Celrun TV does multimedia streaming right

We've seen how Celrun does PMPs, and we're equally impressed with how it has tackled media streaming. The Celrun TV (no kin to the Apple TV, we're told) checks in with a 320GB hard drive, Ethernet / WiFi, a couple of USB ports, an integrated digital TV tuner and a slew of ports including HDMI, component and optical audio. The fun continues with support for AVI, MPEG1/2/4, DivX, ASF, XviD, OFF, FLAC, WAV, H.264, WMV and lots, lots more. No word on a price or release date, but we've all ideas this HD streamer won't be straying too far from South Korea, regardless.

[Erwos @ Feb 26th 2008 3:07PM]

If it's got an ATSC/NTSC/clear QAM tuner, it most assuredly is coming to the US market.

[SteveS @ Feb 26th 2008 5:05PM]

...and maybe with a nice $40 discount courtesy of the FCC??

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 3:25PM]

So that's what Intel did with its old Celeron inventory.

I like how it says READY!. As long as it follows with FIGHT!

[jim @ Feb 26th 2008 3:46PM]

So it basically has the specs the AppleTV SHOULD have!

[BEETROOT @ Feb 26th 2008 4:02PM]

My thoughts exactly. I've been shopping for a good media streaming device...the Apple TV is sexy, but the specs are really leaving me wanting more.

[Gordy @ Feb 26th 2008 4:03PM]

Unfortunately, without the sweet GUI. That's where most of these boxes fail.

[nh @ Feb 26th 2008 4:16PM]

Yes, Apple has done very well attracting those who don't understand technology.

[Reid @ Feb 26th 2008 8:24PM]

Also those of us who work with technology for a living and would prefer to enjoy a relaxed media viewing experience at home without having to troubleshoot something.

[James @ Feb 26th 2008 10:53PM]

@Gordy

Since when was the Apple TV GUI 'sweet.' My impression was that they tried to make it so simple they cut out the the stuff that's simple to us regular computer users i.e. anyone under 30.

[Eric @ Feb 26th 2008 4:35PM]

Done right? How could you possibly know it was done right? It hasn't been tested. Just because a lot of word salad in the press release makes it look very capable, what's the interface like? Can it actually handle streaming? And what service provides the media to stream? What WIFI? G? N?

Seems to be the cart is before the horse in the headline.

[disco_delite @ Feb 26th 2008 6:20PM]

It has "802.11 b/g" according to the specifications.

[Thunderbuck @ Feb 26th 2008 4:02PM]

Do we know if that's Gigabit Ethernet?

[disco_delite @ Feb 26th 2008 5:51PM]

It has a 10/100 base Ethernet(RJ45) port according to the specifications.

[Nick Catalano @ Feb 26th 2008 5:42PM]

No, see the spec sheet... it is 10/100. BluRay is basically 48Mbit, ATSC OTA is 19Mbit... Your friendly 1080p torrent is going to be about 20Mbit...

It isn't made to play uncompress HD streams... which would require more bandwidth than a gigabit port could provide anyways

[zargon @ Feb 26th 2008 4:06PM]

My interests have been peeked.

Though, I really miss my Roku PhotoBridge. That thing was the best, it just needs to be updated. All I need it something that can mount NFS/SMB shares and supports as many HD format as possible. I really don't think that is too much to ask and should keep the price down since there would be no internal harddrive.

[Anthony @ Feb 26th 2008 4:56PM]

Until it's got video_ts I'm not interested in any of these streamers.

Many folks (myself included) watch lots of foreign films or films w/ closed captions. Most of these formats make it damned near impossible to manage these.

Quite frankly I almost think it should be against ADA for companies like Apple to promote a product so heavily that leaves out people w/ hearing impairments (I don't fall into that category, but I would be very annoyed to watch the latest tech slip by if I was).

[XiozTzu @ Feb 26th 2008 6:26PM]

It does VOB files so you are covered.

[shagman @ Feb 26th 2008 5:55PM]

anyone have popcorn hour? Very similar.

[Naren Hazareesingh @ Feb 26th 2008 4:37PM]

Off or Ogg?

[mlknez @ Feb 26th 2008 6:12PM]

You have got to be kidding! This is not even close to state of the art. Only HDMI 1.1, probably does not support hi-def audio of any type and no bitstreaming of audio out the hdmi port. The hardware is outdated before it even ships.

[a ham sandwich @ Feb 26th 2008 5:04PM]

On.

:)

[Mark Olenski @ Feb 26th 2008 4:55PM]

It must be good the display says ready so it must be good

[Steffen Jobbs @ Feb 26th 2008 4:58PM]

I'll admit it's specs are good, but it needs a hands-on review to see if it lives up to it's specs. I wish AppleTV had the hardware this box has, but mainly I was it could run DivX and XviD.

[Evan @ Feb 26th 2008 5:13PM]

I hope the tuner doesn't add much cost or is optional. The idea of paying for yet another tuner for the purpose of watching network television makes me shudder.

[TIMMAH! @ Feb 26th 2008 6:13PM]

"...and maybe with a nice $40 discount courtesy of the FCC??"

Wow that's freaking devious. I'll be we see a whole slew of appliances with ATSC/QAM tuners built in to just take advantage of all the vouchers floating around out here. Why buy a dedicated tuner when say you can get $40 off a PS3 or BluRay player with tuners built in. (Or is there already a clause in the voucher that prevents you from using it on anything but a dedicated external tuner?)

[disco_delite @ Feb 26th 2008 7:37PM]

The TV Converter Box Coupons may only be used to purchase digital-to-analog converter boxes that are on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECB) list. https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm

CECBs have limited permitted features:
RF (Type F connector) Ch 3/4 (NTSC)
S-video (very few boxes output S-video)
Composite video and stereo audio (all three RCA connectors)

Disqualifying Features:
Digital Video Interface (DVI)
Component video (YPbPr)
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
Computer video (VGA)
USB IEEE-1394 (iLink or Firewire)
Ethernet (IEEE-802.3)
Wireless (IEEE0802.11)
Integrated video display; Video or Audio recording or playback capability such as VCR, DVD, HDDVD, Blue Ray, etc.

Source: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/frnotices/2007/DTVCouponFinalRule_031207.pdf

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 26th 2008 7:25PM]

"No word on a price or release date, but we've all ideas this HD streamer won't be straying too far from South Korea, regardless."

So why even bother presenting us with vapourware?

Just about anything looks good with specs written down, until you realize they're using some psychopathic designers UI, then it deletes everything on your network.

[rrten00 @ Feb 26th 2008 7:50PM]

Maybe I'm missing it but Engadget said theres DivX and I don't see DivX support on that website?

[4honor @ Feb 26th 2008 10:40PM]

What about .mkv files? The HD videos I download these days are MKV files... I guess I will still use my laptop for the time being... sigh...

[disco_delite @ Feb 26th 2008 11:48PM]

Yes. According to the specifications, it plays ".mkv" files.

Hit the "Read" link to see more.
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-15576-Celrun+TV%3A++The+Premium+HD+Multimedia+Player.html

[Mike @ Feb 26th 2008 11:04PM]

Shouldn't that "OFF", be OGG?