Tag Archives: media center

How-to: Setting up a Plex Environment

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DNP Howto Setting up a Plex Environment

Since the storage sizes on smartphones haven't quite caught up with that Drobo NAS in your home office, packing all of your media onto a 32GB iPhone is an impossible task. Worry not; we're going to show you how to set up a streaming environment so you can have all your jams at your fingertips on the go. The good news is there are tons of solutions out there to choose from: XBMC, MythTV and Windows Media Center just to name a few. We decided on Plex Media Server due to the broad range of devices and services it supports. On top of that, Plex allows you to share your server with friends and access your media from anywhere via the myPLEX platform. Catch us after the break to learn how to get started.

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Ceton’s $179 Echo Windows Media Center Extender is ready to go on sale ‘around Thanksgiving’

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Ceton's $179 Echo Windows Media Center is ready to launch, will go on sale 'around Thanksgiving'

Windows Media Center users still in shock over the indefinite hold placed on Ceton's Q DVR / Blu-ray player finally have some good news, as the company has officially revealed the details of the Echo extender. Now ready to go on sale around Thanksgiving, the Echo Windows Media Center Extender is looking much more polished than the demo unit we saw at CES, and Ceton says the final unit is actually 72 percent smaller, or 1/4 the size of the Xbox 360's power brick. The smaller size is not the only benefit to those looking for an alternative to the gaming console as an extender, as it claims to be 90 percent more power efficient, rated at less than 5 watts and should be much quieter to boot. In the beta period it's lacking some features that should be ready upon release like 1080p video, web browsing, and support for MPEG-1 / WMV9 codes, with more features promised in future updates.

Like any Media Center Extender, you'll need a properly equipped Windows 7 (or 8, once it's released officially with the Pro Upgrade) PC to run the show and an Ethernet cable drop since there's no WiFi, but this tiny box promises multiroom access to live and recorded TV, plus your personal media library. We'll have to wait for some hands-on time with a beta unit to find out if it lives up to the hype, but if you're looking to squeeze some more life out of the WMC platform this may be just the boost you're looking for. Check out the gallery for more pics or the source links for detailed specs, while confirmed beta testers should select the third link for relevant information like a $20 price drop.

Gallery: Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender

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Ceton's $179 Echo Windows Media Center Extender is ready to go on sale 'around Thanksgiving' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ceton announces slight delay for Echo WMC extender, Q DVR shelved indefinitely

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Ceton announces slight delay for Echo WMC extender, Q DVR shelved for now

Ceton has, as promised, provided more information on upcoming hardware, however there's not a lot of good news to go around. The bad news is that the Windows Embedded-based Q DVR we were looking forward to will not launch this year. There's a possibility it may launch in 2013, however questions about whether Microsoft will continue to support Windows Media Center in future versions of its Embedded platform are keeping any potential launch plans in doubt. On a slightly brighter note, while the Echo Media Center extender is delayed slightly and the beta units have not yet gone out, Ceton still anticipates a release in time for the holiday season. Finally, there's a positive update on the suite of Media Center companion apps, which are now available on the B&N Nook and Kindle Fire HD as well as optimized for the iPhone 5. Relive our CES 2011 hands-on in video form after the break, we'll get started organizing a march on Redmond to make this happen.

Continue reading Ceton announces slight delay for Echo WMC extender, Q DVR shelved indefinitely

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Ceton announces slight delay for Echo WMC extender, Q DVR shelved indefinitely originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MediawavePC’s MW6110 is a multipurpose Intel Core i7-supporting media player

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MediawavePC's MW6110 is a multipurpose intel Core i7supporting media player

Nettops and media-center PCs in many ways hang on opposite sides of the same saddle. MediawavePC's new MW6110 "Ultra Small Media Player" tightens the straps between these two types of machines, and adds an extra satchel with it. The 7.87 x 7.28 x 1.57-inch form gives it a discreet footprint, and supports Intel's Core i3- i5- and i7 chips. You can also add-in up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, along with 1TB of storage. Connection-wise, you're well looked after with 6 USB ports, HDMI, LAN, plus Audio in / out and WiFi. So, plenty of scope to configure to suit your needs -- you'll just need the $499 base price to get started.

Continue reading MediawavePC's MW6110 is a multipurpose Intel Core i7-supporting media player

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MediawavePC's MW6110 is a multipurpose Intel Core i7-supporting media player originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Diamond Multimedia AMP1000 Android Media Center

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Diamond Multimedia AMP1000 Android Media Center

The Diamond Multimedia AMP1000 Android Media Center will turn your HDTV into an HDTV smart TV or an Android PC. Priced at just $120, the Diamond Multimedia AMP1000 comes jam packed with an 800 MHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a 512MB of RAM, a 4GB of storage space and the Google Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread OS. This Android Media Center connects to your home network with an Ethernet or WiFi connection. [Liliputing]

XBMC for Android available in nightly builds for that risky media fix

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XBMC 11 interface

We only just learned in earnest that XBMC was coming to Android last month, and yet we're already looking at workable builds. Kermonine96 at the XDA-Developers forum has started offering his own, unofficial nightly versions of the media center front end, both for regularly supported devices with Neon processor code (most often HTC and Samsung devices) as well as Neon-free hardware, like phones and tablets carrying Tegra 2 chips. Needless to say, the alpha-grade code shouldn't be used as the heart of a mobile media center: hardware decoding isn't functional, battery life is low and even a stable picture isn't guaranteed. That said, anyone who's willing to risk a skip-heavy movie or miss out on plugins now doesn't have to receive the XBMC crew's blessing to get a preview of its Android efforts.

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XBMC for Android available in nightly builds for that risky media fix originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plex brings extra hustle to Android, remote control to Google TV, Ouya support, ponies for everyone

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DNP Plex brings extra hustle to Android, remote control to Google TV, Ouya support, ponies for everyone

Media server all-rounder Plex has just rolled out a raft of goodies for Android and Google TV in its latest release, version 2.2.1.2. If you notice more pep in its step, the maker said on its blog that "yep, this is a performance and stability release," adding that image and page load times in particular have been boosted. The other major upgrade is the addition of Plex iOS or Android remote control support for Plex on Google TV, letting you couch surf with smartphone in hand. It was also revealed recently by Ouya that Plex would be supported on its Android gaming console as soon as it's released. Feel free to hit the source to find the new version, then the sofa -- but forget about the pony, you can't have everything.

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Plex brings extra hustle to Android, remote control to Google TV, Ouya support, ponies for everyone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OUYA, XBMC sitting in a tree, media s-h-a-r-i-n-g (update: TuneIn, new pics)

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OUYA and XBMC sitting in a tree, media sharing

OUYA's slew of collaborations isn't letting up, even with less than two days to go before its fundraising round is over. The XBMC team has just pledged that its upcoming Android app will be tailored to work with the upcoming console. While the exact customizations aren't part of the initial details, the media center app developers will have early access to prototypes of the OUYA hardware. There's suggestions that there won't be much of a wait for the Android port of XBMC, whether or not you're buying the cuboid system -- XBMC's developers note that Android work should be merged into the master path once "final sign-offs" are underway. All told, though, the OUYA is quickly shaping up into as much of a go-to media hub as it is a game system.

Update: OUYA itself has also posted word that TuneIn's radio streaming is also on its way. And just to top off its efforts, the company has posted rendered images that better show the scale of the console: our Joystiq compatriots note that it's really a "baby GameCube" in size, and its gamepad looks gigantic by comparison.

Gallery: OUYA console size comparisons

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OUYA, XBMC sitting in a tree, media s-h-a-r-i-n-g (update: TuneIn, new pics) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plex Android app updated with remote control from mobile devices, new transcoding

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Plex Android app updated with remote control from mobile devices, new transcoding

While it was exciting to hear that XBMC is making its way to Android, the Plex media center has been on the platform since last year and was recently updated with a few new features. Version 2.2.0.5 of the $5 app adds the ability to accept remote control commands from any of the company's other mobile clients, so if your phone or tablet is dangling from the TV, you can still control playback or browse media without getting up. Also new is the "QuickSilver" media transcoder from the latest Plex Media Server release which we're assured we will hear more about in the future, it's currently expected to provide improved video quality, particularly on the Kindle Fire. Since the feature is still experimental you'll have to specifically enable it in the settings menu, hit the official blog for more details on how to get it running, the full changelog and newly expanded list of devices that support HTTP Live Streaming.

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Plex Android app updated with remote control from mobile devices, new transcoding originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ceton Echo Extender for Media Center beta to start in September

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Ceton Echo Extender for Media Center beta to start in September

If you're one of the lucky few -- 1000 actually -- who received an email today from Ceton you will have the ability to join its paid Extender beta this September. For $179 Ceton will ship testers an Echo Extender for Media Center before anyone else, but in return they need to help work out all the bugs in time for the release this holiday season. At that price the Echo isn't a budget alternative to using an Xbox 360 as an Extender, but between the additional functionality realized when paired with the upcoming Ceton Q multi-room DVR and other features like HDMI-CEC and MoCA, it will probably be the clear choice for some -- not to mention it didn't take long for the InfiniTV 4 to drop $100 to $199, so this too should be cheaper at some point. Other news from Kirkland includes the fact that there's additional info about the Q coming in September and that the Ceton Companion beta is going well enough that the mobile apps for Media Center will launch at the end of this month. We guess it's a good thing for Media Center fans Ceton missed the memo from their neighbors in Redmond that Media Center is dead.

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Ceton Echo Extender for Media Center beta to start in September originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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