All PVR

LG Electronics released an all-in-one home theater in South Korea.

With no word on a US release, you’ll just have to admire it from afar. This “Chocolate” inspired Theater-in-a-Box, has a touch screen along with 1000 watts of amplification for 5 of it’s 5.1 speaker system. The “.1″, or subwoofer, rates at 155 watts. The speakers may be somewhat bland for the home theater crowd, but the machine is refreshing.

Along with a touchscreen, here are some features:
1. Upscales videos to 1080p
2. Contains both HDMI and USB ports
3. Plays MP3s, WMAs, JPEGs, and DivX videos, as well as playing and burning capabilities of DVDs and CDs.

If LG can hit a certain price point in the US, it might do well. Unfortunately, all-in-one theaters don’t sell well in the arena of serious home theater lovers. What will the future hold for this boxed Chocolate Home Theater?

Found on Coolest-Gadgets

Also check out Athusa and Limited Edition Foods

From Teleglass comes the T4-N Limited Edition Video Glasses. The glasses create a simulated 45 inch screen (as if sitting from six feet away), with a resolution of 640 x 480. Coolness abound, you can focus and adjust each monitor to reduce eye strain. As you can see by the picture above the audio comes from frame-mounted earbuds.

Just connect any NTSC viseo player and enjoy. They look stylish, unlike the competition, and it’s hidden components reside in the frame and nose-piece. Word on the street is that they cost $1150 per pair, but you’ll have to hurry, because there’s only 500 available.

Pink Tentacle via Teleglass

And now for something completely different… Athusa and Backyard Birding

The “mythical” Traveling Terabyte Gear

In reference to an entry published on Sept. 23 (“Hacker Sends War-Tough Marines a Befitting PVR�?), I have received a generous update about the Traveling Terabyte Project. Go to www.travelingterabyte.org for all the official information.

This is an important project that connects us to our beloved Devil Dogs (Marines). It provides them a care-package that we can all share in to show support. Hopefully it gives the soldiers a bit of home when they’re abroad, and keeps them grounded when they’re in hell (Ooo-Rah!).

They are not yet taking donations (as this is a grassroots movement stemming from the generosity of one person, Deviant Ollam), though there should be something set up soon.

And, as a big fan of this project, I will also be posting updates and hopefully finding more supporters, at Athusa.net. Let make it work.

Very, very special thanks, and American gratitude to: AST Cell. As well as to all the people involved with this project.

Get your HD-DVR’s warmed up people. Like Jay-Z, you’re going to have a busy recording schedule ahead of you. With the launch of 21 new HD channels, DirecTV promises there’s more channels to come, “,more than any other cable or satellite provider”.

They say, “By the end of October, DIRECTV will deliver over 70 HD channels. And by the end of the year, you’ll get up to 100 of the channels you really want to see in breathtaking HD” (examples: CNN HD, A&E HD, The History Channel HD, premiums like HBO HD, Showtime HD, and Starz HD).

What do you think?

In keeping up with this week’s “mini-theme”, Western Digital also offers a 500 GB DVR expander for Scientific Atlanta, models 8300 or 8300HD DVR’s. It stores 60 hours of HDTV or 300 hours of standard-def TV (SDTV). It’s plug-n-play, utilizing a SATA (eSATA) port. It’s also super quiet, designed with no fan and a quiet hard drive. The LED used is also low-light as not to be annoying when in use.

“Deviant Ollam” is a New Jersey hacker/network engineer who saw fit to create the Traveling Terabyte Project (TTB). A program in which he sends hard drives, filled with popular movies, television shows and music, in Pelican cases, to Marines in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

Deviant said this about his revelation, “I’ve got this extra storage and thought ‘what could I do with it?’. It didn’t really make sense to put the disks into my already hugely ridiculous raid array.�? So, why not send them to a few Leathernecks? Everyone needs a little inspiration (even tough-guys). But, shipping the drives to a war-torn country could’ve been an obstacle, “You can’t really put the drives in bubble wrap and throw them in the mail,�? So he instead packed the equipment into the olive-drab cases with international power adapters and USB cables.

Once Marines receive the cases they often add their own files customizing and personalizing their gifts (becoming a snapshot of our modern heroes lives). And, like any grassroots movement, these drives have become a small overseas urban-legend. Eventually being delivered to the American embassy in Dushanbe Tajikistan, just to prove they exist.

Hopefully the Traveling Terabyte Project will get legs. I’m still searching for a donation website. If anyone knows of one, please comment. Anything we can do to remedy some of the stress of being in a war zone, is something we should do. They’re heroes.

From one American cyber-geek to another, thank you, ‘Deviant Ollam’.

More thanks to TG Daily for getting the word out on this project.

Need an external hard drive for movie storage? Look no further, Western Digital has come to the rescue. Introducing “My Book Essential Edition 2.0″, a hard drive the size of a paperback book. Contained within it’s cover is 1 TB of disk space, and a 2.0 USB port. It’s a plug-n-store device for all your PVR needs, and it costs $349.

The Diamani DUO line of LCD’s from Viewsonic has been launched. It’s a unique hybrid of TV and computer monitor. There’s a 19″ version for $349 and a 22″ version $399. Both sporting slim, sexy HDMI inputs, as well as HD tuners. They’re also equipped with VGA inputs. And to address your analog desires, there’s component, RCA, and S-video inputs. It’s the “be all to end all” of TV’s… I mean monitors… I mean… where was I? Oh yeah, It’s fine time someone tried to invent something useful for the practical man.

Electronista

At HGTV Marketplace, they’re offering a 4 seat spa with a motorized 61″ LCD HDTV. It’s a custom order through Catalina Spas, so there is no price listed. But, I’m sure if you have a vivid imagination you could conjure up a price close enough to what they’re asking. Who says the US economy is bad?

On August 31, 2007, I posted an article about a DirecTV secret-weapon. It seemed there was a product leak, featured in a CEDIA color-supplement, about a powerful new “Super-DVR”. A DVR capable of recording 100 hours of HD programming… Well, they’ve finally revealed it’s true identity.

The HR21 Pro is a rack-mountable rig that sports optical HDMI output and supports 1080p. It contains 2 HD tuners (for recording and watching at the same time), and not only records 100 hours of Hi-Def, but records 400 hours of Standard-Def programming.

Superhero of HDTV? Maybe.

It may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but it is capable of recording 100 hours of HD programming. It’s the HR21 PRO by DirecTV. This information was leaked from a CEDIA advertisement (shown above).

Here’s the mild-mannered list of known specs:

1. Faster than a speeding bullet! It’s equipped with “Optical HDMI Output (DLI)”. This means you’ll be able to have longer runs of cable, due the the use of fiber optics instead of the regular [short] HDMI cables.

2. More powerful than a locomotive! It’ll be the first DirecTV DVR to support 1080p.

3. It’s the Brand-Of-Steel! It’s rack-mountable, for those who have home theater rigs.

There’s no pricing yet available, and supposedly, it’s due for flight in November. So keep an eye out for this friendly neighborhood DVR (it felt wrong not to include at least one Marvel reference).

Originated at technabob.com, discovered on engadget.com.

Get DirecTV’s NFL Superfan and Sunday Ticket Packages and you’ll be able to stream live games to your PC. Unfortunately, Apple and Linux users won’t be able to use this feature. Streaming requires Windows Vista or XP. It also requires a football-sized wallet for the $368 clams you’ll be shelling out.

From Ars Technica.com

In an announcement that didn’t make much news, DirecTV said that users of its DirecTV HD DVR will be able to access pictures and music from their PCs.

DirecTV also said that it will allow the ability to stream video from PCs to the HD DVR, sometime later this year.

The kicker is that it can only work with Intel’s lame Viiv technology.

Pictures and music is something Tivo Series 2 users already get. The ability to stream video, however, would be extra cool and is something that I’d like Tivo to have. In fact, why not have a browser or e-mail functionality as well?

DirecTV, DVR, PVR, HD DVR, Tivo, Viiv, Intel, digital video recorder

CNet has picked up on what lots of bloggers and forums are saying: DirecTV’s HD DVR isn’t working correctly and customers are getting frustrated and angry.

In response, DirecTV is offering some comfort to frustrated users:

Many report being temporarily mollified with discounts, ranging from $5 off DirecTV with TiVo for six months or $10 off for three months, to free Showtime for a month. Others are not so easily placated.

PVR Wire also talks about all the frustrated DirecTV users.

And HDTV Magazine recaps the story pretty well and adds the following interesting tidbit:

On 1/8, DIRECTV released the latest (14th) software download. Based on early reports on DBSTalk, there are still issues with this release. However, it’s “a release candidate” (DIRECTV’s new strategy on the downloads: Make it voluntary and see how it goes. Then release it nationally when they think it’s ready.) That recent strategy is an improvement, but past releases still had bugs despite the “test and report” process by willing subscribers (I’m not one of them). In other words, it has not made the HR20 stable for everyone, so the drama and debate continue.

So lots of software updates? Sounds like DirecTV is having some programming issues.

Plus all the calls from disgruntled users means bad customer service. When will DirecTV finally make an error-free HD DVR?

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune gives a short but interesting overview of all the different options you have for getting a DVR. Steve Woodward writes that although Tivo is the “gold standard�? for DVRs, it isn’t the only show in town. Companies are now offering consumers excellent alternatives to Tivo such as:

Cable TV: (Like Comcast). These are great ways of getting introduced to DVRs since they have many of the same features as Tivo.

Satellite TV: (Like DirecTV). Another great option, but they don’t offer advanced features such as TivoToGo.

Freestanding DVRs: (Manufacturers like Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony and Phillips). The main differences will be the user-interface, and the electronic program guides. But oftentimes these freestanding devices come with extras like a DVD recorder for archiving shows. They can be more expensive, however, than other options.

PCs with DVR software: (Like Windows Media Center).Although a great feature, it’s not going to be popular for those not willing to use a PC as their method of watching TV. Great for geeks and other technies, however.

And the last one he mentions are DVR-capable TVs . These are TVs that can connect directly to external hard drives so you avoid buying a separate box altogether. They use the fancy new CableCARDs, as well. I’m not sure how handy these might be since they will likely not have an easy-to-use interface and you’ll still need to connect a hard drive close to the TV. But it’s still technology to keep an eye on.

Yet another category are the build your own or DIY personal video recorders, such as those powered by MythTV open source software. Anyone can now use a spare computer and build their own PC-based PVR, or buy a pre-built one such as the Monolith using MythTV.

Again, this is best for techies that are comfortable tinkering with PCs and Linux, but it’s yet another way people are looking for an all-in-one digital media experience with no monthly Tivo service fees.