Myka sneaks BitTorrent into the living room

OK, perhaps not so sneaky, there's a nice big BitTorrent logo right up front, but Myka seems to be quite the end-to-end solution for getting those torrents up on the big screen. The box hooks up to the internet via LAN or WiFi, includes a 80GB, 160GB or a 500GB drive for storage and runs a torrent client on Linux. Outputs include HDMI, composite, S-Video and SPDIF, and codec support is substantial. You can add storage via USB, and pull video off your computer if you're not in a downloading mood. Prices range from $299 to $459. Let's keep it legal out there, kids!

[Thanks, ARZ]

[Allen @ Mar 21st 2008 1:49PM]

Already purchasing it. AMAZING.

[Blackstar @ Mar 21st 2008 4:19PM]

One problem, does it play .mkv's like the popcorn box? If not, then there are no bit torrents you'll really want to watch. ;)

[E71 @ Mar 21st 2008 5:52PM]

Would have found this much more useful as a news reader. Sure can't beat 'em un-throttled downloads with BitTorrent.

[JohnTitor @ Mar 21st 2008 6:57PM]

PopcornHour A-100 > this

[dink @ Mar 21st 2008 1:50PM]

Pleasure for me, to say engadget think to clever for us. yes no?

[Bahama.Llama @ Mar 21st 2008 2:12PM]

very much do teh torrent with the bits and bytes engadget in my eyeballs for the cats poopy pains painting living room maybe esta?

[i.c. weiner @ Mar 21st 2008 6:10PM]

at first i thought both of you were high, but then i saw that only one of you was high(dink)

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 21st 2008 1:52PM]

AppleTV ripoff!


..

[peacebyanymeans (AKA: Moorio) @ Mar 21st 2008 2:01PM]

Haha... funny joke there.







That was a joke, right?

[Ellianth @ Mar 21st 2008 2:08PM]

I think he was serious :(

[The Dude @ Mar 21st 2008 2:08PM]

Oh no they d'int!

"No Need For iTunes

And because it's BitTorrent, that means Myka can deliver any kind of content to your TV, developed in an open platform. No closed, proprietary system that works only on, say, Apple TV.

That means you don't need iTunes or any other prepackaged, closed system.

This is the Internet as it was meant to be experienced - without borders and open to any kind of content for consumers and any kind of innovation for developers.

That translates into choices."
- myka.tv

Oh yeuh they did!


Now if it could just record content instead of just playing back downloads, I'd be all over that bitch.

[phinn @ Mar 21st 2008 2:28PM]

AppleTV IS a rip off

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 21st 2008 2:46PM]

lol, its funny that the majority of you are so willing to jump to conclusions regarding the sincerity of my post as it clearly demonstrates the horrible running joke of the iPhone ripoff, much like the Doom, Crysis, and blending jokes posted here throughout.

Quite honestly, if you've noted my posting history (which would be scary if you have) you'd realize I'm most always sarcastic.

On another note, I don't own any Apple products and therefore could care less who or what rips anything of Apple.

Thanks for listening. Now go ahead and click that liiittle red button right up there ---------------^

[sinjinn @ Mar 21st 2008 3:24PM]

it just goes to show the dangers of being too sarcastic. the comment is indistinguishable from an actual apple fanboy comment.

remember the old saying : be careful who you pretend to be , because what you pretend to be is what you are.

[Aguiluz @ Mar 21st 2008 4:10PM]

@sinjinn (spelling?)
"it just goes to show the dangers of being too sarcastic."

That's why you need to attach this tag at the bottom of your post:

(/sarcasm)

I don't know, but what are the two periods doing at the bottom of his post? Is it a sign of sarcasm that we missed? Scanning this guy's history, he's MOSTLY sarcastic.

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Mar 21st 2008 7:06PM]

Sarcasm is an art. Practice makes perfect..14124t4

[DP @ Mar 21st 2008 9:49PM]

It is indeed. I know people say it is hard to get sarcasm on the internet but really, with the extra spaces and ellipsis, how unperceptive must you be? You guys -- ya killing me.

[mushrooshi @ Mar 22nd 2008 1:48PM]

The only 'ripping off' it is doing is the shape. And even so I think that shape existed a long time before any apple products....

[Wwhat @ Mar 21st 2008 1:54PM]

You call to keep it legal has inspired me to goto the nearest single mom and threaten some money out of her RIAA style and then use it to buy a legal cd or movie!!
I feel liberated.

[Big Sam @ Mar 21st 2008 1:54PM]

MY Popcorn Hour NMT is already on the way, I'm taken care of :)

[Blite @ Mar 21st 2008 2:02PM]

Popcorn Hour is actually a better product if you ask me, might get one when I have some extra cash.

[Jon @ Mar 21st 2008 2:12PM]

Took my preorder on the 17th just waiting for them to ship it ..Now that BD+ is broken it will be nice to back up my Bluray and stream them via .iso

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 21st 2008 2:50PM]

Popcorn Hour is the man's version of a Myka.

[Darkroom @ Mar 21st 2008 1:56PM]

i wonder if the instructions states something like "US and Canadian residents subscribing to Comcast, Rogers or Bell Sympatico may experience ULTRA MEGA SLOW to FULL OUT DEATH STOP of torrents"

[Blite @ Mar 21st 2008 1:58PM]

Keep it legal?? Common on, who are we kidding. Torrents are mainly populated with shows that have been encoded by someone so that it can be shared by all. I see no difference between this and having someone tape a show for you...well, maybe the difference is that tape can reach over 50 million people in the span of an hour. Still a great product, but I doubt people will pay to use this.

If you use torrents to get your shows, I doubt you'll want to pay >$299 for this. If you want to get your content on the big screen there are cheaper ways to get there (XBMC). If you have money to waste, I guess you could buy this.

[Tonicboy @ Mar 21st 2008 2:03PM]

tapes can reach 50 million people in an hour? i used to trade tapes with friends. sometimes they reached 5-6 people in a week.

[Blite @ Mar 21st 2008 2:06PM]

sorry, I meant a tape CAN'T reach 50 million people in an hour.

[Aeo @ Mar 21st 2008 5:53PM]

Look, you're totally missing the point here.

I'm an IT guy. Provided my phone is in my pocket, my laptop always has an internet connection. It's great. Unfortunately it's not exactly grandma-friendly having to figure out which of 3 INIT strings an 2 dialup codes to use after determining the right port and launching the phone connector in windows. A lot of people pay me a decent bit of money so that they don't have to think about the details.

The significance here is on a market level, not a technology level. It's grandma-friendly torrenting; and that has to scare the crap out of the studios.

[Blite @ Mar 21st 2008 6:24PM]

@ Aeo

I think that is the point exactly. Grandma doesn't know how to set this up, so she'll call you to configure it for her and then you'll either say "there's the expensive route" or "there's the cheaper route" which one do you want to choose?

I understand where you are coming from with the ease of setup with this compared to a cheaper route e.g XBMC + PC setup, but the setup should be a one time thing and you won't need to do it again.

[whatishalo? @ Mar 21st 2008 1:58PM]

MYKA is one of those crypto mix-em up, shift the letters things...I think I've got it solved: MYKA = PORN

[Seth Porter @ Mar 21st 2008 2:02PM]

undoubtedly porn will be one of the primary uses of this device.

[Tonicboy @ Mar 21st 2008 2:01PM]

If it has support for MKV, subtitles and upgradeable hard drive, I am sold for sure.

[Brodie @ Mar 21st 2008 2:21PM]

I agree... MKV is a MUST.

And there's a USB port for additional storage....

[The Dude @ Mar 21st 2008 6:45PM]

No sign of it in tech specs, and the hardware does the video decoding. I was going to say that it running Linux, you could just open up VLC but it doesn't output correctly and would need to be worked on. This is according to the forums.

[Boarderwoot @ Mar 21st 2008 2:04PM]

Disclaimers at end of instruction manuals...

*Myka not responsible for any jail time you may encounter because of pirating issues with local government

*Myka Warranty does not cover spontaneous combustion of product due to 42837 viruses that came with the latest pirated copy of Girls Gone Wild

Virus = Very yes

[rod @ Mar 22nd 2008 2:08PM]

Virus in Linux? can you please elaborate?

[dir @ Mar 21st 2008 2:06PM]

I couldn't possibly buy this product...
The company uses Comic Sans for their logo!

[Brodie @ Mar 21st 2008 2:20PM]

Graphic designer? :)

[robothouse @ Mar 21st 2008 2:59PM]

ummm...no, they don't. It looks very similar, but if you visit their website, you can see that it is not Comic Sans. Still looks atrocious however.

[Tonicboy @ Mar 21st 2008 3:53PM]

It gets worse. The logo is in fact Comic Sans, but their designer didn't even bother to match the logo on the web site with the logo on the machine. $5 says that version 2 hardware will be sporting Times New Roman.

[Seanross @ Mar 21st 2008 11:34PM]

Pffft says you. Comic Sans is my favorite font!

[aaronbareford @ Mar 21st 2008 2:08PM]

Nice!

Is that a "DVB" logo on the bottom right? Can this thing get freeview or something lol. I might have miss read it but it sure looks like "DVB" to me :)

[Tonicboy @ Mar 21st 2008 2:20PM]

Indeed it is. http://www.myka.tv/front_crop.jpg. Nice catch. It must be for their planned Asian version.

[Nicholas Adams @ Mar 21st 2008 2:17PM]

I don't understand the appeal of this...I have a $400 PC connected to my TV running bittorrent. Why pay the same for something that does way less?

[Tonicboy @ Mar 21st 2008 2:26PM]

1) a DIY $400 PC is probably quite big and ugly
2) and will not do component or HDMI output
3) most people besides computer nerds don't already have a cheap machine lying around connected to their TV and given the option, $400 for a slick, attractive machine that's ready to go is pretty damn good
4) considering that this thing runs linux and the creators seem to embrace open culture, it probably won't be long before it's hacked into a full-fledged computer, making it just as good as your DIY box
5) you're not getting laid with a dorky nerd-box running four 92mm fans and cold cathode lighting next to your TV

[Mark @ Mar 21st 2008 2:28PM]

Few advantages over a $400 PC- lower power consumption, HDMI/1080i/p output, smaller form factor, quieter, included remote control, plug and play/minimal setup.

PC's advantage- ability to add more software, more expandability.

[polvadis @ Mar 21st 2008 2:29PM]

Power consumption maybe? I've got a PC hooked up to my TV also, but if I could get something quieter and smaller than my mid-tower to do the same thing I would consider it. I also just got a power bill for the past 2 months of running my PC 24/7. It's considerably higher than not running my PC all the time. Some $20 bucks probably. No much, but still.

[Nicholas Adams @ Mar 21st 2008 2:32PM]

1) It wasn't DIY and it is much larger but no uglier since it doesn't have a big Bittorrent sticker on it.

2) It has HDMI out

3) If its not lying around and you have $400 to spend, why not get an attractive PC instead of a limited Bittorrent box.

4) The difference is I didn't have to do any hacking...I'm lazy and mine's easier.

5) I don't get laid based on what's sitting in my entertainment center, I get laid based on what's in my pants.

[larcen007 @ Mar 21st 2008 2:48PM]

6. It has been explained before - you get real savings in your electric bill if you use this rather than run your computer 24/7 - this thing pays itself off.

7. Imagine the possibilities - leaving one of these hidden in your parent's house using their internet to d/l all you want, or using a neighbor's wireless internet.

[Seoultrain @ Mar 21st 2008 2:52PM]

Agree with nick here.

I just bought a Dell Vostro 200 Slim, which is small form factor, and has
Core 2 Duo @2.2Ghz, overclock to 2.9 (BSEL mod)
2GB RAM,250GB HD, DVDRW.
for $369, including a 20" LCD.

No HDMI, but it does have DVI. If I really need it, I can add a HDMI PCIe vid card in there.

Nothing beats a good deal.