CasaTunes Debuts Low Profile XL Music Server

Topic: Home Entertainment

CasaTunes has been offering its line of music servers for whole home music systems for a while now and has unveiled a couple of new models. The new models include the XLi and XLe models with multi-streaming capability. The Xli can stream up to five streams at one time and the XLe can stream up to nine independent feeds at once.

Both of the music servers use a hardware-based multi-zone switch to stream to one or more rooms. Each zone gets its own volume control and EQ settings. The switch also ensures that each room using the same feed has synchronized sound with no delays or echoes. Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Olive Unveils 4HD Music Server

Topic: Home Entertainment

Olive has unveiled its latest home music server and blazed a new category with the product for HD Hi-Fi servers. The Olive 4HD has 24-bit sound and a 192kHz sample rate offering 250 times the resolution of a CD.

Storage for the 4HD is to a 2TB internal HDD and the device is capable of accessing any digital music library. The server also has a built-in CD drive that allows music to be copied directly to the internal HDD. Tracks can also be imported from Mac and Windows computers. Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Vizio Takes Top spot in US TV Shipments

Topic: Home Entertainment

Vizio has announced that it has continued sticking it to the big name brands and has again grabbed the top spot on the list of LCD TV shippers in America. In Q3 2009 Vizio grew its LCD sales 87% compared to Q3 2008. Vizio also grew 200% in full 1080p HDTVs and premium features like 120Hz and 240Hz refresh rates.

According to iSuppli, Vizio shipped about 4,075,000 TVs for the year so far while Samsung took second place with 3,894,000 units shipped. Sony was in third with 2,362,000 units shipped, LG was fourth with 1,739,000, and Toshiba took the fifth spot with 1,686,000 units shipped. Read more

Posted on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

PrimeDTV Unveils PHD-HM5 Networked Media Player

Topic: Home Entertainment

PrimeDTV has announced its latest product called the PHD-HM5. The device is a networked home media player. Amazon named the device one of the ten hottest electronic products for 2009. The player can support almost all video formats in up to 1080p resolution.

The player supports digital music and high-resolution slideshows with digital pictures. The device can also be directly connected to a camcorder or camera to allow users to watch video or view pictures directly on the big screen. Read more

Posted on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Dell Unleashes Inspiron Zino HD Media Box

Topic: Home Entertainment

Let me take you back to a simpler time; 2004. I was setting up my first media box, cobbled together off of a terrible old Dell machine with less then a gig of RAM. It backed 500 GB of hard drive space though, which was a lot back in those days. While having a media box was far better than not having one, I still had endless problems with the old girl. She crashed constantly and would break frequently for reasons I could rarely work out on my own.

Now kids with fancy TVs and a desire for a media box don't have to worry about repurposing ancient, failing machines to do the job. Several companies have dedicated PCs that were built from the ground-up to be media boxes. Today, Dell unveils another PC in that image; the Inspiron Zino HD.

Posted on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:26:27 CST | by Robert Evans

New Chumby One Internet Clock Radio Goes On Sale For $99.95

Topic: Home Entertainment

Chumby Industries today released the new chumby one, a new Wi-Fi connected Internet clock radio.
The device joins the original chumby, now called the chumby classic introduced in 2006.

The new chumby one is based on technology similar to the original chumby device. New features for the chumby one include: ABS plastic casing rather than Italian leather, a battery option (using a standard rechargeable lithium ion battery), an FM radio tuner, and a volume knob.

Like the classic, the chumby one offers more than 1,500 applications in 30 different categories – ranging from music and podcasts, to news and entertainment gossip, to video clips and sports scores. Content is available from well-known media partners including: Pandora Radio, SHOUTcast, The Weather Channel, CBS, MTV Networks, and The New York Times. Users can monitor their social networks like Facebook and Twitter, view and share their photos from sites like Flickr and Photobucket, watch sports clips, play games, or choose from more than 200 different clock applications to display on the touchscreen device. In addition, the Linux computer powering this “clock radio” allows for a highly configurable alarm system and powerful customization options.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:40:35 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

TVGuide.com Launches Online DVR

Topic: Home Entertainment

TVGuide.com has announced that it is now offering an online DVR that allows users to watch their favorite shows as soon as they are available directly from TVGuide.com. the service is called My TVGuide DVR and isn’t a DVR like we are used to in our living rooms.

The service appears to be more of an online aggregator for getting you new episodes of your favorite shows when the network puts the new episodes online. The service will also send you messages to let you know that new episodes are available. Read more

Posted on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Bang & Olufsen Unveil new BeoVision 7 55-inch LCD

Topic: Home Entertainment

Bang & Olufsen are well known purveyors of all sorts of high-end and pricey home theater and audio gear. The company has unveiled its latest LCD panel today called the BeoVision 7 55-inch LCD HDTV. Before the launch of this product, the screen was only available in a 40-inch size in the US.

The new screen uses the Bang & Olufsen BeoSystem 3 video engine that promises to deliver superior signal processing. The TV also has a 120Hz refresh rate to reduce image blur. Under the screen is a digital sound bar that has digital sound. Read more

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

New Asus O!Play Air HDP-R3 Unveiled

Topic: Home Entertainment

Asus unveiled the new O!Play Air HDP-R3 HD media player.
The O!Play Air HDP-R3 inherits premium High Definition playback features and extremely wide file format support from its predecessor, the O!Play HDP-R1 media player.
However, the new O!Play Air HDP-R3 further raises the bar on performance by including new networking features and convenient memory slots for rapid and convenient digital data access. Equipped with the latest Wi-Fi support, the HD media player streams content wirelessly from PCs and NAS. Also, built-in card reader slots allow users to access digital files and photos effortlessly from CompactFlash (CF) and Secure Digital (SD/MMC) cards, or Memory Sticks (MS/MS Duo)—enabling users to view digital photos instantly. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Moxi Unveils Three Tuner DVR and Reduced Prices

Topic: Home Entertainment

On many nights when I am watching TV I wish that my DVR had three tuners. There always seems to be two shows that I want to watch and a chick show on that my wife wants to see. I end up missing one of my shows to record the chick show.

Moxi has announced the introduction of a new three tuner HD DVR and reduced pricing for its dual tuner HD DVR. The new three tuner DVR allows the user to record three shows at the same time while watching a fourth recorded program. The new DVR is available in a pack bundled with a Moxi Mate for $799. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

3D@Home Consortium Unveils Requirements for Digital 3D in Homes

Topic: Home Entertainment

3D movies have grown very popular and much more common in the past few years than they have ever been with many new feature films hitting the theater in 3D glory. 3D is quickly coming to our homes as well with several 3D TVs being unveiled recently and more on the way.

The 3D@Home consortium has released the requirements for 3D at home. The new documents that were released are to outline the requirements manufacturers need to follow to ensure that products are compatible. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:36:19 CST | by Shane McGlaun