Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"PacketVideo ... announced today at CES that it is bringing the world’s most popular connected home experience into the mobile environment with the launch of TwonkyServer™ Mobile. The free version of PV’s award-winning TwonkyMedia™ server solution is designed specifically for Android handsets to take media sharing among connected devices to an entirely new level."

I have to admit that at first, when I saw TwonkyServer Mobile, I thought "huh"? I mean, when I think of a media serving device, I think of a multi-terrabyte server that houses the entire life of you, your family, your dog, cat, mouse, neighbour and five cousins who are overseas. I do not imagine a piddling 32GB chocolate bar that you barely use to talk anymore since your fingers ate busy twittering away. But on second thought, it does kind of make sense. While smartphones certainly do not have multi-terrabyte storage, yet, more and more people are using them as their entertainment devices, and in combination with TwonkyServer mobile and the right hardware, you can hop onto your friends WLAN and play movies without having to carry a dock, or adapter cable or any such nonsense as that. UPnP combined with DLNA is shaping up to be a universal media delivery standard, much like how bluetooth has become a universal headset standard.

"With TwonkyMedia manager, you can share your media on compatible devices throughout your home. Want to send a photo slideshow to your digital photo frame? No problem. Watch your favorite videos on the TV? Easy. Play music in every room in your house? TwonkyMedia manager makes all this possible."

PacketVideo has updated their TwonkyMedia Manager to version 1.1. TwonkyMedia Manager stems from the TwonkyVision Server, but unlike Server, it is a commercial program for Windows for $39.95. TwonkyMedia Manager is a UPnP media server that also works with the DLNA standard. It collects all your media on your computer and puts it into a pretty little library which you can manage, access and stream from all over your home. It can also act as a portal to YouTube, Flickr and other media sites. The recent update includes some performance and interface improvements along with an expanded Internet radio list and added support for several online services. There are several competitors with a lot of the similar features as TwonkyMedia Manager, so it is nice to see PacketVideo updating its software and not rest on its laurels.

"You love your media, so treat it well. The Media Hub makes it easy to organize, access, and share your digital video, photos, and music -- around your home and around the world. With massive capacity, intelligent aggregation, and media optimized file-serving capabilities, it’s an ideal way to manage your material, enjoy your entertainment and share your memories. Show your media how much you love it – give it a Hub."

I can't say I understand or am thrilled by Linksys' attempt to make me love my media, but the Media Hub does look like a decent upgrade from the standard UPnP capable NAS. The Media Hub comes with a lot of services that one would expect from current generation NAS like devices of something with Windows Home Server such as file aggregation, the ability to share your media with friends on the net, automated backups, but what makes the Media Hub stand out from more other devices is the pretty LCD screen that helps you interact with your precious media files via a five way navigation pad. While this certainly is a nice idea on paper, I can't help but wonder if they've done any practical tests. Any computing appliance I have, from a router, to NAS to a wireless webcam is configured and managed through a web interface. I don't think it's necessary to physically be there to change a setting, and the premium that a physical "control panel" usually commands is not worth it to me. Did I mention that it currently retails at Amazon for $429.99 for 1TB? Are you feeling the love?