The Digital Lifestyle Show 274 Cutting The Cord

Andrew Edney
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3
The Digital Lifestyle Show 274 Cutting The Cord

Ian over at the Digital Lifestyle.com has just released the Digital Lifestyle Show podcast show 274. And for some strange reason I am NOT on it this week.

DLS Show

Here is what Ian has to say about this weeks show:

This week Garry and I chat with George Hines about  using Windows Media Center to cut the cord from pay TV and reduce the monthly bills. George has documented his experiences on his blog where he talks about how to get the content you want and not have to pay massive cable bills. So Garry and I talk with George about his experiences over the last 6 months and find out the pros and cons of his solution.

I also talk about the weeks news with Garry including the HP Slate, MCE LoveFilm, Simple.TV, Media Center Health Monitor updates and My Moives

Links from this weeks show:

As usual you can listen to the show here.

And don’t worry, I will be back on next week!

Updated DA Document Manager 2010 Add-In for Windows Home Server Released

Andrew Edney
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2
Updated DA Document Manager 2010 Add-In for Windows Home Server Released

Group Seven Technology have just released an updated version of their DA Document Manager 2010 add-in for Windows Home Server, bringing it up to version 3.1.105.

DA box

Here is the full press release:

OVIEDO, Florida – September 28, 2010 – Group Seven Technology today announced its update release 3.1.105 of DA Document Manager™ 2010 – Windows Home Server Edition is now available.  Existing customers will receive download instructions in our special update eNewsletter.

This update incorporates new customer requests and some minor fixes.  This update continues in the tradition to provide our customers with the most relevant enhancements while continuing to foster the best tool for the general public’s new embrace of “going paperless” and a “green lifestyle”.  We continue to listen in detail to our customer base to add the most requested features to our products.

Some of the new features include:

  • Added support that automatically creates backups of modified files and stores them in a new History Folder on the Server
  • Added support for new documents to be combined with stored documents.  New documents can be pre-pended, appended or can replace an existing document by simply using drag-and-drop from the workspace inbox.
  • Added support for searching for text within a PDF
  • Users can now remove a password from a password protected document (if the password is known)
  • Added support for special foreign language characters like umlauts (alt/älter/am ältesten)
  • Added German language support
  • Added ability to translate default Category and Subcategory lists between German and English
  • Added a number of Auto Fill Form enhancements
  • The Scanner Option button in the ribbon toolbar now remembers the selection after restart
  • Added print button on the ribbon toolbar for printing search results
  • The client PC application now loads much faster

Originally developed in 2004 for private corporations, Digital ArcHound™ Document Manager redesigned for Windows Home Server users since 2007. The new release takes on the new name DA Document Manager as it embraces the latest ribbon technology. Ribbon technology has been made popular by Microsoft Office 2007/2010 including streamlined features with quicker response time and a whole new level of intuitiveness.

“We didn’t want to provide users with just another way to archive documents similar to all of those currently available; we wanted to create a new and relevant process solely with the end-user in mind.” – Glenn Hansen, Group Seven Technology.

DA Document Manager provides businesses and individuals both with a well thought out and versatile document archiving software application that makes a nice compliment to DA Document Manager Internal Viewer, Adobe’s FREE Acrobat Reader or any other PDF viewer setup for the Internet Explorer Browser.

Founded in 1998, Group Seven Technology has pioneered a number of the software innovations, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Digital ArcHound is a trademark of Group Seven Technology, Inc. in the United States of America and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

You can download the latest version from here.

TunerFree MCE Version 4.1.0 Available Now for Windows Media Center

Andrew Edney
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3
TunerFree MCE Version 4.1.0 Available Now for Windows Media Center

It was only a few weeks ago that version 4.04 was released, now 4.1.0 is out and ready to be installed.

tunerfree_1

Here is how Millisoft describe TunerFree MCE:

TunerFreeMCE is a Windows Media Center add-in for watching streaming internet TV programs on your PC and Media Center Extender. For UK users, it has support for live TV and catch up programs from the UK’s main TV providers (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five), as well as all of the BBC Radio stations. It also has support for the recently launched MSN Video Player in the UK. For US users, it has support for the full Hulu catalogue of TV programs, all through an easy to use Media Center interface.

Here is the latest change log since 4.04:

Change Log

4.1.0 Added a new auto-upgrader
Added support for plugins to run their own parsers.

4.0.4 Fixed a bug in 4.0.3 with the background app crashing.

4.0.3 Updated search to look at program descriptions and episode names.
Fixed bug with plugin click positions.
Corrected BBC playing for low resolution displays.

You can download the latest version of TunerFree MCE here.

Sonos Controller for iPad Out Now

Andrew Edney
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1
Sonos Controller for iPad Out Now

After a few months of waiting, Sonos today finally released their Controller for the iPad.

Sonos for iPad

The Sonos Controller for iPad™ is a free application that takes music control to a whole new level. Optimized for the iPad’s large touch screen, finding and playing music has never been easier…or as much fun. With the iPad’s multi-pane view, you can see your music menu, what’s playing in every room, and what’s in your queue, complete with vivid album art. You can browse, search and drag and drop to create the perfect playlist. Then, share the music experience with friends and family—in either landscape or portrait mode. The Sonos Controller for iPad works over your home WiFi network. And you can download it for free on the App Store.

We first mentioned the Sonos Controller for iPad back in June and we reviewed the Sonos Bundle 250 a few days later.

You can download the app from the Apple App Store right now and you can learn more from the Sonos website, and the best of all, its FREE!

IMG_0021IMG_0022

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Also, if you are waiting for the updated Controller for the iPhone, Sonos tweeted this today:

Sonos Controller for iPhone 3.3 is pending Apple’s approval. Thank you for your patience while it runs through the approval process.

So what do you think of the new Controller?

AutoExit 2010 Beta for Windows Server code name Vail – Video Edition

Timothy Daleo
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9
AutoExit 2010 Beta for Windows Server code name Vail – Video Edition

ASoft has just released the AutoExit 2010 Add-In for Windows Server code name Vail. This new Add-In is an updated version of their popular 2009 release that most of us have on our Version 1 Windows Home Servers. For more information check out this article and a short video on the installation and usage of AutoExit 2010 for Windows Server code name Vail!

AutoExit 2010 Beta

ASoft AutoExit 2010

The AutoExit Add-In allows you to control and interface with PCs on your network through the Vail Dashboard. This beta version for Vail has similar functionality to the V1 version but a slick new look and some enhanced features.

AutoExit 2010 Beta

Directly from the ASoft website:

ASoft AutoExit for Windows Home Server is a console add-in for Windows Home Server Vail.
It can be used to shut down, reboot machines in your home network from within the console. Wake On Lan is also supported, this enables you to easily boot up machines remotely.
You can put the machine into hibernation, sleep, log off the user or lock the machine. hut down from the toolbar now.
You can execute these actions per machine or for all machines.
Other handy features are sending messages to the different machines, configuring the timeout/message.
There is even support for opening a Remote Desktop session to the remote machines and to the server!
Statistics are kept of all actions, so that a detailed trace can be viewed on when certain actions were executed.

AutoExit 2010

As with the prior V1 Add-In, you can connect to your PC through WHS and perform many different functions in the Dashboard. You can Shut Down, Remote Desktop and even send messages! This current beta does not support the Wake On Lan feature yet, but look for that to be enabled in an upcoming release!

image[42]

This new version also allows you to customize your Shut Down preferences! I cannot publish the customized raunchy message that MY AutoExit sends out. Have fun with it and make it your own!

image

The Eventual Functionality of Wake On Lan All. Why?

Many of us do not have Remote Desktop functionality on our PCs because we use Home Premium. You can Wake On Lan but cannot log in to Remote Desktop. Without logging in, you cannot turn off the machine, right? The reason AutoExit V1 appealed to me is that I could start a PC with Wake On Lan, run a backup and then shut it down.

Did you know that? That you could start a PC and back it up without ever logging in? Yup. Pretty cool. Once the backup is done (it shows in the Console when it is 100% and done) then I just AutoExit Shut Down. I can backup all of my desktops without leaving my desk. Sweet!

image

Add-In Download

Download and installation is simple. Go to the link below to download the Add-In.

http://www.asoft.be/prod_autoexitwhs2.html

Lets see some video!

Installation and Usage Video

Installation of the ASoft AutoExit Add-In for Windows Server code name Vail

Conclusion

This Add-In has all of the flavor of the first AutoExit Add-In but with some great new features. As the beta program continues I look forward to more features including the enabling of Wake On Lan! I would recommend this Add-In to anyone currently testing Windows Server code name Vail.

Future Add-In Changes I Would Like To See

I would like to see an option to add a PC that does not use the Vail connector software. Since Vail is beta, many of us do not have all of our PCs connected to Vail through the actual connector software.

I would also like to see a different color or bold text to tell the difference between online and offline PCs. The text is small and at a glance is hard to see a difference between “online” and “offline”.

The client installation thinks my WHS V1 AutoExit 2009 is the 2010 version. I assume you can only run one or the other?

Timothy Daleo

Seagate Announce 12TB Four Bay NAS for Small Businesses

Andrew Edney
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6
Seagate Announce 12TB Four Bay NAS for Small Businesses

Today Seagate announced a 12TB Four Bay NAS device aimed specifically at small businesses.

Here is the full press release:

Seagate Unveils Industry’s First 12TB Four-Bay Network Storage Server For Small Business

Award-winning BlackArmor® NAS 440 Now Shipping with Four, 3 Terabyte Hard Drives

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – September 28, 2010 – Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today introduced the industry’s highest-capacity, 4-bay and 2-bay, desktop network attached storage solutions to help data-intensive small business address evolving storage needs. The BlackArmor® NAS 440 network storage server and BlackArmor® NAS 220 network storage server, extend the capacity range of Seagate’s BlackArmor® family of storage solutions, enabling businesses to now scale from 1TB to 12TB to help keep pace with the growing stores of high-definition multi-media files and business critical data. Initially, both solutions will come pre-populated with 3TB drives in each bay¹ and will be offered exclusively for 30-days through Seagate.com and select online retailers. For the first 30 days, CDW will provide the 12TB BlackArmor NAS 440 for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,899.99, and NewEgg will sell the BlackArmor NAS 220 6TB for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $649.99.

Both the BlackArmor® NAS 440 and BlackArmor® NAS 220 network storage servers are designed to help businesses with up to 50 employees and little or no IT support, centralize and secure data with maximum uptime by delivering:

  • Software management tools that are compatible across the family to provide a consistent user experience and future growth path with minimal training or the need for additional support.
  • Support for Microsoft® Active Directory 2000, 2003, 2008 for populating users and groups.
  • Unparalleled security with powerful hardware-based encryption.
  • Remote access with the included, web-based Seagate Global Access™ service and FTP functionality.
  • Quick start features, ability to easily view or map shared volumes to a computer, or back up the PC from which you are working from, using the BlackArmor Discovery tool software, which automatically displays all BlackArmor NAS products connected to the network.
  • Full-system backup and recovery helps protect everything on your PC’s hard drive including the operating system, programs and settings. In the event of a system crash or failure, your computer can be restored to a previous point in time with SafetyDrill+™ software.
  • Event email notification to alert the user about status and changes to the server.
  • Additional USB ports to connect extra USB storage devices, easily share a USB printer or connect an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to safeguard from power failure.

The BlackArmor NAS 440 server is configured with RAID 5 and ships with 10 backup software licenses out-of-the-box, while the BlackArmor NAS 220 server ships with RAID 1 configuration for automatic data mirroring and 5 backup software licenses. Additional licenses for both products can be purchased in 2 and 5 -set increments on Seagate.com.

About Seagate

Seagate is the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at http://www.seagate.com

© 2010 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Wave logo, BlackArmor, Global Access and SafetyDrill+ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to hard drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes. Your computer’s operating player may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage. The export or re-export of hardware or software containing encryption may be regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (for more information go to http://www.bis.doc.gov/). Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.

¹Seagate plans to make a distribution model 3TB internal drive that can be used to upgrade a current 400 series NAS product later this year.

Office for Mac 2011 Out Next Month

Andrew Edney
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7
Office for Mac 2011 Out Next Month

Microsoft announced today that Office for Mac 2011 will be able at the end of October 2010.

Office Mac 2011 Logo

We mentioned Office for Mac 2011 back in July.

Now Microsoft have said that it will be available on the 26th October, so not much longer to wait for those of you who want it.

If you buy Office 2008 for Mac today, you can get an upgrade for free, and even better, if you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber, Microsoft have stated that it will be there by the end of October.

Personally I’m looking forward to seeing what they have done with Outlook!

You can also watch this new video about the features of Office for Mac 2011:

Let us know your thoughts….

The BlackBerry Playbook Tablet PC

Andrew Edney
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2
The BlackBerry Playbook Tablet PC

Yesterday at the BlackBerry Developers Conference, RIM announced the BlackBerry Playbook Tablet PC.

blackberry-tablet

Here are some of the technical details on the Playbook:

  • 7? LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
  • BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
  • 1 GHz dual-core processor
  • 1 GB RAM
  • Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
  • Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
  • HDMI video output
  • Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
  • Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
  • Ultra thin and portable:
  • Measures 5.1?x7.6?x0.4? (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
  • Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
  • Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
  • RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

There’s even a video you can watch:

The Playbook should be out sometime early 2011 – more information when we get it. You can also check out the BlackBerry website.

Thanks to Welchworks for the heads-up.

BYOB Podcast Episode 14

Andrew Edney
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0
BYOB Podcast Episode 14

The guys over at BYOB, including our very own Tim Daleo, have just released episode 14.

BYOB300

Here is what they say about this weeks show:

This week we on BYOB Is Intel trying to rip you off? AMD reveals their new Zacate APU. Mike breaks down the basics of Virtual Machines, while Michael and Tim chime in with their opinions. We decided to go easy on our listeners and kept the show a bit shorter this week. We hope you enjoy this episode and remember to post your comments and questions on the forums.

News

Intel offers Software style upgrades for you CPU

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/18/intel-wants-to-charge-50-to-unlock-stuff-your-cpu-can-already-d/

AMD’s answer for the mobile sector debuts

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3933/amds-zacate-apu-performance-update

Virtual Machine 101

Type I – Hypervisors

These are often referred to as baremetal VM’s as they simply manage the hardware for you VMs these are not full featured operating systems, nor are they programs. These are best used for dedicated servers that will run multiple VM’s on them. Here are a few free Hypervisors.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

VMWare vSphere (ESXi)

Citrix XenServer

Be aware that going with this type of of Server isn’t like installing windows and bang she’s ready to rock ‘n roll. Setup often involves command line interfaces & marginal GUIs if you’re lucky. They are designed to work on active directory structures and therefore may require a workaround to get it running on a workgroup. Be sure to understand VM basics before deciding to go this route. Type I is probably the better way to go if want to implement a enterprise style server running several VMs in a production environment.

Type II – The Virtualization Environments

These are the programs which create a Virtual Environments in existing operating systems. This enables you to run a virtual machine without needing to invest in separate dedicated hardware. these can be run on any existing PC (provided the hardware supports virtual technology) without sacrificing it’s primary role. These are great for testing new software and creating learning environments. Here are a few we mentioned in the podcast.

Windows Virtual PC

VMWare Workstation or Player

Oracle VM VirtualBox

After trying each of these three approaches, I am left with similar thoughts that I had in March when I wrote the article “Virtual Machines for the Masses” back in March. Most of these are fairly straight forward but only one really stands out as stable, flexible, and problem free and that is VirtualBox. If you want to run a VM in a desktop for whatever reason, then I would recommend using VirtualBox. Some of the menus and configuration choices are not always obvious but in all the testing I did it was the only one that ultimately worked without any hassle. I still think that in a home environment, that VM are mainly for testing or for running other OS’s other than your native OS. In rare cases they can be used to run legacy software that may not run on new OS’s. Overall, VM’s are a great tool for both business and home use. In business, the “baremetal” approach using Hypervisor’s such as ESXi or Hyper-V are better suited and certainly more configurable however they also require a higher level of experience to run and setup, and certainly to customize. The average user will be better suited with a desktop OS solution however should keep it in perspective of what you want to use it for.

Pros and cons of using a VM:

Pros:

· Can be done with existing hardware with minimal to no upgrading required.

· Does not require purchasing additional hardware to run or test multiply OS’s

· Testing software and OS with little to no danger to your machine

· Maximizing you hardware

Cons:

· Increased complications if host machines go down.

· Requires moderate to higher end hardware

As usual you can listen to the show here.

Apple Release iTunes 10.0.1 To Fix Windows Home Server Issues

Andrew Edney
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4
Apple Release iTunes 10.0.1 To Fix Windows Home Server Issues

Apple have released iTunes 10.0.1 which fixes the issues Windows Home Server users have been experiencing since upgrading to 10.0, amongst other fixes and enhancements.

27-09-2010 08-00-42

The 10.0 release broke streaming for people and didn’t work with Windows Home Server – 10.0.1 fixes this.

iTunes 10.0.1 is a 73MB update – sometimes I wish Apple would just release small updates instead of the whole thing again, especially because everyone hits the servers at the same time as soon as any update is released.

Here are the release notes for 10.0.1:

iTunes 10.0.1 makes it easier to share your favorite music with your friends on Ping. You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library. You can also easily see the recent activity of a selected artist in your library, or of all artists and friends you follow on Ping using the new Ping Sidebar.

This release also provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Addresses an issue where the picture quality of a video changes depending on whether the on-screen controls are visible.
• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit while interacting with album artwork viewed in a separate window.
• Fixes a problem that affects the performance of some third-party visualizers.
• Addresses an issue where the iTunes library and playlists appear empty.
• Resolves an issue that created an incompatibility with some third-party shared libraries.

iTunes 10 comes with many new features and improvements, including:

• Introducing Ping. Use Ping to follow your favorite artists and friends or connect with the world’s most passionate music fans. Discover the music everyone is talking about, listening to, and downloading.
• Rent HD TV episodes for just 99¢ each. Watch them on your Mac or PC, on-the-go with iPhone or iPod touch, or in your living room with the all new Apple TV.
• Play your favorites on the all new iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and Apple TV.
• Play music wirelessly with AirPlay on AirPlay-enabled speakers, home theater receivers, and iPod accessories.
• Explore many look-and-feel improvements throughout iTunes.
• Enjoy performance improvements which make iTunes faster and more responsive.
• Additional voice support with VoiceOver Kit for iPod.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Were you affected by 10.0’s issues? Has 10.0.1 resolved them for you?

Using Windows Home Server and HomeServerSync Final Giveaway

Andrew Edney
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1
Using Windows Home Server and HomeServerSync Final Giveaway

Over the last several weeks we have teamed up with our friends at Tranquil PC to give away some two year subscriptions to their HomeServerSync add-in for Windows Home Server. This is the final giveaway – 5, yes 5, two year subscriptions.

LOGO500

The first two giveaways were a huge success and so it is time for the final one.

When this giveaway ends, we will have given away a total of 10 two year subscriptions to HomeServerSync, each worth a whopping £278 each, which means we gave away £2780 just for you, our UWHS readers.

If you are not sure what HomeServerSync is, you should check out our review – part one and part two.

HomeServerSync has ten top features, and here are the last five:

5.  VPN

Many of the HomeServerSync features are based on our own secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) system.  This service means that your PCs and Home Server can be ‘joined’ together in their own private and secure network.  This always and anywhere service releases the Home Server functions beyond your home or small office.

6.  Access your Home Server remotely

Ever needed to access your Home Server console, but where not locally connected?  Now you can access the Home Server Console and all features from anywhere in the world

7.  Backup your PCs via the internet

Although we do recommend that the first backup should be done locally, with HomeServerSync you can now backup your PCs where ever they are, ideal for remote family members or office workers.

8.  Open / restore Home Server backups

Have you ever needed to get access to an older backed up file from you Home Server, but you weren’t on the local network ?  With HomeServerSync you can get access to the PC backups, just as if you were locally connected.

9.  Access your Home Server shared folders and Home Server Desktop

With HomeServerSync, you can now continue to access your Home Server shared folders even from outside your local area network.  Now you can steam your music or share your pictures where ever you are.  If you are more advanced and need to open your Home Server desktop you can do that too, without technical issues (ie port forwarding).

10.  Web control and file access

With your HomeServerSync Offsite Backup account you can access all of your backed up files – and download / delete them.  You can set alerts to be emailed to you – see how much space you have used and much more.

Ok, you are probably asking yourselves, what do I have to do to win one of these fantastic prizes?

For this final giveaway, we are giving away another FIVE licences (one per person), and all you have to do is send us an email giving us a suggestion for the site, whether it is an article, a change to the look of the site, the logo, anything, or just send us a comment about what you want to see on the site – the choice again is yours. How easy is that?

So send your email to giveaways @ usingwhs.com (remembering to remove the spaces).

This giveaway will end on Sunday 3rd October 2010 when we will reveal the final five winners, who will be drawn at random by my cats (those of you who know me will get that little in-joke!) and posted on the site sometime on Monday. The competition is open to anyone, anywhere, and you can enter as many times as you like, as long as your entry is different each time!

Good luck and keep watching UWHS for more giveaways and surprises.

And a very big thank you to Tranquil PC for the licences!

And for those who entered giveaway number one and two but didn’t win, I will be randomly entering you in the next few giveaways so you may just win!

And watch out for some other great giveaways coming up soon.

Sling Media Announce Slingbox PRO-HD in the UK

Andrew Edney
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1
Sling Media Announce Slingbox PRO-HD in the UK

Yesterday Sling Media announced a new addition to its Slingbox range – the Slingbox PRO-HD, and it’s for the UK market.

slingbox_prohd_angleslingbox_prohd_back

Take your entire HD home-theatre with you wherever you go with the Slingbox® PRO-HD. Connect to multiple A/V devices and tune into your favourite TV shows, sporting events, and special programming in stunning, true-to-life 1080i high definition. The PRO-HD gives you the same features and ease of use as the Slingbox SOLO, plus a high-quality HD viewing experience—anywhere in the world. Easily connect up to three of your home-theatre devices to the PRO-HD and take your entire entertainment center with you—on your desktop, Mac, laptop, or mobile phone.

Slingspec

You can learn more about the Slingbox PRO-HD here.

Here is the full press release:

Enables high quality content delivery to compatible SlingPlayers

London, UK — 23rd September 2010 — Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), today announced the UK launch of Slingbox™ PRO-HD, a new addition to the award winning Slingbox family.

With the Slingbox PRO-HD , viewers can enjoy HD content originating from their home television, including over the air DVBT digital signals, HDTV cable or satellite receivers, or HD PVR’s, on a laptop or desktop computer. In addition, when paired with the SlingPlayer for mobile application, customers can stream content straight to their compatible mobile device for viewing on the go.

“Millions of people are enjoying the benefits of HD quality pictures at home, creating a huge market for new products like Slingbox PRO-HD. With Slingbox PRO-HD, our customers can placeshift their HD programming without sacrificing the quality of the picture,” said Stuart Collingwood, VP EMEA, Sling Media. “Slingbox PRO-HD marks a giant leap forward in hardware and software development from Sling Media, such as powerful encoding enhancements. All of this means the Slingbox PRO-HD delivers a delightful user experience and amazing picture quality.”

As part of the launch Sling Media is also announcing Slingbox.com. Visitors to the new online portal can watch their content using any major Internet browser, without need to download the SlingPlayer application.

The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first and only Slingbox product capable of streaming HD content. While the Slingbox PRO and Slingbox SOLO scale HDTV sources to SD resolutions, the Slingbox PRO-HD preserves the original resolution and delivers it to a HD-compatible laptop or desktop computer or secondary TV when paired with a SlingCatcher.

Slingbox PRO-HD is designed to meet the varied requirements of today’s multi-faceted TV-viewing households. The product includes standard (4:3) and widescreen (16:9) video support and features multiple integrated sets of audio-video inputs and outputs (Digital Terrestrial TV Tuner, S-video, composite video, component video and either analogue or multi-channel, 5.1 surround digital audio) and features integrated looping outputs for each input. Slingbox PRO-HD transforms PCs, laptops, Macs and a variety of smartphones (including the Android platform) into personal, portable TVs and builds upon the goals of the original Slingbox – to give consumers the freedom to view their home TV programming anywhere.

Slingbox PRO-HD will be available for purchase in the UK, for a suggested retail price of ?249.99, from Amazon, John Lewis, Best Buy and PC World and will be rolling out to other European countries in the coming weeks.

About Sling Media, Inc.
Sling Media, Inc., an affiliate of EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is the leading provider of video place shifting products and services for consumers and television service providers. Sling Media’s product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using internet-connected PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones. For more information, visit www.slingbox.com.

Looks very interesting……

The Digital Lifestyle Show 273 The Show Formally Known as The Media Center Show

Andrew Edney
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2
The Digital Lifestyle Show 273 The Show Formally Known as The Media Center Show

Ian over at the Digital Lifestyle.com has just released the Digital Lifestyle Show (formerly the Media Center Show) podcast show number 273 – and yes, I’m on it again.

DLS Show

Here is what Ian says about this weeks show:

Yes I have decided to rename the show to reflect the broader scope of the podcast.  The main focus of the show will be Windows Media Center and the connected ecosystem but as we all try to integrate other components in to our lifestyle I thought it would be good to rename the show. So returning this week are Garry Whittaker and Andrew Edney to talk about new Embedded Media Center v Extenders,  new Media Center addins, Windows Phone 7, Zune expanding to new markets and VLC for the iPad. We also talk about Niveus dropping Windows Media Center and discuss if its time to rename Windows Media Center

As ever we have a great time recording the show and I hope you enjoy it.

Links from this weeks show:

Personally I’m a little disappointed he didn’t rename it either the Andrew Edney Show or the Using Windows Home Server.com Show. I did actually offer both suggestions last night but he didn’t seem overly keen.

As usual we had a blast recording the show last night for you and I look forward to the next one.

You can listen to the show here.

SageTV V7.0.17 Release Candidate 1 Out Now

Andrew Edney
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0
SageTV V7.0.17 Release Candidate 1 Out Now

Release Candidate 1 for SageTV V7.0.17 is out now – are you going to test it?

It seems like only yesterday that V7.0.12 was out!

So what is Sage TV (in case you haven’t heard of it)?

SageTV lets you enjoy your favourite TV shows and online video when you want, wherever you want on any TV, PC or Mac!

Browse, search and watch all the latest online video from Google Video from the comfort of your couch with SageTV Media Center V6.

Enjoy the most popular online videos, news, movie trailers, TV shows, comedy, music videos and more at the push of a button on your remote control.

SAge TV

Here is what Sage says:

Howdy again all!

Oh yeah…it’s the Release Candidate stage. Getting close to being done with V7.0 now…estimating about 3 more weeks and then we’ll be final. No more features will be added now, it’s purely bug fixing going on. So if you have any bugs, please report them!

We do have a couple last minute features that snuck into this one though:

-Default language selection for audio tracks and subtitles
-UserRecord API for plugin developers to allow generic data storage in the SageTV Database

IMPORTANT: The Wiz.bin file from 7.0.17 is NOT backwards compatible with prior versions due to the introduction of a new datatype for plugin developers

All of the high-level information on V7 can be found here:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=48421

Be sure to read the above post as it contains important information regarding upgrade pricing and new features

As always, report bugs you find here:
http://sagetv.com/bugs.html

Here’s the download links for V7.0.17:

SageTV for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_17Setup.exe
SageTVClient for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVClient_V7_0_17Setup.exe
SageTVPlaceshifter for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVPlaces…_0_17Setup.exe
SageTV for Windows Home Server
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_17Setup-WHS.msi
SageTV Media Center for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/server_7.0.17.tar.gz
SageTV Placeshifter for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/mi…_7.0.17.tar.gz
SageTV Media Center for Linux – Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa….0.17_i386.deb
SageTV Placeshifter for Linux – Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa….0.17_i386.deb

There are some very detailed release notes that should be read.

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