Top
Advertising


Custom Search
Categories
Powered by Squarespace
Sunday
19Apr

WD TV

DateSunday, April 19, 2009 at 06:24PM

The WD TV takes on the Apple TV in name and function. This shiny black media player is capable of playing 1080p video and has support for a variety of formats such as:

Video -MPEG1, 2, 4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), MTS, TP, TS

Music - MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA

Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG

Copy protected media such as music and video from the iTunes store is not supported.

The WD TV has HDMI and composite out video ports.  Two USB ports provide connectivity for your media.  This unit does not have networking capabilities.  The only way to view your media is to copy it to a USB storage device and then connect it to the unit.  A remote is included however a hard drive is not provided with the product.

So for $130 USD is the WD TV a better product than the Apple TV?  It beats the Apple TV in that it can push 1080p video vs the Apple TV's 720p.  It also wins in providing two USB ports allowing for an adjustable amount of storage.  It loses out in the lack of network connectivity.  The Apple TV provides an ethernet port as well as wireless-N.  If the WD TV had network connectivity I think it would be a worthy challenger.  Without it I think the Apple TV is the hands down winner in this battle.

AuthorMatt Kowalski | CommentPost a Comment |
in
Tuesday
17Mar

Boxee Remote App for the iPhone

DateTuesday, March 17, 2009 at 07:57PM

Boxee announced the availability of the Boxee Remote application for the iPhone today.  It is a free download from the App Store.  I downloaded and installed it in a matter of 30 seconds.  It has two modes.  One for gestures and one for buttons.  In gesture mode you move the Boxee icon around the iPhone screen almost like a mouse pointer.  In Button mode you get the typical Up Down Left Right and Ok buttons.  A wireless network is required for the remote to work.  It found Boxee running on my Apple TV and connected quickly.  Unfortunately the app disconnected a few times as I was navigating around.  I'm not sure why but launching the app again connected quickly and I was on my way.

Perhaps the best feature is the ability to use the iPhone keyboard to enter text.  This is much faster than using a standard remote to scroll around picking letters and numbers.  This really only applies to the Apple TV as you can use a keyboard when running Boxee on a Mac or PC.  Another great app by the Boxee team!

 

AuthorMatt Kowalski | CommentPost a Comment |
in , ,
Saturday
14Mar

Front Row 2.1.7, iTunes 8.1, and Remote 1.2

DateSaturday, March 14, 2009 at 10:43PM

Apple released Front Row version 2.1.7 on March 11.  The only update is for iTunes 8.1 compatibility.  iTunes 8.1 adds support for the latest iPod shuffle as well as Genius features for movies and TV shows.  Other noteable features include performance enhancements, rebranding the party shuffle feature as iTunes DJ, etc.  If you are have an iPhone I highly recommend using the Remote application by Apple which has just been updated to v1.2.  This free app allows you to control multiple iTunes libraries on your Mac or PC as well as Apple TV's.  A wireless network is required for it to work.

AuthorMatt Kowalski | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Sunday
01Mar

AppleTV v2.3.1 and Boxee

DateSunday, March 1, 2009 at 04:49PM

Apple released the v2.3.1 update this past week.  The only new feature is for a Network Test.  It sends information about your internet connection to Apple to help improve download performance.

The update removes the Boxee menu on the AppleTV.  Not to worry, just run the patchstick install on your AppleTV again and all will be well.  On another interesting note, AppleInsider reported AppleTV sales tripled last year.  Perhaps Boxee is helping to drive those sales.  It was the reason I decided to get one.

AuthorMatt Kowalski | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Saturday
14Feb

Plex

DateSaturday, February 14, 2009 at 01:30PM

Plex is media center software for Mac OS 10.5.X. It was ported from XBMC which I covered in an earlier post. I believe the intent was to outshine Front Row on the Mac with a nice interface and support for more audio and video codecs. It also offers additional functionality in the form of a skinnable interface, python scripting, RSS feeds, weather, and file manager. Plex can also play media in your iTunes library. At one point there was a project called CenterStage in development which was a new front end interface for Plex. That project is now dead according to the Plex forum. The centerstageproject.com domain is also dead. This is a shame because the vidoes of CenterStage showed a great UI being developed.

Plex is in direct competition with XBMC and Boxee. All three can run on a Mac and all three are free. Boxee sets itself apart with it's social approach to media. It also supports internet video sources. I think it will come down to your preference in user interface. I really like Boxee for internet media and the social aspect is nice. I tend to prefer the XBMC interface though. Give it a try and decide for yourself. Download Plex at http://www.plexapp.com/

AuthorMatt Kowalski | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Page 1 2 3 4 ... 4 Next 5 Entries ยป