Monsoon Multimedia to Release the HAVA Titanium HD TV Streaming Device
We just got word that Monsoon Mulitmedia is about to announce a new product today dubbed the
Hava Titanium HD. We had reviewed the
HAVA Wireless HD in the past and we were very impressed with what we saw. It was a great device that really opened our eyes to the wonderful world of place and time shifting. Up until we played with the Monsoon product we really didn't see the big draw of place shifting. After a few days with their product we were sold. Well it looks like they are just about to turn it up a notch.
The new Hava Titanium HD is not just a slight improvement over their past products, but a complete revolution. What they have done is break up parts of the device into pluggable modules so that their device will be as future proof as possible. The device will ship with a USB dongle that provides 802.11g wireless connectivity and soon they will have a new dongle that will offer the 802.11n standard. We can only assume that they didn't ship with the n version since it is still in draft form and not finalized. They have also added support for external hard drives to be attached so that you can just record shows onto these drives and not have to have a PC on in the house to act as storage. Other plans include a TV tuner that will pull in the off the air channels so you can get the basic stations and you won't need a cable box.
We love the fact that they have gone this pluggable module route. They have basically come up with a product that can evolve as the TV and network technology evolves. As we see new standards and new ideas pop up the people at Monsoon can just release a new USB peripheral that will fill the gap. So as a consumer you won't have buyers remorse when some new technology comes out that your box doesn't support, you can always just add on to the box you currently own.
Read on for more info about what is coming in this new product.
Monsoon HAVA Titanium Features:
- Includes wireless 802.11g USB dongle
- Two USB ports for added functionality and future upgrades
- Stream Live TV - to multiple PCs simultaneously (Multicast)
- Component Input and support for HD video source (1080i, 720p, 480p/576p) played back in the native 16:9 aspect ratio on the client display - "HD capable"
- Supports Windows Vista
- Network TV Tuner for Microsoft Media Center PCs on home network
- Connects to any TV source such as Cable, Satellite, DVD, TiVo or a Camcorder
- Enables TiVo-like functionality on the PC. Users can record, store, pause, rewind and fast forward stored video
- All inputs include a pass-through connector, eliminating the use of splitters when connecting HAVA to home video equipment
- Streams video at an average of 6-8Mbps directly to PCs in home network in MPEG-2 full D1 resolution, at 720 x 480 pixels
- Streams MPEG-2 format over the home network, MPEG-4 format over the Internet
- Schedule and record programs for later viewing
- Allows burning of stored material to DVD
- Support for Windows Mobile 5.0, 6.0 cell phones and PDA’s
Another thing that we like about the Titanium is that they claim to allow unlimited( as much as your network can handle ) connections to the box so that one stream can be viewed by many people. This always pissed us off with the
Slingbox Pro, if you are watching the TV and someone else logs on and brings up the feed you get kicked off. We always asked ourselves how can it really be to allow to people to view the same stream. Well Monsoon seems to have solved that.
We will definitely have more on this product as we research it more, hopefully we can get one in house to test out and see how it compares to the
HAVA Wireless HD and the Slingbox Pro.
Read More in: TV Streaming | Video Streaming
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Posted by David Ficocello at November 7, 2007 7:30 AM
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