Details about the new satellite HD provider, XStreamHD are starting to come to light in advance of their press conference tomorrow. We already knew about collaboration with DTS, and now thanks to a press release we know that the promised 7.1-channel audio will be coming to you in DTS-HD MA format. Similarly, the press release reveals that the Seagate drives in the box allow you to stuff in 2TB of content. Good stuff, but the question we're really waiting to see answered is all about what content will be available. The device is coming into focus, so XStreamHD hopefully will bring some answers to their press conference for us.

Normally home theater receivers aren't considered anything special, content to switch inputs and power speakers, letting the plasma flat-panel take all the glory. But Yamaha has thrown all the goodies and features into the RX-Z11 receiver, with THX Ultra2 Plus certification for quality assurance, five HDMI 1.3a inputs and two outputs, four component inputs and two outs, and support for five audio and two video zones. It also supports the newest audio codecs, including Dolby TrueHD, and DTS Master Audio. To finish off the features, the receiver also supports terrestrial HD and XM satellite radio, network capabilities and internet radio, and includes an iPod dock for external media. The RX-Z11 comes out in November, for an undisclosed (but surely expensive) price.

Currently, there's just not a whole lot of options when you're scouting a pre-fabricated rig that does both HD DVD and Blu-ray on a single optical drive, but adding one more to mix certainly helps. Enter Inteset, which has just announced that an HD DVD / Blu-ray combo drive will be an option in the firm's Maximus and Denzel media server systems. The machines will reportedly come loaded with CyberLink's PowerDVD Ultra software, support 7.1-channel surround sound, and sport an array of ports including audio in / out, DVI / VGA / component / S-Video, USB, FireWire, and antenna inputs for the TV tuners. 'Course, since the company recommends that you "contact a dealer for pricing," you should assume that this here HTPC won't run you cheap.

If you like your PC hardware to be wrapped in only the glitziest, most showy enclosure that money can buy, Shuttle's latest XPC isn't exactly numero uno, but it can certainly hold its own if you aren't willing to spend a fortune. This SFF chassis is built around Intel's G33 Express chipset, can accommodate up to 4GB of DDR2-800 memory, touts an HDCP-compliant HDMI port, and also includes a snazzy integrated VFD display on the front for wowing your guests. Additionally, you'll find onboard GMA 3100 graphics, a 7.1 audio chip with Dolby Digital Live! and DTS Connect certifications, gigabit Ethernet, an infrared remote, I.C.E. heatpipe cooling system, and a 250-watt SilentX power supply. Mmm, hot stuff for "just" €328 ($453).

[Via CaseDesigns]

Hard to believe (well, maybe not so much) that you've had to twiddle your thumbs nearly half a year to see VidaBox actually ship those well-spec'd all-in-one media centers, but thankfully for those who've waited, deployment starts now. The firm's highly customizable LUX and MAGNUM rigs sport both Blu-ray and HD DVD support (via dual drives or in a single drive like another offering), CableCARD, 7.1 Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD surround sound, up to four OTA tuners, 4GB of RAM, and up to 9TB of onboard storage on select models. Unfortunately for those already whipping out the credit cards, placing your order won't be as easy as you'd expect, as we imagine that "call for price" bit really means "too enormous to list."

It looks like Okoro Media Systems' flagship HTPC is getting yet another upgrade, as this time the well-spec'd beast picks up a quad-core 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor and an HDCP-compliant NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card to compliment the rest of the luxuries you'll find here. Aside from the sleek, black chassis with built-in seven-inch touchscreen display, you'll also be graced with up to 4GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 RAM, twin dual-layer DVD burners (c'mon, where's the high definition?), DTS Connect / Dolby Digital Live, 1TB of SATA hard drive space, 9-in-1 flash card reader, dual TV tuners, and a range of OS choices including Vista Ultimate. As for the port assortment, you'll find FireWire, optical / digital audio, four USB 2.0 connectors, Ethernet, two DVI outputs, VGA / component / S-Video / composite outs, microphone in, and the obligatory OTA cable inputs. So while the OMS-GX300 probably includes everything you need for the quickest, most feature-packed media PC experience, all these niceties will run you somewhere between $4,595 and infinity, depending on your credit limit.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

If you liked the Mac mini-inspired Blueado m5e home theater PC, then you're gonna love a recently-released, improved version of the machine that the company is touting as a "Sport Edition" (because, you know, nothing invokes athleticism like sitting around watching TV and movies all day), which adds several compelling features (and $500) to its $1,500 sibling. Packing in the same 2.0GHz Pentium M processor and integrated graphics as the m5e, this new edition doubles both RAM and HDD capacity to 2GB and 400GB, respectively, and also throws in both analog and digital tuners for keeping you entertained. You get a fairly wide variety of connectivity options with this one -- USB 2.0, FireWire, DVI, VGA, S-video, and digital coax -- along with Dolby Digital and DTS support for hooking up your surround sound speakers to the included RCA outputs. Of course, no HTPC would be complete without a DVD burner, remote control, and million-in-one card reader, so the Sport Edition -- rolling into dealerships now -- mixes in those ingredients as well.