EdgeCenter - Invisible Computing

So you had to decide between a new computer and that flat screen on sale and you chose the TV. Start saving your pennies for Piixl Edge's EdgeCenter 3770. A mere 30mm deep, it disappears behind screens of 37" or larger. It has instant access to a flash card reader, 4 USB 2.0 ports, a Blu-Ray/DVD reader/writer and a 2.5" USB external HDD for large files transfer. The EdgeCenter will set you back £2,490 (~$4,050.)

Via Piixl

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Bristol ViewSurfer TV Includes PC

While it is commonplace to add a TV tuner to a PC, doing the opposite is not. Bristol Interactive is adding one to their 22 and 32" TVs. Turn it on and you get a built-in Atom powered netbook with 1GB memory, a 160GB hard drive, 4 USB ports, an RJ45 Ethernet port, Windows XP, a circular air mouse and a wireless keyboard. The TV has a screen resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels and is independent of the PC so you don't have to be online to watch. BI is planning on an October debut in the UK, with the 22" model available for less than £500 (~$810.00.)

Via Guardian

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Vudu Teams With Entone IPTV

Vudu has decided to think outside the box by piggybacking on 3rd party devices like DVD players, set top boxes and IPTVs. The company has joined with Entone that makes its own IPTV hardware. This summer, expect to see Vudu's software in an Entone update. Although the press release states, "This is the first time two competing visions are coming together in one unified service," we think it is more like survival tactics.

Via LA Times

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Broadband Customers Want Intenet Connected TV

Parks Associates recently conducted a study that concluded that 2.5 million North American broadband households will pay an extra $100.00 on their next TV if it is Internet connected. VOD is the top attraction, while others want on-screen widgets and access to computer content. This is proof positive we are becoming a networking world slowly but surely and companies such as Samsung, who have 3 new lines of connected TVs (such as the one above,) will undoubtedly clean up in the future. Read the entire report via the link.

Via Parks Associates

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Companies Team to Create Set Top Box

Samsung has teamed with STMicroelectronics and Metalink to come up with a new set-top box. The SMT-H6155 is wireless and equipped with an STi7109 chipset for HD video decoding and a Metalink's 802.11n WLANPlus chipset for delivery of multiple HD streaming throught an entire house. No date or price has been mentioned.

ABI Analyst Mike Arden had this to say, "STMicroelectronics holds the leading market share for STB decoders, and Samsung is the leading STB vendor in Asia-Pacific and second worldwide. Together, these companies will be in a strong position to capture market share in the IPTV STB market, which will grow from 4.7 million units shipped in 2006 to 41.2 million units shipped in 2011."

We believe it. We here at NAV know that technology is moving forward at an incredibly rapid pace and to combine companies for better products is always a good move.

Via ST Online

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Russian Intelvision Home Media Center

Intelvision Engineering, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has unveiled a home media center that is compatible with both Beckhoff I/O modules and controllers as well as KNX/LON/RS232/485/TCP/IP devices. Here is what is included in the package:

• Beckhoff CX controller server side (INTELVISION PLC runtime)
  
• Configuration Program (for PC) - to configure I/O, Logic, timers, groups, ext.devices (MediaCenter, IRTrans, Moxa, Kramer etc.), ext.interfaces (RS485, lon, knx, enocean, etc.)
  
• Visualization library - dll for MS Blend with a large amount of additional elements (dimmers, relays, command senders, buttons, IR, bells, video (Axis,) etc.)
  
• Native iPod Touch/iPhone software

That's a lot of media attention. Look for it to come stateside further down the road.

Via Automated Home

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A Brief Video Primer on IPTV

Lately we've been talking a lot about streaming set-top boxes and IPTV. The basic concept of IPTV is internet packets are sent to a box that then sends video to your television. While the concept is simple, there's quite a bit happening behind the scenes. If you're interested in how IPTV works from a technology standpoint, check out this short video:

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