Disqus - Latest Comments for davezatz

Re: Remote Control Design – What’s the Ideal Remote?

davezatz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:34:12 -0000

Back when I had a true theater, I needed a Harmony. Not only did it control the typical AV gear, it also controlled my Lutron lights and some basic HTPC IR functionality. Of course, you need to keep a keyboard handy with a HTPC in the mix. These days, with extenders it's a bit easier on the family (WAF).

Re: Introducing the New DISQUS

eddiepetosa — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:08:38 -0000

bras

Re: Deal of the Day – LG BD390 $240 Free Shipping

davezatz — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:43:09 -0000

That's a good price. I almost picked one up a couple weeks ago but Vudu hadn't launched (it should be live now) and then I saw the Samsung with Netflix and Pandora is down to $199. But this has builtin wireless and supposedly boots very fast. Still thinking about it...

Re: Asus Eee Top ET2002 review

davezatz — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:37:59 -0000

Wow, that's wild. And quite versatile indeed given the types of products that come through my place. Of course, I'll wait for the Windows 7 version before thinking about it.

Re: Deal of the Day – PlayOn $30

twitter-15050873 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:17:38 -0000

As long as Hulu provides its videos in the form of web based flash video, then a persistent individual (or company in this case) will always be able to get access to the videos. They can't cut off PlayOn any more than they could cut off IE.

But if at some point PlayOn decides that getting at the original hulu videos is too much "cat and mouse" trouble, they can switch over to the screencasting type solution they're cooking up now now that they use for Netflix and Amazon VOD. Its basically just an extension of how Boxee does it where-in they act as a browser, grab the flash video player, and playback the video. PlayOn just takes it a step further and encodes the output into mpeg-2 to allow them to stream it to any device.

Re: Deal of the Day – PlayOn $30

davezatz — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:06:11 -0000

I think it's more likely PlayOn is just too small to merit attention at this point. Boxee also went down the feed route and was blocked. PlayOn has the added benefit of hopefully using your local IP rather than something server/cloud based that could be easily blocked.

Re: Deal of the Day – PlayOn $30

geektonic — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:28:58 -0000

They do run the $10 off pretty often. Last month they had a $20 off as well.

I've been pretty impressed that PlayOn has been able to avoid Hulu's wrath. I think they're getting away with it this far because of the way PlayOn access Hulu - via the RSS feeds. To block them Hulu would have to remove all RSS feeds so at this point is a simple cat & mouse game which PlayOn has handled better than boxee.

Re: Deal of the Day – PlayOn $30

davezatz — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:12:49 -0000

They perpetually offer a $10 off coupon (trust me, I've been getting the spam for months), but the service is a hack and only interesting until Hulu blocks them. My $.02.

Re: More Information on the ATI CableCard Tuner Firmware Update

davezatz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:23:30 -0000

Cox, my new provider, also tags everything but the OTA networks, killing TivoToGo and multi-room viewing. Sucks.

Re: Is there a future for Home Theater PC’s?

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:12:07 -0000

Well, when it comes to input, let's just say I'm agnostic about sources. ;) Nonetheless, with the Hauppauge capture device, I can get all my cable shows in HD, so a CableCARD right now is not particularly appealing.

Re: Is there a future for Home Theater PC’s?

davezatz — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:04:25 -0000

You gotta tell us what devices you're using for input. :) if this Ceton multi-stream CableCARD tuner comes out soon and without breaking the bank, I'm probably going Windows 7 on at least 1 TV. Could be more if some new extenders come out. (PS Brent just received the new Popcorn Hour - will be interesting to see what he has to say.)

Re: Oneok Sues Twitter For Trademark Infringement

davezatz — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:52:33 -0000

How does Twitter decide who a well known individual (or site) is? I've got more followers than at least one verified account... But maybe since I don't tweet/blog exclusively about Web 2.0, I'm locked out.

Re: Hauppauge Will Sell CableCard Tuners

davezatz — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:57:29 -0000

Unless it supports multistream CableCARDs like the Ceton or is extremely inexpensive, I can't see a reason to go with them. I sure hope we see some new Media Extenders announced once Windows 7 goes live. I'd prefer a centrally managed DVR model.

Re: Multi Channel CableCard Tuner for MediaCenter Arrives from Ceton

davezatz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:40:09 -0000

I also may have confused myself. I originally read the article from my phone while at a meeting. ;) I see you mean card as in the card that goes into the PC (versus say ATI's external tuner).

Re: Multi Channel CableCard Tuner for MediaCenter Arrives from Ceton

geektonic — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:27:21 -0000

Yes, you're correct Dave - It is the tuner/slot.

Re: Multi Channel CableCard Tuner for MediaCenter Arrives from Ceton

davezatz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:52:59 -0000

Is it really the card? It's probably just a regular old Multistream card. It's the tuner/slot they are providing - yes?

Re: iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T in 2010? Maybe

anon — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:51:40 -0000

You wouldn't need a super phone for universal 3G. You can take an unlocked phone to any carrier on 3G now and pop in a new SIM card and go. Verizon and Sprint also both have 3G networks in addition to the CDMA and TMDA networks. Most of the newer Verizon phones are quadband, which includes 3G.

Re: iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T in 2010? Maybe

davezatz — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:01:33 -0000

Of course it's not as simple as just releasing a model that works with all carriers. Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, while AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM. Further confusing it, AT&T and T-Mobile use different frequencies for 3G. So they'd need separate models or a super-model than handles all the GSM 3G possibilities. So while AT&T's exclusivity may end at some point, expect a second model to be mated to a second carrier.

Re: How DivX delivered DRM into the living room and finally won Hollywood’s blessing

davezatz — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:07:05 -0000

There's no room left in the market for these guys. Done, and doner.

Re: Disqus Forks Into Two Products, Launches Revamped Real-Time Comment System

davezatz — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:59:43 -0000

Disqus saw a fork in the road and took it.

(Ignore me, just testing.)

Re: Disqus Forks Into Two Products, Launches Revamped Real-Time Comment System

davezatz — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:56:09 -0000

Disqus forks, all right.

Re: Keeping the Analog Hole Open

jarkhd — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:50:29 -0000

Dave, I am using the very simple splitter from monoprice, http://tinyurl.com/c52oxw, which supports audio splitting as well. The only problem inherent to all splitters of this type is that it has to find the least common denominator for resolution so if you have a 1080p projector and a 720p tv set you will have to watch both at 720p for example. For 33 dollars it has worked splitting ps3 and directv so far and I recommend it. I found that the gefen had a scalar that would do what you want scaling 720p to 1080i, http://tinyurl.com/o749cb, but it would probably be cheaper in that case to upgrade the tv. Glad you enjoyed the article.

Re: Keeping the Analog Hole Open

davezatz — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:27:26 -0000

Which HDMI splitter are you using and do you recommend it? I need a simple one for my bedroom HDTV that passes both video and audio.

Speaking of converters, is there anything out there that massages a 720p signal into a 1080i one? My Roku box doesn't work with my 30" tube HDTV that doesn't natively do 720p. :/

Re: Keeping the Analog Hole Open

davezatz — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:15:14 -0000

It's not so open in the UK where most devices ship without component outputs these days.

Nice article, jarkhd - I enjoyed it!

Re: VideoReDo New Beta Available

geektonic — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:02:32 -0000

good point Dave - I forgot to mention that VRD has some very nice features to work with TiVo recordings.