June 23, 2008

ZvBox Finally Available for Preorder at Amazon.com

The ZvBox was supposed to be released in June but it now appears the new release date is July 31, 2008 (My birthday, so I guess it's an Omen!). So what makes the ZvBox different than devices like the Apple TV, Slingbox, Vudu, etc? For starters, the ZvBox uses your coax cable to stream PC content to all of your TVs in the house. According to Gizmodo:

The box itself converts the video from the PC's VGA port into a high-def channel and sends it out to your home's coax cable network.
A PC app acts as a launcher for all the good PC-based internet video clients, like Hulu, Joost and even Microsoft's own Media Center.
The remote controls not just your TV, but the app on the PC too, giving you decent control over the otherwise PC-locked experience.

The article also states what the ZvBox really does:

As soon as you connect your VGA out to the ZvBox and connect that to the coax network in your house, it scopes out the channels occupied by your cable box, and picks one that's not. Any TV with an ATSC tuner will see the ZeeVee stream as a high-def channel, and display it as such via the coax input most cable and satellite customers have generally forgotten about.
You put the ATSC tuner to use, your coax cable gets new life, and you get an easy way to toggle from your other cable content to your PC's video bidness.

Even though the ZvBox is a bit pricey at around $500, this is one of the powerful media streamers on the market. So if you're an early adopter when it comes to streaming media, you may want to preorder your Zvbox now!

Via Gizmodo.com and Preorder at Amazon.com

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