AMD IS BACK! With so much positive buzz about Ryzen, it’s worth covering the company again (sorry AMD…). With that it’s great to see boards from ASUS supporting the platform; even if they are more “performace” oriented than I’d use in a HTPC. Hopefully we’ll see some of those soon as well. ASUS Launches New AMD AM4 Series Motherboards — […]
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You should be able to use Alexa to mess with any Z-Wave device via a scene (worst case) on most HAC, but it’s great that SmartThings and Wink! users now have native support. Let us know in the comments if you’ve had a chance to play with this.
Read moreIf you’re a Kodi house, go grab the 17.1 RC. Good list of fixes there. • Update Estuary and Estouchy with some bugfixes and improvements• Fix EDL skipping• Fix slow song smartplaylist• Several PVR fixes• Update Chorus webinterface• Fix addons not being marked broken when they are updated with broken flag• Add limiter on random songs which should prevent large […]
Read moreNetwork coverage is a bit light, but given sports coverage, support for six users, and unlimited DVR storage it might just work for $35/mon. Even if it’s not quite up to your standard, I think we can all agree that the level of competition developing in this space is FANTASTIC. What I’d really like to see though, is a just […]
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I like Z-Wave. Compared to “smart” IOT IP devices, it usually just works – as long as you have a good home automation controller (HAC). In the past, when you did have a little trouble it was very difficult to figure out what was going on (usually range problem IME). Fortunately, there’s now a tool for installers or curious DIYers […]
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I have to give Caavo credit for a sleek industrial design, but any positive feeling ends there. I just don’t see what problem this $400 box solves for me. OK, it will switch inputs, but so does my AVR (while providing audio too). There might be some CEC magic at play here, but that requires that everything plays along, and […]
Read moreLeaked benchmarks of AMD’s upcoming Ryzen CPU look very promising. The system used in the review again used a basic MSI A320 AM4 mainboard with no overclocking and 16GB of 2400MHz DDR4. We really want to know at this point what the Ryzen chips would do when crammed into a high-end board with high-end RAM and overclocked. There are a […]
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If you have DSL at home the new ASUS DSL-AC88U provides an integrated approach to providing internet connectivity from a single device. What makes this guy particularly interesting is that it also has a WAN port, so if you decide to drop the DSL when cable comes to down you won’t have to eBay it. Also, while it’s not mentioned […]
Read moreReference designs aren’t intrinsically news, but since they are an essential tool to enable product flexibilty (i.e. smaller OEMs can play too). I think it’s worth highlighting this announcement. Afterall, who doesn’t want to see a plethera of 4K 60Hz 4:4:4 devices; creating a more competative market :). Valens and Lattice Semiconductor Partner to Deliver HDBaseT Reference Design to […]
Read moreIt’s not a huge drawback if you only use your Ethernet network for A/V, but if you have other goals HDBaseT’s exclusive use of the HW is a limitation. Or, was a limitation. Because the technology will now work over IP networks. Now it will probably take a while for product to hit the market, so we’ll be sure to […]
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