Smart Home Blog

ASUS introduced the first networked media player with USB 3.0 support. Its new O!Play HD2 additionally is equiped with HDMI 1.3 as well as with Composite, Component and Optical outputs, USB 2.0 and eSata ports, card readers for CF, SD, and Memory Stick and, of course, USB 3.0 PC link. That player together with Seagate BlackArmor PS110 should demonstrate the USB 3.0 power.

Unfortunately there is no any words about date availability and price of O!Play HD2.

ASUS announced the new model of its HD media players O!Play. The Air HDP-R3 sports 802.11n adapter and CF, SD/MMC and Memory Sticks (MS/MS Duo) card reader missed in the previous version. The rest is the same. The player supports many well-known media formats and containers such MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, RM/RMVB, AVI, MKV etc. There are HDMI 1.3, composite A/V, optical digital audio outputs, 2 USB and one eSATA/USB2.0 combo port and Ehternet on the back side. Also audiophiles should be happy with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS sound.

The ASUS O!Play Air HDP-R3 will be available soon at about €90.

Good example of using used EEE netbook is demonstrated by German folk sidekickx81. He created a media PC for his kitchen. It allows to him watch DVB-T TV, video from online services or network shares, listen music, check receipts or weather forecast. In standby mode it can be used as digital photo frame.

The kitchen PC is controlled by touchscreen added with USB touchscreen set because original EEE doesn’t have that feature. It’s connected to LAN via WiFi. So, no additional wiring is needed. Moreover, thanks to netbook battery it can work a few hours after power cutting.

Nice idea, implementation and … music in video clip

The latest ASUS Eee 206 with HDMI output can be viewed in action in Hannover. In my opinion it’s the best option for the LinuxMCE media director or media client for the Boxee, XBMC or some other multiroom media system. More photos can be found here.

I already wrote about using ASUS Eee Desktop as LinuxMCE media director. It’s compact, cheap and has enough power to playback HD content. But with fresh announcement about adding HDMI out to the next generation of Eee desktop B204 and B206. Both models are equiped by Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz) and ATI Radeon HD 3400 graphics. Additionally ASUS Eee will get S/PDIF audio out.

There are no any words about price and availability of ASUS Eee Desktop HD version. But in any case it seems that it’ll be the best candidate to use as LinuxMCE media director or as a client for other media systems such VDR, MythTV etc.

[via Engadget]