Netgear Digital Entertainer HD (EVA8000)
The EVA8000 was released this week for $399. Jeremy Toeman over at LiveDigitally spent about ten hours with it (and shot 20 minutes of video) before flying out of town. I played with the 1080p Digital Entertainer at CES and thought it looked promising.
Apple TV
Apple TV ($299) is due next week, and Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD is getting ready. I haven’t been very enthused about this device, fearing the worst of Apple’s generally locked down media ecosystem. Though, I’ll wait for the reviews to come in before passing final judgment. One thing’s for sure, I still feel confident in winning my bet with Thomas Hawk that iTunes will offer HD video downloads this year.
Windows Vista Media Extenders
Supposedly they’re coming this year, though no details on who or when. In the meantime, I love my Xbox 360 on so many levels. (Guitar Hero 2, April 3!)
Linksys KiSS 1600
Linksys announced the Kiss 1600 at CeBIT with an April release at £260 — not sure what it’ll sell for in the US, but there’s no way they’ll move any (or sell them) at $500 (Google’s currency conversion). The 1600 seems to offer similar media support as the Netgear EVA8000, though resolution is capped at 720p and a DVD player is kindly incorporated. Linksys/Cisco arranged to buy Kiss in 2005.
Man, those are some expensive Media Extenders. I don’t imagine this’ll get me out of having to buy some sort of DVD/HD-DVD/Blu Ray device for every TV in my house, will it?
I know there are probably some serious technical hurdles, but wouldn’t it be sweet if these things could implement Multi-Room Viewing with Tivos in the house?