This media receiver beats Apple's iTV to the finish line and is ready to become an addition to a home theater near you.
The Netgear Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000 is a media receiver that's rather similar to the anticipated Apple iTV, in that it allows for wireless streaming of music and videos to a television. The Digital Entertainer HD was first introduced back at CES 2007, and it's now making its debut in select online stores for about $400.
Offering a video resolution of 1080p as well as USB and HDMI ports, the media receiver plays content downloaded from online services such as iTunes, BitTorrent and YouTube. A wide range of file formats are supported, including MP3, WAV, WMA, WMA-Pro, FLAC, M4A and AC3. Furthermore, the media receiver provides access to Flickr, RSS feeds and internet radio.
The media receiver automatically discovers all media files on a home network, across multiple computers, and organizes these into a single media library displayed on a TV without the need for media server software running on the computer. With the bundled remote control, the media library can be accessed by multiple criteria, including title, actor, date, genre or thumbnails.
The Digital Entertainer HD also acts as a DVR when connected to a PC with TV tuner, providing functionality such as recording shows or pausing and rewinding live TV. The media receiver also offers a "Party Mode" feature that streams music to all speakers in the house. In homes with more than one Digital Entertainer, advanced functionality can be found in the way of pausing a movie in one room and resuming it in another.
The Netgear Digital Entertainer HD is geared towards PC's operating on Windows XP or Vista, but it can also play unprotected files from Macs and Linux computers.
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