YouTube Launches Auto-Captioning for Everyone
YouTube original launched captioning back in November 2009 but it was limited to small groups of educational institutions. Now that feature has made it to everyones account. I’m glad Google sees the need for this and that they have opened it up to everyone. We all know that speech to text isn’t perfect but it’s a good start in reaching an audience that normally wouldn’t be able to enjoy the content. Any mistakes that Google makes can be edited by the content owner. By doing that Google will learn from it’s mistakes and make the system better. I’m going to have to try this on my videos.
(via TechCrunch)
NVIDIA Ion 2 To Make HTPCs Better
The original Ion opened up the possibilites for small nettops or netbooks to provide a reasonable amount of graphics power. The Ion 2 chip will take things a bit farther. The chip should support HDMI out, 1080p Blu-ray and Flash playback, Windows 7 Home Premium, and mainstream gaming out of the box. It’s also going to lower power consumption to increase battery life in netbooks.
I’m more interested in computers like the Asus Eee Box and the Acer Aspire Revo. Their small footprint and HDMI out make for great computers hooked up to your HDTV. With Ion 2 those computers will get enough power to run any media center software you can throw at it and for a low price.
(via Engadget)
Video: Custom LED Trackball on Nexus One
Google obviously built in the ability to change the trackball color but didn’t enable it in software. The video below is showing a rooted Nexus One with the feature enabled. Hopefully Google will add this in an update so people don’t have to root their Nexus One.
The New TiVo Premiere
TiVo after many years has updated it’s TiVo to Series 4. There are going to be two version, a base and a THX XL model. The base to have 320GB hard drive and the XL to have a 1TB drive. The UI had a refresh and is now featured in HD. I won’t pretend to know a lot about TiVo as I have never really liked their offerings. Some swear by them though. Since I’m not competely familiar with TiVO I’ll leave the TiVo news to Dave Zatz of ZatzNotFunny. His review of the new Premiere unit is a great read with a lot of information.
But where’s the improved whole-home DVR experience (like Moxi), additional tuners, Blu-ray player, social media apps (like FiOS), DLNA, user personalization (like Sezmi), etc?
The new TiVo Premiere looks nice but after reading over Dave’s post I still think Moxi is your best bet.
Logitech Announces Two New Harmony Remotes for under $100
Logitech announced two new harmony remotes. The 650 and the 600 are both under $100 which is a great price point to it. The 650 being the nicer of the two is $100 and features a color screen. The 600 is only $80 and doesn’t have a colored screen. I would spend the extra $20 for a color screen. I currently have the 890 and 880 at my house and have setup a 550 and 880 for family. These are great remotes that are easy to program. I’ll probably be looking at the 650 for the bedroom. Right now you can pre-order the 650 from Amazon.
More at blog.logitech
Netgear Introduces Two High-Performance Wireless Devices
Netgear announced two new wireless products that will give all those set-top boxes Internet with ease. The first is the HD Home Theater Adapter. It has the ability to stream multiple HD streams at once. It uses 5GHz wireless so other devices in the home don’t interfere.
Features
- Creates a high-performance wireless network for streaming multiple Blue-ray quality HD video/audio
- Adds on to any existing Wi-Fi router or gateway — No need to configure or replace current home network
- Plug-and-play setup — power-up, connect and work automatically
- Single-touch push button with Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ to connect additional Adapters
- Supports multicast point-to-multipoint HD video streaming
- Provides visual feedback on the highest bandwidth HD stream that can be streamed
- Automatically detects and configures as an access point or bridge depending on connection
The next product I think will be more beneficial to most consumers. It’s their Ethernet to Wireless Adapter. Most set-top devices have ethernet but not wireless. This adapter turns that ethernet port into a wireless port. It’s going to be available in May for $80. While a ethernet cable might be cheaper, running the wire to the box might be a hassle. To most that $80 will be well worth it.
NETGEAR Supercharges Home Theater Experience with New Class of WiFi Products to Support Internet-Enabled Set-top Boxes, TVs, Blu-ray Players and Gaming Consoles
High-Performance HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004) Wirelessly Streams Multiple HD Videos Flawlessly Throughout the Home; Industry-First Compact USB-powered Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) Wirelessly Connects Ethernet-enabled Consumer Electronics to the Internet
HANNOVER, Germany — March 1, 2010 — NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today announced two new networking accessories for home theaters. The High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004) is a carrier-grade, tested and proven solution for wirelessly playing multiple jitter-free 1080p HD video and audio streams to every room in the house flawlessly, and at double the performance and range of solutions in the market today. The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles (WNCE2001) delivers Wireless-N performance of up to 300 Mbps through the Ethernet port of consumer electronic (CE) devices such as Internet TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players and more.
NETGEAR will display these new products at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany, March 2-6, 2010, in the Wick Hill booth (Hall 11, Stand D03) of the Hannover Exhibition Hall. Related CeBIT announcements can be found here (http://www.netgear.com/About/PressReleases.aspx).
A growing number of multimedia devices in the home theater are enabled with network connectivity, but oftentimes there is not a wired network connection available in the living room. While many of the available wireless solutions, either embedded or external, offer basic connectivity to the home network to play rich media to the HDTV, no other wireless solutions provide the reliability required for playing multiple, simultaneous, Blu-ray quality HD streams across multiple walls in a large home.
“High-Performance HD Home Theater Kit provides wired-equivalent connectivity and whole-home coverage using wireless,” said Som Pal Choudhury, NETGEAR director of product marketing for Core Networking Products. “The technology is way ahead of the competition. With its groundbreaking speed, range and reliability, it is like WiFi on steroids.”
High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004)
With performance doubling that of competing products, the NETGEAR carrier-grade High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004) delivers multiple, simultaneous, jitter-free 1080p HD video streams wirelessly throughout the home. It is the only solution that has been tested to provide sustained throughput of HD streams in excess of 40 Mbps 99.9 percent of the time, through multiple walls, throughout an above-average single family home.The kit consists of a pair of two High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Adapters (WNHD3004). The set-up is truly plug and play; consumers simply plug the first adapter into the existing router or gateway, and the second adapter into any home theater device with an Ethernet port. The kit is pre-configured with security, so a single touch of a push-button securely connects additional adapters. IPTV customers and video enthusiasts can now wirelessly stream multiple 1080p HD streams with wired-equivalent reliability from the network, Internet or IPTV service provider to their home theater devices, including IPTV set-top boxes, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Blu-ray players, Internet-enabled TVs, Apple TV, NETGEAR Digital Entertainer products and more. The NETGEAR High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit supports point-to-multipoint HD video streaming and the multicast streaming protocol that IPTV service providers demand.
The High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit eliminates the need for expensive structured wiring or messy Ethernet cables. It is also designed to overcome the common problems — wireless signal strength, quality and reliability — associated with interference, frequently changing WiFi environments, and areas of the home that are notoriously difficult to reach. The kit combines 4×4 multiple-input, multiple-out (MIMO) antenna signal processing, real-time spectrum analysis and dynamic digital beamforming with the industry’s highest performance IEEE 802.11a/n 5GHz wireless LAN chipset, providing an unprecedented level of reliability and wireless performance in terms of data rates and range.
“With the rising demand among consumers for HD-quality video, IPTV service providers are increasingly looking for carrier-grade solutions to wirelessly connect IPTV set-top boxes to the home network,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group, a leading market research company. “Likewise, VARs, resellers and system integrators specializing in home audio and video automation are looking for ways to cut costs in expensive cabling to connect their customers’ whole home entertainment systems. Wireless devices that are capable of reliably playing multiple HD audio and video streams, like those of NETGEAR, are an ideal solution for the customers, as well as the service providers.”
The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles
NETGEAR is also introducing the industry’s first compact USB-powered Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) that works with Internet TVs, game consoles and Blu-ray players. The first of its kind, the adapter is the only affordable solution in a small form factor that delivers optimal Wireless-N performance and works universally with any Ethernet-enabled CE device. This saves consumers from the confusion and expense of purchasing separate WiFi USB adapters for each CE device in their home theater.The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter is powered by the USB port, avoiding the need for a long wire to the power outlet and making it more visually pleasing in the already congested home theater environment. With NETGEAR Push Connect technology and CD-less set-up, it is truly a plug and play experience.
Pricing and Availability
Backed by a one-year warranty and 24/7 technical support, the new NETGEAR products are available worldwide through leading retailers, direct marketers, e-commerce sites and value-added resellers. The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles (WNCE2001) will be available in May at an MSRP in the U.S. of $79. The High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004) will be available in Q3 of 2010, with pricing for the kit and for single adapters to be announced at the time of market availability.Photos and Other Product Information:
High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004):http://www.netgear.com/HDWiFi
Universal WiFi Internet Adapter for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles (WNCE2001):
http://www.netgear.com/ConnectWiFi
Lenovo Mini HTPC Keyboard
The Lenovo Multimedia Remote would be a nice addition to your HTPC. It’s small, wireless and gives you control over mouse and text inputs. The price isn’t bad either at $60. With these types of strange remote designs I like to see the reviews on them. The GlideTV remote came across better than I thought. The Lenovo remote wouldn’t be a full time media center remote but used for text entry.
* 2.4G wireless keyboard and mouse(with track ball) combo
* Palm-sized dimensions
* As far as 10 meters control distance
* Windows multimedia control
* Compatible with Windows® 2000 Windows® XP & Windows Vista® & Windows® 7
(via CrunchGear)
In The Movies 2 for Windows Media Center
In The Movies 2.0 is a cool plug-in for Windows Media Center. It gives you movie info and times in your area. It fits into Windows Media Center and works with extenders The one big thing it’s missing is trailers for the movies. For $5.99 it needs to include that. The video above will give you a walk-thru of the plug-in.
(via TheDigitalLifestyle)
Details about the new DirecTV H24-100
DBSTalk has details on the new DirecTV H24-100. There are a few key features to this receiver has that their current lineup doesn’t. The receiver is only HD, not a DVR, but it has multi-room viewing capabilities. If you have HD DVRs in your house it can pull those recordings. You can read my review on multi-room viewing here. The receiver also has DECA built-in. DECA allows you to send internet over the coax line to the receiver. For houses that don’t have ethernet ran all over this is huge. In order to enjoy multi-room viewing, media streaming and apps these receivers need Internet. The last big improvement is speed. If you have used their current HD DVRs scrolling through the guide can be slow. DBSTalk says the H24 can scroll just as fast as you can click the button. That’s probably because it doesn’t have a hard drive spinning to slow down the data.
I’m not sure when launch is but it should be soon. I’ll probably have to order one to replace my bedroom SD box. The multi-room viewing is seller for me.
Elgato Announced the EyeTV Netstream DTT
Elgato has a new tuner on the market. The EyeTV Netstream DTT is a dual network tuner that works with Mac and Windows Media Center. The nice thing about a network tuner is they don’t have to be next to your computer. They can also stream to multiple computer in the house. This tuner isn’t available in the US since it uses DTT. The Elgato website has a list of countries that it works with. My guess is that since the pulled the HDHomeRun from their website is that there will be a U.S. version soon.
* Stream digital TV (DVB-T/Freeview) to the computers on your home network
* Enjoy pristine digital quality television including HDTV where broadcast via DVB-T
* Compatible with Mac and PC; both can use EyeTV Netstream DTT at the same time
* Watch TV wirelessly on a portable computer if you have a Wi-Fi network
* As a network device, it does not have to be installed near your computers
