I hope you enjoy this writing. I had submitted this just the day before the news that SageTV was coming back to be open sourced from the founder Jeff Kardatzke. Who would have seen this coming? Not me, not our Editor in Chief Mike Garcen; really no one. Sage has stood the test of time. With many beginning to walk […]
Read moreSome pretty crazy news passed my way by our friend George S., linking to a forum post by Jeff from (formerly) SageTV, announcing that they somehow convinced Google to open source the SageTV code! What does this mean? It’s too early to tell, but given how involved software developers were in making SageTV a great experience, I have a hunch […]
Read moreKodi (aka XBMC) is catching fire by using the Amazon Fire TV as a client. As both a user of MCE and SageTV via cableCARD, I have been looking to find a replacement for those particular PVR HTPC systems that has extender capabilities due to no more or little further development from either camp in quite a while. MCE has […]
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Where in the past OEMs have happily sold wireless cameras, and the infrastructure to put them on the network, no one has tried to tie it all together into a consumer product that is reliable and easy to use. With the recent release of Arlo, NETGEAR has done exactly that, signaling a strong a desire to build a discrete brand […]
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With the increasing reach of over-the-top (OTT) content on tablets and mobile phones, content consumption can follow us around the home in a way that a fixed location TV never could. Holding onto the mobile device isn’t always convenient, whether it’s because more than one person is viewing or because you’re elbow deep in cooking, carving (my father often watches […]
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When Amazon first released their FireTV player there was not a ton of excitement for the AppleTV competitor. Sure it looked the same, provided similar features, and cost the same ($99), but for most consumers the features were too similar to create a buzz. With the release of the FireTV Stick however, Amazon has now targeted the very popular Google […]
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There is a point in scaling out a home theater where a good universal remote control becomes an essential part of the experience. Yes, you can get by with the pseudo universal that came with the AVR, but then you have to train your family, and worse the babysitter, how to use that in a productive way. They need to […]
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We met with the folks at Silicon Dust during our week at International CES 2015, and among the things we talked about were the antennas they were using to pull in a signal. They are manufactured in the USA by HD Frequency. While we were not able to meet in person with them at CES, we did get a […]
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We saw OOMI at ShowStoppers and while they didn’t have actual product, they certainly said all the right things to indicated a good understanding of what HA is and what HA users want to get from the system. If you’d like to get in on the launch [aka pre-order] price of $229 (SRP will be $449) head on over to […]
Read moreEureka Park is one of my favorite things about going to CES. It’s a special place where pretty much anyone can come to the show and demonstrate their product. Most are actual products (like UPPER DESK), some will be soon, and others are still questing for funding. With Internet of Things (IoT) (which BTW is a horrible name, but since […]
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