Smart Home Blog

Today I received a notification about release of new HD network player - SYVIO-200. It offers similar functionality as Popcorn Hour A-110 - HDMI 1.3Version, 1080P resolution, Torrent client, NAS. Its price is $220.

The funny thing is that. There is a mention about Popcorn Hour A-100 in the SYVIO-200:

The A-100 firmware is upgradeable to support future media containers, codecs and features

So, it seems that SYVIO-200 is just a clone of Popcorn Hour (its base is available for $199) but using different case. Or just Popcorn Hour description for its web site was taken as a base for SYVIO-200 specification. In any case we got one more networked media tank.

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HDTV becomes a standard de-facto in home entertainment area. Technology of wireless transmitting data is also very popular (who likes those annoying wires!). So, it’s time to develop a comprehensive new industry standard for multi-room audio, video and control connectivity” utilizing the aforementioned Wireless Home Digital Interface technology. Currently a special interest group includes AMIMON (WHDI creator), Motorola, Samsung, Sony and Sharp. New standard will be based on WHDI - Wireless Home Digital Interface, the key ingredient of which is a revolutionary video-modem that operates in the 5GHz unlicensed band to enable robust wireless delivery of uncompressed HD video (including 1080p).

Hope that new standard will make life of producers, installers and consumers easier.

[via Engadget]

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New Linux-based commercial media center is gonna be ship in August. The Cirgon supports 1080i HD resolution and offers 320GB, 500GB, and 750GB hard drive options together with controls management and playback of music, photos, and video. The full spec of HTPC is available here. The price is starting at $2000.

Personally I’m happy to see another commercial product which uses Linux as operation system (Fedora in case of Cirgon). But as I see that HTPC misses a few important features. First of all, Cirgon is designed for HDTV. But it offers DVI output and not HDMI. Also the HTPC equiped by 10/100 Base-T Ethernet while Gigabit LAN is a standard de-facto now. And the last but important missed feature is PVR. This means that Cirgon cannot play, record and paused LiveTV. Taking into account the price Cirgon and missed features in my opinion it might be more reasonable to buy Popcorn Hour instead of it or build your own box based on VDR or MythTV.

In any case, it’s good tendency that producers started to use Linux for their commercial media centers.

[via LinuxDevices]

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Iomega presented its new media product ScreenPlay HD. That multimedia drive is equiped with cost effective 500Gb HDD, HDMI port and component / composite connections and Coaxial S/PDIF output and USB 2.0 interface. ScreenPlay HD can handle most formats from MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB) and MPEG-4 (DivX3-5/XviD). Thanks to HDMI interface SD video will be upscaled to 720p or 1080i digitally. To comfort work with the ScreenPlay HD it comes with slim remote control.

The ScreenPlay HD is available on the Iomega site at $218.45.

[via Everything USB]

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David Coleman, director of CE for Honeywell International, shared his knowledge about HDMI installation and testing CE Pro. I found his recommendations very interesting. Especially a basic HDTV pre-wire. He recommended one HDMI cable, one component video cable and three Cat 5 wires run in a 2-inch pipe. That configuration will allow enough flexibility to ensure you have your bases covered.

If you need more detailed explanation of HDMI wiring you can register on CEPro to get The Installer’s Guide to HDMI - a free Advantage Series from CE Pro.

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