Tag Archives: MediaStreamer

Nexus Q review: Google’s mysterious little social streamer

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DNP Nexus Q review Google's mysterious little social streamer

When setting up a gadget for review, delicately unboxing and smelling the carcinogenic whiff of freshly molded plastics, we typically feel some amount of excitement and anticipation to see how it stacks up against the competition. It's either that or a resigned sense of duty as we run yet another iterative evolution of this or that laptop through the same benchmarks to see just how this year's model stacks up to the older model now being sold on discount. With the Nexus Q, though, we felt something different altogether: genuine curiosity.

Why? Well, it's a high-end device with a $299 MSRP, a price that's multiple times higher higher than media streamers like the Apple TV, anything from Roku and, indeed, Google's own Google TV. And yet, the Q has considerably less functionality than any of them. Largely because of this, many who witnessed its unveiling at Google I/O were quick to write it off. Despite having our own doubts we pledged to give it a fair swing, a week of solid use at home and with friends. How did it do? Does this high-concept device with high-end componentry make up for some decidedly low-end capabilities? There's only one way to find out.

Gallery: Nexus Q review

Continue reading Nexus Q review: Google's mysterious little social streamer

Nexus Q review: Google's mysterious little social streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus Q social streaming device hands-on

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Nexus Q social streaming device handson

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.

Gallery: Nexus Q hands-on

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Nexus Q social streaming device hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Belkin announces @TV, Slingbox-esque media streamer and companion app

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Belkin TV

Belkin has unveiled @TVPlus, a media streamer that jacks into your home theater and pumps episodes of Community (or, other things, we guess) to your smartphone, tablet or laptop through the internet. Packing a built-in WiFi radio, you'll connect to it on your travels with the @TV app, which is capable of recording live TV straight to your mobile device for offline viewing. The app is free for tablets ($12.99 for smartphones) while the box itself will set you back $150 when it arrives in mid-July.

Continue reading Belkin announces @TV, Slingbox-esque media streamer and companion app

Belkin announces @TV, Slingbox-esque media streamer and companion app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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D-Link outs MovieNite Plus, still expects you to buy the popcorn

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DLink 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.

Continue reading D-Link outs MovieNite Plus, still expects you to buy the popcorn

D-Link outs MovieNite Plus, still expects you to buy the popcorn originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Walmart ad hints at Vudu streaming on Roku players

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Walmart ad hints at Vudu streaming on Roku players

We've wondered ever since Roku's media streamers went on sale at Walmart about a year ago when or if the retailer's Vudu streaming service would be available on them, and that time may be drawing near. While there's still no official word or appearance of the channel, Dave Zatz posted an image of an upcoming June 10th Walmart ad from SlickDeals.net for the Roku HD that includes a logo for Vudu. Of course, even if the app is released, as he mentions there's no assurance they'd be able to handle the highest quality HDX streaming, but it would be one more way to get video on-demand, and access to cloud stored Ultraviolet movies.

Walmart ad hints at Vudu streaming on Roku players originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WD TV adds streaming options, tunes televisions near and far to your Slingbox

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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(R) Live[TM] and WD TV(R) Live Hub[TM]'s 'Play Anything' Popularity

IRVINE, Calif., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital(R) (NASDAQ: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions and maker of the popular WD TV(R) media player family, today introduced a variety of new entertainment options for the WD TV Live[TM] and WD TV Live Hub[TM] media players. Current and new users can now enjoy Red Bull TV[TM], ABC iview (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Acetrax[TM], Maxdome, the BILD TV-App, and the AOL On Network. They can also watch live and recorded TV with the new SlingPlayer(R) 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(R) computer in the home, from a network drive such as WD's My Book(R) Live[TM] 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[TM] app for iPhone(R), iPad(R) and Android[TM] 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[TM] video format that features 1080p Full HD and rich Dolby Digital Plus[TM] 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(R) 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(R), WD(R) and HGST[TM] 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)

WD TV adds streaming options, tunes televisions near and far to your Slingbox originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How-To: XBMC 11 the XBMCbuntu way

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For all intents and purposes, the original Xbox, with its NVIDIA GPU, 8-10GB hard disk and custom Pentium III processor was a high-end PC for its time -- albeit, one that connected to a television. What Microsoft didn't realize back then, though, was that when you put that kind of hardware in the hands of hackers and enthusiasts, it's only a matter of time before people start doing more than just playing Halo. Fast forward to 2003, the year the Xbox Media Center was born. Nowadays, it's simply referred to as XBMC, since it runs on more than just your Xbox. In brief, XBMC is an open-source software solution that enables a plethora of media streaming capabilities on all sorts of devices. What once was limited to the original Xbox, can now be put to use on everything from a bare-bones Linux desktop to an Apple TV. In this how-to, we'll show you how to build a simple XBMC setup using XBMCbuntu. Catch us after the break for the full step-by-step.

Continue reading How-To: XBMC 11 the XBMCbuntu way

How-To: XBMC 11 the XBMCbuntu way originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roku 2 XD and Roku 2 XS launch today in Canada with over 100 channels

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Having already debuted in the UK, Roku is officially undertaking the second stage of its international attack plan by taking on a new region of North America: Canada. Given the box's roots and popularity as a Netflix streamer it's no surprise that the international rollouts just happen to be in English-speaking countries where the service is available, but there's more to be had, since Roku says it's launching with more than 100 channels north of the border. Hardware-wise, Roku is kicking things off with two of its higher-end players in the Roku 2 XS and Roku 2 XD. Both can handle video in resolutions up to 1080p and feature built-in WiFi while the XS throws in a gaming remote plus Ethernet and USB ports just like their US counterparts. The XD and XS can be has for $89.99 ad $109.99 CAD, respectively, either online from the usual sources, while London Drugs and Walmart are expected to offer them at retail by the end of the month. There's a bit more detail on the launch channels in the press release after the break, we'll expect more firsthand impressions from our Canadian friends once the NHL playoffs are over.

Continue reading Roku 2 XD and Roku 2 XS launch today in Canada with over 100 channels

Roku 2 XD and Roku 2 XS launch today in Canada with over 100 channels originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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D-Link releases budget-priced MovieNite streaming media player

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D-Link releases budget-priced MovieNite streaming media player
Better late than never, right? D-Link has finally decided to join the likes of Roku and Apple at the media streaming party with its new MovieNite device. It offers 1080p video content from Vudu, Netflix and YouTube, plus music streaming from Pandora and access to Picasa as well. Connectivity comes courtesy of 802.11n WiFi and a 10/100 Ethernet port, and plugs into your TV via HDMI 1.4 or composite video connections. You can control the thing with the included remote or via your handset with the free MovieNite remote app for Android or iOS. At 4.8 x 4.6 x 1.1 inches in size, it's a bit bigger than the offerings from Apple and Roku, but its $59.99 list price provides a cheaper avenue to 1080p content than either. It's available now exclusively at Walmart, and is currently a bargain at $48 online, though your in-store mileage may vary. PR's after the break.

Continue reading D-Link releases budget-priced MovieNite streaming media player

D-Link releases budget-priced MovieNite streaming media player originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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