Month: December 2008

Available through ADI, the Niveus Media Server – Vail Edition provides a no-nonsense, high-performance entertainment experience. Milpitas, CA – December 30, 2008 – Niveus Media has teamed up with ADI to distribute the Niveus Media Server to custom electronics installers across the country. Now available at ADI branch locations, the Niveus Media Server – Vail Edition is an energy-efficient entertainment server designed to store, aggregate, and distribute HD content throughout the home. With support for movies, music, photos, and much more in its slender frame, Vail is packed with advanced technologies to deliver stunning in-home audio and video reproduction. A … Continue reading Niveus Media and ADI Serve Up Premium Home Entertainment

The biggest disappointment of 2008 has to be Microsoft’s failure to produce a follow-up release to the RTM release of Vista Media Center.  The TV Pack, which was previously codenamed Fiji was delayed well over a year with no information give by Microsoft as to the reason why.   Things finally settled down and Fiji was released as the TV Pack in August (officially at CEDIA in September). Of course the disappointments set in a few months early, with DIRECTV and H.264 being dropped, and then the announcement that Microsoft planned the TV Pack to be OEM-only.   Then came some bugs, … Continue reading ’08 Disappointments: TV Pack

2008 was going to be the year of IPTV, and while AT&T and Verizon (actually QAM) have made great strides in the IPTV marketplace, Microsoft hasn’t done much to push what was promised on their end (Note: Microsoft powers AT&Ts IPTV DVRs).  Of course the prime example here is the concept of using your Xbox 360 as an IPTV DVR. The concept had been thrown around online for some time, but at CES 2008 Microsoft made it official and announced they were working with BT in the UK to bring the functionality to life.  That’s about the last time I … Continue reading ‘08 Disappointments: Xbox IPTV

Embedded Automation keeps adding significant value to their mControl home automation software.  Just this month just have added support for Lutron RadioRA and HACS AB8SS Speaker Switch Box, released a new mControl driver for remote control of their mPanel in-wall touchscreen, updated their mPanel Software which includes new digital media and digital control capabilities, and showed mPanel running other HA software applications. RadioRA is a big addition to mControl and might represent things to come for Embedded Automation.  Up until now mControl has mainly been limited to control of lower end lighting control systems.  These systems (Z-Wave, INSTEON, X-10) are … Continue reading Embedded Automation Updates mPanel, Adds RadioRA Support

Ricavision is officially dead now, but Phillips is sort-of taking their place with the SRM7500 SideShow Remote.  Hardly the eye candy that the Ricavision was, but at least it is shipping with a much lower price tag.  Clear downside here is the screen which will limit functionality. The Holidays are here and that means deals for you on Media Center plug-ins.  Up until January 15 you can save up to 40% off on Big Screen applications.  Speaking of deals, how about getting a free DV cam?  Microsoft has launched their Media Center Consumer Video Testimonial Program at The Green Button … Continue reading Short Bits: SideShow Remote, Big Screen Savings, Video Testimonial Program, More

Niveus dealers and consumers can now purchase HDGIANTS’ movie collections for playback on any Niveus Media Server. Milpitas, CA – December 22, 2008 – Niveus Media is teaming up with HDGIANTS to bring collections of the industry’s best movies to Niveus customers. HDGIANTS is committed to offering premium digital content that maximizes the capabilities of the Niveus Media Server and new Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition, to deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience. The collections are available in packages of 50 or 100 titles and include top-rated films from major movie studios. “HDGIANTS gives customers easy access to large collections … Continue reading Niveus Media And HDGIANTS Team Up To Deliver Premium Movie Collections

Silly me, I figured the fire sale on Linksys DMA2100 and DMA2200 Extenders over the past two months might indicate them getting ready to drop a new hardware revision on us, but sadly that doesn’t appear to be the case.  Consumer Electronics Daily is reporting that Cisco (eg. Linksys) “has no immediate plans” to replace the two Extender SKUs.  Cisco did note that a firmware update would likely be the next step.  When that update drops or what is included remains to be seen. The DMA2100 has sold for a low of $59 at Dell.com a few week ago.  The … Continue reading Linksys: “No Plans for Models to Replace” DMA2100/DMA2200

Okoro Media Systems, manufacturer of digital entertainment systems for the high end audio video market, is pleased to announce the availability of the Intel’s new i7 Core processing technology to our high-end 2009 Digital Entertainment Systems. Keeping with our mission of bringing the latest in cutting edge technology, our i7 Core series machines will continue to bring unprecedented 3-D gaming performance and will provide better performance for streaming movies, and music to multiple zones.   “Our customers expected us to push the envelope with systems that can provide the greatest performance when they are playing the latest Blu-ray movies in … Continue reading Okoro Media Unleashes Intel i7 Core Media Centers

Now that we are fairly certain that DIRECTV will not ship with Windows 7, the big question remains to be will DISH Network?  Around the time the TV Pack started beta testing, I did hear that some testers had been contacted about testing DISH Network Tuners, and that talk has popped back up in the past few weeks. Going under my theory that Microsoft has all the plumbing in-place for DIRECTV support, there is no reason that same framework can’t work for DISH Network.  If DISH Network wants to make a Media Center tuner, they can using this framework, and … Continue reading Can DISH Network One-Up DIRECTV?

Now that DIRECTV has suspended development on their HDPC-20 Tuner where does that leave us?  There are a lot of differing opinions going around about why DIRECTV canned the tuner, whose fault it is, and where do we go from here.  Most people are pointing the finger at Microsoft, and with their history of releases how could you not?  This doesn’t mean however that Microsoft is totally at fault, but let’s look at the whole situation to see how we got here.  Timeline January 2006 – Microsoft and DIRECTV announce partnership to “develop new ways to expand the reach of … Continue reading DIRECTV and Microsoft: What Went Wrong