Aug
24
Last-generation touch-screen technology? Check. A sluggish processor? Check. No easy way to install apps? Check. The new wave of cheap Android tablets that has reached Kmart and online retailers in recent weeks leaves a lot to be desired, but that doesn’t deter Neuros Technology CEO Joe Born, whose company started to sell $150 tablets to some of its early adopter customers in August.
“We target it as a controller, and it’s great for that,” said Born when I caught up with him by phone late last week to get some first impressions.
Born’s take on these cheap iPad copycats goes something like this: You don’t need expensive tablet hardware to remotely control the video on your big screen TV. All you need is something that runs apps, and there are a number of Android apps out there that can be used to control Boxee or VLC, two of the media players that run on the Neuros Link Home Theater PC box.
Neuros sold around 50 tablets so far, and Born just reduced the price to $99 for the remainder of the test run. The devices are based on a 600MHz VIA processor and ran Android 1.6. Something like this doesn’t even come close to the iPad experience, but Born doesn’t care. “That hardware works fine for what we are doing,” he told me.
And he fully expects the low-end tablets to become more powerful while staying true to their discounter-friendly price point. “Unauthorized Chinese manufacturers are just driving these prices”, and that’s good news for anyone who wants to address an audience outside of the high-tech beltway. “Prize is just so crucial to a mainstream audience”, he said.
However, Born doesn’t think that the hardware will be limited to remotes for long. Most cheap tablets already support a wide variety of video codecs out of the box, and it doesn’t take much fantasy to see them replace the second or third TV in a household. “I tend to look at the furniture in the house” Born said. “There needs to be a big screen to support the couch.” Head down into the basement to run a few rounds on your treadmill, and you might be tempted to just watch on your tablet.
And finally, even cheap Android hardware might be enough to run some widgets that would otherwise interfere with your TV viewing if displayed on the big screen. Designers and researchers alike have been making the case against widgets on your TV in recent months, and Born seems to agree. “It does make more sense for this to be on the small screen,” he told me, adding that he doesn’t buy into the notion of turning your TV into the be-all end-all device. “The whole idea of convergence is just a myth,” he said.
Jul
21
After a month since the last beta update for SageTV, the team has announced that v7.0.12 is ready. The new beta introduces a boat load of fixes and enhancements. The following are just a small number of new features new features:
- Automatic rotation of JPEG files that have headers that indicate so
- MKV Chapter support
- Extended theme capability
- Absolute minimum font size can be set
- PGS (bluray) subtitles in MKV (only playback on HD extenders)
- Workaround for ATI driver bug in 4xxx series GPUs w/ EVR
- ZLIB data compression on the placeshifter UI channel
- Unlimited video buffering in placeshifter client
- Lockout of setup menus using parental controls feature
- Fixes issue with ‘metadata cross-linking’ that was exposed by the BMT plugin
Along with these features, this beta version has added roughly 100 bug fixes and enhancements. Needless to say, the SageTV team has been busy. Check out the release notes on their v7.0.12 forum post to see what I mean and grab a download.
Source: SageTV
Jul
18
LG has announced its new DP1W Stylish HD Media Player on their Ukraine blog. The DP1W is a WiFi Capable HD Media Player that features no internal storage but two USB ports for external storage. There are connectivity ports for Full HD output and HDMI, composite outputs.
The device also supports DNLA, Ethernet Port, it includes support for mainstream media formats and access via WiFi to online content. There was no release information or pricing detail announced on the blog, however we will keep you updated.
Source: LG