The device supports all popular audio and video formats in HD resolutions up to 1080p. The device has its own 1 TB integrated hard drive for storing all of your media such as videos, songs, and photos. The set top box also supports the ability to access and control your content using a smartphone or tablet.

The manufacturer also has apps available for various devices allowing your tablet or smartphone to act as the remote control for the set-top box. Other available hardware features include a pre-installed DVB-T/ATSC TV tuner allowing the device to act as a DVR for over the air programming. Thanks to the large hard drive and integrated Wi-Fi connectivity, the device can be used as network attached storage.

Connectivity options on the device include 3.5 mm audio I/O jacks, optical S/PDIF output, a VGA port, and HDMI port, integrated Ethernet port, and five USB ports. The device also has a single USB 3.0 port on the front and a memory card reader. The processor inside the box is an Intel Atom D525 and graphics are handled by a Radeon HD 5430 GPU.

[via Arctic]

The machine uses an Intel Atom D2500 processor and comes equipped with 2 GB of RAM. The RAM can be upgraded to 4 GB if needed. This is one of the most power miserly mini PCs that Giada has in its lineup. The typical mini PC we see from the company consumes around 35 W of power. The little i35V series mini PC consumes only 24 W of power.

The computer is only one-inch wide and is intended to be used for home theater, entertainment applications, and general computer work in the home or office setting. The machine is roughly the size of a book, and its small size makes it easy to place on a desk, inside an entertainment center, or even under a TV. It’s also small enough to be easily disconnected and carried between locations.

Connectivity options include five USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI output, VGA output, and SPDIF optical audio output. Inside the little mini computer is also a gigabit network socket, and high-speed integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi. The computer also has a memory card slot that reads SD cards and other storage formats. The only thing you would need to add this little machine is the operating system, and it carries a retail price of $168.

The PC comes with a Core i5 processor by default, but there’s options for Core i3 and Core i7 chips as well. 4GB of RAM comes as standard, as does a 500GB HDD. The integrated HD 4000 GPU will handle high-definition video with ease via the HDMI output, and there’s a VGA output as well. The company has thrown in a remote control for good measure, and you can boot the PC using the remote too.

Ports for the PC include 4x USB 2.0, and a single USB 3.0 jack. In addition, there’s gigabit Ethernet, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, and a multi format card reader. Still, you’ll be paying a little more for the extra horsepower, with the default build costing around $520. Giada hasn’t said exactly when the i53 will be shipping, but you should be able to pick it up from Amazon or Newegg in the not too distant future.

Thanks to a standard CPU slot and regular heatsink and fan, any Core i3 or Core i5 chip can be dropped in, meaning that as well as outclassing the Raspberry Pi in terms of raw speed – the “$25 computer” runs at 700MHz – it can run any regular x86 software. Intel is apparently positioning it as a digital signage device or the basis of a standalone kiosk, but even with HD 3000 graphics it could still be enough to do HTPC duty.

Pricing hasn’t been confirmed, at least not publicly. Intel told Just Press Start that the NUC will “not be in the hundreds and thousands range” and is considering “different kinds of SKUs”; whether any of those will be targeted at the home market remains to be seen.

Similarly unclear is whether Intel is expecting to slot an Ivy Bridge upgrade into the NUC, though with low-power versions not expected for a little while yet, it’ll probably be at least a few months before that happens. One thing’s for sure, there’s a whole lot of flexibility in this palm-sized box.

[via Extreme Tech]

Despite the small size, the Raspberry Pi has enough power to support 1080p video and can run the XBMC software. That XBMC software is a media center platform that works in a very similar way to the Boxee Box. There is a good reason for that similarity; Boxee was a spin-off from XBMC years ago. XBMC will come to the Raspberry Pi hardware in a form called Raspbmc, which is being worked on right now.

The new software will require the help of a computer running Windows, Mac, or Linux to install. Once installed you end up with something that looks very much like the Boxee Box media player at a much lower cost. Check out the video below to see Raspbmc running on the Raspberry Pi yourself.

[via electricpig]

Alternatively, one of those PCI cards can be used to slot in a separate graphics card, or indeed you could use Sandy Bridge‘s onboard GPU capabilities to drive up to four displays simultaneously. Using an mSATA-SSD, fitted into the Mini-PCIe slot on the mainboard, means the system can take advantage of Intel’s proprietary Smart Response Technology, exclusive to the Z68 desktop chipset, to bolster the performance of the regular hard-drive.

Such drives can be fitted into the XPC SZ68R5′s two 3.5-inch bays (one internal, one external) or into the 5.25-inch bay (which otherwise could be used for an optical drive). Motherboard connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gbit ports, two SATA 3 Gbit ports, two USB 2.0 and an RS232 port, while on the outside there are four USB 3.0, six USB 2.0, an eSATA/USB combo, 7.1-channel analog audio, and S/PDIF digital audio. The standard PSU is a 500W unit, and one of the front USB ports gets 2 Amps for charging power-hungry devices like your iPad.

Shuttle is asking €301 ($397) for the XPC SZ68R5, though that doesn’t include a processor, RAM, any standalone graphics cards, optical or hard-drives, or SSD memory for the Smart Response Technology boost.

Unfortunately you don’t get room for an internal TV tuner, which means you’re stuck using external USB tuners if you want to play or record broadcast video. Options include a Blu-ray drive and a Core i5 processor. Tranquil is positioning the MMC-12 as a good option for network streaming and IPTV, using services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and iPlayer.

Ports, meanwhile, include two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0, ethernet, HDMI and DVI, along with audio input/outputs.

Pricing kicks off at £649 ($1,005) for the entry-level model with a Media Center remote and a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium; you can also get the barebones chassis, with no CPU, RAM, drives or OS, for £278 ($430). If storage is a deal-breaker, there’s the matching SU0 external drive unit for up to four HDDs, priced at £279 ($432).

[via PCLaunches]

Among the suggestions made for the demise of Front Row, a growing shift to baking digital media directly into the OS seems the most likely justification. Lion is all about streaming, the cloud and the iTunes ecosystem, with the imminent arrival of iCloud and iOS 5 only adding to that. Many users never used Front Row and, indeed, didn’t even know the functionality was present; the Apple Remote no longer being included in the box with Apple notebooks (in 2008) and desktops (in 2009) shifted emphasis away from media center duties.

Of course, that leaves the Mac mini – which many deploy as an HTPC – in something of a limbo situation if you’re looking for out-of-the-box media center use. The good news is that there are third-party apps which can do a better job than Front Row, such as Boxee, Plex and XBMC, thoroughly up to speed with streaming internet video like YouTube and Hulu.

If you’re dead-set on Front Row and Lion, however, there’s salvation to be had with a minor hack that brings the UI back to life. Detailed at the Apple Support forum by user “radiv78″, by copying the files below from a Snow Leopard Mac to one running OS X Lion (and then restarting), you can once again have Front Row access.

/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.RemoteUI.plist
/Applications/Front Row.app

The Mac mini is a cheap computer that lacks much of the power found in other Apple products. But what it lacks in power, it makes up for by delivering Web browsing and entertainment opportunities through iTunes. In many ways, it’s an ideal companion for any HDTV.

But with a new Mac mini on store shelves, some folks are undoubtedly wondering if the new device can deliver the same level of usability in the living room as its predecessor. The critics say that the new Mac Mini’s lack of a DVD drive is enough to get it disqualified as a worthwhile home-theater PC.

As far as I’m concerned, the latest and greatest Mac mini is just as good as its predecessors. Sure, it lacks an optical drive, which could prove troublesome for those who like to pop a favorite movie in a player and watch it, but let’s face it: just about every device has a DVD drive nowadays. And as long as you have an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or a DVD player, do you really need another drive in the Mac mini?

In the slight chance that you actually do, Apple points out that you can still access the optical drives of other PCs or Macs. The computer also works with the MacBook Air SuperDrive.

What’s more, the new Mac mini is far better looking than many of the competitors it faces, and would be a fine choice for anyone who wants more style in the living room.

But more than anything else, the Mac mini’s true appeal from the very beginning has been its software. After plugging it into their HDTVs via HDMI, the Mac mini welcomes users into the world of OS X. With the Mac mini, they aren’t limited like they are in the Apple TV, and they can perform all the same tasks on the device as they normally do on their notebooks or desktops.

Just as with older versions of the Mac mini, Apple’s latest version of the computer offers the best of both worlds — computing and entertainment.

Now, I should note that this entire discussion has left out another key component in the Mac mini’s appeal to people like me who consume a lot of entertainment in the living room: it’s cheap. For just $599, you can buy the bare-bones Mac mini and get all the features you’d likely need to improve your entertainment and productivity in the living room.

So, I’m not displeased by the new Mac mini one bit. The latest update still delivers the functionality we’re all looking for in a top-of-the-line home-theater PC, and it does so at a price we should all be able to live with.

Like the Eden X2 dual-cores announced back in March, the new E-Series chips support processor-level AES encryption and virtualization. As well as Windows 7 they’ll happily run Linux and other platforms.

VIA is sampling the new chips now, and expects the first products and boards using the E-Series processors to hit the market later this quarter. Microsoft is rumored to be working with OEMs on a reference design for potential Microsoft TV hardware, though of course there’s no telling whose CPUs are at the heart of it.

Press Release:

VIA Announces New Nano™ X2 E-Series Dual Core Processors

VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors deliver a highly-optimized power-efficient dual core solution for advanced 64-bit x86 embedded system design applications

Taipei, Taiwan, 5 May, 2011 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced that it will release its latest edition to its new family of low power dual core VIA Nano X2 Series processors.

VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors combine a highly optimized, power-efficient dual-core architecture with advanced performance for the most demanding 64-bit x86 embedded system design applications. Available in two models running at speeds of 1.2+ GHz and 1.6+ GHz, VIA Nano X2 E-Series Processors also come with a component longevity guarantee of 7 years.

“The VIA Nano X2 E-Series demonstrates how VIA continues to lead the way in bringing highly optimized, power-efficient 64-bit x86 processors to the embedded market,” said Epan Wu, Head of the VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With their advanced performance, these processors provide developers with exciting new embedded system design options.”

VIA Nano X2 E-Series

Leveraging the latest 40nm manufacturing process, VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors combine two 64-bit, superscalar VIA Nano cores on one die, offering enhanced multi-tasking and superb multimedia performance on a low power budget.

VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors bring additional features that include VIA VT virtualization, a technology that allows legacy software and applications to be used in virtual scenarios without impacting on performance. The unique VIA AES Security Engine offers hardware-based data encryption on the fly, an essential tool in content protection and system security.

VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors are natively 64-bit compatible, facilitating an essential transition for the future of the embedded industry as 64-bit operating systems such as Windows® Embedded Standard 7 allow for vastly improved data throughput per clock cycle. This makes it easier to manipulate large data sets and improves overall performance. VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors are also fully compatible with Windows CE and Linux operating systems.

VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors are based on the latest 40nm manufacturing process using a VIA NanoBGA2 package of 21mm x 21mm with a die size of 11mm x 6mm. They are also fully pin-to-pin compatible with VIA Eden, VIA C7 and VIA Nano E-Series, and VIA Eden X2 processors.

Product Highlights

• Industry-leading power-efficient architecture
• 7 year longevity guarantee
• Advanced multi-core processing
• Native support for 64-bit operating systems
• High-performance superscalar processing
• Out-of-order x86 architecture
• Most efficient speculative floating point algorithm
• Full processor virtualization support
• Advanced power and thermal management
• VIA AES hardware security features
• Pin-to-pin compatibility with VIA processors range

VIA Nano X2 E-Series Processors are sampling now to project customers. Systems and boards featuring VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors will be available in Q2 2011.

The PlayStation phone landed on another video preview this week. If you are really looking forward to the device the new video may be worth a watch. You may be familiar with aerogel, which is hailed as the world’s lightest solid material. Scientists used carbon nanotubes to make that material even lighter this week.

A crazy Taxi concept for NYC that is split with a tunnel down the middle was shown for a contest to find future taxi designs for the city. The taxi has split seats and the tunnel in the middle is to allow bicyclists to go through without changing lanes. The HTC 7 Pro finally went on sale in Germany last week. The smartphone hit O2 and carried a retail price working out to $39 with a new 2-year agreement or $796 without a contract.

Consumer Reports has no love for the iPhone 4, they have already pulled their recommendation for the AT&T iPhone before. The publication is now “cautious” on the new Verizon iPhone 4. We reviewed the Lenovo U260 IdeaPad Notebook early in the week. We really liked the machine and it starts at a very nice price, lacks tons of crap ware, and performs well.

An interesting app surfaced for the iPhone this week that is called iCar Black Box. The app is a recording program that comes on automatically when an accident is detected to record what happened. A cool new Swiss Army Knife with a secure SSD inside was spied. The new device is from Victorinox and has a 256GB SSD inside. A really cool concept Mercedes turned up this week that looks like the car Tron might drive if he had lots of money. It’s called the Blackbird Mercedes and it’s really cool.

A special BMW edition of the Lexia X1 camera turned up this week. The camera has nothing new to offer but a different finish and BMW stamped on it along with an extra $1000 tacked onto the price. The Sony PSP2 is set to land on January 27 and the PlayStaiton Phone will hit at MWC 2011 according to tips from insiders that were offered mid-week. The renders of the PSP2 I have seen look a lot like the PlayStation Phone.

Starbucks rolled its mobile payments solution out to all stores in the nation this week. You can now get the official Starbucks app and pay for your coffee using your Blackberry or iPhone. Verizon is offering some of its subscribers $200 back if they upgrade to the iPhone 4. The user had to buy a new phone in the month leading up to the iPhone 4 announcement and then has to pay full price and get $200 back on a Visa gift card.

The Nintendo 3DS has been talked to death and now we know that the console will hit the US on March 27 for $249.99. That seems really expensive to me for a portable game system. The Nintendo 3DS has hit pre-order on Amazon as well. The pre-order price is the $249.99 that I just mentioned.

A really cool Andorid Flip Phone with three flexible OLED screens turned up in concept from mid-week. The phone has a triangle design and was designed by Kristian Ulrich Larsen. Facebook for feature phones launched this week with free data use on some carriers. None of the free data carriers are in the US though.

The wholesale price of the Nintendo 3DS turned up in the UK this week. The portable console has a 1/3 markup meaning it has some profit built-in for sure. Google co-founder Larry Page is going to replace Eric Schmidt as the CEO of Google starting on April 4. Schmidt will be taking the Executive Chairman position within the company.

A hack for the Apple TV XBMC turned the cheap STB from Apple in to a 1080p media center. The hack uses the official Apple VideoToolBox API allowing 1080p for non-Apple streams. The Notion Ink Adam tablet finally started shipping last week and it turned up on an official unboxing. The box converts into a desk stand to prop the new tablet up.

Some evidence turned up in the latest iOS SDK that points to the rear camera on the iPad 2 having only 1MP resolution. That really makes no sense considering the much higher resolution cameras out there. The Razer Onza Xbox 360 controllers hit pre-order this week. The $49.99 Tournament edition sold out for pre-orders already but the normal version for $39.99 was available late last week.

The Holocube grew to have a much larger screen than the original. The new version was spied Friday with a 70-inch screen large enough to project a full size holographic human. Duke Nukem Forever has taken…forever… to get an actual launch date. The official trailer for the game was released Friday and it looks really cool.

The Ferrari FF was unveiled with four-seat design and a weird style that looks a lot like the four-seat Porsche Panamera. The car is ugly to me, but the four-seat Porsche has sold very well in the US making the Ferrari offering likely to be popular with the rich needing four seats. The App Store officially hit 10 billion apps downloaded. The lucky soul that made the magic download has $10K coming in a gift card from Apple.

The SPCR Edition is the quietest PC in the line so far and has been updated to use the new Sandy bridge platform from Intel. The machine continues with its very quiet operation with sound pressure of only 11dBA@1m when idling and 12dBA after an hour at full load. The Serenity Home Theater is a new silent HTPC. The machine has Blu-ray playback, HD streaming capability, and can support mid-range gaming according to Puget Systems.

It has a TV tuner inside, remote control, and a handled keyboard and mouse. The Serenity Mini is a tiny SFF machine that uses the same quiet tech as the SPCR edition. The machine has a passively cooled power supply and has a tightly packed cooling system with efficient air cooling. All of the machines are available right now with the mini starting at $1296, the Home Theater starting at $1429, and the SPCR starting at $1665.

The bulk of the fascia is taken up by a broad display – no word on whether it’s a touchscreen or not – which can be used to show icons and widgets; there’s also an optical drive slot and various ports. We can imagine slotting the DSPC under our HDTV, using the big screen for video playback and the onboard display for status and control.

The CES 2011 team obviously liked the DSPC case too; they’ve given Moneual Labs another Innovations award, one of six this year. The Moneual Labs DSPC is expected to go on sale in Q3 2011, priced at around $1,500.

[via OhGizmo!]

As a result, PrimeSense is in talks with TV, STB and HTPC manufacturers, as well as service providers including traditional cable and satellite, and newer IPTV networks. While the company describes gaming as the kick-off point for “a revolution [in] changing the interface between man and machine”, it’s describing living room entertainment as “the next natural step for this technology.”

That could include PrimeSense motion sensors embedded into mainstream TVs and set-top-boxes, controlling UIs in the same manner as BLITZ has shown today with their Kinect Flash hack. While we couldn’t get PrimeSense to name any specific vendors it is dealing with, they did say there was another partnership agreement in the very near future, and confirmed that “other companies are also planning to launch PrimeSense-based systems this year.”

Press Release:

Silver Lake Sumeru Announces Investment in PrimeSense, Leading Israeli Technology Provider

TEL AVIV, Israel and MENLO PARK, California, January 12, 2011 – Silver Lake Sumeru announced today that it has made a strategic investment in PrimeSense Inc. (“PrimeSense”), the global leader in sensing and recognition technologies for consumer markets. The transaction marks Silver Lake’s first investment in Israel’s growing technology sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Through its proprietary Natural Interaction Technology, PrimeSense enables 3D mapping and gesture recognition capabilities in consumer electronics such as televisions, gaming systems, and personal computers. Tracking body movements and gestures, PrimeSense technology sets a new paradigm by allowing consumers to operate electronic devices without a handheld device or a remote control.

Silver Lake Sumeru is the $1.1 billion middle market tech-focused fund within Silver Lake. Silver Lake manages over $14 billion in assets and is the global leader in private investments in technology and technology-enabled industries. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies include global technology leaders such as Skype and Avago, as well as emerging leaders such as Power-One and i2.

“PrimeSense has developed game-changing technologies that revolutionize the way consumers interact with living room entertainment and video communication devices,” said Paul Mercadante, Managing Director of Silver Lake Sumeru. “The company is the global leader in gesture technology with a talented management team, experienced board, and partnerships with some of the world’s premier technology companies. We look forward to working with PrimeSense to realize its significant growth potential.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Silver Lake Sumeru as our investor and partner and appreciate this strong vote of confidence in both our team and the adoption of Natural Interaction technology,” said Inon Beracha, PrimeSense’s CEO. “PrimeSense looks forward to leveraging Silver Lake’s deep technology expertise and strategic insight as we continue to innovate and grow.”

Ajay Shah, Founding Managing Director of Silver Lake Sumeru said, “PrimeSense represents our first investment in Israel’s dynamic technology sector. We look forward to partnering with PrimeSense management and will continue to seek out investment opportunities in leading global technology companies in Israel and in emerging markets around the world.”

As part of Silver Lake Sumeru’s investment, Paul Mercadante will join PrimeSense’s board of directors.

As ASUS see it, users will hook up their TV, set-top box and PC, and use WAVI Xtion to control them with easy gestures rather than complex keyboards and remotes. That includes internet browsing, multimedia gallery navigation and social networking. Range is around 25 feet.

WAVI Xtion will be paired with Xtion PRO, a development package for coders wanting to take advantage of the hardware in their own apps, available in February 2011. It seems ASUS has learned from the various Kinect hacks we’ve seen implemented since the sensor-bar was released, and is looking to engage with as many curious developers as possible. They’ll have to wait until Q2 2011 to actually pick up an ASUS WAVI Xtion, however; pricing tba.

[via Engadget]

Press Release:

PrimeSense Teams Up with ASUS to Bring Intuitive PC Entertainment to the Living Room with WAVI Xtion

WAVI Xtion extends PC multimedia content and gesture control from the PC to the TV screen in Q2 2011

TEL AVIV, Israel & TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PrimeSense, the leader in sensing and recognition technologies, and ASUS, a leading enterprise in the new digital era, announced today that PrimeSense Immersive Natural Interaction™ solutions will be embedded in WAVI Xtion, a next generation user interface device developed by ASUS to extend PC usage to the living room. WAVI Xtion is scheduled to be commercially available during Q2 2011 and released worldwide in phases.

“This user interface is a new paradigm that represents how all CE products will eventually be naturally controlled and operated.”
The WAVI Xtion media center for the PC leverages wireless HDMI technology and PrimeSense 3D sensing solution to provide controller-free interaction experiences in the living room. Users can browse multimedia content, access the Internet and social networks, and enjoy full body interaction in a more user-friendly and natural living room experience.

In addition to WAVI Xtion, ASUS also adopts PrimeSense solutions to introduce the world’s first PC-exclusive 3D sensing professional development solution, Xtion PRO, for software developers to easily create their own gesture-based applications and software. Xtion PRO is scheduled to be commercially available in February 2011. Developers will also have the chance to sell their applications on the upcoming Xtion online Store.

PrimeSense and ASUS will introduce WAVI Xtion and Xtion PRO at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 6-9 in Las Vegas. It can be viewed in the PrimeSense booth (South Hall 4, upper level, Booth #36255) and at the ASUS suite (Venetian Ballroom, Level 3, San Polo 3501A and 3501B).

“Our agreement with ASUS for developing WAVI Xtion demonstrates that Natural Interaction technology is already mainstream,” said Inon Beracha, CEO, PrimeSense. “This user interface is a new paradigm that represents how all CE products will eventually be naturally controlled and operated.”

“ASUS combines its wireless cross-room solution with PrimeSense’s simple, intuitive, gesture-based control technology to allow users to enjoy and share PC content on TV with gestures. WAVI Xtion is the unprecedented living room experience that will revolutionize users’ recreational lives,” said Kent Chien, General Manager, ASUS. “Natural Interaction’s appeal to consumers means more monetization opportunities based on personalization, various branding and advertising programs inside applications.”

PrimeSense and ASUS are also working together to promote and support the OpenNI developer community with developer kits. PrimeSense’s open, smart platform and hardware/software API lets publishers and developers easily apply 3D-sensing technology to a variety of applications and create new Natural Interaction content.

PrimeSense and ASUS are at the forefront of the Natural Interaction movement for controlling digital entertainment devices in the living room – such as the TV, set-top box and PC. This next generation of user interface is bringing together the entire ecosystem of the human sensory experience and closing the gap between humans and machines.

About PrimeSense

PrimeSense is the leader in sensing and recognition solutions, enabling consumer devices to “see” environments and allowing users to control and interact naturally with those devices in a simple and intuitive way. PrimeSense offers affordable solutions for consumer markets including visual/home computing, interactive entertainment and consumer electronics. PrimeSense products include the PS1080 System on Chip and NITE middleware, as well as the PrimeSense3D sensor, plus cross-platform enabling software to make application development easy and intuitive. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with offices in North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China and Taiwan, PrimeSense is a privately held company. For more information, please visit: www.primesense.com or follow on Twitter @goprimesense.

The machine runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and has an AMD processor inside. That processor is the Athlon II Neo dual-core and that CPU is combined with an nForce 520LE chipset. The machine can be fitted with up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM at 1333MHz. It has an integrated Blu-ray super multi optical drive and has a memory card reader inside as well.

The optical drive inside the machine supports 3D Blu-ray playback and the little computer can be fitted with up to 750GB of storage. The sound on the machine is Dolby Home Theater v3 HD and there are lots of connectivity options. The machine has HDMI out, dual USB ports, Ethernet optical audio out, and a pair of mini PCI Express slots. It also has a wireless touchpad with keyboard functionality for controlling the rig from across the living room. The MSRP for the computer is £599.99 including VAT.

There’s also commercial detection and skipping, the Sage MyMovies Wall with trailers and showtimes, automatic conversion of Favorite recordings to suit your mobile devices, and enhanced photo slideshows with various effects. Sage has also added integration with HomeSee and InControl home automation systems, for those users who have hooked their HTPC up to a more complex control system.

The SageTV HD Theater 300, meanwhile, is a compact STB with all the usual online and local streaming options – including YouTube and DolbyTrueHD/DTS-HD/MA support – but as you’d expect integrates closely with the SageTV app itself. It’s available on its own for $149.95 today, or in a bundle with SageTV Version 7 for $199.95. Upgrades to v7 are $39.95, while the full app is $79.95. No word on when the Mac version will be updated from 6.6, though it’ll still work with the HD Theater 300.

The new docking station is called the Sharkoon SATA QuickPort Home and supports the docking of 2.5″ and 3.5″ HDDs. The device also has a memory card reader and a USB port for directly connecting storage devices. The device is aimed at use with a HTPC in the living room and can connect to the PC with USB 2.0 or eSATA connectivity available.

The device measures 240 x 206 x 47.5mm and weighs 950 grams without the hard drives. The machine can be used with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. The device is shipping now and sells for 49.90 Euros.

It’s certainly compact enough to get lost under your HDTV, just 5.7 x 3.9 x 2.0 inches and made of sturdy metal and silver plastic. Although there are rubber feet for standalone use, you can also VESA mount it to the back of your display. Ports include audio in/out/microphone on the front, together with two USB 2.0 and a miniUSB, then VGA, HDMI, two further USB 2.0 and gigabit ethernet on the back. There’s also a DC power input – the external PSU is a reasonably small block – and a connector for the optional WiFi antenna.

Although described as barebones, there’s not a huge amount that the ARTiGO A1100 is missing. It comes with VIA’s single-core 1.2GHz U2500 Nano processor and the company’s VX855 MSP, the latter combining the GPU, Northbridge and Southbridge into a single chip. All the buyer need fit is a 2.5-inch SATA hard-drive and a stick of DDR2 SODIMM memory (up to 2GB). VIA don’t add WiFi as standard, but do offer an optional board which is easily connected, and there’s an optional SD card reader too.

Setup, then, is pretty straightforward, though you obviously also have to add the OS of your choice. Though the U2500 is happy with 64-bit platforms, don’t expect to get the full Windows 7 Ultimate experience from the A1100: the VX855 falls short of Aero compliance, meaning much of the graphical niceties in Microsoft’s flagship OS are absent, and multitasking with anything but the most basic of tasks is wishful thinking.

Opt for Windows XP or a Linux OS, however, and things are a whole lot slicker, though you might fall foul of VIA’s DirectX 9 limitations. We generally prefer the more flexible VLC over Microsoft’s own Windows Media Player app, but the VX855 lacks hardware acceleration for anything other than WMP. That leaves you at the mercy of the CPU.

In use, it’s a quiet system; not fanless, but the tiny 25mm fan is a discrete whirring and likely to be drowned out by whatever else is in the room. Unfortunately it’s also not especially capable, and the ARTiGO A1100 box gets very hot in use. We’d have happily accepted a little extra noise – and perhaps a slightly larger chassis – for a bigger, more effective fan. The miniUSB port is a neat addition, however, allowing you to hook the PC up to another computer and treat it as an external drive.

The CPU/GPU pairing was sufficient to play 720p HD video smoothly, but 1080p HD was less successful; at best we had some mild stuttering, while at worst there were multiple dropped frames and mis-matched audio. Obviously with no integrated optical drive or TV tuner, the ARTiGO’s HTPC credentials aren’t entirely solid. Office tasks and basic photo editing were more in line with the PC’s abilities, just as long as you’re content to do one thing at a time.

If the performance isn’t quite up to regular HTPC standards, neither is the basic functionality – at least not right now. We were unable to set the ARTiGO A1100 to boot up with its HDMI output active, instead finding it would always default to the VGA output. VIA is apparently working on a firmware update to fix this, but until that’s released it’s a frustrating flaw.

As with all barebones PCs, perhaps, the VIA ARTiGO A1100 isn’t really suited to a regular home user. With a street price of around $230 (budget $45 for the WiFi b/g adapter and $25 for the SD card reader) it’s cheaper than a prebuilt nettop, certainly, but factor in the time and money required to install an HDD, memory and OS, and then tweak the latter into giving the best performance with the CPU/GPU pairing, and you’re facing what’s obviously an enthusiast’s product.

If you’ve the patience and inclination, there’s plenty of potential for the VIA nettop. Its frugal power consumption makes it an ideal embedded device, as long as you’re willing to pretty much dedicate it to a single purpose: a simple file server, for instance. Unfortunately, what it won’t do is broaden VIA’s market among home users, at least until the company rolls out updated versions with faster, dual- and quad-core versions of the Nano CPU.

Two models of the ZBox Blu-ray are offered with one called the ID33 and the other the ID34. The difference is that the ID33 requires the user to add in the RAM and storage and the ID34 ships with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB HDD installed. Both machines run the Atom D525 CPU and have HDMI out with a memory card reader, Ethernet, and integrated WiFi.

The rigs also both have USB 3.0 ports, onboard audio, and the slot-load Blu-ray players. Both machines are Windows 7 ready and support the Aero interface. Zotac is mum on the pricing and availability of the machines at this time.

The three new configurations are ready to ship units that will be offered at leading retailers here in the US and in Canada. The three versions are all in the same crazy thin 1.5-inch thick chassis and are aimed at different users. The XS35 for everyday use packs in a Atom D510 CPU, WiFi, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB HDD.

The configuration for media fans has an Intel Atom D510 CPU, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 2GB of RAM, 320GB HDD, a slim DVD burner, and WiFi. The high-end offering is the XS35 GT for HD media fans. This configuration has the Atom D510 and packs in NVIDIA ION graphics with 1080p output. It also has 2GB of RAM, DVD burner, 500GB of storage, WiFi, and the other features of the lower-end models.

But as I continue to use my launch-day iPad, it’s becoming clear that all my hopes for an all-in-one device have finally been realized. Apple’s lightweight tablet is quickly becoming my go-to entertainment device for those times when I want to surf the Web, check my e-mail, watch a quick movie, or catch up on a favorite show. It simply provides everything I need in my house in one small package that makes just about everything else unnecessary.

I know you might wonder why I would want to give up a 50-inch plasma for a tablet sporting a 9.7-inch display. It’s an understandable question and one that I can’t so easily answer. I certainly see the value of a big screen, and with all the gadgets I have connected to it, I’m fully capable of doing everything I can on my iPad, on my television, as well. But that doesn’t matter. With the ease of use that the iPad provides me, I’m much happier sitting on the couch and using my tablet.

Let me take you through an average day with my iPad to show you why.

When I wake up, I check the iPad next to the bed to see any e-mails that I might have received that night. After examining them, I take a seat at the table and have my breakfast with the iPad in hand, checking out the breaking tech news. From there, I put it next to my couch and head in to my home office to get going on the day.

Once my work is done each day, I take a seat on the couch, pick up the iPad, and check to see if there are any updates to the online video or television shows I watch. I’ll either watch them through iTunes or, if it’s an older show, on the free Netflix app that works beautifully with the iPad.

If I’m up for a movie, I can either turn “The Godfather II” on, which I purchased from iTunes, or simply pick another film that’s available. iTunes has a great selection, but as mentioned, Netflix is pretty worthwhile too.

It gets better. If my wife asks me a question or I hear something on the news that I want to look up, I can pick up the iPad again and do it. And let’s not forget that I can also play games, thanks to the App Store’s multitude of available apps.

So, let’s recap. For me, the iPad allows me to surf the Web, check e-mail, watch movies, watch television shows, view online video, and play games. It provides me with the same experience as my entire home-entertainment set up.

But there are two major differences between that set-up and the iPad.

For one, the iPad is a self-contained unit that allows me to bring all that entertainment with me wherever I go. And although the screen is smaller, I don’t miss the 50-inch display in most cases.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it could save me a lot of money. Right now, I have an HDTV, three game consoles, two HTPCs, and a few set-top boxes connected in my home-entertainment system. That adds up to thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Compare that to the iPad, which retails for as little as $499, and it quickly becomes clear why folks on a budget would be well-suited to get an iPad to enjoy themselves away from the office, rather than load up on all kinds of gadgets.

I will freely admit that the iPad can’t totally replace all those products — live television will always make televisions relevant — but for the vast majority of my home-entertainment needs, Apple’s tablet gets the job done well every time.

The IdeaCentre Q150-40816AU bears the mark of Lenovo’s latest updates, throwing out the old single-core Atom chip of its predecessor and replacing it with an Intel D510 with twin 1.66GHz cores. That’s paired with 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 500GB hard-drive, NVIDIA Ion 2 DX10 graphics chipset (with 512MB of dedicated VRAM) and WiFi b/g/n. Ports, meanwhile, include HDMI, VGA, two USB 2.0, ethernet and audio in/out on the back, while there are another two USB 2.0 ports and an S/PDIF digital audio output on the front under a plastic flap. Lenovo supply a stand for propping the Q150 upright, or alternatively there’s a VESA mount on one side so you can hide it behind your HDTV or monitor.

In the box, Lenovo supply a power brick and a wired USB keyboard and mouse set; however, the company also sent us their N5901 wireless keyboard. A distinctive, chubby T-shape, the N5901 has a full QWERTY thumbboard across the top and a trackball underneath, and is primarily intended for those wishing to use the IdeaCentre Q150 as an HTPC.

Setup of the Q150 is straightforward, since it’s a regular Windows 7 Home Premium PC. Obviously there’s no optical drive, and Lenovo save around 30GB of the HDD as a service partition (for re-imaging the PC should you want a fresh install), but generally it’s a case of hooking up a monitor or other display and then getting to work. For HTPC use the front-mounted S/PDIF port seems ill-placed, seeing as it’s unlikely to be the sort of thing you’re regularly plugging in and unplugging, but most will likely use HDMI anyway, which carries both audio and video. We had no trouble connecting to a WiFi network to stream content both from the Q150 and from a standalone NAS.

Intel’s Atom D510 processor may be a step up from earlier iterations, but we still weren’t expecting dramatic performance from the low-power chip. We benchmarked the nettop using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance, and the IdeaCentre Q150 scored 1242. That’s only a few points higher than we were seeing from Atom 330 machines, and is unsurprisingly akin to what you’d see from a netbook.

In terms of real-world use, the Lenovo lived up to its multimedia billing. Previous machines using the Ion GPU were criticised for patchy performance, since things like Flash didn’t support hardware acceleration and, as such, relied solely on underpowered CPUs. With Flash 10.1, however, the Ion 2 in the Q150 is responsible for HD decoding, and it manages it with minimal fuss. Full-screen Hulu looked great, as did local content. Regular Windows apps, however, were less impressive; with the GPU out of the equation, the Atom CPU struggled with anything more than a little multitasking. Try to do more than surf with a couple of windows open while playing music in the background and the Q150 starts to get a little sluggish.

As for the Lenovo N5901 wireless keyboard, that uses a proprietary USB wireless dongle (which stows in a niche underneath) and is plug-and-play with Windows 7. As well as the QWERTY ‘board there are dedicated multimedia keys, and the whole thing sits nicely in the hand; we wish Lenovo had used the same soft-touch plastic on the front as they have on the back, though, since the glossy finish is a real fingerprint-magnet. The keys themselves are slightly convex, making for easier typing, and while you wouldn’t want to input anything of length, it’s certainly sufficient for searches, Twitter messages, brief emails and URLs. The trackball, meanwhile, is usable, though we wish Lenovo had opted for a gyroscopic navigation system instead. Still, that would add to the price, which at $59.99 is reasonable.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about the IdeaCentre Q150. Notable omissions are Bluetooth and any sort of memory card reader, though of course you could add either via USB. An integrated card reader would arguably be less than useful if your Q150 was mounted behind the TV, too. It’s a quiet-running system, and thanks to GPU acceleration is capable of stutter-free 1080p HD local and streaming video; 500GB is plenty of space for a nettop, too. Currently priced at $399 – $50 more than the single-core model with mere Intel GMA 3150 graphics and a 160GB HDD – it makes for a capable HTPC; throw in a cheap USB TV tuner and you could record TV too, since Windows 7 Home Premium natively supports media center functionality. This isn’t the machine for gaming or video editing, but then we doubt many would confuse it for such: instead it’s a great little media PC that serves up high definition content with minimal fuss.

There’s a little of the Lenovo in the Aspire X3400′s design, a solid black mini-tower (standing 10.5-inches high) with a minor splash of blue the only attempt to brighten things. Up front there’s a DVD burner, five USB 2.0 ports, a multi-format memory card reader and audio in/out; at the back there are a further four USB 2.0 ports, both HDMI and VGA, gigabit ethernet, audio in/out (with 5.1-channel support), an eSATA port, PS/2 ports for legacy keyboard and mouse (Acer’s supplied peripherals are both USB, and of reasonable quality if not anything outstanding) and of course power. Build quality is decent, with a pleasant mixture of gloss and matte black plastics.

Inside there’s a 2.9GHz AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory and integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics with a 500GB hard-drive, though no integrated Bluetooth and WiFi. Acer offer a 2.9GHz X4 635 processor and up to 1TB of storage as options, while the Aspire X3400 can handle up to 8GB of DDR3 memory. Of course, because of the small size there are no free drive bays inside: the optical drive takes up the 5.25-inch bay and the HDD occupies the 3.5-inch bay.

Software is Windows 7 Home Premium, complete with a basic array of Acer’s own applications. Probably of most interest to the HTPC aficionados likely to be eyeing the Aspire X3400 is the eRecovery Management app, which automatically makes backups of your multimedia store. There’s also the usual trial of Office Home & Student 2007 (together with a full copy of Works 8.5), a trial of McAfee, Google’s Toolbar and Nero 9 Essentials.

We benchmark tested the Acer Aspire X3400-U2012 using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. It scored a reasonable 5,108, primarily thanks to a strong showing by the processor. In comparison, Gateway’s ZX6900 – which uses a 2.93GHz Intel Core i3-530 with 4GB of RAM – scored slightly higher, at 5,313. Acer’s own all-in-one, the Aspire Z5600, scored 5,475 with Intel’s 2.33GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200 and 4GB of RAM.

The Aspire X3400′s integrated GeForce 9200 graphics are certainly showing their age, and this isn’t the GPU for you if you’re hoping to do any serious gaming. While it may run titles like Crysis it’s at their very minimum settings, and you’ll still see dropped frames. Instead, think of the Aspire X3400 as a home multimedia PC, perfectly sized to slot under your TV, hook up via HDMI (with HDCP support) and act as a media player. On those terms its capabilities are far more adequate; Windows 7 Home Premium includes native media PC features, though you’ll need to add a USB TV tuner if you want to record/pause broadcast TV. It’s a shame Acer didn’t throw a remote control in the box (or at least wireless keyboard/mouse peripherals).

In use, the Acer runs reasonably quietly – there’s some fan noise which may be noticeable during quiet media playback, but nothing extreme – and shows little in the way of lag. We happily browsed several internet tabs with media playing in the background and the Aspire X3400 had no problem keeping up with us. Paired with a sizeable NAS it would certainly work well as an HTPC.

We’d like to see a bigger hard-drive as standard, and obviously the GPU falls short of anything a semi-serious gamer might be looking for, but considering the $459.99 MRSP there’s plenty to like about the Acer Aspire X3400-U2012. Solid – if not outstanding – performance together with an admirably small footprint and lashings of connectivity add up to a strong contender for your living room or home office.

I’ll be the first to admit that I use my Apple TV more than any other device connected to my television. It’s my entertainment hub for when I want to watch some of my favorite video casts, listen to music, or watch some movies that are made available for rent. But in those moments when I want to check IMDb for an actor’s name or Google something related to a show I’m watching, the set-top box isn’t the device I use. I’m forced to put my Apple remote down, pick up my iPad, and check the information out on that instead. It’s a major issue that Apple, for the past few years since the Apple TV has been available, refuses to address. And it’s about time that it did.

But rather than wait on the company, I’ve decided that it’s time to replace my Apple TV. Although I understand that the Apple TV is designed specifically for my entertainment needs, Google’s promise of Google TV, its platform that’s expected to run on several devices later this year, makes me wonder why I’m even considering running the Apple TV anymore. After all, if there are so many other options available to me that will perform all the tasks I expect, rather than just a few, why should I keep using the hobbled alternative?

And that’s where the Mac mini comes in. Although I can pick up home-theater PCs from Dell or Acer, the Mac mini is far more viable. Not only does it run Mac OS X, which would preclude me from needing to worry if my virus definitions are up-to-date, it will work seamlessly with my expanding iTunes library. And thanks to its new HDMI-out port, it’s effectively Apple’s answer to Google TV and all the set-top boxes, like the Logitech Revue, that will be making their way to store shelves over the coming months.

But there is more than just entertainment to like in the Mac mini. The device provides a full-fledged Mac OS X experience. Rather than be forced to only use the applications Apple allows me to on the Apple TV, the Mac mini affords me nothing but opportunity. I can run Microsoft Office on it, and have easy access over the Web to any site. Plus, thanks to its browser, I can view any Web content that I want right on the device.

That could be a key reason why the Mac mini is so appealing to me right now. I can access all the content available to me on the Apple TV through iTunes, plus I can view Web content. I can even go to Hulu and watch some television shows I might have missed for free, rather pay per download on iTunes. It’s a major step forward for those of us who spend so much time in front of our televisions.

It goes beyond the Apple TV. A Mac mini is a far better device than anything Google can muster with the Google TV. It can search the Web just like Google TV and access content like the search giant’s software. But it adds full computing functionality that Google TV devices won’t be able to muster. Simply put, the Mac mini is the best of all worlds. And its functionality is second to none in the HTPC market.

So, I’ll be buying a Mac mini soon. It’s not that the Apple TV isn’t a great device — it is — but it doesn’t provide all the functionality that I need. And I’m unwilling to wait for Apple to finally improve it.

Enough is enough, it’s time to move on. And I’m moving on with the Mac mini.

The 1402 is 7.1-inches in diameter and weighs 9 pounds. It features integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI connectivity, and SPDIF outputs. The OS for the machine is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Inside the small HTPC is an AMD Athlon II NEO CPU, GeForce 9200 graphics, and 2GB of RAM. In addition to HTPC duties, eMachines says that the PC can be used for basic computing as well. Storage is to a 160GB HDD and the small computer has four USB ports. The machine will retail for $299.99.

The angular set-top box is the latest second-gen Tegra based device to have seen a delay.  However, Boxee’s Avner Ronen has declined to confirm that the 1080-capable SoC is the cause of the hold-up; on the Boxee blog, he states that “the delay is due to all parties involved. everything is interwind [sic], so hard (and not productive) to lay the blame on just one party.”

He goes on to suggest that it’s a combination of hardware and software not being ready in time.  The Boxee Box will play GPU-accelerated local and streaming video content at up to 1080p, using USB external storage rather than an internal hard-drive, and supporting Flash 10.1.  No word on pricing at this stage.

Boxee Box by D-Link hands-on:

There’s also a VGA port, gigabit ethernet, dual COM ports, four USB ports, a USB device port and audio jacks, and then there are plenty of headers for hooking up other devices and display options.  VIA also offer a range of wireless modules and I/O cables, and the EITX-3001 also has a USB touchscreen driver onboard.

VIA reckon the EITX-3001 will be of most interest to kiosks, embedded and other relatively dull applications, but we can see home users drawn to its low-power requirements, fanless build and HD output; it would make for an interesting HTPC unit, certainly.  No word on pricing, though it’s apparently available to customers now.

Press Release:

VIA EITX-3001 Shows that ‘Thin is In’ for Embedded Devices

VIA announce VIA EITX-3001, a slim-line Em-ITX form factor board featuring VIA Nano E-Series and HD video over HDMI

Taipei, Taiwan, 9 June 2010 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA EITX-3001, its latest Em-ITX form factor board and the ideal solution for a range of durable and fanless next generation devices in kiosk, HMI, POI and POS embedded applications.

Combining the latest VIA Nano E-Series processor and the VIA VX855 media system processor, the VIA EITX-3001 offers a full featured I/O specification on a specially developed slim-line board. Fanless devices based on the VIA EITX-3001 can enjoy absolute stability within a wide temperature range in a low profile system of less than 35mm high.

“With the VIA EITX-3001 we’re offering a full-featured board that is the ideal starting point for much slimmer, fanless and rugged devices,” said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The VIA EITX-3001 combines versatility with ruthless stability at extreme temperatures in a form factor that is ideal for space constrained industrial and commercial environments.”

The VIA EITX-3001: Slim, Stable and Fanless
The VIA EITX-3001 is powered by a 1.3GHz VIA Nano E-Series processor, bringing a performance optimized, 64-bit architecture to today’s modern embedded applications. The VIA EITX-3001 also takes advantage of the VIA VX855 media system processor, a feature packed all-in-one digital media chipset that brings excellent hardware acceleration for the latest HD video formats including MPEG-2, H.264, VC-1 and WMV9.

The VIA EITX-3001 is based on the unique Em-ITX form factor, placing both the VIA Nano E-Series processor and VIA VX855 MSP on the reverse side of the board, optimizing available board real estate and facilitating simple fanless chassis designs. The VIA EITX-3001 is guaranteed to be stable in passive cooling configurations at temperatures ranging from -10oC to 60oC.

The VIA EITX-3001 includes an onboard DC-to-DC converter that has both AT and ATX power modes, supporting a wide range of power input voltage from DC 7V to DC 36V, configurable through an onboard switch. An on board built-in 5-wire/4-wire USB Touch interface makes the EITX-3001 ideally suited for high-end interactive touch screen multimedia applications.
Dual I/O coastlines allow for a wealth of I/O ports including a HMDI port, VGA port, Gigabit Ethernet, dual COM ports, four USB ports, a USB device port, audio jacks and power and HDD activity LEDs. LVDS is supported through on board pin headers allowing for a range of multi-display options including CRT/LVDS, CRT/HDMI and LVDS/HDMI configurations.

The VIA EITX-3001 supports all 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems including the latest Windows Embedded Standard 7.

The VIA EMITX-30001 is available to customers now. To learn more about the VIA EITX-3001 please visit:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductDetail.jsp?productLine=1&id=1210

The idea of having a computer connected to an HDTV certainly isn’t new. For years, companies have been marketing PCs as fine solutions for those who want to relax on the couch. Dell, Acer, and others have all gotten in on the fun.

But the value of owing a Home Theater PC starts with price. Whether it’s Apple’s Mac Mini you’re looking for, or something on the PC side, like Acer’s AspireRevo or Dell’s Zino HD, Home Theater PCs are now easier than ever to get your hands on. In fact, Dell’s device starts at $250, and can be customized with all the bells and whistles for less than $600. The same can be said for most of the Home Theater PCs on the market, aside from the Mac Mini, which will set you back a bit more.

Once you pick up the device of your choosing, you’ll be shocked to see how much value you really get out of it. No, it won’t replace the powerful desktop you have running in the home office. It won’t even be as easy to use as Apple’s iPad for those times when you want to quickly check your e-mail. But it extends the functionality of your living room beyond anything currently available on the market. And that’s a boon for any tech lover.

Work or play?

Admittedly, I wasn’t so keen on getting an HTPC at first. I figured that I would be allowing my work to encroach upon my personal time. Rather than enjoy the computer, I’d be checking e-mails or writing stories from the couch. No matter where I went, I’d be within arm’s reach of a product that would increase the amount of time I work each week.

But then I bought an HTPC and that preconceived notion went away. Now, I sit in my chair in the living room, pick up my Bluetooth-connected keyboard and mouse, and flip the channel to the proper input. I boot up the PC and watch as my Windows desktop fills up all my 50 inches of my Panasonic plasma HDTV. It’s a beautiful thing. And although I might check my e-mail at first, I’ve found that I’m using the HTPC more as an entertainment product than a replacement for my notebook.

For instance, just last night, I couldn’t find anything worth watching on television. Rather than flip to the OnDemand channels or get up to pop a Blu-ray disc into my PlayStation 3, I flipped over to my HTPC. Within seconds, I was accessing YouTube and Hulu content. And since it’s a real computer, I was also able to run a quick Google Search for something my wife wanted to look up.

Now, some might say that an HTPC is obsolete. Currently, devices like Roku’s HD XR, or even the Apple TV can deliver content that’s already available on the Web. Roku’s box offers Netflix access, the Apple TV lets users view content from iTunes, and even the TiVo has access to Amazon’s Video On Demand service. And since Google TV is right around the corner, much of the functionality built into the HTPC is well on its way to being replaced.

But I view it a different way. Google TV is obsolete. So is every set-top box. They only perform a small portion of the functionality that I can enjoy on my HTPC. Plus, in order to get all the services I can access on my HTPC, I would need to pay for each set-top box because of the odd licensing deals vendors and service providers set up.

That doesn’t work for me. And it shouldn’t work for you. The future of home entertainment is firmly planted in the living room. And although new services are coming every day, the standard old computer still works best when attempting to achieve that goal.

Get an HTPC. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Thanks to the folks over at TweakTown, we’ve got a video that does a pretty good job of showing what this HTPC has in store for those who can wait a little while. It’s got an aluminum casing that’s probably way too glossy for its own good (not in a bad way at all), and inside there’s an Intel Core mobile processor, and a NVIDIA GeForce GPU for 3D Vision graphics.

On the outside of the HTPC –not that there’s not enough stuff on the inside to keep us enthralled–, you’ll be happy to find that there’s 4 USB 3.0 ports, dual-link DVI, 7.1 audio, a Blu-ray drive, and an HDMI 1.4 port. ASRock is aiming to have this HTPC out on the street by some time in July, but if you really want to experience the 3D goodness it proffers, you’ll have to pick up NIVIDIA’s 3D Vision kit, which has its own software along with the glasses. No pricing yet, either, unfortunately, but that will probably be taken care of here very soon.

[via TweakTown]

Each supports RAID for redundant storage of whatever media files you load, back-up or record, and there are various memory card slots for transferring footage off of your digital camera or camcorder.  Each unit has gigabit ethernet, optical audio outputs, Bluetooth 2.0 and HD 3D audio processing; the S2 is based on an Intel Atom 330 dual-core CPU with 2GB of RAM and NVIDIA Ion graphics, while the S4 uses an AMD Athlon 4200+ 2.2GHz dual-core CPU, 4GB of RAM and ATI Radeon 3200HD graphics.

Both come with a remote control, six USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port.  The Mvix HDHome S2 is priced at $999 and the Mvix HDHome S4 is $1,599; both will arrive from June 1st 2010.

Press Release:

Mvix HDHome Converges Home Theater, Gaming and Home Computing Into a Single Device

Chantilly, VA. May 25, 2010: Mvix(USA), Inc., a market leader in high-definition entertainment, business signage solutions and networked-accessible storage (NAS) devices, announces the launch of their flagship product HDHome. The device delivers a convergence across high definition home entertainment, gaming and home computing into a single, compact unit along with massive storage space for hi def media files. “This high-end, comprehensive system fills a void in the market where users demand versatility and system flexibility. Our customers have been asking us for a device where they can store terabytes of their movie collection and have access to it from anyplace, anywhere. HDHome is a response to such a market feedback.” Said VP of Business Development, Mike Mallon.

Built along the traditional HTPC architecture, Mvix HDHome is targeted toward movie aficionadas and multi-taskers, who value superior quality, style and multi-source entertainment. It leverages the latest, Windows 7 Media Center® platform to deliver a near-perfect user interface along with a host of networked sharing options. One can browse thousands of internet TV stations, watch Netflix® , Hulu® and easily share media across the home network. HDHome also works as the universal platform for PC-based gaming and multi-player online games.

The HDHome media center features an embedded slot-load, Bluray player with PowerDVD for a complete HD entertainment experience. Eliminating the need for an additional set-top BD box in the living room, HDHome aims to be the center for all things HD, and Digital Media. With an embedded TV tuner, users will be able to watch, pause, and record a live TV program. HDHome uses latest video and audio decoding technology, making it most versatile media (video and audio) playback system in the market. Apart from true 1080p HD movies and images, HDHome also allows rich, HD 3D digital music over HDMI and optical digital audio out.

Inspite of its small size, HDHome provides expandable storage capacity. It features RAID-enabled, hot-swappable HDD bays for reliable, secure storage for all digital media and documents. HDHome is being launched in two flavors: HDHome S2 (2-bay version, priced at $999)and HDHome S4 (4-bay version, priced at $1599). Both models will feature 10/100/1000 network, Embedded Wireless-N, BD Drive, Media Card Slots, HDMI out, Optical Audio Out, TV Tuner and a full, licensed version of Windows-7 Home Premium disk.

Announcing the launch, Mike commeneted: “HDHome is the ultimate dream box for today’s high definition homes. It is the result of our decade long experience in delivering superior home entertainment devices, home theater PCs and media storage technology. HDHome is for people who enjoy and share movies, listen music, tweet, and web-surf – all at the same time, sitting in their living rooms or home theaters.”

“Natal isn’t just about gaming — it’s about all living-room experiences. Imagine a sporting event — Natal could know which team you’re for because it sees your jersey, or knows you thought a bad call was made when you yell ‘boo.’ It learns about you and gets smarter to create a more tailored entertainment experience” Marc Whitten, general manager Xbox 360 team, Microsoft

Once it can track you, Project Natal can help build up a profile of what you’re interested in (and, perhaps more importantly, what you’re not interested in).  On an Windows Media Center HTPC, for instance, the system could recognize that you follow certain sports teams, and thus pre-emptively record not only games in which they’re playing but documentaries about them or other related content.  We’re thinking of a system like TiVo’s thumbs-up/thumbs-down buttons, but based on your physical response rather than you manually having to rate things.

“If you counted the number of buttons in your living room,” Whitten reckons, “it would send a chill down your spine.”  Intuitive gestures for navigation and control seem the tip of the iceberg; still, we’ll have to wait until Project Natal gets its official premiere on June 13th to find out more.

As you can see in the image above, the little machine is barely larger than your average mobile phone. Despite its small size, it crams in some nice hardware. The machine uses a 1.2GHz VIA Nano processor combined with a VIA VX855 media system processor.

The PC measures in at 5.7″ x 3.9″ x 2″ and has a gob of connectivity on the rear of the computer. The machine has front and back panel IO ports along with HDMI and VGA out. A gigabit Ethernet port is integrated along with five USB ports, three audio jacks, and optional WiFi connectivity. The tiny little PC would make a mean HTPC at a retail price of only $243 with the fits ten buyers getting the machine for $199.

The tiny SFF PC is only 3.3cm thick and is HD compatible. This may well be the best SFF PC Shuttle has for use as an HTPC machine in the living room. The chassis used for the XS35 is 1-liter class and has a standard VESA mount interface. That interface means you can mount the PC to the rear of a TV or LCD display.

The machine is complete, runs the Intel Atom D510 processor at 1.6GHz, and uses the NM10 Express Chipset. Graphics are handled by the NVIDIA GT218, otherwise known as the ION 2 platform. The machine has HDMI out, five USB ports, VGA out, LAN port, memory card reader, 2.5″ HDD, and an optical drive. The machine will be available in Q2 2010 at an undisclosed price.

The machine is fanless, runs the Intel Atom Z510 CPU, and supports full 1080p HD video resolution. The tiny little computer measures 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 1.5″ and uses the Intel US15W chipset and GMA 500 graphics. A single DDR2 slot supports up to 2GB of RAM. The PC can be mounted to the rear of a TV or LCD with a VESA mount kit.

Storage is to a 1.8-inch HDD or SSD supporting micro-SATA connectivity. Connectivity options include a hot swap internal SATA II port, four external USB ports, S-Video out, and DVI out on some models. WiFi is optional and the machine runs Windows XP embedded, Vista, Linux, or Windows Embedded Standard 7 OS’. The little rig is on Newegg right now for $299.99, which doesn’t seem that bad until you realize it ships with no OS or storage inside. I’m not even sure it comes with RAM.

“The content partners we launch with will offer shows, movies and channels that were previously not available to Boxee users. The content owners will be able to package and price as they wish, including pay-per-view and subscription. Content partners will have the flexibility to decide what they make available, whether it’s premium content, content from their existing library, or extras that will never make it “on air”" Boxee blog

As for revenue split, Boxee are planning to take a small percentage of any transactions carried out through their platform; they’re not yet talking about specific amounts, but they have said it will be less than the 30-percent other platform providers demand.  They go on to touch briefly on ad-supported content, though right now there’s no indication that adverts could be used to subsidize premium content on Boxee.

The company recently unveiled their first hardware device, the Boxee Box by D-Link, at CES 2010.  A compact set-top box based on NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset, it enables full access to the current Boxee offering and is paired with an RF remote with an integrated QWERTY thumb-board for easier library navigation (and soon, we’re guessing, payment input).

As for the rest of the specifications, they look generally unchanged.  That means you get 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard-drive, along with WiFi b/g/n and gigabit ethernet.  Other connectivity includes four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, audio in/out, S/PDIF and DVI.

According to one site, initial stock is expected on January 19th, with prices kicking off from €426.44 ($618).  That certainly makes it more expensive than a regular nettop, but we’re leaning toward forgiving the EB1601 what with its 1080p HD capabilities and frugal power requirements.

[via Netbook Italia]

The machine uses the Intel Atom 230 processor at 1.6GHz and has 1GB of RAM, 160GB of storage, and runs the NVIDIA Ion platform. The machine is only 20mm thick and sells in Japan for 34800 Yen. The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium.

The coolest feature of the machine is that it is designed to install behind any LCD screen. That means you won’t see the nettop at all and you don’t have to find room for something else in the entertainment center.

On one side of the remote there’s a standard D-pad with enter, menu and play/pause buttons, like you would find on an Apple remote.  However on the flip side there’s a QWERTY thumb-board, useful for web searches, quickly navigating media libraries and more.

As for the Boxee Box itself, if will come in under $200 and offer vast media codec support.  That includes DivX, Xvid, Flash 10.1, VC-1, H.264 and more; the full list is at the bottom of the press release, below.  There’s also the company’s app platform, which offers widgets for Flickr, Pandora, Last.fm and other online services.  We’re still expecting the Boxee Box to arrive in Q2 2010.

Press Release:

D-LINK DEBUTS BOXEE BOX AT CES 2010; DIRECTLY LINKS INTERNET ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES TO TVs EVERYWHERE

Networking pioneer and popular entertainment software
create the best way to get the free entertainment the Internet has to offer with no monthly fee

LAS VEGAS, CES Booth 36232, South Hall, LVCC, Jan. 5, 2010 – D-Link made lots of geeks and early adopters happy today by introducing the revolutionary Boxee Box by D-Link, winner of the CES Best of Innovations award in the Home Entertainment category.

The Boxee Box by D-Link reinterprets what TV should be. The Boxee Box delivers movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a user’s computer, home network, and the Internet to their HDTV with no PC needed. Additionally, Boxee’s core social features make it easy for friends to discover new content from each other through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Internet Entertainment
Boxee is a popular PC, Mac, and Linux software program that lets users watch hundreds of thousands of popular TV shows and movies. Instead of sifting through millions of confusing Web sites, when users search on Boxee, TV shows and movies are delivered to them with the click of a remote control. Nearly a million Internet users around the world have already downloaded Boxee to enjoy their online entertainment.

The Boxee Box by D-Link takes the same popular software and offers it up as a great device — the perfect companion to a high definition TV. The Boxee Box by D-Link provides access to more than just traditional TV content. It includes a huge library that spans the Internet, such as university courses, panel discussions, academic lectures, presentations, web-only videos and more from TED, Stanford, FORA.tv, Kid Mango, Next New Networks and others. Boxee also makes it easy for users to add their own favorite entertainment sources with simple RSS or XML feeds available for most online video.

In addition to video content, Boxee users can access great music from sites like Pandora, last.fm, shoutcast, and We are Hunted as well as stunning photos from sites like flickr, Picasa and Facebook.

Personal Entertainment
For entertainment lovers who have built their own collections of digital media stored on their computer hard drive or home network, Boxee automatically identifies their content and downloads relevant cover art, synopses, reviews, subtitles, lyrics and more. This feature turns boring files and folders into beautiful media libraries that make it simple and appealing to navigate a collection of favorite movies, TV shows, and playlists with a simple remote. Furthermore, the Boxee Box by D-Link has extensive format support (see below) which ensures that when users hit the play button, they get instant gratification, with no need to download codecs or drivers. Also, with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, it can transfer files without delay and from longer distances within a user’s home.

Social Features
The Boxee Box by D-Link keeps people connected with social features to help users discover new content from friends, experts, and tastemakers.
The first step to discovery is sharing, and Boxee makes this easy by letting people recommend any playing content to friends. Additionally Boxee automatically uses recommendations from a user’s Twitter and Facebook friends so they can find new content and instantly enjoy it on the big screen. Since anyone can build on top of Boxee’s open App platform, users can craft their own truly custom experience by creating or downloading plug-ins, add-ons, games, and more.

“We are pleased to partner with Boxee and to be the first with such a ground-breaking device,” said Nick Tidd, vice president of sales of D-Link Pan America and vice president of marketing for D-Link North America. “This powerful device with its unique form factor truly leverages Boxee’s service and is the best way for consumers to quickly access the growing volume of Internet content, organize it and stream it to their TVs and home entertainment centers.”

“D-Link’s successful track record in bringing to market, award-winning digital home networking products, and its global marketing, distribution and channel sales capabilities made them a great fit for our first hardware vendor.” stated Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee, “The Boxee Box by D-Link gives consumers what they want – an easy way to watch Internet or personal entertainment in their living rooms with a simple set-top box that costs under $200 and has no monthly fees.”

The Boxee Box by D-Link is scheduled to ship in the first half of 2010 through the company’s vast network of retail and e-tail outlets, and at D-Link’s online store, www.dlinkshop.com.
Supported Codecs & Formats
Boxee can be used to play/view practically all common multimedia formats, including:

VIDEO:
Adobe Flash 10.1
H.264 (MKV, MOV)
VC-1
WMV
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVI
Xvid
Divx
PCM/LPCM
VOB

AUDIO:
MP3
WMA
WAV
AIFF
FLAC
AAC
DTS
Dolby Digital
Ogg Vorbis

PHOTO:
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PNG

While VIA are positioning the AMOS-3001 as an industrial PC, with broad temperature range resilience, we’re thinking it would also make for a pretty impressive HTPC.  Thanks to the EPIA-P820 it can manage high-bitrate H.264, WMV, VC1 and MPEG 2/4 output, while connectivity includes HDMI, VGA, gigabit ethernet and two USB 2.0 ports via a dedicated I/O board.

Slotted into the AMOS-3001, meanwhile, and you also get COM ports together with two extra USB 2.0; the mini-PC measures just 15 x 4.6 x 10.8 cm.  No word on pricing right now, but both VIA products are currently sampling.

Press Release:

Most Powerful Pico-ITX Board Ever Packs the VIA Nano Processor, Powers VIA AMOS-3001, Industry’s Most Compact & Fanless IPC

VIA EPIA-P820 Pico-ITX board leverages the high performance 64-bit VIA Nano processor platform for next generation multimedia-intensive applications

Taipei, Taiwan, January 5, 2010 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA EPIA-P820, the first Pico-ITX form factor board to feature the high performance, 64-bit VIA Nano processor, bringing industry-leading digital multimedia performance and virtualization capabilities to the smallest of spaces with the VIA AMOS-3001 chassis system.

The choice of VIA Nano processor means that the VIA EPIA-P820 offers a range of advantages over competitor offerings, including full 64-bit software support, a high-performance superscalar architecture and full support of the latest virtualization technologies for next generation server and virtual machine applications. Paired with the VIA VX855 media system processor, the VIA EPIA-P820 is well equipped to handle smooth playback of the most demanding codecs at resolutions up to 1080p.

The VIA AMOS-3001 is an entirely fanless and thoroughly robust chassis system that is specially designed to work with the VIA EPIA-P820. Leveraging the digital prowess of the VIA EPIA-P820, the VIA AMOS-3001 offers a powerful, rugged and HD-ready industrial-class PC that combines all the benefits of high performance 64-bit computing and ruthless hardware acceleration of HD media across the latest display connectivity standards including native HDMI support.

“Never before have developers had the opportunity to harness full 64-bit, superscalar processing in spaces as small as the palm of your hand,” said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The VIA EPIA-P820 combines with the VIA AMOS-3001 to create a complete embedded system that takes the latest features and digital media standards to the very smallest of places.”

The VIA EPIA-P820: Small yet Powerful
Measuring a mere 10cm x 7.2cm the ultra compact VIA EPIA-P820 supports 2GB of DDR2 system memory and leverages a power-efficient, high performance 1.2GHz U2500 VIA Nano processor to provide system developers with the most powerful Pico-ITX platform ever.
The VIA EPIA-P820 features the highly integrated, all-in-one VIA VX855 Media System Processor, specially designed to provide flawless hardware acceleration for the latest HD video codecs including H.264, WMV, VC1 and MPEG 2/4 at high bitrates and display resolutions of up to 1080p with very low CPU utilization. The VIA Chrome9™ HCM 3D integrated graphics core boasts full DirectX 9.0 support and a 128-bit 2D engine with hardware rotation capability.

The VIA EPIA-P820 uses a specially designed I/O add-on-board which supplements the native HDMI port to add a VGA port, a Gigabit LAN port and two USB 2.0 ports. The VIA Vinyl HD audio codec provides 6 channel, DTS capable audio with S/PDIF support. Storage is provided in the shape of an onboard 44-pin IDE connector and one S-ATA port. On board pin headers provide support for an additional 4 x USB 2.0 ports, an LPC connector, SMBus connector, PS/2 support, audio jacks, LVDS, 4 pairs of DIO and two UART ports.

For more details about the VIA EPIA-P820 please visit:
www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductDetail.jsp?productLine=1&id=1050&tabs=1

VIA AMOS-3001: Strong, Silent and Powerful
The VIA AMOS-3001 is specially designed to support the VIA EPIA-P820 Pico-ITX board. Native HDMI is supported as well as an additional VGA port and USB ports through a daughter board. The VIA AMOS-3001 has a certified operating temperature of -20 to 70 degrees C, vibration tolerance of up to 7Grms and a shock tolerance of up to 70G. With dimensions of only 15.0 cm x 4.6cm x 10.8 cm, the VIA AMOS-3001 is approximately 20% more compact than the VIA AMOS-3000. The VIA AMOS-3001 is also available with the VIA EPIA-P720 featuring the fanless 1GHz VIA Eden ULV processor.

Storage is provided through a 44-pin IDE interface for Disk on Module Flash drive – an optional storage sub-system expansion chassis offers support for a standard 2.5″ S-ATA drive. An onboard RJ45 connector provides Gigabit networking while the VIA VT1708B brings HD audio. Additional features include 4 USB 2.0 ports, on board GPIO port, COM port and programmable Watchdog Timer. System LED indicators are provided for power and HDD activity.

For more details about the VIA AMOS-3001 please visit:
www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductDetail.jsp?productLine=2&id=1051&tabs=1

Samples of both the VIA EPIA-P820 Pico-ITX board and the VIA AMOS-3001 are available now to project developers upon request.