Recent Comments:
TiVo's AN0100 802.11n WiFi adapter hits the FCC, stirs up imaginations {Engadget}
Nov 6th 2009 11:14AM I've had surprisingly good luck with the old Tivo 802.11g adapter. I have a TivoHD in my theater connected, via ethernet, directly to my wireless router. I have a second TivoHD in the bedroom connected wirelessly using the 802.11g adapter. For transferring programs from one box to another, the transfer speeds are just fast to allow real-time playback of HD material as its being transferred, or quasi-streaming from box-to-box. It's also fast enough to build a buffer so that, on a 30 minute or 1 hour show, by the end of the first commercial break I have enough buffer to fast-forward through the rest of the commercials.
What I think is somewhat comical is that the TivoHD/HD XL/S3 have had their ethernet ports tested at a max of around 20Mbps, so not only could the N adapter possibly offer an advantage over the older G adapter, it may also offer an larger-than-expected advantage over wired ethernet.
What I'm really hoping is this device is a prelude to home network streaming and/or native playback of the most common video file types, mainly h.264 MKV. The box has the processing horsepower to handle at least 720p h.264 (evident from native playback of HD YouTube clips), so why not open that capability up to a host of media available on a home network. This capability, along with uPnP client capabilities would make the TivoHD much more of a home entertainment hub than just a DVR with a few semi-useful network features.
Samsung rolls out Amazon, Blockbuster video store access across HDTVs, HTIBs and Blu-ray players everywhere {Engadget}
Oct 15th 2009 10:06AM Sad that Samsung can't take the time to include the P2500 and P2550, the first (and only to date) player to integrate internet streaming with high-quality video processing (Reon HQV). The hardware is capable and it's still my favorite value BD player recommendation, even as it gets harder to find.
ASUS EeeBox EB1501 comes packing Windows 7, Atom 330 {Engadget}
Oct 1st 2009 4:23PM I'd love to see this with ION LE and the associated $150 knocked off the price... for HTPC use, DX10 is far from a necessity.
Xbox 360 802.11n adapter spotted in Gears of War 2 box, longs for the comfort of your living room {Engadget}
Sep 20th 2009 2:08AM When you can get an 802.11n ethernet bridge for $33 (like today's Woot), why does an overpriced USB adapter from MS even matter?
Lenovo IdeaPad U350 review roundup {Engadget}
Aug 7th 2009 11:09AM I'm eyeing this one as my home-and-travel laptop, with my old Latitude D630 still pulling office duty. I was originally pumped for the MSI X340, but the build quality didn't impress and it was just a little too MBA KIRF. This one looks to be much better built with with just enough aluminum to make it feel substantial without raising the price.
Onkyo shows pride in its DV-BD507 Blu-ray player with lofty $449 price tag {Engadget}
Jul 29th 2009 10:36AM Custom Installers are going to make up the lion's share of this player's distribution channel... beyond that, you'll probably see refurbs pop up on AC4L in 3-6 months for $200ish and a few folks will pick them up for brand matching. That said, the European Onkyo website show this player with DivxHD listed, so if that's not a typo maybe there is a bit more hope for its feature set.
In all honestly, a decent video scaling chipset (i.e. Anchor Bay or HQV) along with the improved build quality would push me to consider one of these players (as a refurb like mentioned above). With Samsung moving away from HQV, there's not a down-market BD player with superb video scaling for DVD. Oppo is doing a great job filling the middle-market, but the Samsung P2500/2550 will be missed when it comes to superb image quality on the lower-end... it just happens to have great Netflix and Pandora support as well, but would be well worth the price (street or refurb) even without. Not every BD player has to be an all-in-one solution for BD, networked contend, and file playback... especially one like this that's really for a niche market segment anyway.
But I guess that's all moot since a decent video scaler isn't mentioned, so unless it's hiding in there unannounced (unlikely based on Onkyo's past trends) it is still overpriced and underspeced.
Sprint acquires Virgin Mobile USA for a cool $483m {Engadget}
Jul 28th 2009 10:40AM If somehow this brings the Boost $50 Unlimited plan to the Sprint CDMA network (even if handcuffed to 2.5g) then I'd call this a pro-consumer acquisition. There would have to be some kind of differentiation from the Sprint $99 Everything plan...maybe 2.5g vs. 3g along with phone selection is enough... but some form of advertised $50 Unlimited CDMA with a selection of currently available feature-phones ($50 Boost UNLMTD is not advertised and the phones are no longer available) would be a major win for consumers.
Homebrewed Nikon D90 lens is a fish-eyed theft deterrent {Engadget}
Jul 10th 2009 9:16AM What the modder here has accomplished is no better than what Photoshop could achieve with the same shot sans peep-hole. Notice in the read link how little of the actual frame is covered by the actual peep-hole? This means you're effectively cropping a ton and THEN applying a fisheye effect. You're likely not getting ANY decrease in focal length, and you're wasting a TON of your sensor data... all for an effect that could be better achieved completely free in software. There are also tons of cheap screw-on fisheye adapters on ebay that would do infinitely better than this approach if you didn't want to pony up for a true fisheye lens. The peep-hole fisheye can be fun and semi-useful on point & shoots with smaller optics/sensors, but throwing away 90% of your sensor data on a dSLR when you could do better in software is a waste of scrap wood and duct tape.
ZINNET debuts brite-View media players, streamers {Engadget}
Jun 26th 2009 11:23AM I'd accept 720p output if it would at least decode 1080p files... otherwise about 1/3 of my MKV collection would be orphaned. That said, the MVIX is looking more promising. I'm hoping to replace my WDTV with something networked in the not-to-distant future, but I'll live with the hassle of playing musical-usb-drive until the networked players are pricing around $100 or the WDTV network hacks get a little more robust.
Engadget's recession antidote: win one of 100 Microsoft Windows 7 pre-order discount codes! {Engadget}
Jun 25th 2009 1:59PM In for 1
