Items tagged with media player
Microsoft continues to beat the Windows 10 drum, but many holdouts are still refusing to dance. Windows 10 has only recently surpassed Windows 7's marketshare, nearly 4 years into its life cycle. While we here at HotHardware like Windows 10 and its forward looking features, there is no denying the well-earned popularity of Windows 7. Microsoft is left with taking a heavy-handed approach to "motivate" users to upgrade. Microsoft's latest action is to neuter Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player for its older operating systems. The changes will not affect basic playback, navigation, or streaming. Instead, metadata services will be discontinued. The metadata service delivers information...
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We dig burly, decked-out gaming PCs stuffed with powerful hardware as much as the next guy around here. Sleek, ultra small form factor systems like the MINIX Neo Z83-4 we’ll be showing you here today, however, also have a certain appeal. Powerful gaming PCs are awesome for their intended purpose, but try sticking one in a typical home theater setup and things can so sideways. Not only will it usually look out of place, but there are power, heat, and noise considerations to worry about. Conversely, a miniscule machine like the MINIX Neo Z83-4 is so quiet and requires such a small amount of power, that you’ll wonder why every self-respecting geek doesn’t have a tiny PC attached to their TV.The...
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Tensions are high between the Chinese government and Microsoft right now, with the former banning the latter's Windows 8 software for government use. Taking it a step further, China is said to be building its own operating system, which it hopes to have ready by October. On top of all that, China's been investigating Microsoft over antitrust allegations, and we've now learned that it's Microsoft's browser and media player bundling that are of issue. Citing what Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce told reporters during a briefing in Beijing this week, Reuters says Microsoft hasn't been all that transparent about it's Windows and Office sales, but is willing...
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Small is in, and there's little questioning that. And the latest "small" gizmo is coming to us courtesy of HSTi. The company's Moboplay Pocket Media Player is said to be the world's smallest, measuring just 60mm x 64mm, which is smaller than a credit card. Even being that compact, it's capable of playing back 1080p material via HDMI, and there's a USB port / SD card slot if you want to load media up via either of those methods. Or, you could plug in the company's Wireless Media Stick to make similar things happen without wires. Best of all, it's just $89.95; trouble is... how will you keep yourself from losing it?...
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Western Digital isn't laying down and letting Roku and Apple TV run the in-home entertainment show. The company's been continually bolstering services to their WD TV Live hub for some time now, and this may be one of the most significant updates yet. This week, the company announced that Hulu Plus is available to WD TV Live Plus and WD TV Live Hub media players, enabling customers to watch hit TV shows, movies and catch up on previous seasons of their favorite shows. That's in addition to Blockbuster, Netflix, Cinema Now, Pandora, YouTube and Facebook, amongst others. If that's not enough, WD TV Live Hub users will now also be able to listen to thousands of radio stations via SHOUTcast. The Hulu...
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You might think we're living in an iPod world, but while that unit may rule the roost in terms of sales, there are still plenty of alternatives popping up for those who aren't onboard the Apple bandwagon. iRiver is a major player overseas, and the company's slick and sleek design language translate well on this site of the ocean. The company's P Series hasn't been updated in some while, but now that's changing with the introduction of the P8. It's a beautiful media player with a vast array of files that are supported, a battery that will last 9 hours, and 8GB/16GB of internal storage. There's also a microSD slot if that's just not enough. The unit also includes an 800x480 resolution display and...
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As more and more devices come with Netflix streaming baked in -- would you really be surprised if your next toaster oven had a Netflix label on the side of the box? -- Roku is doing everything it can to keep its low-cost dedicated set-top box relevant. Towards that end, Roku managed to get Walmart to start selling its Roku XD player. "We know that our customers love having instant access to entertainment on their TVs – and at great value. With the Roku XD player now available at Walmart, customers can get dad the perfect gift just in time for Father’s Day," said Roku Founder and CEO Anthony Wood. "Whether it’s dad-centric flicks, sports or tips for grilling the perfect steak,...
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Media players are popping out every week or so it seems, so we shouldn't be surprised to see Habey USA popping out another. The company's been pushing smaller form factor machines for some while now, and their latest is the most attractive yet...at least for consumers. The new Low Profile Media Player is equipped with a Mac Mini-esque form factor, an Intel 1.8GHz dual-core Atom processor (D525), two mini PCIe expansion slots, VGA and HDMI outputs, and the NM10 Express Chipset. There's also a pair of DDR3 memory slots (4GB maximum), Intel's GMA 3150 graphics, four internal USB 2.0 ports, one internal COM port, a single SPDIF audio port, an aluminum enclosure and support for VESA mounting. It's...
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Free flowing bandwidth; it's an enabler. There was a time when no one had cable modems or DSL lines. Remember that? Alright, fair enough, neither do we. Regardless, having a 10Mb+ data connection to your domicile is a thing of beauty, because there's obviously so much you can do with it. The question becomes not so much what the cable or telecom companies tell you, or sell to you, with respect to what you can do with it, but rather what a little imagination, and some optimized hardware and software can do with it. And that's exactly the premise by which service platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Google TV and Boxee were born, though Boxee was a bit of a pioneer in the space with the introduction...
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Free flowing bandwidth; it's an enabler. There was a time when no one had cable modems or DSL lines. Remember that? Alright, fair enough, neither do we. Regardless, having a 10Mb+ data connection to your domicile is a thing of beauty, because there's obviously so much you can do with it. The question becomes not so much what the cable or telecom companies tell you, or sell to you, with respect to what you can do with it, but rather what a little imagination, and some optimized hardware and software can do with it. And that's exactly the premise by which service platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Google TV and Boxee were born, though Boxee was a bit of a pioneer...
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AC Ryan may not have the name recognition of Western Digital or Seagate in the media player industry, but with the explosion of digital content, lots of smaller companies are able to get in while the market's hot. This is an example of one of those companies taking advantage. The Playon!HD2 and Playon!HD Mini 2 were both announced a few months ago, and now they're shipping. These players are the first to ship with the latest Realtek 1185 processor, and there's also a Gigabit Ethernet port, social networking compatibility, USB 3.0 and refreshed user interface. Check around at your local outfits to see if they've got any in stock. We suspect they'll be available online in short order, but pricing...
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Western Digital's WD TV Live Hub, which is what we're looking at today, is the company's fourth generation media streamer, and it's the most fully functional to date. Unlike the previous generation WD TV Live Plus, as well those that came out before it, this latest iteration adds several welcome additions, including a built-in 1TB hard drive, a built-in media server to stream content to multiple rooms, and more apps than before, including the ability to download movies and TV shows from Blockbuster On Demand... Western Digital WD TV Live Hub Review...
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One day while sitting in an office going over TPS reports, someone over at Western Digital heard a voice. It whispered, "If you stream it, they will come." After hearing this, he marched into the board room and pitched his idea for a streaming media player, and thus the WD TV series was born. Now whether or not it actually played out like this is irrelevant (it didn't); what matters is that Western Digital did build a line of streaming set-top boxes, and the customers have certainly shown up. Western Digital's WD TV Live Hub, which is what we're looking at today, is the company's fourth generation media streamer, and it's the most fully functional to date. Unlike the previous generation WD TV...
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In early September, Steve Jobs took to the stage and unveiled the new-and-improved Apple TV. What was once considered a “hobby” device was reworked, streamlined, made more affordable, and aimed squarely at the masses. It enters an increasingly crowded market of devices that offer near-instant access to libraries of recent movies and TV shows, as well other online streaming media content from the likes of Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr. Not to mention the ability to also stream media you already own—videos, music, and photos—from your computer to your TV and audio system. The Apple TV comes with a consumer-friendly price tag of $99, which is sure to give the likes of Roku,...
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In early September, Steve Jobs took to the stage and unveiled the new-and-improved Apple TV. What was once considered a “hobby” device was reworked, streamlined, made more affordable, and aimed squarely at the masses. It enters an increasingly crowded market of devices that offer near-instant access to libraries of recent movies and TV shows, as well other online streaming media content from the likes of Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr. Not to mention the ability to also stream media you already own—videos, music, and photos—from your computer to your TV and audio system. The Apple TV comes with a consumer-friendly price tag of $99, which is sure to give the likes of Roku,...
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CiragoTV has just thrown caution to the wind and introduced yet another media player into a world chock full of them. With Roku, Apple TV and countless others making their way into homes everywhere, consumers have more options than ever when it comes to streaming networked or Internet-based content onto their televisions. The new CMC3000 network multimedia center is a compact new device that's designed to play back 1080p media, and it has built-in timeshift technology that allows users to pause, record and playback live TV programming -- just like a DVR. It ships with a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, support for connected NAS drives, PC/Mac compatibility, UPnP support and Wi-Fi support via an optional...
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Is SanDisk back in the portable media player business? It looks like the answer may be "yes!" The company's Sansa line has faltered in recent years, with the last unit to come from it being introduced so long ago that most of you probably don't even remember it. The company's CEO once admitted that no one could "out iPod the iPod," so we just assumed SanDisk gave up trying as Apple continued to gobble up market share. Clearly that's not entirely true. The Sansa Fuze+ is the company's comeback device, but it's not even trying to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft's Zune HD or Apple's iPod touch. Instead, it's aiming at a lower-end market; a market that might better appreciate their slotMusic and slotRadio...
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Sony just recently jumped into the Media Player sector with a new N100 network box, and now an industry mainstay is coming out with another rival: Netgear just debuted the NeoTV 550 and NeoTV 350 HD Media Players. Both of these players play back multi-media stored locally at up to 1080p, with the 550 offering support for files stored on SD cards, USB hard drives and even files on Blu-ray. It supports 7.1 channel audio, but there's no internal storage space to speak of. The 350 is mostly the same but without support for external Blu-ray drives, and while a price isn't listed for it, the 550 will go for $219. In the meanwhile, Netgear's also introducing a slew of new PowerLine home networking kits,...
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If you still haven't picked up an HD media player for your living room, chances are that you probably won't. But if you just realize that you have a set-top box on top of your DVR or cable box, well, now you have another choice. Brite-View has been a quiet contender in the space for awhile, and while it doesn't have the name recognition of a Roku or Boxee Box, their newest player looks fairly decent. The new special edition CinemaGo BV-5005HD Mini CG has a pretty standard shape, complete with a USB 2.0 port, integrated Wi-Fi, a BitTorrent manager, access to MUZEE Internet radio channels, an eSATA port and the ability to stream almost every video file format ever created: MOV, WMV, MKV, AVI, VOB,...
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Another HD media player? It may not be exactly what the world needs, but it's exactly what the world is going to get. In fairness, we can't complain with added competition in the industry, but there's one thing in particular that the PopBox is missing that might just hurt its chances against similar alternatives from Western Digital, Popcorn Hour, Roku and the rest of the gang: no Netflix support. Produced by Syabas Technology, the PopBox name has been around for months now, but hardly anything has come of it due to it still being in the production phase. But now, the company is ready to let the world know that the PopBox is on the way, with a release coming in just a few weeks. Currently, the...
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We used to say that ViewSonic was seen primarily as a monitor company, but now, we aren't so sure. The company has expanded mightily over the years, offering a wide variety of consumer electronics devices ranging from portable media players to e-reader devices to a new living room set-top box. The new NexTV VMP75 is entering a market that's deeply crowded with options from Vudu, Roku, Popcorn Hour and (soon) Google, but this sector has still yet to go mainstream. So in a way, there's still a chance for more market players to grab market share. This new device is a network media player, capable of displaying 1080p content from external storage devices or streaming media from home networks and...
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Cowon's a company that few people in America have heard of, mostly because they don't spend a great deal of money marketing themselves here. The likes of Apple and Microsoft are much more known in the mainstream, but Cowon's competing in the same portable media player space. By and large, the company makes great products. They're sleek, they're portable and well-built. They're extremely popular in South Korea, and they're trying hard to widen their presence in other countries. There's hardly a better way to do that than to simply continue to produce new gear. The company's latest device is a real eye-catcher, and it's a great media player for those with smaller pockets. The J3 is a sleek, graphite-colored...
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