Samsung’s decision to spin of their LCD unit into a separate company earlier this year was prompted by falling panel prices amid a worldwide component glut. The problem wasn’t just the abundance of manufacturers pumping out lower quality, inexpensive panels, but falling demand for LCD TVs. That falling demand became even more evident in a recent NPD DisplaySearch report that […]
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Every major TV manufacturer is trying to build a Smart TV platform these days, each with their own app store and development tools. The reality is that, for the most part, all of these manufacturers are looking to provide the same apps and access to the same connected services, so it seems silly that we should have all these different […]
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As if Microsoft hadn’t already made it clear enough that they don’t have any interest in developing Windows Media Center further, along comes word that Microsoft has discontinued one more avenue of WMC support. Microsoft has been updating the Windows Hardware Certification Kit ahead of the release of Windows 8 and in the latest Windows Logo Newsletter Microsoft has announced […]
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I’m going to have to admit right up front that this one slipped past me. I’ve been a Media Browser user for a couple of years now, but for the last month or so I have been distracted by some special project testing with XBMC and completely missed the release of Media Browser 2.6, codenamed Atlas. It’s unfortunate too, because there is […]
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For those of you who scoff at the thought of a TV smaller than 80 inch’s, Sharp has kept you in mind with their latest flagship TV, 90-inch AQUOS LED TV. Dubbing it the “worlds largest LED TV” the LC-90LE745U weighs in at 142 lbs with a depth at just under 5 inches. It uses an aluminum screen bezel […]
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We don’t usually cover networking product announcements, but this one was too interesting for me to pass up because I’ve been looking for something just like this for when I travel and need to stay in a hotel that uses web browser based authentication for WiFi access – which isn’t supported by most of the small (Netflix enabled) media streamers […]
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You’d be forgiven if it seems like D-Link just introduced the “MovieNite” because it’s only been a few months since the DSM-310 was announced. Obviously they are discrete devices, with the first rev offering only six channels – VUDU, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Picasa, and mydlink. More is better, and channel count matters; so today we get the “MovieNite Plus” (DSM-312) […]
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Western Digital’s WD TV Live and Live Hub media streamers have received an update enabling access to several new media streaming services and the SlingPlayer app, as well as VUDU movie downloading, though only for the WD TV Live Hub with its built-in hard drive. The new streaming services include AOL On for the U.S., the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for […]
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AverMedia visited Computex this year with a new product, the AverMedia AverTVBox PVR. The AverTVBox PVR is a bit of an oddity, though I suppose I can see where it might serve a certain niche market. It is a standalone PVR/DVR. It records directly to a connected USB hard drive and accepts analog cable connections or analog settop box connections. […]
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As Smart TVs have grown in popularity, we’ve seen manufacturers expand the capabilities of Smart TV apps beyond streaming music and video to allow for accessing social media, browsing the web, and even some minor gaming. However, at E3 this year, it became increasingly clear that offering console and PC-quality gaming is set to be the next big trend. The […]
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