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News that caught our eye this week.  Xploder PS2 HDTV Upscaler Add-on
While we don't dig deep into video games and consoles, we do like to hit the SSX slopes, save a few human survivors in Halo 2 and bash some zombies in Half-life 2. There's no better way to do that than on an HDTV home theater setup connected to a PC or game console. However, if you want to use a PS2, forget doing that at more than 480p. Xploder says their HDTV Player fixes that and gives you 720p or 1080i. We're skeptical, but we'll definitely be reviewing this baby in a few weeks. It'll be a steal at $49.99... if it really works. Watch TechDigs.net for the review.  Comcast Video & Music Store Launching in October?
According to a post at Gizmodo, in October Comcast is launching a video & music store with downloads directly to both set-top boxes and PCs. Two interesting points: 1) Comcast will offer this service to PCs as well as set-top boxes. 2) Because it's a Comcast service, our assumption is that the traffic will be blazing fast because they limit the bandwidth using packet shaping technologies. Now if the interface is good and the DRM is reasonable (unlike Amazon Unbox), it sounds like something to watch. Comcast has been working with TiVo to put a limited TiVo guide on their set-top boxes. What we'd love to see is the TiVo Series 3 support a Comcast movie store. That could be hot!  Creative Introduces XMod: Improves digital music beyond CD quality?
Creative launches the XMod, a device that supposedly improves MP3, WMA, iTunes or AAC audio files. Essentially an upscaler for audio using the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity standard. The device connects between your your PC, Mac or MP3 player and your headphones or powered speakers. In addition to audio quality improvement, the XMod will simulate surround sound over headphones and speakers. Based on both their release and web site, the output jack appears to be analog only - so no digital audio output. That makes us think it's a headphone and computer speaker accessory and not something for the more serious listener. However at under $80, we may still get a review unit to see how good it really is.  Akimbo Launches RCA Internet VOD Player
Akimbo, the video on demand service that works with Windows Media Center, this week launched a VOD player made by RCA . While we didn't see the value on their VOD service when free options exist like Democracy Player , a stand-alone player that can pull in net content and MovieLink movies and is priced under $200 could be interesting. It tops out at component video and an 80gb drive. With big boys diving into this convergence space, we currently have a wait-and-see attitude on this device.
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