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Archive for November, 2007
Bridging the Ten Foot Gap
November 9th, 2007 No Comments
I love media. I've got hundreds of CDs, thousands of photos and lots of gigabytes worth of movies stored on my home PC. With so much content, I really wanted space where I could everything without taking up space on my PC. My solution was to get a network attached storage device.
I recently bought a Buffalo LinkStation Live network attached storage (NAS) device. It's 750GB so it can fit all my music, movies and photos. And since it's attached to the network I can access it from my home network, or anywhere in the world via the Internet. Pretty cool, eh? 
The one thing I'm missing, however, is the connection between the PC and TV. But since my LinkStation works as a media server, all I need is a compatible device.
Media extenders act as the bridge between PCs and TVs. They connect to your TV set and let you watch movies from your PC. PC Magazine wrote up a round up of products that can do this, including the Apple TV, Netgear's extender, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But the Xbox and PS3 aren't full media extenders--they're game systems that can do some movies and media center functions. And Apple TV has just been pretty much ignored by everyone, including Apple.
Now, SanDisk has unveiled a new flash-memory-based device that can take content from your PC to the TV. But no matter how SanDisk makes it look pretty, it's still sneakernet--you have to physically walk the flash-memory device from the PC to the TV.
Media extenders seem like the best solution for me, especially now that I've parked all my media on my NAS. The Buffalo LinkStation that I bought is compatible with DLNA certified media devices, like Buffalo's own LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player. I was also impressed by some media extenders that Linksys unveiled last month.
DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is still a pretty new concept that not may people have heard of. It's simply a way to share media between PCs, TVs and other consumer devices within a home network.
I'm pretty excited about having tons of storage, and am getting ready to buy a media extender to really take advantage of all my media. As much I love my media, I want to have it everywhere I go, and on any device. But alas, we haven't gotten there yet.
The one thing I'm missing, however, is the connection between the PC and TV. But since my LinkStation works as a media server, all I need is a compatible device.
Media extenders act as the bridge between PCs and TVs. They connect to your TV set and let you watch movies from your PC. PC Magazine wrote up a round up of products that can do this, including the Apple TV, Netgear's extender, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But the Xbox and PS3 aren't full media extenders--they're game systems that can do some movies and media center functions. And Apple TV has just been pretty much ignored by everyone, including Apple.
Now, SanDisk has unveiled a new flash-memory-based device that can take content from your PC to the TV. But no matter how SanDisk makes it look pretty, it's still sneakernet--you have to physically walk the flash-memory device from the PC to the TV.
Media extenders seem like the best solution for me, especially now that I've parked all my media on my NAS. The Buffalo LinkStation that I bought is compatible with DLNA certified media devices, like Buffalo's own LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player. I was also impressed by some media extenders that Linksys unveiled last month.
DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is still a pretty new concept that not may people have heard of. It's simply a way to share media between PCs, TVs and other consumer devices within a home network.
I'm pretty excited about having tons of storage, and am getting ready to buy a media extender to really take advantage of all my media. As much I love my media, I want to have it everywhere I go, and on any device. But alas, we haven't gotten there yet. 
Posted in Administration 30 Million HD Households in U.S.
November 9th, 2007 No Comments
According to a survey conducted by Leichtman Research Group, there are 30 million U.S. households using HDTV. That's about a quarter of U.S. households, and double the HD penetration from last year.
However, these figures are different that those from other research companies, like Nielsen.
Leichtman’s figures are lower than estimates from the Consumer Electronics Association, which said that HD household penetration stood at 32% in July, or some 36 million homes. But it’s much higher than estimates from measurement giant Nielsen, which said only 21% of U.S. households, or some 23.6 million, have HD displays.Some more facts:
- Low Over-The Air HD Receivers. About 4% of HD households get HD over-the-air
- No Help on HD Programming. Only 41% of HDTV owners said someone told them how to receive HD programming when they purchased the set.
- They Don't Know If They Own an HD DVD Player. About 40% of HDTV owners said they believe they have an HD DVD . However actual sales figures for Blu-ray and HD-DVD players are rather low.
Posted in HD 
