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HP MediaSmart Connect brings digital media to your HDTV
Yeah, you may be burning that midnight oil, but your weariness isn't the reason you're certain you've seen this thing before. Touted at CES as the MediaSmart Receiver, the re-dubbed MediaSmart Connect is finally available for pre-order. Just as we heard before, this unit takes full advantage of Extender for Windows Media Center technology, and although it possesses no internal storage space, it will pull in digital media from around your home (and a variety of online media outlets) and pipe it straight to your HDTV. The unit plays nice with other UPnP- and DLNA-compliant devices and includes 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, an Ethernet port, HDMI / component jacks and support for MPEG2/4, DivX, XviD, WMV, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPEG and BMP files (among others). Prospective buyers can get their order in today for $349. %Gallery-25329%
Hands-on with HP's MediaSmart Receiver
For whatever reason, the HP MediaSmart Receiver looked a lot more impressive in the press shots, but hey, maybe it'll strike someone as cute. Not a lot of extravagance here, but we were able to pop out the HP Pocket Media Drive, for whatever that's worth. Enough chatter -- dig on in below. %Gallery-12865%
HP's new MediaSmart Receiver does Media Center Extender (and more)
If you're looking for a Media Center Extender that can do a smidgen more than your average 360, HP just announced a brand new option for you. The MediaSmart Receiver does the usual MCE business (actually, it's an Extender for Windows Media Center, meaning it can do DivX and XviD), in addition to playing H.264, MPEG-2, AAC, having built-in 802.11a/b/g/n, a Pocket Media Drive bay, and all the outputs you'll need to get the thing up and running (component, HDMI with HDCP). And, of course, it'll stream you media via DLNA / UPnP servers, play it off the drive or USB ports, as well as switching modes o HP's own media interface, just in case you're not into the Extender experience (or don't rely on an XP or Vista box to deal with your media). No pricing intel just yet, but expect a spring release. Of course, if you wanted to get a small Media Center Extender with a hard drive, USB, and high def outputs, there are a few decent alternatives out there.%Gallery-12538%
