Netgear EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I really like this device, it's got great potential. However I should note that this unit is for techical users - not-technical users will probably be better off with iTV.
This box plays a lot more formats and has a lot more features - but it compromises on ease of use. If you are the kind of person that likes to tinker - this is definitely a good fit for you. Make sure that 1st thing you do after plugging it in (which was really quick and painless) is register on NetGear forums and request access to beta firmware.
Beta firmware addresses a lot of stability issues of original firmware and adds many good useful features. And access to beta firmware is free, also you can roll back to original one if you'd like at any time.
So far it played anything I tried (about 5-6 different formats). Firmware is being actively worked on, developers are active on the forums and actually listen to feature requests.
Overall I'm very happy with my EVA8000, it does everything I need at a fraction of a cost of Media Center PC.

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The NETGEAR EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD connects your TV and home entertainment system to your computer network, letting you enjoy the HD videos, music, and photos from your PC on your HDTV and high-quality speakers.
Easy Setup and Strong Security The EVA8000 plugs into your home theater system with a variety of outputs including RCA, S-Video, Digital Coaxial/SPDIF audio, HD component video, and HDMI for resolution up to 1080p. The Digital Entertainer HD supports both 802.11g wireless for up to 54 Mbps speeds, as well as wired connections via an 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 jack. Note that in order to connect the device to your home network with sufficient bandwidth to stream your HD videos, you will need to use the wired connection. Dual 2 dBi antennas are built-in for better wireless reception.
In addition to the hard drive of your PC, the EVA8000 also works seamlessly with the NETGEAR SC101 storage device (sold separately). There is also a USB 2.0 port, letting you play files saved on an iPod, USB thumb drive, USB disk, or digital camera.
The Digital Entertainer boasts hardware-based WEP 40/64-bit and 128-bit encryption and WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK for enhanced security.
Support for Digital Media File Formats The Digital Entertainer can handle a large variety of digital media file formats. Compatible audio formats include: MP3 (up to 320 Kbps or VBR), WAV, WMA (up to 192 Kbps or VBR), M3U, and AAC. Compatible video formats include: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, WMV (up to 1080p), and Xvid. Compatible photo formats include: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, and GIF.
If you have a TV tuner card (not included) installed on your PC, the EVA8000 will let you schedule recordings and pause and rewind live TV, providing an easy interface to your DVR. If you purchase two or more Digital Entertainer HDs and have them in different rooms, you can synchronize music throughout the house for parties, and you can keep watching a video moving from one room to another by pausing it in one room and unpausing it in another.
An included remote control lets you control all the media files on your home network, as well as from popular internet sites, from the comfort of your couch. You can also access your desktop and some applications such as email. The NETGEAR EVA8000 Digital Entertainer is backed by a 1-year warranty.
What's in the Box EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, infrared remote control (2 AA batteries included), power cable, Ethernet cable, component video cable, installation guide, resource CD, and warranty/support information card.

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LaCie LaCinema Premier 301814 500 GB USB 2.0 Multimedia Hard Drive (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I received the LaCie 500Gb today and hooked it up to my Apple. The drive was recognized immediately and it functioned like a normal hard drive would. I moved my music and movies onto the hard drive and downloaded the firmware/software update from LaCie's website (There is no manual in the box. Lacie gives you a CD that you have to load on your computer). After loading my files, I hooked it up through my stereo and television. The first connection using component video cables and an optical audio cable had a delay with the video and audio sync on my screen. I switched to the digital coaxial audio and component video and they synced fine. Once installed, I was taken back by how generic the software program is. The main screen has screen buttons for Movie, Music, Photo, Browse and Settings, but if you click on Movie, Music, Photo or Browse they all take you to the same directory. What is the purpose of having four on screen option buttons if they all lead to the same place? The remote is the same way; four buttons with the same titles but again, they all lead to the same place. (Since we are on the remote, I have to admit, it is confusing. I am moderately tech savvy, but I have not figured out many of the buttons - and the manual was no help). The fifth onscreen button takes you to the settings. This feature allows you to change the audio and video settings (playback from 720P, 1081i etc, audio Digital, analog. The default video output is 480P, if you have an HD TV, you will need to set each time it is unplugged back to 720 or 1080 or else playback will look grainy). Once I changed my settings, I chose the music directory. I have 14,000 songs from a couple thousand artists. This part was frustrating. When clicking the music directory, it took nearly 5 minutes to load the directory. It is terribly slow when reading and loading directories. As mentioned earlier, the screens are generic. When it finally came up, it showed the artists name only in a basic blue screen. When you click a name - it goes to albums. You can only choose to play an album or a track not associated with an album. There is no option to play all songs by that artist, just by album. The songs when played display the running playtime and kbs size and unlike the Ipod or Archos DVR stations, it does not show ANY album art. When that artists is complete and you click back to the main directory (for all artists), it has to go through the whole process of loading the artist by name (again ... waiting, waiting). It is frustratingly slow when loading the file directories and when reading the files, the whole system locks up until complete. In all, I played AVI, MP4, MP3 and WMA files and they do play fine, just extremely slow in loading. It was slightly better on the movie side but I do not have the quantity of movies as I do music. The movie on-screen display is again very basic. I have an Archos 504 with the optional DVR to play on my television and the Archos has a nice feature of giving a mini display of a scene in the movie next to the each file name in the file directory. The LaCie on the other hand has nothing but the name of the file on a basic blue screen. I know this is a first year model with LaCie and I hope (and quickly) they come out with a more interactive software update with a feature that reads the files by update so that the directory does not have to reload every time. I purchased this LaCie because I needed the extra space. My Archos is only 160gb. It would be ideal to have the software capability of the Archos along with the hard drive capacity of this Lacie. As is, I will use my Archos to store music and only the movies I need when I travel. I will use the LaCie to hold only movies. If you are buying the LaCie to place large amount of music files or any large file directories to display on your television screen, I think you will be disappointed, at least until there is a software update. UPDATE: 10/2008 When I wrote this article, the LACIE 500GB was selling for $249.00 dollars. I received one the first week they came out. The current price around $180.00 would make me give it 3.75 stars. I have grown to like it. It does play movies well, but as stated, it is slow loading. I was able to figure out a delay setting on the remote control to fix the digital audio and video sync tracking problem. The only problem is, it doesn't seem to be even with all videos, meaning I have to reset it with each feature. It is not a problem, just an annoyance if you cannot get them in sync right away. I have both analog and digital connected. Since the analog audio does not need adjusting, I use it 80% of the time. Lastly, and probably not even worth mentioning, but the back to the remote comes off easy and has now misplaced itself. Minor problem. Overall, this is not bad for $180.00. If it goes down to $150.00 I might pick up another.


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The LaCie LaCinema Premier 301814 500 GB USB 2.0 Multimedia Hard Drive lets you transform your home theater system into a virtual entertainment center, letting you enjoy your digital movies, photos and music from the comfort of your couch. With high-end optical output and 1080i upscaling capabilities, this drive lets you experience your digital media with HDTV-quality video and surround sound. Your Movies, Photos and Music on Your TV Are you tired of experiencing your digital media through the poor resolution and low-end sound system of your computer? The LaCinema Premier lets you play your digital media where you can enjoy it most--through your TV and home theater system. Simply connect the LaCinema Premier to your PC or Mac via USB to transfer your digital media files, then plug it into your TV for instant playback. This will save you time and hassle from having to constantly burn CDs and DVDs. Just plug it in and play it--the way it should be!With a 500 GB capacity, the LaCinema Premier can store up to 500,000 photos, 125,000 songs or 500 movies. Designed with HDTV screens in mind, it can adapt video content up to a 1080i resolution, and thanks to its optical output capability, it can also transform your audio into virtual surround sound. Best of all, you don't have to be a geek to get the full benefits of the LaCinema Premier. It was designed with the whole family in mind, with an easy-to-navigate on-screen menu and convenient remote control. If you know how to operate a television remote, you'll be taking full advantage of the LaCinema Premier in not time at all.Safe, Secure Storage and Back-Up When you're not using the LaCinema Premier to play back your photos, videos or music through your TV, you can use it as an external hard drive for additional data storage and as a back-up for your Windows, Mac or Linux computer. Since it comes with a USB port and cable, you can plug it into your desktop or laptop PC or Mac for an easy, quiet backup solution. The drive also includes LaCie's exclusive 1-Click Backup software for quick, easy backups.The drive is housed in an elegant, slim-profile black body and is designed to run silently without a noisy fan. It features a rotational speed of 7200 rpm and a cache of at least 8 MB. It measures 2.68 x 6.69 x 4.92 inches (WxHxD) and is backed by LaCie's 2-year limited warranty.About LaCie Established in France in 1989, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of computer peripherals for Windows, Apple and Linux users. With offices and plants in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong, LaCie develops and manufactures external storage solutions and color monitors that help professionals and everyday people easily manage their digital lives. LaCie has differentiated its products through original designs and leading-edge technology.What's in the Box LaCie LaCinema Premier, remote control, A/V cable (stereo audio and composite video), power adapter, USB 2.0 cable, CD-ROM with User Manual, and quick install guide.

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Cisco-Linksys Media Center Extender Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It plays our recorded TV, pictures, DVDs ripped to XviD (not DVDs in the player), and music from the other room with an interface that looks just like Vista Media Center. Wife acceptance factor = high. We are using wired ethernet (100) and a 1080p tv via HDMI. The supplied remote is good. Speed of menus is acceptable (even faster, if you turn off transitions in the setup). FF, rewind, pause, etc. are all fine for Live/Recorded HD TV -- looks perfect on our 1080p tv.
XviD files are a little slow to start up on the DMA2100.
I had realistic expectations and we are happy!
NOTE: This note is ONLY for people with a Linksys Etherfast DSL/Cable router. If you have that router, your computer will not detect the DMA2100 unless you also go into the router setup and set Filter Multicast to Disable (which is NOT the default). Thanks for wasting my time, Linksys. After the change, it works great.


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Sharing your photos, music and movies on your computer with friends and family has been made easy by the DMA 2100 Media Center Extender from Linksys. The device allows you to view digital photos, movies and high definition programs on your TV, and listen to downloaded music on your home theater sound system. It even enables accessing digital content and Internet services from your Microsoft Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate Media Center PC and wirelessly stream it to your home entertainment system. Its single learning remote helps you to easily navigate menus. The media extender uses existing high-speed Wireless-N home network.

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NETGEAR EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a pretty cool unit. Setup is a breeze and it even came with a DVI cable to hook up to my TV. It also has RCA cables. I have almost 1TB of movies in various formats(.avi .wmv .mpg) and it plays every one. Sometimes I cannot use the skip function if it doesn't fully support the file but it still always plays it. Transferring the files over was a bit harder. It was going to take 7 days to copy 1TB of files over from my server to the hard drive on the unit that I put in it. I even tried a direct cable and it was just as slow. I don't think it does any conversion but it is very slow. When you add a new hard drive in this unit, it formats it with Linux. When I put the drive from the Digital Entertainer in my Windows server it wanted to format the drive. I had to boot into a Linux OS and then I was able to copy the files over very quickly. The software that comes with the unit is pretty nice also. It lets you tag each movie file with information from the Internet Movie Database. It even displays a box cover. This unit also stores and plays music as well as Youtube videos streaming from the Internet. It will connect to your network by wireless or wired, or it can simply be a standalone unit. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because of the search feature in the unit. When I want to search for example, the movie "Zoolander", I input the letter "Z" from the remote and instead of filtering every movie that starts with "Z", it lists every movie with the letter "Z" in it like this...
American Zombie
Brazil
Crazy People
Dazed and Confused
Hot Fuzz
Zoolander
It's kind of a convoluted search in my opinion. Other than that, the Digital Entertainer is a top notch unit. It has a very user friendly interface with a nice remote control. It also has 2 USB ports and it can play media directly off of those or the media can be transferred to the hard drive. Netgear did a good job on the Digital Entertainer Elite!


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The NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Elite HD EVA9000 series (EVA9150 includes 500GB hard drive) connects your TV and home entertainment system to your computer network, letting you experience your high-definition videos, digital music, and photos on your HDTV and high-quality sound system, directly from your PC. The Digital Entertainer Elite also makes it possible to enjoy streaming media from the Internet--such as YouTube, Internet radio, Flickr photos, RSS feeds, and podcasts -- through your HDTV and home entertainment system.
Watch 1080p Media on Your HDTV from the Integrated Hard Drive or Your PC You've downloaded your favorite shows and movies from the Internet, and you've got hours of home video stored on your computer. Thanks to the Digital Entertainer Elite, you no longer have to restrict your viewing to your computer; you can now watch your digital collection in the comfort of your television room, directly on your HDTV.

The Digital Entertainer Elite can also stream videos and feeds from the Internet to your HDTV, bypassing your computer entirely, for the ultimate viewing experience. And best of all, you can enjoy your videos and photos in full high definition of up to 1080p, thanks to the system's automatic up-converting feature.

Huge Hard Drive for Storage With an integrated 500 GB hard drive, the Digital Entertainer Elite can even store your digital media, making it one of the world\'s largest video jukeboxes. You no longer have to store your movies and photos on your computer's hard drive--it will do that for you, letting you free up space on your computer.

The hard drive also allows you to watch your videos, even when your computer is off, and buffers streamed videos, so even if your network performance is inconsistent, you still enjoy glitch-free video. You could also choose to install a larger Hard Drive (standard SATA) for even more storage capability in the future (go to www.netgear.com/eva9000drive for Hard Drive compatibility list).

USB Connectivity For added versatility, the Digital Entertainer Elite sports two easily accessible USB ports for instant access to content via USB flash drives, digital cameras, iPods, or any other USB storage device. This means you can upload your digital content directly to the Digital Entertainer Elite.

Push 'N' Connect Wireless Technology NETGEAR's exclusive Push 'N' Connect wireless technology provides an easy way for the user to connect to a WPS-secured wireless network with a simple push of a button. With Push 'N' Connect, you don\'t need to key in long and complex wireless passwords. And it is dual band wireless-N compatible, so you get the fastest WiFi connection possible at speeds of up to 300 Mbps when coupled with a Wireless-N router.

Plays a Wide Variety of Formats The Digital Entertainer Elite offers compatibility with a wide range of formats, far more than Apple TV, Media Center Extender, Xbox 360, and other competitors offer. It supports video formats--such as AVI, DivX, WMV, MOV, and more--and audio formats--such as MP3, WMA, DTS 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio, AAC, and more. The Digital Entertainer Elite also supports 40 Mbps bit rates, providing you with the best quality audio/video possible.

Energy Efficient Design The Digital Entertainer Elite is a NETGEAR Green product, so you know you're getting an eco-friendly product. Its efficient power supply and automatic power-saving mode consumes as little as 0.01 watts of power.

Need More Storage? If you are a media enthusiast and have more video than one hard disk drive can hold, the Digital Entertainer Elite works seamlessly with NETGEAR\'s ReadyNAS DUO, NV+, and Pro products. Just dump all of your HD Videos on the ReadyNAS, and stream directly to the Digital Entertainer, it's as simple as that.

Compatible with Windows (including Vista), Macintosh, and Linux computers the Digital Entertainer Elite measures 2.0 x 17 x 10 inches (HxWxD) and weighs 5.56 pounds. It's backed by NETGEAR's one-year warranty.

What's in the Box Digital Entertainer Elite (EVA9150), 4-device Universal Infrared (IR) Remote Control (2 AA batteries included), power cable, localized to the country of sale, Ethernet cable, RCA stereo-audio/composite-video cable, HDMI cable, installation guide, Windows/Macintosh (Intel-based OS-X) resource CD, and warranty/support information card.



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