A new entry into the Entertainment PC market has emerged. OMwave, a privately held French company (with an office in California), is set to unleash the OMwave DH-1, a fanless, A/V component size PC running OMwave’s OMtheater media software (eerily resembles ShowShifter) on a Windows XP foundation. An interesting feature to point out is the PC’s silent cooling system, which is made up two componets: One, an aluminum enclosure with copper heat sink pipes that attach to the case for heat disbursement; two, an oversized, external aluminum heat sink power supply (kind of odd and interesting at the same time). MORE »

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We have received word today that SnapStream’s FireFly PC Remote will become available in the first week of May. The remote is designed to work in tandem with its Beyond TV Media Center-style product (bundled free w/ Beyond Media Basic) and is also capable of operating other PC media applications. MORE »

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After testing nearly 20 media adapters in the past year, Bill Howard is left wanting more from the current crop of devices. In his words, “The market remains gawky and adolescent (only the Turtle Beach AudioTron is as much as 18 months old), as the portable MP3 player market was two years ago. Most digital media hubs still handle only music, not photos or videos. Interfaces are clunky. Some products don’t work with WMA or WMV (movie) files. Many don’t show album art-even some that use TV on-screen displays for the artist and track information. Some OSDs time out quickly to an unchangeable screen saver: the company logo. MORE »

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Today I have seen the future and it’s not coming from Microsoft — at least not yet. I got a chance to meet with Jeremy Toeman, associate VP of Mediabolic, for the first time, for an informal get-together. For those unfamiliar with the company, Mediabolic is one of the leaders in the middleware software space for connected home devices. Their flagship software product, the M1 Entertainment Platform, can be found powering many notable products like the Denon NS-S100 Digital Media Server, which won TechTV’s “Best of Show” at CES in January, and Creative’s SoundBlaster Wireless Music Adapter. MORE »

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In recent months, manufacturers have introduced a stunning array of devices designed to get digital media from home computers to home entertainment centers. In their latest issue, PC Magazine tries to cut through the competition, hype, and confusion to see what works and what doesn’t. They reviewed ten streaming media devices to find out which products fit a variety of lifestyles. MORE »

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Comcast’s recent press release touting their trial of Digeo’s Moxi Media Center has raised the profile of several competing products, including a Linux-based product from Video Without Boundaries called the MediaREADY 4000. It was due for a December 2003 release, but has apparently been held up. MORE »

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KiSS Technology and DivXNetworks announced their new partnership to develop a DivX Certified DVD Player optimized for the high-resolution HDTV playback of DivX video files. No word yet if the future Hi-Def DivX DVD player will have a hard drive or be networked enabled like its sibling the KiSS DP-558. MORE »

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We are guessing Tom’s Hardware figured out that digital media receivers and connected DVD players are the cool thing to report on. There are two write-ups on both types of devices and one even goes into how to hack your Xbox for Media Center-style capabilities. MORE »

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I am excited to announce that I will be going to CONNECTIONS, a digital home conference and showcase, where I will get to rub elbows with the top industry execs shaping the connected home environment of the future. The conference is a three day event starting May 5 in Dallas. Attendees at the event included: chief executives, marketing directors, research scientists, industry analysts, hardware and software developers, project managers, and journalists. MORE »

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The closest thing we have seen to an iPod killer, in our opinion, would be the Toshiba Gigabeat G20 (MEG201). However, Toshiba is taking the Gigabeat G21 (MEG201WL) to the next level by including Wi-Fi for automatic PC to Gigabeat synchronization and home network file sharing. MORE »

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