Smart Home Blog

LinuxMCE 0810 will have new design of its user interface called Titanium (see UI1 – SLD based GUI, on the picture above). In my opinion it looks more professional then old one. Moreover, users will be able to choose one of the several variation with different data grid colour.

All changes were done without special tool for designing LinuxMCE GUI HADesigner. Instead of that the graphic files were modified in the directory /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/Basic. A little bit earlier I changed background for media file browser UI2 (OpenGL GUI verion) using the same approach. Because it was difficult to read movie titles with black letters on the dark green. By the way, Titanium will be also available for UI2 soon.

Onokio announced two new 7.1-channel Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) – HT-S7200 and HT-S6200. Both models include Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Dolby ProLogic IIz, but HT-S7200 has five HDMI inputs and HT-S6200 – four. The price for those models is $899 and $699 respectively. So, it’s a good choice for all who don’t want spend a lot of time building home cinema but would like to get good quality.

Kodak recently introduced its new product – KODAK Theatre HD Player. The producer didn’t take into account Popcorn Hour A110 features. So, the player can play just a few media file formats (didn’t find MKV in its spec), has HDMI 1.2, 10/100 Ethernet and doesn’t have internal storage. instead of that it sports multi-card reader (SD, MMC, CF, MS, xD, SDHC), which will useful if you’d like to see your photo of video from the camera, built-in 802.11 b/g/n adapter and pointer with gyration instead of ordinary remote.

Considering that the Kodak Theatre HD Player is tagged at $299.95 I don’t think that it can be competitor for the Popcorn Hour or Xtreamer which are less expensive and provide more rich functionality.

[via SlashGear]

After Netflix LG decided to add VUDU service to its LH50 HDTV line. The owners of the 47LH50, 50PS80, 60PS80 and 42LH50 will be able to buy or rent HD and HDX (1080p) films on demand through a refreshed user interface that promises no stutters or buffering waits. Additionally new VUDU interface will allow instant fast forward, rewind and start for all movie qualities.

That’s really good because consumers will get rid of one box and at least three wires in their A/V stands. Will wait for similar service for Europe.

The well-known producer and seller various USB stuff Taiwan company Brando announced its HD Media Player Docking Station. It accepts both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives as well as USB flash memory, SD, MMC, and MS cards. The device has HDMI 1.3, component and composite video, coaxial S/PDIF and analog audio outputs and support Full HD and understand many media formats even MKV and TS. Additionally it allows to browse photos or read eBooks in the 1080p resolution.

The price of Brando HD Media Player Docking Station is a bit expensive – $199 comparing with networked media tanks. But it might be good if you have a lot of old SATA HDDs and don’t want to buy special cases for all of them.