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 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
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