Media Browser and My Movies, two of the most popular media management plugins for Windows Media Center, have received updates. The My Movies updates are relatively minor pre-release updates consisting primarily of bug fixes and small feature updates, but the updates are spread across all of the major current My Movies products. My Movies for Windows 7 Media Center and My […]
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Some of our recent enclosure reviews (SilverStone TJ08-E, Fractal Design Define Mini) have featured external USB 3.0 ports requiring a connection to a 19-pin header required by the USB 3.0 specification which poses a problem for most motherboards to date. While SilverStone was kind enough to provide an internal USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter with the TJ08-E, it would […]
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So far, we have reviewed three chassis from Fractal Design, the Define R3 ATX, the Define Mini Micro-ATX and the Array R2 Mini-ITX, and have been impressed by their build quality and aesthetics. Today we are reviewing a chassis in their Core line which aims to provide a unique combination of design, features, cooling performance and value. The Fractal Design […]
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Streaming live TV to a tablet is nothing new. Cable companies, individual networks, and 3rd-party hardware developers such as the Slingbox have all brought apps to the major tablets that allow for streaming live TV on mobile devices. Evidently Comcast has decided that they should get in on the act too. Comcast’s Xfinity TV started life as Comcast’s online VOD […]
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Like the OCZ combined product, the SSD hard drive cache is probably not very interesting for the average HTPC deployment since a video stream probably isn’t hot (i.e. the same data is not being read over and over again); but, if you could use the same device to cache a Network drive, and assuming the caching algorithm uses some intelligent read-ahead (e.g. […]
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We’ve all been wondering what Dish Network’s plans were for Blockbuster ever since the acquisition earlier this year. Just a few minutes ago, details were unveiled for the Blockbuster Movie Pass subscription which will include DVD, Blu-ray, Games, in-store exchanges and on-demand streaming for $10 a month. The catch is that this plan is only available to Dish subscribers, some […]
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After the uproar created by previous Netflix announcements, this is right in line with what I had said might be the–seemingly ludicrous–reasoning behind the creation of a second business unit. From the customer perspective, it sucks, but from a business perspective, it would have been precisely what was necessary. Obviously, this is pure speculation on everyone’s part, but time will […]
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It seems like we can always count on Zotac to release a mini-ITX motherboard based on a new chipset. One of their more recent mini-ITX motherboards is the Zotac Z68ITX-A-E based on Intel’s Z68 chipset. Zotac has not only made its mark designing HTPC-friendly mini-ITX motherboards, but by designing exceptionally feature-rich mini-ITX boards, and the Z68ITX-A-E looks to be no exception. Unfortunately, […]
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The quest for the perfect and smallest home theater PC (HTPC) is one that has gained momentum over the last few years. Not that long ago it was a significant challenge to build a small and quiet home theater PC (HTPC). However, this is no longer the case and the options to create an efficient small form factor PC are […]
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With hundreds of content channels to choose from, the addition of three new channels to the Roku Channel Store wouldn’t normally be big news, but today’s announcement is a doozy, if only for one of the three channels. The first two channels, Comic Vine and Giant Bomb will certainly have their fans. I personally listen to the Giant Bomb podcast […]
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