Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Xtreamer is announcing their latest media streamer, the Xtreamer Prodigy, which can also double as a home and remote server courtesy of its NFS and DDnS functionality. The new Xtreamer Prodigy makes use of Realtek's 1185 chipset, which allows the device to support full 1080p HD video with 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD passthrough surround sound. Prodigy provides 512MB of DDR3 memory, USB 3.0 connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet (optional Wi-Fi 802.11n dongle available), support for up to a 3TB hard drive, memory card slot, SPDIF, HDMI, and other nice goodies."

Network Media Players are a dime a dozen, but every so often one comes up that combines powerful video support with a great UI, and that product stands out from the rest (Boxee Box). The UI on this device looks better than most, and it certainly provides a lot of bang for the buck if the $69 price point is to be believed!

Product Category: Video/Audio Player

Manufacturer: CyberLink

Where to Buy: Amazon [affiliate]

Price: Starts at $49.95USD for the Standard version. Ultra version tested is $99.95USD.

System Requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win7 -- Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz+ or AMD Athlon 64 2800+ 1.8Ghz+; 512meg RAM, DirectX 9.0. For Blu-Ray: WinXP SP3/Vista/Win 7 -- Intel Pentium 4, CoreDuo or Core2Quad or Athlon 64 4400+, 1Gig RAM; blu-ray compatible drive. Full system requirements can be found on the CyberLink website.

Specifications: Video: Blu-Ray, AVCHD, AVCREC, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, SMPTE, VC-1, WMV-HD, RM/RMVB, MKV, FLV, HDMI3.1. Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/7.1/HD, DTS/HD/96/24, HDMI3.1, AAC. A full description of supported formats is available here.

Pros:

• Wide variety of video and audio formats supported;
• Blu-Ray and 3D emulation (needs compatible screen) with Blu-Ray 3D native support coming soon;
• Includes TrueTheatre video 'noise' filters and stabilizer.

Cons:

• Music interface is lacking in 'modern' features (album art, playlists, etc.);
• May overload some systems;
• Overloaded with 'social networking' interfaces.

Summary:

PowerDVD by CyberLink has been the DVD player of choice for OEMs for a number of years, providing a simple way to view movies on home PCs and laptops. With version 10, CyberLink extends the capabilities of the software to the point where a well-equipped media PC can compete with dedicated home theatre equipment. With Blu-Ray (TM), Dolby (TM) 7.1 and remote support, all you really need is a big screen monitor and you'd be all set. Let's take a look and see if you really need that dedicated Blu-Ray player.

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"TMPGEnc KARMA..Plus makes it easy to take control of your ever-growing digital video library. Sort, search, classify, play, and even compare your digital video with easy-to-use tools and controls!"

Hopefully the product is more user friendly than the product name. Otherwise, looks like a pretty full featured player with support for a number of formats. There is a free trial version and the full version will set you back $39.95

"The 605 WiFi, a fifth-generation portable media player from the French electronics firm Archos, is an impressive device. It boasts a vivid, high-res 4.3" touchscreen, 802.11g Wi-Fi (more on that later), and the ability to handle a reasonably broad array of media formats (although the larger, more expensive Cowon A3 handles far more). Plus, the 605 WiFi is available with hard drives of 30, 80, and 160 gigabytes or with 4GB of flash storage (the flash model also sports an SDHC slot for unlimited expansion). This review focuses on the 4GB flash version, which can be had for under $200 online and at a few brick-and-mortar electronics retailers. After using the 605 WiFi for about two weeks now, I've come to appreciate it quite a bit. It's certainly not perfect, but it offers good value and some of its attributes that seem like weaknesses at first blush actually turn out to be strengths."



This review covers the basics of the flash memory-based Archos 605, which can be had from Amazon for a very reasonable $189 USD [affiliate]. I'm always on the hunt for great video playback devices (I'm love watching movies when I travel), but I haven't had any serious hands-on time with he Archos products. For $189, I just might have to pick one of these up.