set-top box
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Vizio Co-Star teardown supplies the tech specs we never had
Vizio's Co-Star Google TV hub has been public knowledge for more than half of 2012, but it might as well have been a black box as far as its internals were concerned. It's mostly been a mystery beyond the acknowledgment of a Marvell ARM chip inside. The teardown gurus at iFixit certainly weren't content to let that riddle go unanswered. Their exploration of the box shows that Vizio is very much clinging to the initial Marvell vision of using a dual-core, 1.2GHz Armada 1500 to handle 1080p video at that $100 price -- albeit with just 4GB of flash to store everything the Android OS demands. What may interest hobbyists is simply the accessibility of the set-top box: just about every board and component comes out easily, which could lead to some cheaper DIY surgery. The full parts list is waiting at the source if knowing how your Google TV box operates is as important as catching up on Netflix.
Diamond Multimedia outs AMP1000 Android set-top box: Gingerbread-based, 1080p, sells for $120 (update: ICS coming this week)
Diamond Multimedia's more commonly known around the web for selling Mac and PC capture cards (among other things), but as of today, the company's officially entering the set-top box game with its AMP1000. The media player itself is running a not-so-new flavor of Android -- Gingerbread, to be exact -- which will be used to bring a slew of familiar entertainment tidbits to the bigger screen, such as a media player capable of 1080p playback, an evolved internet browser and an oversized photo viewer, as well as other content like games, ebooks and magazines -- all of which can be downloaded from Google's Play repertoire. Although Diamond Multimedia's formally pricing the AMP1000 at $120, there's a Facebook-only offer that knocks the price down to a mere $100. Now, will it be enough to compete with, say, Vizio's $99 Google TV box? We'll let you be the judge of that. Update: Well, in case you weren't fond of the AMP1000's Gingerbread innards, Diamond Multimedia's got something in the works to solve that problem. A company rep has contacted us to let us know Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming to early adopters "later this week," as well as noting that all future units will come with the creamy OS already onboard.
WSJ: Apple's TV focus changes to putting cable TV in its set-top box
Just in case you thought the often discussed / as yet unseen Apple HDTV rumor mill was dead, you were wrong. The Wall Street Journal is reigniting things this evening, with sources claiming that instead of competing with cable providers by starting up its own IPTV offering, Apple has switched to sweet talking pay-TV providers into offering their content through its box. If you're still looking for a Cupertino-embued display you may be in luck, since the anonymous parties also indicate the set-top box tech it's working on could be integrated with HDTVs. That is still an less than certain path at the moment however, given pay-TV operators current preference to control every element of the experience and relationship with consumers, as well as the split of profits. According to the Journal report, Steve Jobs was "dismissive" of attempts to build a cable box since cable operators each only have limited regional exposure and don't own the content they license from studios. Since then however we have seen a few offerings of cable and satellite TV beyond the box as Microsoft offers Verizon and Comcast apps on its Xbox 360, Samsung has brought providers directly to its smart HDTVs and many providers offer streaming access via iPad or other mobile devices. Still, since the rumor doesn't indicate a deal is inked or even on the way, we wouldn't hold our breath for any or all of the listed possibilities to come true any time soon.
Roku picks up financing from BSkyB, News Corp and more, keeps eye on the premium streaming crown
The little media streamer company that could, Roku, has gained some powerful friends in its latest round of financing, with $45 million in funds coming from the likes of BSkyB, News Corp and another partner who would prefer to remain nameless at this time, as well as previous investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. While we leave you to ponder which company might be that unidentified source, Roku is simply continuing on, earmarking the money for use in building brand awareness, expanding internationally and much, much more. Also, that MHL-connected Roku Streaming Stick introduced at CES? It hasn't gone away and is still on track for launch later this year, with an eye towards providing a "Roku Inside" bundled experience for otherwise dumb flat-panel HDTVs. Roku's alignment with BSkyB (which reported a $10m stake in its earnings this morning, as well as the option to distribute its own branded Roku hardware) makes sense after the pay-TV giant launched Now TV recently with the hockey puck as one of its supported platforms, while CEO Anthony Wood tells us the fruitful partnership with News Corp had its root in the Fox News, Wall Street Journal Live and X-Factor channels it launched last year. Wood cites plans to make Roku "the TV distribution platform of the future", and this fifth round of financing -- larger than all previous rounds combined -- may help push it in this direction, check out a few more details in the press release after the break.
Vizio Co-Star Google TV set-top box is up for pre-order, $100 brings it your way in August
As promised, Vizio has starting taking pre-orders for its Co-Star Google TV box. For a penny less than a Benjamin, it adds the new Google TV experience to your existing setup, and brings along its remote with QWERTY keyboard on the underside and integrated IR blaster. Based on one of Marvell's ARM processors it's ready for apps like OnLive, and now that the price is competitive with the hockey puck streamers like Roku, Western Digital or Apple, we'll see which one consumers choose. August 14th is the current estimated shipping date, if you'd like to be the first with one (and take advantage of a "limited time" free shipping offer) before the box hits retailers hit the source link to get in line, or check out the press release and quick video preview embedded after the break.
KDDI unveils ICS 'Smart TV Box' for cable providers in Japan, available later this year (video)
We've seen a fair share of Android-powered set-tops in our time, but KDDI (with the help of Panasonic) has taken a slightly different entertainment route with its recently unveiled Smart TV Box. Similar to some Google TV boxes, which the Smart TV Box isn't, KDDI plans to bring this one to cable providers in Japan to act as the main unit in living rooms, with the testing phase set to commence as soon as next month. KDDI's Smart TV Box is powered by an undisclosed dual-core chip and feeds off of a tasty bite of Mountain View's Ice Cream Sandwich. As far as ports and other features, there's HDMI and three USB ports on board, while Ethernet (WiFi, too) keeps you connected and a built-in hard drive takes care of all your DVR needs. Like we said earlier, trial runs will start in August, but the Japanese company expects to have the brick officially up-and-running in a number of households later this fall. In the meantime, though, there's a soothing video for your viewing pleasure just past the break.
WD TV Play media hub revealed by the FCC, puts Texas Hold'em on the big screen
Western Digital must not want to leave casual TV gaming to the Roku crowd. Our friends at the FCC have just posted a filing that shows the as yet unannounced WD TV Play taking on its set-top rival with a dedicated gaming channel. We're only given a small peek into the new media hub's gaming universe through the pre-release user manual, but we know that a Texas Hold'em variant and other titles will find their way in through the gaming services Funspot and PlayJam. No signs have surfaced of a Roku-like motion control, either, although the remote has been given an overhaul compared to its WD TV Live cousin with prominent shortcut buttons for Hulu Plus, Netflix and Vudu. There aren't any immediate clues as to when the otherwise pedestrian-looking Play will take over store shelves -- that said, the virtually complete details hint that there's not long to wait.
XBMC for Android app revealed; source code available now, beta APKs soon (video)
Surprise surprise, after popping up on the iPad last year, XBMC developers revealed tonight that they've created a version of the media center that runs as an Android app. Currently the team has it stable on the Pivos XIOS DS set-top box, and posted a video (embedded after the break) showing it running on a phone and a tablet. Of course, the different varieties of Android hardware audio and video decoding is mostly a software only affair, but universal hardware decoding is in the plan. The truly dedicated can dig up the source code right now, but APKs for beta testers are promised "in the coming weeks." According to the blog post, it currently includes a community member created touch oriented skin and hopes to have more available before any version of this hits Google Play officially. [Thanks, Bharath]
Roku 2, LT and new HD boxes upgraded for more languages, future remote apps
Over on the Roku blog the company just announced it's delivering a software 4.8 upgrade starting today. First up there's a few new features included right away like support for Spanish and German in the UI, performance optimizations and playback improvement for channels like MLB.tv and GBTV. More interesting however is the prospect of what's to come, as it also note "under the hood" preparations for new channels and features, promising upgrades for the iOS and Android remote apps soon. Like the last upgrade, the new version is getting pushed to Roku 2 and LT boxes now, while new HD boxes should see it next week.
Youview TV platform and set-top box coming to UK stores this month (update: priced at £299)
The BBC's iPlayer has become too successful. It either needs to calm down or be put on a more level playing field with on demand services from the other big UK broadcasters -- and it's going to be the latter. Youview -- which has nothing whatsoever in common with YouTube except its name and the fact that it also does video -- is a PVR set-top box that uses both an aerial and a web connection to allow catch-up viewing, and we've just heard it'll arrive in UK stores towards the end of this month. It'll bring together programs from the BBC (which also contributed £10 million of license fee cash), ITV, Channel 4, Five, and Sky, using infrastructure from BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva, and it'll target millions of British viewers who want a "seamless" mix of live and archived telly without being tied to a subscription -- and who don't yet depend on a Smart TV, games console or other converged device. Update: Youview front man Lord Alan Sugar told us that the box is Humax-built and will cost £299. He also added that there'll be adverts within commercial programs, but not plastered over the EPG or interface itself.
Nexus Q social streaming device hands-on
What is the Q? Well, it's a ball... a ball that plays music. And videos. And it also lights up. It's what Google is calling it a "social streaming device" but what's most important is that this is finally the realization of the Android@Home standard that was unveiled last year. While the styling is what'll immediately grab you, it's the functionality that Google thinks will rock your living room. Join us after the break for our first impressions of this category-defying device.
Vizio's Google TV box emerges as the Co-Star Stream Player, goes up for pre-order in July with OnLive gaming
Remember the Vizio VAP430 Stream Player that we tried during CES? Half a year later, the Google TV hub is getting full launch details, just in time for Google I/O. Along with receiving the much more elegant title of Co-Star Stream Player, the set-top box now bakes in OnLive streaming game support -- the Co-Star could, in theory, replace a game console for any American with a good broadband connection. Whether or not playing Just Cause 2 on a TV is in the cards, the hub ticks all the 2012 Google TV checkboxes, including a hybrid keyboard and remote, 3D-capable 1080p video and DLNA media sharing. Before you rush to the local big-box store to pick one up, be warned that pre-orders don't start until July, and then only on Vizio's website. The $100 price, however, will make it considerably easier to wait.
Google TV goes international, Sony NSZ-GS7 set-top box up for preorder in the US and UK
Sony mentioned during CES 2012 that its Google TV-powered hardware would come to Europe this summer, and now it's official. Along with Google, it's announced preorders are available for the $200/£200/$199 NSZ-GS7 internet streaming set-top box in the US and UK (showing a ship date of July 9th, Sony says it should hit stores July 22nd), with plans to launch in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and Netherlands later this year. The NSZ-GP9 with integrated Blu-ray player will arrive in October, priced at £280/€300/$299. UK users can expect localized content from The Guardian among other sources, and more reveals are promised at Google I/O this week. There's an internationally-aimed trailer (embedded after the break) and more information from Sony and Google at their respective sites, we'll see if the mix of reworked hardware and updated software makes this venture more successful than the last round. Update: It looks like buyers in other countries may not have to wait long, Sony Australia has already announced a "limited time" pack-in offer of the boxes with the purchase of a new TV starting this week. The box will be available solo at some unspecified time in the future.
Sony's Google TV-enabled NSZ-GS7 Network Media Player up for pre-order at J&R
We knew Sony's next batch of Google TV-enabled hardware was coming this summer, and now at least one device is up for pre-order at J&R. Folks who've been wanting the Android-based service without shelling out for a full TV set from the company will now only need to part with $200 for its NSZ-GS7 Network Media Player. The unit comes complete with an updated remote featuring a QWERTY keyboard, motion control, a microphone (for "voice commands") and a touchpad, and it's said to work with most of Sony's 2012 TV lineup. There still seems to be no word on this streaming box's exact specs, a ship date or when you'll be able to snag its Blu-ray touting sibling, but you can hit the source link to secure one for yourself in the meantime. Here's to watching whether it'll muster up more gusto for the platform than Logitech's Revue, once it's planted consumers' AV racks.
Time Warner Cable starts rolling out lightly refreshed guide with new color scheme, cloud VOD search
While it's definitely good news that Time Warner Cable is revisiting its Navigator guide again, the bad news is that at least in terms of appearance, very little has changed. The screenshots above show the old guide (left) next to the new one (right) and as you can see, other than a color scheme adjustment to match its new apps, things are almost entirely the same. In terms of functional adjustments, names have changed for some of the menus, and now the A button on the remote pulls up channels listed by category, the B button searches by title and the select button lets you know if features like Start Over, Look Back or VOD are available. According to CED Magazine, the guide's (slight) facelift also goes hand in hand with a new cloud-based video on-demand portal that includes with richer graphics and metadata, as a prelude to more cloud-provided navigation and IPTV set-top boxes. So far we're seeing notes that the new guide is being delivered in Syracuse and Charlotte, if you haven't received it yet Time Warner Cable says it will be running newspaper ads ahead of the change in each area -- people still read newspapers, right? Update: We're told that another new feature of the update is the ability to filter out any channels you want from the guide. Check one box on the Ben-o-vision form.
D-Link outs MovieNite Plus, still expects you to buy the popcorn
D-Link has refreshed its MovieNite Apple TV / Roku competitor to enable the media streamer to add a wide variety of apps -- including Hulu Plus (soon). The 1080p video pusher is nearly unmistakable for the original edition, which was available for as little as $48 online, except that it won't be exclusive to Walmart anymore -- oh, and this time out it'll set you back $80.
WD TV adds streaming options, tunes televisions near and far to your Slingbox
A raft of goodies has been tacked on to Western Digital's TV Live and TV Live Hub media players including new streams and Vudu movie downloading, but the addition of SlingPlayer might be the most intriguing. Depending on your region, you'll see new channels on the WD set-tops, including The AOL On Network, Red Bull TV, ABC iview (Australia), Acetrax Movies, Maxdome and BILD TV-App. Walmart's Vudu service will also be added, letting domestic and some foreign users buy or rent from a library of 70,000 downloadable films and TV shows. Finally, if you're a frequent traveler, you can pack your WD box and fire up the new SlingPlayer on your hotel TV to watch hometown broadcasts wherever you may be. Provided you've got a Slingbox back home, of course. To find out more and see what's available in your country, check the source or PR below. Show full PR text New International and Domestic Entertainment Options Complement WD TV® Live™ and WD TV® Live Hub™'s 'Play Anything' Popularity IRVINE, Calif., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital® (NASDAQ: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions and maker of the popular WD TV® media player family, today introduced a variety of new entertainment options for the WD TV Live™ and WD TV Live Hub™ media players. Current and new users can now enjoy Red Bull TV™, ABC iview (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Acetrax™, Maxdome, the BILD TV-App, and the AOL On Network. They can also watch live and recorded TV with the new SlingPlayer® app and save their premium HD movies to the WD TV Live Hub's internal storage with VUDU. WD's new entertainment choices add to the WD TV media player family's prodigious ability to play personal content such as videos, photos and music by supporting a wide range of media formats. Users can watch content located on any networked PC or Mac® computer in the home, from a network drive such as WD's My Book® Live™ personal cloud storage, and from any directly connected digital camcorder, camera, or USB drive. WD TV Live Hub owners can also save and share pictures and videos from outside the home, using the WD Photos™ app for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ mobile devices. "WD continuously listens to its customers, and adds the content options they want," said Scott Vouri, vice president and general manager, WD connected home solutions. "With today's addition of hot international and domestic channels, live TV through SlingPlayer, and HD movie rentals, purchases and downloads through VUDU, the WD TV media players truly provide the most entertainment." The WD TV Live Hub is the only media player to offer direct HD movie download service for today's hottest new movie releases purchased from VUDU's large library of movies and TV shows. VUDU is a subscription-free, HD video streaming service, which offers more than 70,000 blockbuster titles including new releases, Hollywood classics, independent films, and TV shows. Because it has an integrated 1TB hard drive, the WD TV Live Hub can save and play back purchased digital content from VUDU, including the high-quality HDX™ video format that features 1080p Full HD and rich Dolby Digital Plus™ 7.1 audio. "By centralizing their entertainment on the WD TV Live Hub, our customers get high-performance full-HD movie playback without overloading their home network or cluttering up the hard drives of other PCs in the house," added Vouri. From "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" to "The Muppets" WD brings today's top movies to the WD TV Live Hub for a cinema-like experience at home through the available VUDU service. New Services[1] Now Available: SlingPlayer (worldwide) – With a Slingbox® connected in your home, the SlingPlayer app brings your living room TV experience to your connected device in any room – around the home or around the world. The AOL On Network (US) – The AOL HD app, part of The AOL On Network, features high-definition technology, lifestyle, celebrity and entertainment content updated daily from The AOL On Network, which features video from brands like Engadget, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and Moviefone. Red Bull TV (worldwide) – A unique online portal offering exclusive high quality programs from the World of Red Bull in HD. Available to nearly all devices – Red Bull TV offers worldwide live webcasts and a thematic catalogue of VODs complementing exclusive shows of the multimedia content of redbull.com. ABC iview (Australia) – ABC iview is Australia's most popular catch-up TV service and is run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It features 14-day catch-up from channels ABC1, ABC2, ABC3, ABC4Kids and ABC News 24. Acetrax movies (UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and Austria) – Available on the WD TV Live only, this service offers blockbuster new release and library movies from the major Hollywood studios. maxdome (Germany) – Available on the WD TV Live only, the most popular German video-on-demand service maxdome delivers over 45,000 major film and TV titles. BILD TV-App (Germany) – With the BILD TV-App users navigate easily and comfortably with the remote control through Germany's largest news and entertainment portal. The application offers the latest news and videos from politics, lifestyle, entertainment and sports, as well as the pictures of the day. Availability The WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub can be purchased at select retailers and online at wdstore.com. About WD WD, a storage industry pioneer and long-time leader, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its storage technologies serve a wide range of host applications including client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own storage systems. Its home entertainment products enable rich engagement with stored digital content. WD was founded in 1970. The company's products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital®, WD® and HGST™ brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information. Western Digital, WD, the WD logo, WD TV, and My Book are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries; WD TV Live and My Book Live are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Not all products may be available in all regions of the world. All product and packaging specifications subject to change without notice. As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. Source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1dpR0)
AverMedia rolls out AverTV box PVR, likely targeting budget-minded ad-skippers
AverMedia generally doesn't boggle us with cutting edge products, but they have their niche with those for whom money is an object. Though pricing hasn't been announced, the AverTV Box PVR announced at Computex seems to fit that mold, offering set-top recording and time-shifting, but foregoing niceties like network connectivity, HDMI output or even HD for that matter. The box can record to separate USB devices and output with analog VGA or RCA composite to a monitor or TV. While it appears to be SD-only, if your 20-year old Zenith wants to get in on some PVR time-shifting, it might have found a new best friend. Check the PR for more info. Show full PR text AVerMedia Announced the Standalone TV Recording Box Used with TV Set or PC Monitor Taipei, Taiwan-June 4 ,2012 AVerMedia Technologies, Inc., the preeminent name in digital multimedia technology, today announced the availability of the AVerTV Box PVR, a standalone TV recording box used with TV set or PC monitor. The AVerTV Box PVR features direct file recording to USB hard drives directly, scheduled recording and TimeShift, which provide consumers the most convenient way to enjoy TV programs at any time. What's more, it is equipped with 3D Y/C separation technology that ensures the superior video quality. Besides TV recording, it can also be used to preserve your favorite video from various external source devices. With the advantages of ease of operations, high video quality and multi-use capability, the AVerTV Box PVR is the ideal and cost-effective solution for TV and video enthusiasts. The hardware and function design of the AVerTV Box PVR satisfies all the demands for live TV recording. Its inputs of TV antenna and composite video allow users to capture analog cable TV, as well as TV content from satellite/cable TV set-up-box. Due to its compatibility of both TV set and PC monitor, the product stands out from general TV boxes for PCTV to bring this delightful TV experiences to the living room. With only one press, the AVerTV Box PVR records your favorite variety shows, drama series, football games, and sitcoms to an external USB hard drive. Moreover, the device provides multiple recording options to ensure your ultimate TV entertainment. Besides real-time recording while watching TV programs, it is capable of cyclic scheduled recording with auto power on and off, which means capturing the whole TV series with one-time setting to save your trouble and electricity expense when you are away from home. Even better, its TimeShift function enables pause, fast-forward and rewind live TV clips so that no prime moments will be missed because of any sudden interruption, and those breath-taken moments can be re-played. What's more valued, the AVerTV Box PVR adopts the NEC chipset with advanced 3D Y/C separation technology, which helps to present higher video quality from analog TV signal due to the powerful noise reduction and color separation capabilities.
Google Fiber GFHD100 'IP set-top box' breezes through the FCC, doesn't say where it's headed
The future of Google as a hardware manufacturer (beyond its purchase of Motorola) continues to be shrouded in rumor and mystery, but the GFHD100 box that just popped up in the FCC's database is very much a fact. As seen in the pictures, it's sporting a Google Fiber label which suggests it's a part of rolling out video services to the Kansas Cities, and also reveals it's being built for Google by Humax. The MAC address shown in the picture is registered to Google directly, while the test report calls it an IP-set top box, equipped with WiFi, IR, USB, Ethernet, HDMI input and output and an Ethernet / coax (we assume MoCA?) bridge, which sounds similar to the boxes favored by Verizon's FiOS. Unfortunately our only view of the device itself is from underneath so there's not much else to glean about its abilities or possible relation to the hardware Google has reportedly been testing around the country, but you can hit the source link below to dig through the documents yourself or check a close up of the label (we tried the QR code, it appears to be for registration but it didn't work) after the break.
aTV Flash (black) version 1.6 for Apple TV will serve subtitles and more to your couch
Snared the video you want with aTV Flash (black), but still foraging for subtitles the old way? Version 1.6 of the $29.95 package will now hunt them down from OpenSubtitles.org and download 'em directly to your jailbroken Apple TV 2nd-gen. In addition, Firecore's undermining software now has more codecs and languages, smoother video playback, better networking and numerous refinements and bug fixes. Existing clients will score the upgrade gratis, and new orders won't pay for Apple TV 3rd-gen functionality when it comes out. If you want to say no mas to badly dubbed films, roll to the source for more details.
