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Over at Crunch Gear and Crave, they’re showing off a new product called the TVix media hub. It looks cool–somewhat like a coffeemaker–but it connects to your TV (via HDMI or other connections) and lets you access your media from your PC. Apparently, it can play 1080p movies, DVDs, music, photos and movies on a built-in hard drive.  It can also be used as a DVR by connecting a tuner adapter, sold separately.

Not a bad idea, but there are lots of other products like it. But is it really worth $520? Who would want to buy this except media geeks and early adopters?

Sure it looks cool and I’d love to play with it, but do I really need it? Check out the manufacturer’s page here for more info.

[Via NewEgg]

[tags] TVix, media hub, DViCO, media extender, DVR, PVR [/tags]

Digeo unveiled a software version of its DVR set-top box which lets PC users record TV from their computers. Digeo makes a line of media recorders called Moxi.

Users must have Windows XP, a TV tuner card to use the Moxi TV for PC software, which is available free during the beta trial period.

Other software-based DVRs include ReplayTV, BeyondTV, Windows Media Center and Orb.

[Via Download Squad]

[tags] Moxi, Digeo, DVR, PVR [/tags]

I love media. I’ve got hundreds of CDs, thousands of photos and lots of gigabytes worth of movies stored on my home PC. With so much content, I really wanted space where I could everything without taking up space on my PC. My solution was to get a network attached storage device.

I recently bought a Buffalo LinkStation Live network attached storage (NAS) device. It’s 750GB so it can fit all my music, movies and photos. And since it’s attached to the network I can access it from my home network, or anywhere in the world via the Internet. Pretty cool, eh? 

The one thing I’m missing, however, is the connection between the PC and TV. But since my LinkStation works as a media server, all I need is a compatible device.

Media extenders act as the bridge between PCs and TVs. They connect to your TV set and let you watch movies from your PC. PC Magazine wrote up a round up of products that can do this, including the Apple TV, Netgear’s extender, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But the Xbox and PS3 aren’t full media extenders–they’re game systems that can do some movies and media center functions. And Apple TV has just been pretty much ignored by everyone, including Apple.

Now, SanDisk has unveiled a new flash-memory-based device that can take content from your PC to the TV. But no matter how SanDisk makes it look pretty, it’s still sneakernet–you have to physically walk the flash-memory device from the PC to the TV.

Media extenders seem like the best solution for me, especially now that I’ve parked all my media on my NAS. The Buffalo LinkStation that I bought is compatible with DLNA certified media devices, like Buffalo’s own LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player. I was also impressed by some media extenders that Linksys unveiled last month.

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is still a pretty new concept that not may people have heard of. It’s simply a way to share media between PCs, TVs and other consumer devices within a home network.

I’m pretty excited about having tons of storage, and am getting ready to buy a media extender to really take advantage of all my media. As much I love my media, I want to have it everywhere I go, and on any device. But alas, we haven’t gotten there yet.

SanDisk announced a USB product that bridges the distance between a PC and TVs allowing viewers to transfer files from the computer to the device and into a cradle connected to the TV.

The TakeTV Video Player, is meant to make it easy to transfer TV shows and movies from PC to TVs but adds yet another equipment residing next to the TV. I guess until TV sets come with USB ports, we’ll need to have a device like this. The device is available in 4GB ($99) and 8GB ($149) versions.

I’m not convinced that this is the best way to get content to your TV, but it might prove to be quick and a good low-cost way. The alternative is to a) run a wire from your PC to TV b) burn a DVD and play it on your TV or c) use a media center extender like NetGear or even Apple TV.

With the SanDisk method, you can get decent content (without going through BitTorrent) and a somewhat easy way to bridge the famous “ten-foot” gap between the PC and TV.

The bad news? You can’t take protected content, like stuff from iTunes or Amazon Unbox.

SanDisk also unveiled Fanfare, a new online video service where users can download TV shows and movies.  Content partners include CBS, Showtime Networks, Smithsonian Networks, The Weather Channel and Jaman.com. Fanfare content will also be downloadable to mobile phones, handheld computers and TVs.

[Via Forbes,  SF Chronicle and others]

[tags] SanDisk, FanFare, TakeTV, PC-to-TV [/tags]

Over at CNet’s The Social blog, writer Caroline McCarthy was on the scene at a party thrown by Tivo and RealNetworks to announce their partnership to introduce Rhapsody on Tivo DVRs. The party, held in Manhattan’s trend Arena nightclub featured:

• A person dressed up in a Tivo logo costume.
• Drinks called “HD Crystal Clear Cosmo” and “Rhaps-a-Tinis”
• TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers
• RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser
• Gizmodo’s Richard Blakeley
• The Silicon Alley Insider’s Peter Kafka
• “Camera-toting” CrunchGear blogger Nicholas Deleon “who thought the Rhaps-a-tinis were gross.”
• A live performance by Fountains of Wayne
• All hosted by The Bachelor host Chris Harrison.

Pretty crazy, huh? You’ve got to check out the picture on The Social, too.[tags] TiVo, RealNetworks, Rhapsody, music, DVR [/tags]

Although there are plenty of media extenders for Windows Vista and XP. Like NetGear, Buffalo LinkTheater, and D-Link–see the reviews from PC World here. These devices sit next to your TV, connect to your PC (via Ethernet cable or better yet, Wi-Fi) and allow you to view movies and listen to music through your home network.

Now, PVR Wire is reporting that HP is releasing an HDTV with a built-in media extender. That means you don’t need an external device to connect to your TV. This is a great idea. After all, who wants YASTB (yet another set-top box) near the TV?

As PVR Wire reports, the price of the TV may be a bit more, but it makes up for the media extender that you’d probably purchase.

[tags] media center, media extender, HDTV, HP [/tags]