In an HDMI A/V environment, Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) is the glue that ties components together into a cohesive unit–able to be controlled by a single remote without the hassle, or expense, of a normal universal as well as removing infrared’s (IR) line-of-site requirement for playback devices. Where there can be problems with the protocol, most often the root cause […]
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Aperion Audio announced the ARIS a few months back, and I have to admit that the idea of a 100W DLNA speaker system from a company that knows audio was very intriguing. The PR (available after the click) still doesn’t note whether DRM laden files are supported (they can be with Windows 8’s Play To) or what CODECs are supported […]
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The Ceton Companion app hasn’t been out for that long, but it must have seemed like an eternity for NOOK users watching with envy while everyone else enjoyed managing their Windows Media Center lineups and discovering upcoming premiers from the convenient interface. Fortunately for them the wait is now over (along with some other things like iPhone 5 support) with […]
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I get that these sorts of posts are mostly about generating clicks via false dichotomy, but I don’t understand the basis of pitting a display technology against a resolution. These concepts are in no way mutually exclusive – we can, and probably will have 4K OLED HDTVs before long. Of course both of these technologies are currently relegated to the […]
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I’ve been looking forward to Roku’s Streaming Stick since they first mentioned it back at CES. Of course the specifics around pricing and how long we’d have to wait were unknown, but today that changed a little with Roku announcing that the MHL enabled streamer would be available “soon” at $99. The lack of a clear when is a little […]
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Features like VUDU and HDMI CEC put the first generation NETGEAR NeoTV on my short list of preferred media streamers. But while they have continued to update the device at a breakneck pace, the lack of 5.1 audio in the Netflix application was a pretty big CON. Fortunately this gap will not only be rectified in the NeoTV (NTV300), NeoTV […]
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In our recent review of Micasaverde’s Vera home automation (HA) controller several devices were mentioned, but not in enough detail to be useful to anyone thinking about building a Z-Wave network, or adding to an existing one. To address that a list of all the devices and a mini review is included below: Home Automation Controller: Micasaverde VeraLite: here for […]
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Home automation (HA) covers a wide spectrum of capabilities and devices, spanning the gap from placing a light timer on the fish tank to a complex system that manages many of the mundane aspects of lighting, HVAC and scheduled activities in the house or business. Historically these highly integrated systems, capable of things like automatically dimming the lights when watching […]
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It’s been a while since we last talked about IVB, and for good reason as none of the more interesting HTPC chips were available at launch (or trickled out of OEM status later on). That has chanced, at least in part with HD 2500 Core i3’s available from Newegg and Amazon right now. If you’re holding out for the HD […]
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Powerline networking has a reputation for promising capable “hardwired” networking solutions, but historically often fell short when it came to delivery. Having tried a few iterations of the alternative-to-Ethernet over power wires in the past, in my personal experience this reputation has also proved well deserved. Of course with each new generation, the technology evolves and is therefore worth another […]
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