CES: More ways to get video from PC to TV
There’s a lot more video content on the Web these days, from YouTube clips to reruns of "Lost," but it isn’t easy to watch online video on your big HDTV. And while Apple may have grabbed the spotlight with today's Apple TV announcement, it's not the only company working to bridge the gap between your home office and living room. A number of devices and services announced at this year’s CES cover some of the same ground (without the splashy rollout).
Sony’s new Internet module will allow most of its new televisions to access free Internet video content, including some in high-def, from providers including AOL and Yahoo!, as well as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music. Known as the BRAVIA Internet Video Link, it will connect to your TV and your Internet service. It should be available in mid-2007; no pricing information yet.
Sony’s offering limits your viewing to the so-far limited fare of its content partners; the movie content is mostly trailers, for example. Other solutions allow you to view almost any Web content. Sling Media, whose Slingboxes allow you to send TV content to your PC, has announced the SlingCatcher to do the opposite: the device will allow anything that can be viewed or played on your PC to be viewed on a TV. No pricing or introduction details yet.
Netgear says its new Digital Entertainer HD (EVA8000), a box similar in size to a standard DVD player and listing at $349, will automatically catalog and play movies (including HD), TV shows, music files, and personal photos from a home network, across multiple PCs. It will also allow users to stream unprotected Web content. If your PC has an optional TV tuner installed, the device can be used to schedule and make recordings and pause or rewind live broadcasts. You may need a new router to use the Digital Entertainer, since it works only with some 802.11n-compliant routers.
Among other announcements, Microsoft also announced at CES plans to make Internet TV from select providers — including standard- and high-definition live television channels, video-on-demand, and digital video recording — available via its Xbox 360 gaming console by the 2007 holiday season.
We've reviewed earlier network media receivers, and found most of them to be best suited for people who are comfortable fidgeting with a home network and can tolerate occasional crashes and resets. The next batch promises both more robust features and greater ease of use. Only time (and our test labs) will tell if they live up to those goals.
— Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor
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