The folks at Sony Insider have published some awesome pics as well as a hands-on video of the new Sony VAIO L Touch HD PC/TV system here on their website. For those of you not familiar with the new VAIO L Touch, it’s essentially an All-in-One (AIO) PC featuring a 24 inch Full HD multi-touch enabled display, Intel Core 2 Quad processor, dedicated NVIDIA GeForce series graphics, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, built-in TV tuners, and optional Blu-ray support.

For those of you with HP TouchSmart PCs, Sony Insider claims the TouchSmart’s touch-screen display are not as good as the VAIO L Touch touch-screen displays. Having used the TouchSmart PC myself, it’s probably not too hard to believe that to be true – I’ve always found the touch-screen on the TouchSmart a bit slow and sluggish.

As for the concept of a touch-screen HTPC system that can be hung on the wall – I love it. I’ve always wanted an all-in-one HTPC system that I can hang on the bedroom wall where interactions are as simple as touches and swipes. My only complaint – can’t we have a system with a larger screen size than 24 inches?? In due time I suppose (of course there needs to be higher demand for such systems..).

In any case, check out Sony Insider’s coverage of the VAIO L Touch. VAIO L Touch systems will have a starting price of $1300.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sony VAIO L Series HTPC

Elgato EyeTV users will be happy to hear that the company has released an EyeTV app for the Apple iPhone/iPod touch allowing users to watch live TV or recorded TV directly on their devices as well as browse the detailed program guide. Other features include:

• The ability to connect to any Mac running the latest EyeTV version (3.2)
• Automatically finds Macs on a network via Bonjour
• Remote access Macs running EyeTV using a free locator utility called “My EyeTV” also being introduced as part of EyeTV 3.2
• Support for Apple’s new HTTP streaming technology introduced with iPhone OS 3.0. Relies on Apple’s specs for adaptive streaming using H.264 video and AAC audio codecs. Also uses iPhone’s hardware acceleration for playback
• Once connected to a Mac, plays live TV, change channels, watch EyeTV recordings, browse the Program Guide, and start/schedule recordings
• Requires Wi-Fi connection (sorry no 3G support here)

EyeTV is available for a price of $4.99 at the iTunes Store. EyeTV 3.2 is a free update for EyeTV 3 users. Now if someone would only release a Windows Media Center compatible app for the iPhone…

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Elgato EyeTV, iPhone Application

Mirics announced that they’ve developed a new universal low-cost TV receiver solution for entry-level PCs based on their FlexiTV software-based receiver and utilizing CUDA-enabled NVIDIA GPUs.

The idea’s pretty straightforward – Mirics leverages NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPUs to help execute certain video decoding algorithms – thereby freeing up CPU resources for other activities and removing any need for additional hardware. This is a boon for low-end, low-cost systems which might not normally have the necessary horsepower to decode HD video. With this solution, users will be able to enjoy global TV reception – both in SD and in HD resolutions – on low end systems – even on netbooks

The FlexiTV solution is currently sampling to select customers and will be demoed at the NVIDIA Emerging Companies Summit being held right now in San Jose.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Mirics, FlexiTV, NVIDIA CUDA

Imagine for a second if you will.. a laptop which you can take anywhere around the world that’s capable of picking up GPS signals, radio signals, and all regional analog/digital TV signals – all made possible thanks to a single programmable RF IC (and some software). Sounds pretty cool right? Well all this will soon be a reality thanks to CrestaTech’s CrestaTV Universal Broadband Receiver technology. The company announced on Tuesday that reference designs and samples of the technology were now available for PC manufacturers.

With CrestaTV Universal Broadband Receiver Technology, manufacturers can ship a single TV tuner module which they know will work no matter what country the device is located in. The integrated GPS receiver helps the system figure out which regional channel guide to pull up for the area. 

The receiver itself supports formats including DVBT, ATSC, Cable QAM, NTSC and PAL, along with FM radio and GPS capabilities. CrestaTV is made up of the CTC-200/201 programmable RF and Interface IC as well as multi-threaded signal processing software. Equipment manufacturers can implement CrestaTV on PCI Express cards, PCI mini-express cards, or USB TV modules.

Here’s hoping that the next time I travel around the world, I’ll have a device with the CrestaTV technology embedded.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: CrestaTech, CrestaTV Universal Broadband Receiver, TV tuner

As we mentioned earlier this morning, Lenovo will be introducing several new products tomorrow in what amounts to their first entry into the digital home space. First up is Lenovo’s first ever home theater PC – the IdeaCentre Q700 – with features such as 1080p playback, digital surround sound, and connectivity straight to an HDTV set. Secondly, to complement the HTPC product, Lenovo will be rolling out their first ever Windows Home Server product –the IdeaCentre D400. The D400 provides a central storage solution for all of your digital content as well as providing an easy means to backup all of your networked PCs. Finally, Lenovo will be rolling out the world’s thinnest nettops in the form of the IdeaCentre Q100 and Q110 series.

Oh and one more item – Lenovo will also be updating their IdeaPad U series of notebooks with the new IdeaPad U450p laptop – a new 14 inch thin and light notebook.

Let’s jump right to it shall we?

First up, there’s Lenovo’s first ever home theater PC – the IdeaCentre Q700.

Features and specs to the Q700 include:

• About the size of a consumer DVD player
• Can be placed vertically or horizontally
• Supports 1080p full HD playback
• 7.1 digital surround sound
• Your choice of fast Intel Core 2 Duo processors
• Support for up to 1TB of disk space
• Eight USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port
• HDMI and VGA connector

Lenovo currently has one model’s specs up on their website (Q700-3015). This system features the following:

• Intel dual core Pentium Processor E5200
• 4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM
• Intel GMA X4500 graphics
• One VGA, One HDMI with HDCP support
• Choice of 320GB, 500GB, or 640GB 7200RPM SATA drive
• Multi-format DVD burner
• 4 in 1 media card reader
• Intel G43 Express Chipset
• Eight USB 2.0 ports
• microphone
• headphone
• FireWire 400 connector
• Realtek ALC888s HD audio
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Optional NTSC/ATSC tuner
• Black color bezel
• Measures 2.36 x 7.87 x 9.84 inches and weighs 5.69 pounds
• Available in August according to the PDF

The Q700 will be available through business partners and www.lenovo.com with a starting price of around $499 (yes.. I’m lining up for one of these bad boys I think..)

Moving onto storage now, as we mentioned earlier this morning, Lenovo’s first ever Windows Home Server product will be the IdeaCentre D400.

Features of the D400 include:

• Support for up to 8 terabytes of total disk space
• Hot swap different brands and capacities of hard drives
• Five USB ports including a front mounted port with one-touch data copy function
• eSATA port for high-speed data transfer
• The D400 will have a starting price of $499

Next up, Lenovo has these down-right super-sexy, super-thin nettops – the IdeaCentre Q100 and Q110.

Featuring a new stylish black patterned design, the nettops measure a mere 0.7 inches thin making them about the size of a book! Features include:

• Intel Atom processor
• The Q110 model will be equipped with NVIDIA ION graphics which means this box will be able to support HD video and provide accelerated media conversation etc
• Measures 6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Q100 runs on just 14 watts when idle and 40 watts at full operation
• Q100 supports VGA output while Q110 supports 1080p HD video with DirectX 10 graphics along with NVIDIA CUDA technology
• The Q100 will have a starting price of $249
• The Q110 will have a starting price of $349

Finally, here’s information on the newly announced IdeaPad U450p notebook/laptop.

• Intel Pentium SU2700 processor or Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Intel Integrated Graphics X4500
• 3-4GB RAM
• 14 inch HD antiglare display with 1366 x 768 resolution
• Touchpad
• 250 – 320GB 5400 RPM HDD
• DVD burner
• 6 cell lithium ion battery
• Wi-Fi
• Prices starting at $799

Have to admit – the IdeaPad U450p looks pretty sweet in terms of portability. These inexpensive thin and lights are certainly making heads turn if you ask me.

Technorati Tags: Lenovo, IdeaCentre Q700 HTPC, IdeaCentre D400 WHS, IdeaCentre Q100/Q110 Nettops, IdeaPad U450p Laptop

Those of you that know me personally through the years know of my fascination and small obsession with home theater PCs. I’ve been building HTPCs for many years now – and only recently decided to move the HTPC away from the television set in favor of the Microsoft Media Center Extender solution provided via the Xbox 360.

Now despite this, I’m still keenly interested in what goes on in the world of HTPCs – especially when it comes to case designs. This is why I found this recent ExtremeTech article interesting. The site profiled four HTPC cases from Antec, Chieftec, nMedia, and of course SilverStone and wrote up their impressions here.

The truth is.. I personally find these cases really.. how shall I say it.. UGLY? but hey.. what do I know right? In any event, the four cases profiled are:

Antec Veris Micro Fusion 350

Chieftec HM-02

nMedia PC HTPC 1000B

SilverStone Grandia G02

Enjoy!

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: HTPC cases, ExtremeTech

Netflix is finally officially available to Windows Media Center users. Starting tomorrow, users running Windows Media Center on Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate systems will see a new Netflix tile powered by Microsoft Silverlight within the “TV + Movies” section.  Just click into the tile and login with your Netflix account information. Once you’re in, you’ll have full access to the Netflix library as well as access to both your Instant and DVD queues. You’ll also be able to use the Windows Media Center remote control to navigate the player controls as well as the user queues within Netflix. The only down side – this is not available to users of Windows Media Center on any build of Windows 7 at this time.

[Check it out via eHomeUpgrade]

Technorati Tags: Netflix, Netflix Streaming, Microsoft, Windows Media Center

Korean PC manufacturer, Moneual, has announced a new Intel Atom-based HTPC system called the MiNEW A10 (though quite honestly, this is really more of a nettop system that a full fledged home theater PC given the Atom processor inside). According to Akihabara News, specs for the MiNEW A10 include the following:

• Intel Atom 230 or 330 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 160GB HDD
• Intel X3100 GPU
• Measures 220 x 67 x 220mm

Gotta admit – the A10 certainly looks cute enough.

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: Moneual, MiNEW A10 HTPC

SnapStream has published a blog posting detailing how you can stream your TV recordings made on a Mac running their BeyondTV DVR application. The process itself is fairly simple – just point your web browser to the Mac running BeyondTV, make sure to have the proper configuration, then choose the show, and stream the recording to the open source VLC player. This works for either standard definition MPEG-2 or high definition MPEG-2 streams made from clear QAM/OTA sources. The one caveat – you can’t stream a live TV recording. The show has to have been recorded already before you can stream it to another system’s VLC player.

[Check it out via eHomeUpgrade]

Technorati Tags: SnapStream, BeyondTV, Mac

Looking to watch a little digital TV on your Eee PC netbook? Check out ASUS’s new USB digital TV accessory – the MYC-U3100Mini. Features include:

• USB 2.0 interface
• ATSC/QAM digital tuner
• Watch and record digital TV programs on your PC or Netbook
• ASUS Pop-Up TV technology
• ASUS GadgetTV Technology – Vista sidebar TV
• Eee PC certified
• Support for Windows Vista, XP

Technorati Tags: ASUS, MYC-U3100Mini, CES 2009