When Intel first announced their Atom line of low power processors way back in 2008, I had visions of tiny, quiet HTPCs sipping power in my home theater stack. Unfortunately, the promise never lived up to expectations and it has been awhile since I seriously considered an Atom processor for my own HTPC, but that hasn’t stopped me from hoping […]
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Back in February, Boxee and the Consumer Electronics Association announced that they were working together to convince the FCC not to overturn rules that required cable television service providers to offer basic tier channels unencrypted. The FCC had indicated that they were open to revisiting the rules regarding unencrypted cable channels as part of a required review of rules requiring […]
Read moreMicrosoft just announced that you can download and upgrade Windows XP, Vista, or 7 to Windows 8 Pro for only $39.99 as a download or $69.99 Disc for a special time until January 31st, 2013.. This will also include a free update for “add-in” Media Center after your install is complete. Microsoft is pushing the download option and it will help create […]
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Google took to the stage in San Francisco this week for the Google I/O Developer’s Conference. The company had several things to announce this year, including a version of Chrome for iOS devices and the Nexus 7 media tablet poised to take on the Amazon Kindle Fire, but around these parts, there was probably more interest in some of the […]
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Vizio recently announced the Co-Star. The Co-Star, previously known as the VAP430, is Vizio’s take on Google TV. Like all Google TV set top boxes, the Co-Star is intended to sit between your cable or satellite box and your TV. It sounds like Vizio has gone to some length to create a fresh, clean overlay UI and is looking to […]
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Offering pre-outs for 11.4 and nine amplified channels, Onkyo’s newest high-end AVR (TX-NR5010) is a beast. Including all the good stuff like MultEQ XT32, HQV video processing, and IP content that piqued interest in the TX-NR818, alongside top-end audio processors it’s clear that it earned its spot at the top. The TX-NR3010 and TX-NR1010 were also announced for July arrival, […]
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I picked up a SiliconDust HDHomeRun (HDHR) recently and after setting it up I was looking for an easy way to export the configuration to another HTPC which would share the device. Unfortunately this functionality isn’t built in to the setup utility, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible, or easy, and it has the benefit as acting as […]
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Sony may have decided to pull back on using Google TV in their television sets, but Sony was the only original launch partner from two years ago to reaffirm their commitment to the platform at CES this year. The first fruits of that continued interest will land in the US on July 22nd in the form of the Sony NSZ-GS7 […]
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Few companies offer as wide an array of HTPC cases as SilverStone. With their Crown line of HTPC cases, SilverStone tends to take an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to design, resulting in some their most feature-rich and versatile cases. The CW02 is a prime example of this design philosophy. The voluminous ATX case serves up a concealed 52-in-1 […]
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When we met with Fractal Design at CES they didn’t have anything new to show us, but it was obvious that they were hungry and responsive to the community. If there was any doubt on this point it should be clear now with the re-launch a sleeker Node 605 just a few weeks after it was originally announced in early […]
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