Curious about those DirecTV tuners coming for Windows 7 Media Center? You know, the ones everyone was told would arrive for Vista eventually…  Well, Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD is in Seattle visiting with the Microsoft eHome offices and got a bunch of photos of those DirecTV HDPC-20’s in action. For those of you interested (this means most Media Center users) this EndgadgetHD post is a must read.

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Geek Tonic.

Hot on the heals of the Neuros Link unveiling, Verismo announces their VuNow video-to-the-TV solution will be available December 15th. Initially dubbed “the PoD” when NewTeeVee introduced it in June, VuNow provides the sort of features we’re coming to expect in the current generation of media extenders… In additional to typical, local media streaming and playback, a variety of web video will be made available. Free content will be ferreted out through partnerships with YouTube and vTap, while premium content will be available for purchase through a partnership with CinemaNow (now owned by Sonic). Although the box was originally announced at $99, it’s yet to be seen if they’ll actually launch at that price point. At the very least, “premium media” playback capabilities (via PC software?) look to be an upsell.

The Financial Times reports that Hulu.com, the upstart video streaming and sharing site founded by NBC and backed by News Corp, is projected to equal or possibly even surpass YouTube in U.S. advertising revenue next year. This doesn’t remotely surprise me despite the fact that Google has been trying to monetize since acquiring YouTube two years ago. Why? Well, ask any young person, especially college students, how they’re getting their television. It seems most of them get at least some content online, and many are using Hulu.com as a source. Do kids (and others) still get TV from torrents? Some do, but it’s hard to beat Hulu for quickly and easily catching up on a show. YouTube is better known for user-generated junk (UGJ). Yes there’s some good stuff in there, but the catalog is so polluted that it’s nearly impossible to find the good stuff. And other than a few CBS shows, you’ll not find much “broadcast” television to catch up on.

Read the rest of this entry at Geek Tonic »

The New Xbox Experience (NXE) has finally arrived. And I imagine many will be rushing home from work to check it out tonight. Some thoughts, after living with it a few weeks…

The most obvious changes you’ll see are to the interface. Microsoft blew up the “blades” and has pretty much started from scratch. While some organization and navigation conventions will feel vaguely familiar, the look & feel is vastly different. Some have said it’s more efficient and better organized, though I’m not so sure - perhaps a couple years of muscle memory is holding me back.

The first thing you’ll want to do is create an avatar. While I’ll still not entirely sold on the concept (or point), here’s my first, best, and only attempt at a virtual DZ. Once you’ve gotten past that, Netflix subscribers who have Xbox Live Gold membership should immediately download and sample the video player. (You’ll also want a remote.) It’s a pretty nice experience, other than the limited fast forward and rewind functionality, especially due to the introduction of select high definition movies and television programming. Though, competitor Sony (PS3) may be playing licensing hardball. Speaking of downloadable content, the Xbox Marketplace is now available on the web - view your history and purchase new stuff: videos, games, themes.

Last, but surely not least, of the notable new features is the ability to rip games to the hard drive. I highly recommend this for titles you plan to invest significant time in - Call of Duty World at War in my case. While you’ll still need to keep a game disc in the drive for authentication, it’s not going to spin up with considerable noise while you play. I assume it also reduces load times.

Once you’ve taken the New Xbox Experience for a spin, let us know in the comments what works for you and what MS muffed. And if you’re looking for a bit more guidance, check out Gizmodo’s Top Ten List or NewTeeVee’s summary of Netflix streaming.

While Slacker and Pandora are breaking out of the computer, FlyCast is expanding beyond mobile handsets and has just introduced desktop software. The Adobe Air application is both Mac and PC compatible and joins their initial iPhone and Blackberry clients. FlyCast streams a variety of free music and news programming, including many regional radio station simulcasts. As you can see above, the OS X implementation looks a lot like the iPhone interface… and I’m not quite sure how Apple will feel about that. Alhough I appreciate that FlyCast’s app is much more compact than Pandora’s Adobe Air experiment beta, the XM Vista freeware gadget still offers the slickest desktop music integration. Too bad I’m no longer a subscriber.

The Slacker Internet radio experience has just landed within Sony’s Bravia ecosystem. Owners of select Bravia HDTVs and the Bravia Internet Video Link ($300) media extender can now stream music from Mari’s favorite online source. Similar in concept to Pandora’s Samsung Blu-ray player offering, this free Slacker service joins a variety of online content providers, such as Amazon Video on Demand (pay) and YouTube (free), on Sony’s platform. As with Slacker’s browser-based and portable hardware options, millions of licensed songs can be streamed from over “100 individually programmed genre music stations.” Though, I’m continuing to hold out for the soon-to-be-released Blackberry app…

Another day, another media extender. However, the new Neuros Link ($300) tackles the issue of moving web video to the television in a unique and more practical way. While products like the SlingCatcher, D-Link DSM-300, ZvBox, and PlayOn require a local PC to acquire, transcode, and serve Internet video, the Neuros is handling this function in the cloud via the also new and subscription-free Neuros.TV online service. In addition to channeling a large selection of web video, such as Hulu and CBS, the Neuros Link Ubuntu platform can also playback a wide variety of local media files at up to 1080p.

The technical specs aren’t comprehensive… So while I assume external storage can be directly connected to any of the 6 USB ports, it’s not clear if the unit will also support local streaming from computer or NAS. As an owner of Neuros’ previous generation product, the OSD, I also wonder if the Neuros Link will offer video recording functionality.

While this product is now leaving beta, Neuros is classifying it as a Gamma release - meaning the experience may still be a bit rough around the edges, is intended for early adopters, and a 4 month-no-questions-asked return policy is in effect.