Sling Media today announced the SlingCatcher. SlingCatcher lets any TV become a Slingbox client allowing you to watch your favorite programming on a TV (rather than computer) screen and control it with a remote. Now you can have access to a DVR somewhere else in your house or watch TV from a vacation home, for example, without carrying your laptop. SlingCatcher could also let you add access in more rooms of your house without the expense of TiVo or a cable box. While the resolution is still limited to the Slingbox resolution (first generation is about 320x240 and the three newest are 640x480), the results look pretty good.

SlingCatcher can also access content directly from the local network and the Internet. Sling says the SlingCatcher is an HD-capable device and can support hard drive space. Sling is currently working with potential content providers to provide additional content for SlingCatcher. 

Device ports include:

• HDMI video output
• Component video output
• S-video output
• Composite video output
• SPDIF coax digital audio output
• RCA analog audio output
• USB ports (3)
• Ethernet port

SlingCatcher will be available by mid-2007 and is targeted for a price under $200. A remote control will be included.

HP Media SmartServer

• Automated backup (pulls data from PCs on your home network)
• Remote access to the content on the server
• Hub for Xbox 360 and Zune
• Automatic expansion of space when new drives are added (No need for user knowledge of concepts like volumes, etc.)

There are plenty of ways to create network servers in your home. Our favorite today is a NAS server. However, it's still not as easy as it could be for average users. The question is whether Windows Home Server will be easy enough for mere mortals to get their photos, music and videos organized, centralized and backed up.

Windows Home Server is expected in the second half of 2007.

During the Bill Gates/Microsoft CES keynote, Entertainment Devices Division President Robbie Bach announced IPTV on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft has been expanding the Xbox 360 beyond gaming to make it a home theater hub through services such as Xbox Live Video. The continued push to become the center of entertainment is strengthened with the announcement of IPTV on Xbox 360.

IPTV delivered on the Xbox 360 eliminates the need for a Media Center PC in order to get TV content on your Xbox. Targeted at service providers, the service will allow the delivery of SD and HD TV content with the Xbox 360 as the set-top box.

The Xbox 360 IPTV solution looks as though it will have a similar interface to Xbox Media Extender without the need for a Media Center PC. The interface looks pretty zippy. 

Bach acknowledged the Xbox 360's 20GB drive is small for HD video, although no specific hardware upgrades were mentioned. Additionally, there was no mention for the obvious need to quiet the fan and optical drive noise in the Xbox 360 as it moves more into the home theater realm.

With over 10 million units out there, 5 million Xbox Live users, recently added Lions Gate Studios, gaming, media center extender, HD-DVD video playback, Xbox Live Video and now Xbox 360 IPTV, Microsoft looks to be poised to deliver a complete HD entertainment solution all out of the Xbox 360.

The service is scheduled to be available in 2007.

Is LG Electronics trying to become the equivalent of Switzerland in the hi-def DVD war? If so, they took a solid first step today with the confirmation of rumors that they have a hi-def DVD player capable of playing both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs. The Super BH100 will likely be the first player on the market to be able to do so.

According to LG, it's loaded with the tech necessary to get that hi-def goodness out. The BH100 supports MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio. It includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI out, component/composite video outputs, and optical/coaxial/discrete 5.1 channel audio outputs. Missing from the list was Dolby TrueHD.

In addition to hi-def formats, the BH100 will upscale standard definition DVDs up to 1080i. We think it looks pretty good, although we think the SUPER MULTI BLUE PLAYER type on the door is larger than it needs to be.

All of this comes at a price. Be prepared to pay US $1,199 when it's available in Q1, 2007.

Netgear came to CES with some pretty interesting announcements. For the home theater, the EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD is a set-top streaming device that works with your home network and the Internet to play back a variety of content.

According to Netgear, the EVA8000 supports MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, AVI, WMV and Xvid video formats. It also supports 1080p Windows Media Video 9. Support for Windows Media 10 DRM-laden movies from online services is also included. Which movies services will be specifically supported wasn't announced. The EVA8000 will also play back AC3 audio so you can get that surround-sound experience.

For audio files, the EVA8000 will play the standard MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, FLAC audio formats. Netgear also claims it will play M4P iTunes Windows purchases.

For your HD slideshows, the EVA supports the JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF photo formats.

The hardware device includes HDMI, composite, component (with HD support) video output and coax/optical audio output. Unfortunately, it only supports 10/100 Ethernet (no gigabit Ethernet) and up-to 802.11g WiFi. Our experience is that HD over 802.11g is spotty, however, 100 megabit Ethernet works reasonably well. 

Inside the device is an imbedded BitTorrent client for Internet downloads and also potential support from some of the new BitTorrent initiatives coming from the studios and movie services. BitTorrent support is a cool addition for this kind of device.

As is always the case with such devices, the interface will be key. We look forward to getting our hands on a unit. Netgear expects it to be available in Q1, 2007.

EVA8000 at Netgear.com

CES hasn't officially started yet, but there was a press event Saturday with an eclectic group of exhibitors present.

More a small schmoozing event than anything else, there were a few interesting products shown that we'll cover more in depth during the show. For example the Design & Engineering Showcase Award winner, the Niveus' Rainer Media Center PC running Vista with the dual-CableCARDs. In the photo, the slim box below the Rainer contains these CableCARDs.

Subscribe or keep watching TechDigs.net for more from CES.

Recently Merlin Mann, Mac productivity and time management expert extraordinaire of MacBreak Weekly, 43 Folders and 5ives, asked the question, "how do you manage the constant growth of files when your primary computer is a notebook like the MacBook Pro." After several discussions with Merlin, it became clear that TechDigs.net should cover the topic with a How-To. Techdigs.net readers tend to be substantial consumers of digital media files, use their network to store files and often are faced with storage and backup quandaries. 

Read more for details. 

The tech world is always quiet during the holidays in anticipation of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This year is no different. New gear and gadgets with all their hype are nearly ready to debut at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) officially beginning January 8th in Las Vegas.

It's the 40th year of the technology and electronics smörgåsbord that hints at the year to come, and gives tech companies you love (and love to hate) the chance to show us their latest and greatest.

TechDigs.net will be there for the entire show beginning with the press conferences on the 6th to cover home theater, home audio, home networking and other interesting tech and gadgets that catch our eye. Our goal isn't to push out everything at the show, there are lots of ways for you to get a brain dump of what's there. Instead, we'll find and deliver the key home theater, home audio and home networking tech that matters and let you know what looks promising and what doesn't. If you are interested in something specific and you'd like us to cover it, send a note to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll do our best to get you the latest scoop.

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Comcast customers with HD-DVRs have experienced their share of freezes. Now, they are frozen again – in time.

Nearly two years ago, TiVo and Comcast announced their plan to provide Comcast customers true TiVo capability without them having to buy new hardware. Expected to be widely available by the end of 2006 (now), the schedule has obviously slipped.

The concept is to enable Comcast DVR hardware to download TiVo software, replacing the abysmal software that exists on today's Comcast DVRs. Comcast customers have pinned their hopes that existing problems are with the software – not the hardware. The big question lingers: will new TiVo software injected into the Motorola hardware solve the problems? A handful of Comcast employees are finding out right now as they test it in their own homes. According an article at MultiChannel.com, the first true market trials won't occur until Spring of 2007. Comcast wouldn't commit to a broad roll out in 2007 – yet another year late.

An obvious although expensive option chosen by a very small number of cable customers (too small for TiVo's taste) is to pony up the big $$ and get a TiVo Series 3. It works really well, but to get a reliable DVR, that shouldn't be necessary. However, with extremely limited cable HD DVR options, customers are beginning to eye Dish and DirecTV with their better DVRs.

If you really care about these problems, you might consider calling your Comcast regional manager to let them know this is important, and you're not satisfied with their existing solution. If they get enough feedback, it may have an impact – don't hold your breath. Satellite is an option if you simply can't take it any more.