […]
Read moreUsing a HTPC isn’t always the easiest way to watch content, but nothing combines the flexibility, capability and potential into a single consumption point like it does. Those that demand the highest quality often rail against the complexity required, and to be fair they have a point, but it’s there and few products demonstrate this like the high quality video […]
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Looks like Dune HD hit their delivery target for the TV303D, and Damien has it reviewed. The results were much more mixed than I expected from Dune HD, hopefully just teething issues with a new platform. Overall I would say I have some mixed thoughts with the TV303D. On a positive note, network performance is excellent which is critical for […]
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When I’m building a dedicated XBMC box, I often turn to the “embeddded” OpenELEC distro because of its drop-dead simple installation process and just-works feature set. And now with XBMC 12 is out, bringing a modern audio pipeline and Live TV to the platform, it’s a great time to upgrade or check out the HTPC software. If you need a […]
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