I recently had a Blu-ray player die right in the middle of family movie marathon night, leaving me wishing that my HTPC was equipped to take its place. An HTPC like the ZOTAC ZBOX Blu-ray AD05 Plus would have come in mighty handy. The AD05 is the latest in ZOTAC’s line of Blu-ray equipped mini-PCs. The base model is a […]
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Most conversations regarding cord cutters tend to focus on the impact of cable company revenues as subscribers jump ship for the considerably less expensive option of streaming media services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. Not everyone sees this trend continuing, in large part because of rises in streaming media subscription rates. The Convergence Consulting Group has issued a report […]
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Last week, Microsoft unveiled three new video apps for the Xbox 360, including the highly anticipated Comcast XFINITY and HBO Go apps. Unfortunately, it turned out that these two particular apps would end up being mutually exclusive installations as the XFINITY app would only work for Comcast subscribers and the HBO Go app would not work for Time Warner and, […]
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Paramount and Google have reached an agreement that will see about 500 Paramount movies become available on YouTube and Goggle Play. The licensing only makes the movies available to rent and apparently only to Internet users in the US and Canada. Paramount’s movies will be added to YouTube and Google Play gradually over the next several weeks with rental rates […]
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Our friends over at Tech of the Hub have posted the Q1 update to their comparison of major streaming media services for 2012. Unsurprisingly, all of the major services have continued to grow their catalogs, but there are a couple of interesting changes that might signal the beginning of an unsettling trend for fans of unlimited streaming services like Netflix and […]
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‘Tis the season of new receiver releases. Pioneer and Yamaha have each announced a pair of new additions to their 2012 line-ups. Pioneer has added two new models to their line of Elite receivers, the VSX-42 and the VSX-60. Both models bring Pioneer’s usual AirPlay and DLNA support along with the new-for-2012 Pandora support. The VSX-60 also includes optional WiFi […]
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PlayStation 3 owners looking to get their Dirty Jobs fix have another option with the arrival of Amazon Instant Video. The app download is available directly from the XcrossMediaBar under TV/Video Services or from the PlayStation Store. The new app gives complete access to Amazon video rental and purchase options, and for Amazon Prime subscribers, access to Amazon’s Prime Instant Video […]
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I’ve long been a fan of Antec’s P180/P280 series of cases for use as home server cases. Even though the P180/P280 cases are targeted at the performance market, they are designed with a focus on quiet performance. Combined with the right hardware, these cases are perfect for building a silent high-end home server. Corsair made a big splash when they […]
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I was impressed with the Q and associated companion applications when Ceton showed them off at CES, but there was a lot that we didn’t see given the time constraints and completeness of the mobile experience. Fortunately for us (who doesn’t like a nice teaser :)), Ceton has flushed out more detail around what they will deliver for Windows Phone […]
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I couldn’t sleep the other day so I finally got around to building the IP based remote application for HTPCs that’s been rattling around my head for the past few months. In its default form IP-RC6 acts as an IP based remote that listens on a configurable port but it also supports UPnP for broader controller support. The application attempts […]
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