Streaming Device Reviews

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Kim Wilson | Dec 01, 2008 |

Price: $100 At A Glance: Instant streaming • Ultra-simple interface • No additional service charge for Netflix subscribers • Limited choice of available titles • Requires very fast Internet connection for good image quality • No multichannel surround or HD content yet

Netflix on Demand

What could be better than waiting for your next Netflix movie to arrive by snail mail? What if you could receive it on demand, via streaming technology?

Streaming Device Reviews

VUDU Media Receiver

Chris Chiarella | Jun 02, 2008 |

Fill it up with movies, not pins.

Regular readers of Home Theater might know that I also write the “Top 100 DVDs of All Time” article each year, which means that I have at least 8.3-dozen discs at home. And those discs tend to pile up. But how else is a cinephile supposed to build an impressive video library? Kaleidescape is too rich for my blood, DVD jukeboxes are too difficult to manage, and downloading movies to my computer isn’t really a living-room experience. So there’s the Apple TV, which recently began high-def movie rentals, not purchases, from major studios directly to the box. The Xbox 360 also allows paid download-to-own TV shows, some in high def, although all movies are rental only. And then there’s VUDU. The VUDU box is essentially a movie machine, a library on a hard disk drive inside a box. It’s an entertainment portal that sits quietly next to the TV until called into action.

Streaming Device Reviews

Apple TV

Chris Chiarella | Jul 30, 2007 |

Own an HDTV? Well, get ready for the age of ATV.

Let's recap: Al Gore created the Internet, and, on the seventh day, he rested. Immediately, entrepreneurs began selling pornography, and the World Wide Web had a purpose. Before long, people started posting videos of their dogs belching the national anthem, and, yet, an entertainment-hungry globe craved more. A bunch of other stuff happened, and now Apple has been selling songs, music videos, TV episodes, and feature-length movies via the iTunes Store,embedded in the free iTunes application for Mac and PC. While digital-rights management protects purchased video and audio (although this may be changing), you can enjoy it at the computer and upload it to various iPod portable devices. Still, a growing contingent yearns to relocate its premium content to the comfort of the living room with due ease and elegance.

Streaming Device Reviews

Roku SoundBridge M1000

Mark Fleischmann | Apr 14, 2006 |

Convergence shows many faces to music lovers. If you've got the bucks, you can add a hard-drive-based music server to your system. Or you can pay a custom installer to bring IP-based networking to every room in the house. But if you just want to move music from one PC to one rack, all you need is a simple device and it doesn't have to cost much. One of many possible options is the Roku SoundBridge.

Streaming Device Reviews

Omnifi DMS1 Streamer and DMP1 Player

Chris Chiarella | Aug 19, 2004 | First Published: Aug 01, 2004 |

With Omnifi, your MP3s are everywhere you want to be.

Liberating gear such as that manufactured by Omnifi, a division of Rockford Fosgate, compels me to look at where I spend the bulk of my waking hours: at the office, in the home theater, or in the car. As with all great action heroes, my daily adventures are set to music—not a problem when I'm chained to my desk with my entire music library at my disposal on my hard drive. A portable player is one way to transcend the confines of the workspace, and some even arrive bundled with cables to plug into a hi-fi system for all to enjoy, but this is hardly an elegant approach.

Streaming Device Reviews Custom Installation How-To

Digital Media Receiver Roundup

Geoffrey Morrison | May 09, 2011 |

DEFINING A NEW PRODUCT CATEGORY

I'm struggling with this: What do you call these things? Digital Media Streamers? Digital Media Receivers? How about media extenders, media streamers, or digital media adapters? Maybe Internet Streaming Devices? If you abbreviate that last one, it sounds a bit sinister. "Dude, I got an ISD." Annnnnnnd, you're on a list somewhere.

Streaming Device Reviews Custom Installation How-To

Review: Sonos S5 ZonePlayer and 3.4 System Update

Michael Berk | May 23, 2011 |

Streaming Device Reviews Blu-ray Player Reviews

Review: LG BD670 Blu-ray Disc Player

Al Griffin | Jul 13, 2011 |

Blu-ray players are becoming less a means to play discs than a gateway to online services — and to any media stored on computers, smartphones, and iDevices lying around your home. Take LG’s BD670. You might pick up this modest-looking machine thinking you’d use it to play Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs, along with DVDs and CDs.

New Products Streaming Device Reviews

Hands on with the Roku 2: Less is More

Michael Berk | Jul 20, 2011 |

The cat's been out of the bag for a month or two now, but today Roku officially announces an entirely redesigned line of streaming media players, featuring a smaller form factor, a few new content channels, Angry Birds - and, on the top-of-the-line XS, a motion-control remote. The new units should hit stores by the end of the month.

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Streaming Device Reviews New Products

The Sonos Play:3 makes its debut Michael Berk | Jul 20, 2011 |

Always looking for new ways to make good on their promise to let users stream all the music on earth in any room, Sonos today announces a new player - the Play:3 - and a new naming scheme for their product line.

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New Products Streaming Device Reviews

Bang & Olufsen's BeoSound 5 Encore Digital Music System Michael Berk | Jul 25, 2011 |

Bang & Olufsen have announced the BeoSound 5 Encore, the baby brother of their BeoSound 5 music system.

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Streaming Device Reviews New Products

Boxee Comes to the iPad Michael Berk | Aug 09, 2011 |

HTPC, PC, Mac, dedicated hardware, and now the iPad. Boxee continues to extend the footprint of its video interface software with its iOS application, a nifty little front end for the iPad. But don't expect a mobile version of the full Boxee experience.

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Streaming Device Reviews

Review: Meridian Sooloos Media Core 200 and DSP3200 John Sciacca | Aug 16, 2011 |

Wikipedia says minimalism “describes movements in various forms of art and design . . . where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.” At Sound+Vision, we generally preach the exact opposite: a “go big or go home” view toward TVs, speakers, and subwoofers. Why settle for 5.1 and a 42-inch screen when 9.2 and a 100-inch screen would be so much better?

Streaming Device Reviews Custom Installation How-To

Review: Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 Network Music Player

Daniel Kumin | Aug 30, 2011 |

Cambridge Audio is a British electronics maker with a long-running dedication to serious audio (minus the silly-expensive audiophile pricing) and a long-running commitment to quality digital playback. So, when the company first previewed a network music player in late 2010, it got my attention.

New Products Audio Video News Streaming Device Reviews

Whole-Home Audio for the Rest of Us

Michael Berk | Oct 13, 2011 |

Legrand - a leader in residential wiring and custom install components - in something of a surprise move announced the airQast wireless music system at this year's CEDIA Expo.

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