Smart Home Blog

Long time I didn’t post anything. But now Smarthome Blog returns back! And the first post after the break will be about new release candidate 3 of Kodi 14.0 Helix – new name of XBMC project. Main changes of that version are:

• fix crash during video playback on Android 5 devices such Nexus Player and ADT-1;
• a few fixes of PVR system included into XBMC since version 12 (Frodo);
• some fixes for specified OS and GPU

It can be downloaded from here. Just choose desire platform or OS.

In the mean time OpenELEC – IMHO the best Kodi/XBMC based distribution to build HTPC, announced its own release candidate 2 based on Kodi Helix. Personally I prefer OpenELEC for my home PC based media centre and especially for my Raspberry PI HTPC.

I already wrote about the smallest QWERTY keyboard EFO Google TV Mini keyboard which was design to make HTPC control easier and handier. Recently EFO released a next generation of its keyboard – EFO Air mouse. I bought it and used enough to give some feedback. First of all, the quality of the keyboard is very good. New battery allows using it almost for month and can be fully charged from laptop USB during one hour.

As you may see on the picture, the EFO Air mouse doesn’t have a touchpad anymore. Instead of that it sports gyration mouse. It’s really cool but I have some troubles with it when I need a point it to specific menu item in XBMC and press left or right button using one hand. In my experience Gyration remote control is handier then it.

Useful addition to good battery and flying mouse is IR transmitter. It has a few buttons on the back side of the keyboard and supports two devices. So, using the EFO Air mouse you may control your HTPC by RF and TV and/or AV received or satellite box by IR, which is quite good for forty dollars.

I already wrote about EFO iPazzport – mini keyboard in the Blackberry form-factor with QWERTY and touchpad to control HTPC. Recently EFO launched a next generation of its product equipped with microphone and speaker to make voice calls via Skype, Google talk or MSN Chat. So, if you’d like not just control your HTPC but also make VoIP calls from your sofa then new fifty bucks EFO iPazzport is your choice!

I bought the Rii mini keyboard to control my HTPC almost year ago. I like it. But it lacks the IR emitter. So, I use remote control to switch ON/OFF my TV. However, the new modification of Rii called Mini i6 solves that problem. Except QWERTY keyboard, touchpad and media hard keys it sports IR blaster and special keys to control TV on the back. So, using it we can control both – HTPC via RF and TV via IR. The Genuine Rii Mini i6 is available and it’s just $49.99.

Lats month Lenovo released its new IdeaCentre Q180 home theater PC. The skinny box sports a 2.13GHz Intel Atom dual-core CPU with Radeon HD 6450A graphics and up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. It’s enough for 1080p playback smoothly. Additionally it can have a 750GB HDD or a 128GB SSD and Blu-ray drive. To hook up displays and peripheries HDMI, VGA, and S/PDIF output can be used together with USB 3.0 ports. Wireless connectivity is performed via Bluetooth or 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Also the IdeaCentre Q180 comes with compact wireless keyboard. It includes QWERTY keyboard, trackball and keys for media control.

The price for Lenovo IdeaCentre Q180 HTPC starts from $349. So, if you’re thinking about your own media center based on PC then new product of Lenovo can be your choice.