madVR, now with 64 bits…
With madVR being 32-bit only, it was a blocking issue for moving to 64-bit players. Now, that’s no longer a problem. madVR
Read moreAuthor: Andrew Van Til
D-Link AV2 2000 PowerLine Kit Now Available
As convenient as wireless networking is, there are some situations where it either doesn’t work or isn’t the most efficient mechanism to bring networking support into a remote location of the home. PowerLine devices generally fill this void quite nicely, but haven’t done a great job of keeping up with what is possible with modern 802.11AC. With the announcement of […]
Read moreIntel NUC Kit NUC5i5RYK Mini PC
When it comes to sleek small form factor (SFF) home theater PCs (HTPC) Intel pretty much perfected it with their Haswell based NUC systems–offering an excellent media experience in a chassis with built-in IR, the potential to add HDMI-CEC, and optional hard disk drive (HDD) all from a quiet, low power system. Seeking to build on this success they recently […]
Read morePulse-Eight Announces Internel HDMI-CEC Adapter for Intel NUC D54250WYB Systems
Haswell D54250WYB based Intel NUCs included a HDMI-CEC exposing Custom Solutions Header (aka HTPC Header) on board, but there were two pretty major issues with the implementation. The first, and most important, is that there just isn’t space in the chassis to put the adapter that was available. The second is that the 3.3V pin droops when current is drawn. […]
Read moreNETGEAR R7500 Nighthawk X4 Smart WiFi AC2350 Router
The pace of innovation in the 802.11AC space over the last couple years has been breathtaking. With the iteration from AC1750 -> AC1900, the main improvement was realized in 2.4GHz bandwidth, and not focused on enhancing the speed of the primary 5GHz radio. The recent release of “Wave 2” 802.11AC chipsets has changed this by adding features like Multi-user MIMO […]
Read moreNETGEAR Arlo
Where in the past OEMs have happily sold wireless cameras, and the infrastructure to put them on the network, no one has tried to tie it all together into a consumer product that is reliable and easy to use. With the recent release of Arlo, NETGEAR has done exactly that, signaling a strong a desire to build a discrete brand […]
Read moreUPPER DESK Mobile Device Mounts
With the increasing reach of over-the-top (OTT) content on tablets and mobile phones, content consumption can follow us around the home in a way that a fixed location TV never could. Holding onto the mobile device isn’t always convenient, whether it’s because more than one person is viewing or because you’re elbow deep in cooking, carving (my father often watches […]
Read moreiRemocon IR Learning Remote Control
There is a point in scaling out a home theater where a good universal remote control becomes an essential part of the experience. Yes, you can get by with the pseudo universal that came with the AVR, but then you have to train your family, and worse the babysitter, how to use that in a productive way. They need to […]
Read moreOOMI Launches Funding Campaign
We saw OOMI at ShowStoppers and while they didn’t have actual product, they certainly said all the right things to indicated a good understanding of what HA is and what HA users want to get from the system. If you’d like to get in on the launch [aka pre-order] price of $229 (SRP will be $449) head on over to […]
Read moreInternet of Things (IoT) / Eureka Park @ CES 2015
Eureka Park is one of my favorite things about going to CES. It’s a special place where pretty much anyone can come to the show and demonstrate their product. Most are actual products (like UPPER DESK), some will be soon, and others are still questing for funding. With Internet of Things (IoT) (which BTW is a horrible name, but since […]
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