Gear Live Forums

You can now browse and shop Amazon from your TiVo

2008-07-22T08:10:45-08:00

Way out of left field, TiVo has announced that customers are going to be able to browse and purchase from Amazon’s huge inventory, from the comfort of their living rooms. You know, because shopping a store that has tens of thousands of items to choose from, using just your remote control, is all kinds of awesome. To take part, you need to have a broadband-connected TiVo Series 2, Series 3, or TiVo HD (seriously, is anyone still doing dial-up on these things?).

Check out the full story on Amazon shopping on TiVo for all the details.

Apple TV 2.1 software update available

2008-07-10T12:48:43-08:00

If you have an Apple TV, you are gonna wanna go ahead and update it. Just head into the General Settings menu, and go to Software Update. Apple TV will find the latest version, and offer to download it. This update provides a couple of new functionalities for the device, namely MobileMe support, as well as support for the new Remote app.

Sony NWZ-A820 Walkman Player (iPod alternative?)

2008-06-01T08:22:33-08:00

Sony NWZ-A820 Walkman player is equipped with rich features with a relatively slim design. NWZ-A820 also boasts the capability to manually delete videos directly from the internal memory without having to plugging to a computer. This MP3 player comes in 8GB and 16GB, retailing for $270 and $320 respectively when they arrive this March in just one color - black.

* Sony EX series in-ear buds with 13.5mm drivers
* 2.4″ QVGA LCD display (320 x 240 resolution)
* Integrated FM tuner
* Video playback of 30fps
* 36 hours of battery life for audio playback
* 10 hours of battery life for video playback
* Built-in noise-canceling system (up to 75%)
* Bluetooth A2DP technology
* Compatibility with WMA-DRM, WMA, AAC, PCM, MP3, MPEG-4 and JPEG file formats
* Bundled with DR-BT21G Bluetooth-enabled headphones

A picture of the gadget :- http://wikigiz.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/sony-nwz-a820.jpg

Debate: Would you want to smell what is going on in the movie you are watching?

2008-06-02T22:12:55-08:00

Ok this might sound odd at first, but there are some patents already out there that want to integrate smell into a theater experience. I for one am unsure about this idea—do I really want to be smelling all that is going on? What if people start getting sick around me? We already have to worry about motion sickness and now this! What are your thoughts about this? I would be interested to see how many of you accept or reject this idea

is it better to have a big flat screen tv or a projector

2008-06-06T14:31:10-08:00

I like the idea of the projector but is a big flat screen tv better?

Sapphire makes Quad-HD 3840x2160 display

2008-06-04T19:51:09-08:00

Sapphire sells quite a few Quadros but only in the Asia Pacific area, and they built one funky display that supports Quad-HD resolution. We’ve seen some pictures and video on 56-inch displays powered by AMD FireGL workstation system and FireGL V8650 GPU with 2GB memory. For all of you who only know the metric system that traslates to 142cm diagonal.

Don’t be too optimistic that this display will be cheap, as it currently costs close to $50000 USD and it is meant for use by medical facilities and some special customers.

You can probably buy one if you have $50k USD to burn, and we’ve got goose bumps from playing a tough game on this display.

Here is this monster display with Uber cool picture resolution next to Mr. Bill Donnelly, Sapphire’s PR Director, and a hippie representative of the homo sapiens species.

Will you pay $50,000 for a TV?

Stereos?

2008-06-03T14:15:19-08:00

anyone know of a good cheap stereo? I am in need of one mine went out. I dont want to pay a whole lot for one a cheap one is good just what cheap brand would be the best is what I need to know?

Movies, movies, movies in your own home movie theater

2008-06-02T21:57:48-08:00

A full setup of a movie theater in a large room is definitely only accessible to the rich and the famous. However, if you have small budget, you can have the home movie theater for yourself knowing the essential components and setting up the home movie theater in a smaller room. You may change over your den to a home theater room. You only need few basic components and you may already enjoy watching movies with no limit.

If you own a television set, which I know you do, that is about 27 inches, you run away spending for the first most important component of your home movie theater. The second major component, which I think you should have, is the DVD player. If your DVD Player has progressive scan that is superb, however, even without progressive scan, your DVD player may work perfectly as the second component for your home movie theater. The final piece of the item, which I want you to spend on, is the home theater speakers. You will need three high quality home theater speakers for your home movie theater. You can place one on the right side, one on the left side and one on the rear center of the room. These are ideal locations. These are the main basic components of your home movie theater. You may now start enjoying unlimited movie and enjoy watching movies with your entire family. I am sure you will agree with me that this is the best part of owning your own home movie theater.

Have an old PC lying around? Use it as a Linux based Media Centre!

2008-06-03T11:34:57-08:00

Hey Guys!

I am sure most of us probably have our old and probably first PC’s still lying around! And most of us probably will laugh at the thought of using them right now eh? But what If you have a nice HDTV in your living room, but not enough content to play on it? Thats exactly what came into my mind, and prompted me to use my old P3 machine as a Linux based MC in my living room! Why? Because Linux is FREE and I always respect Software rights!

LinuxMCE is a free, open source add-on to Kubuntu including a 10’ UI, complete whole-house media solution with pvr + distributed media, and the most advanced smarthome solution available. It is stable, easy to use, and requires no knowledge of Linux and only basic computer skills.

It’s the features which prompted me to actually use it!!

Media & Entertainment
� 3D alpha-blended GUI optimized for displaying on a TV and using a remote control
� Media browser presenting all content on all devices in the home on a 3D rotating cube
� Plug-and-play detection and aggregation of network storage and DMA’s
� Built-in NAS providing centralized backup and whole-house media server
� “Follow Me” Media, each family member’s media follows him/her through the house
� Automatically controls all existing av devices, like TV’s, Stereo’s, etc.)
� Many control options: mobile phone, webpad, pda, phone

Smart Home
� Home Automation: Control lighting, climate, security, camera surveillance, and more
� Communication: Phone system with auto-attendant, voice mail, call forwarding/routing for VOIP and POTS lines
� Security: Uses your existing home alarm, surveillance cameras, lights, phones and tv’s to notify you on your mobile phone of any security alerts with the option of reseting the alarm or broadcasting your voice in the house over the tv’s

Check out some detailed SCREENSHOTS HERE:

http://wiki dot linuxmce dot org/index dot php/Screenshots

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www dot linuxmce dot org/

I would love to hear your feedback!
Cheers and practice legal computing!!! hehe
reevester

Hitachi kicks out CP-X206 and CP-X306 3LCD projectors

2008-06-03T08:54:16-08:00

Look out—here’s comes a couple more snoozers from Hitachi. Sure, the CP-X206 and CP-X306 3LCD projectors will find their place in the wild, wild world, but with a 1,024 x 768 native resolution, that place isn’t apt to be your home theater. Respectively, you’ll find 2,200 and 2,600 lumens, while they both offer up a 500:1 contrast ratio, built-in 7-watt speaker and 29 dB noise rating in Whisper Mode. Clearly designed with classrooms and offices in mind, Hitachi threw in some swank anti-theft functionality, remote monitoring / management and a 2,000-hour hybrid filter. We’ve all been left out of the loop in regard to pricing, but it’s not like this thing just rocketed up your list of must-have gizmos, right?

Here’s a picture of this projector :- http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/06/6-2-08-cpx206.jpg