Tag Archives | Netgear

CES 2011: More Internet Video to Flow to TVs, PCs and Smartphones

Posted by Jacqueline Emigh on January 5, 2011 at 3:34 pm

Wednesday is Press Day here at CES, a day when major consumer electronics players like LG, Netgear and Intel traditionally make big announcements in advance of the full show that starts tomorrow. If there’s an underlying message here in Las Vegas so far, it’s that companies are getting the word that consumers want to view more content–whether Hollywood- or user-generated–from and over the Internet, on devices ranging from TVs to PCs and smartphones.

In delivering a roadmap of LG’s TV plans for 2011 today, Tim Alessi, LG’s director of new product development for home electronics, listed “more content to watch” – together with connectivity to home networks and easier-to-use 3D TV – as the three key linchpins for the year ahead.

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Roku Everywhere?

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 27, 2010 at 11:45 pm

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Netgear’s release of a Roku TV box under its own brand, the first example of Roku being available on a device it didn’t sell itself. Now it’s official that Roku is looking to line up additional companies to build its software into their boxes.

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Roku Hits Retail, Thanks to Netgear

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 13, 2010 at 6:23 pm

I once asked an executive from Roku whether the company planned to sell its little Internet TV boxes–available from Roku itself as well as Amazon.com–through retailers. The answer? Not really, since the device’s low pricetag didn’t leave much room for markup. But times change: A Roku box is now available at Best Buy, RadioShack, and Fry’s. This one’s not a Roku product, though: Networking-product maker is selling the Netgear Roku Player NTV250, which it says will for for under $90. It looks like a doppelganger of Roku’s own XD model, and gets all the content (Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon Video on Demand, Major League Baseball, much more) that’s available on Roku’s own gizmos. Sounds like a smart move as Roku girds up to do battle with Apple, Google, and other much larger companies that are intruding on its territory.

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Netgear’s Stora: A Terabyte for Your Network and the Web

Posted by Harry McCracken on September 21, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Stora It’s been a busy few days for the whole idea of networked hard drives that provide direct Internet connections so you can get to them from everywhere. Last week, Seagate introduced DockStar, a $99 add-on for its FreeAgent Go drives that provides browser-based access to their contents. And today Netgear launched Stora, an all-in-one network drive with Web access.

It’s not a new idea–Western Digital is one of several companies that offer boxes with at least generally similar capabilities–but Stora looks like its specs and features should be appealing for the $229 price. It contains one hot-swappable 1TB drive with room for another (some competitors have no available expansion), has gigabit Ethernet, reads at 280Mbps and writes at 240Mbps, does RAID 1 disk mirroring, and comes with a three-year warranty (one year is more common). It also supports the DLNA and UPnP standards for streaming media around your network to various devices (including game consoles and phones). And Netgear says it’s particularly proud of the Web-based interface for getting at your music, photos, videos, and other files. (I got only a glimpse and haven’t done any hands-on tests, but at first blush it looks slick.)

Stora isn’t as fancy as a true home server like HP’s MediaSmart (which can, among other things, slice-and-dice digital video files for various devices in the background). But the price looks right for the capabilities–your $229 will get you more storage and more features (albeit in a larger, less portable package) than if you spend the same amount on a FreeAgent Go and a DockStar.

Geez, was it less than five years ago that a 1TB network device that had a lot fewer features and sold for $999 felt like a low-cost breakthrough?

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Video Streaming Box Announcements of the Week

Posted by Dave Z on September 10, 2009 at 3:23 pm

Netgear Entertainer Live ($150)

netgear-live-eva2000

The new Netgear Entertainer Live (EVA2000) was originally announced as a VuNow platform device at Netgear’s CES press conference back in January. At that time, I saw the unnamed Netgear product demo-ed using VuNow’s non-distinctive hardware, but has since been repackaged with some left over Netgear router enclosures. In addition to YouTube and CinemaNow VOD access, and unlikeRoku’s similar small box solution, the EVA 2000 is also capable of streaming a wide variety of local media. PlayOn is supported (and offered at a discount), but that PC-based software hack is only interesting until Hulu drops the hammer (technically or legally). However, this $150 box should gain a bit more traction thanVerismo’s VuNow with the Netgear brand and retail relationships.

LG BD390 Blu-ray Player with Vudu ($400)

lg-BD390-vudu

Vudu continues to execute on their hardware diversification strategy as LG announces a network upgrade to their existing 802.11n-capable Blu-ray player. The smooth Vudu experience and extensive HD video-on-demand library joins Netflix on YouTube on the well-regarded connected BD390. While the $400 MSRP may seem a bit steep for what it offers and compared to the Sony unit below, this box can be found online for significantly less. We’re hopeful of taking a look at a review loaner in the near future.

Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player with Bravia VOD (~$250)

sony-bdp-n460

Sony just unveiled a new Bravia-connected device at CEDIA. The BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player will be available in October “for about $250″ and features “Bravia” Internet services, including video-on-demand, YouTube, Slacker, and Netflix streaming. While it doesn’t incorporate the type of wireless connectivity found in the LG BD390 above, Sony’s upcoming model sure looks aggressively priced to boost holiday sales.

(This post republished from Zatz Not Funny.)