Today, weaKnees made available a modification that will make its 500GB and 750GB  Series 3 upgrades quieter. The free modification requires that customers ship their TiVos to weaKnees. Details are available by contacting weaKnees. All future Series 3 upgrades, will include the modification.

As we mentioned in a recent review of the weaKnees 750GB upgrade, the upgraded hard drive units available to weaKnees were not specifically designed for video streaming and there was a bit more chatter in the drive than on a standard TiVo Series 3. While we didn't find the noise significant, those who use the Series 3 in very quiet environments may welcome this free upgrade -- if they can bear to part with their Series 3 for a few days.

Jumping on the 200Mbps powerline bandwagon, D-Link is now shipping the DHP-301 PowerLine network kit. Using your home's electrical wiring, powerline adapters allow you expand your home network without running new wires. Joining NetGear and others, these new 200Mpbs adapters give you the flexibility to easily network any area of your home without experiencing wireless interference. When you're moving video and other rich media files around your network, you still can't beat wires. MSRP is $219.99.

D-Link DHP-301  

Squeezebox and Transporter maker, Slim Devices , has been purchased by Logitech. Logitech's recent track record with the purchase of Harmony remotes maker Intrigue Technology in 2004 is good – Harmony remotes continue to improve. Based on the Harmony purchase, this bodes well for Slim Devices.

Clearly product distribution will be one of the key benefits of the buy-out. However, we hope to see better integration of remote control technology including capabilities such as remote control display of content on a Squeezebox. An obvious opportunity is bi-directional integration with the recently announced Logitech Harmony 1000.

Logitech also has an existing line of low-end wireless digital music players. At $1,999, the high-end Transporter product clearly stands on it's own. While Logitech's current music product have different goals, with the Squeezebox priced similarly to the Logitech Wireless DJ Music System, it may not be the best time to buy one of the existing Logitech music products

SlimServer, the Slim Devices open source software has been one of the key Squeezebox differentiators. Current plans are to keep that software open. We believe that's pretty important for Squeezebox as much of it's momentum has been boosted through rapid software development, open source integration and add-ons. That, coupled with Slim Device's reputation as a quality product, means Logitech should make careful moves to assure Slim Devices doesn't lose what it has – regardless of what it gains.

TechDigs.net is currently evaluating a couple of Squeezeboxes and will be posting the review soon.

I'm so tired of digital rights management (DRM). It gets in my way, limits where I can play my music, limits my choices and ultimately reduces how much music I'll buy. Bottom line -- if I had an iTunes or URGE-quality online option without DRM, I would buy more music than I do today and way more than I ever would on CD. I don't think I'm alone. The music studios shouldn't underestimate the impact of an easy impulse buy. Apple CEO Steve Jobs hasn't. I'm well aware that in a world without DRM people will steal music, however, those same people will steal music in a world with DRM. DRM on purchased digital downloads isn't slowing piracy down. What it's doing is confusing, limiting and frustrating customers and would-be customers. The goal of this post is not to espouse a DRM-free doctrine, but instead to show ways to break free from DRM music.

Read more for details.

As a kid, my family often visited friends who had a classic Wurlitzer jukebox stocked full with vinyl records. Like a moth to a flame, I was instantly in front of it queuing song after song. I stood glued there for hours, mesmerized with the music and the mechanical motion of 45s flipping onto place. With hundreds of tunes to choose, I created my first playlists by simply pushing buttons. What an amazing concept for my young mind!

Fast forward to present day. Sonos actually one-ups that old Wurlitzer. No, the Sonos doesn't have a cool gothic structure with shiny chrome and bubble tubes, but I'll give it up for easy access to millions of songs, podcasts, audio books and Internet radio playing in multiple rooms. That's something the Wurlitzer could never do.

The Sonos Digital Music System is well-known as a multi-zone system that nicely fills the place beyond stand-alone network music players and iPods. What's new is that Sonos has added the Rhapsody music service. We put the Sonos through its paces including a computer-free setup, listening to Internet streaming music only, and letting it hit our network with 5TB of disk space on Windows and Mac computers and a 2TB network attached storage (NAS) device. We listened to lossless, MP3, Audible, various podcasts, Ogg and more. After a week with this system, we covet it and don't want to send it back. Sonos has really nailed the integration and experience. We give Sonos our top marks.

Read more for details. 

Storing your audio, video, photos and other important computer files in a reliable, centralized location is one of the best ways to get your tech life under control. We're big fans of network attached storage (NAS) and Infrant offers some of the better solutions on the market. Unlike the recently announced, perfectly silent Infrant Repertoire, the Infrant ReadyNAS NV+, announced today, is probably better suited for a room where you won't be watching movies. That said, we've found Infrant's ReadyNAS NV line to be pretty quiet. Regardless of where you put it, you can still use it to store entertainment tech audio, video, photographs and others files -- that's the beauty of networking.

This new Infrant model sports the Raidiator 3.0 firmware, four hot-swap SATA trays, Gigabit Ethernet and support for all popular operating systems available on the ReadyNAS NV. It also includes a new Instant Status Notification LCD and a five-license copy of EMC's Retrospect Professional. Pricing starts at $650 for a bare unit without drives and tops out at $2,999 for 3 terabytes (4-750GB drives).

Infrant ReadyNAS NV+

As previously posted, we're big fans of upconverting or upscaling DVD players. All the hoopla over the death match between HD-DVD and Blu-ray leaves the sub-$200 mark wide-open for these excellent players that make the most of your existing DVDs.

NeoDigits has announced the H4000 HD Upscaling DVD Player to fill this exact nitch. They claim the very unique spec of up to 1080p output from HDMI, component and VGA. It's more common to offer only 1080i and output jack limitations. Other notable specifications include: variety of playback options including DVD, SVCD, VCD, CD, HDCD, MP3, MP3, WMA, MPEG4 (DivX, Xvid, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4) and HDMI output at 480i & 576i for use with external video scalers. The price is $169.00 and includes shipping if ordered before October 20.

TechDigs.net will be testing one of these units soon.

http://neodigits.com/

As mentioned yesterday in the TechDigs.net article HDTV Shopping HELLp! An HDTV Technology Overview, the HQV Benchmark DVD is a good tool for evaluating the processing quality of a video device. Today, we do a brief review of the HQV DVD, including the various performance tests. We also provide an Excel and OpenOffice template for storing your HQV benchmarks. We like this utility and think everyone evaluating video devices should own a copy.

Read more for details.