Envive ships TheaterStation multi-zone digital media management system

Posted in Computers by Shane McGlaun on November 9th, 2009

theaterstation-sgWith many homes producing digital content from more than one source that is stored on more than one PC on the home network, one central storage location is appealing to many. Envive has announced that it is now shipping its line of TheaterStation multi-zone digital media management system with centralized storage.

The line comes in a 2U rack mount, 1U rack mount, and a desktop tower form factor. The 2U rack mount product can be had with up to 14TB of storage. The 1U model can have up to 6TB and the tower is good for up to 4TB of storage.

Acer AspireRevoR3610-U9012 comes to America

Posted in Acer by Shane McGlaun on October 19th, 2009

aceraspirerevo-sbAcer has announced that its AspireRevo is now available in America. The AspireRevo is a great little nettop that is designed to mount behind a TV or LCD screen making a slick little HTPC machine. The little nettop sells for $329.99.

For the money, you get some nice specs including graphics via NVIDIA Ion. That means that the nettop can support full 1080p HD video and play casual 3D games. The machine uses the Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor.

Control everything with this wireless handheld keyboard

Posted in Remotes by Conner Flynn on September 30th, 2009

Control everything with this wireless handheld keyboardHere’s an HTPC remote that should please everyone. It will control Windows, Linux and Mac platforms via wireless RF signals, with a USB receiver. But that isn’t all it does. This remote will also work with your Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii.

It also has a large touchpad. That’s a lot of control in a small form factor. It’s available in black and white and will only run you $45 including shipping.

Pyramid HTPC casemod

Posted in DIY by Conner Flynn on September 16th, 2009

Pyramid HTPC casemodRemember that cool Pyramid PC we showed you in March? Well, here’s a new version, which is much cooler. It was created my Modder Gup, who has a great eye for ancient detail.

If you see some Stargate in it you are absolutely right. Gup’s Pyramid HTPC casemod was inspired by Stargate and features a moving side panel and built in lights which can all be operated by remote control. Inside the Pyramid you won’t find mummies, but you will find an Intel T7200 Core 2 Duo processor, Mini-Itx Crommel LV-677 motherboard, 2GB of DDR2 Ram and a 160GB hard drive, plus a Gforce 9400GT graphics card. Check out a video below.

Maingear Axess HD: Hardcore Gaming comes to HTPCs

Posted in Home Theater by Conner Flynn on June 18th, 2009

Maingear Axess HD: Hardcore Gaming comes to HTPCsMaingear’s Axess HD Gamer aims to park hardcore PC gaming in your living room with a Core i7 processor, up to 12GB of DDR3 memory, 2x NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT cards in SLI, a Phantom Lapboard and robust media center capabilities.

The Axess HD can include a Blu-ray drive, 8-channel HD audio, WIndows Vista Home Premium and up to 4TB of hard drive storage or…dual 160GB SSDs. Connections include: DVI-D, VGA, HDMI and component out, dual gigabit ethernet, eight USB 2.0 ports, two 6-pin FireWire ports and eSATA.

Cideko Air Keyboard is also a 3D mouse, remote control

Posted in Home Theater by Conner Flynn on June 17th, 2009

Cideko Air Keyboard is also a 3D mouse, remote controlSome of you want something more in your HTPC keyboard than just a multitouch trackpad. Lucky for you, Cideko has your back. Their Air Keyboard has a built-in 3D mouse that will have you waving it around and hitting people in the head. But that;s not all.

It also features two gamepad-style buttons in place of standard mouse buttons. Other than that it has all of the usual media control buttons, and a range of 50 meters. The battery life is 50 hours.

PC-In-A-Vase

Posted in Computers by Conner Flynn on June 2nd, 2009

PC-In-A-VaseThis is a first. Normally we see PC guts or console guts stuffed into all kinds of things, but they are the result of hackers. This PC-in-a-vase was designed by an actual company, ECS. It’s actually an interesting glimpse into the future, when we will want to hide the PC and have it mesh more with our environment.

It has an Atom 230 system, a 2.5-inch HDD of unknown capacity, a Blu-Ray drive, 1GB of RAM and HDMI out, all in one package. Sometimes you just want a vase in your living space instead of a HTPC.

Acer Hornet specs leak

Posted in Acer by Conner Flynn on March 31st, 2009

Acer Hornet specs leakRemember that hot Acer Hornet nettop we heard about a few months back? There’s some more info and if things are as they appear, it could be a super awesome cheap HTPC. It supports 1080p video playback over HDMI and the “Media Center” version will come with a Wii-type remote for gaming and media control.

Specs seem decent for the $149-$299 price range. The low end model appears to have an Atom N230 with 1GB of RAM and an 80GB drive preloaded with Vista Home Basic. On the higher end you get 2GB of RAM, a 160GB drive, and a “Boxshell” quickboot OS in addition to Vista Home Premium.

Eee HTPC keyboard specs

Posted in Keyboards by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2009

Eee keyboard: A touchscreen Home Theater PCLast week we had a look at Asus’ HTPC keyboard concept, but now we’ve got some specs to go along with it. The only thing we don’t know about are pricing and availability. The keyboard boasts a 5-inch built-in display, a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16/32 GB SSD, WiFi, flat Mac-like keys and Bluetooth.

Where ports are concerned, it’s got wireless HDMI, 2 USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, and audio in/out. It’s OS of choice is Windows XP home, which is a bit odd for something that wants to be a home theater PC, though it’s not packing a TV tuner either. No info on price or release date, but according to the Asus CEO, it’ll be available in the next 3 to 6 months.

Asus Eee Box B204 and B206 get HD capability

Posted in ASUS by Shane McGlaun on December 4th, 2008

Asus Eee Box B204 and B206I really like the idea of a HTPC in my living room. I would love to be able to watch A-Team or The Pretender on my big screen rather than my PC display from Hulu. The catch is that I don’t want a big and bulky HTPC machine in my entertainment center, I just don’t have the room, and I want HD capability.

Asus has announced a couple new Eee Box models that could be perfect for my needs. The models are the B204 and B206. Both of them offer HD capability thanks to a new discrete ATI Radeon HD 3400 series video card. The systems also offer HDMI output for connecting to HDTV sets. The B204 adds Bluetooth and an internal battery to act as an uninterruptable power supply.





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