Eminent has outed its latest STB media player, the Eminent HD EM7195, a twin digital tuner model with USB 3.0 and network connectivity. Built around a pair of DVB-T Freeview tuners and Realtek’s new RT1183 DD C+ chipset – reportedly allowing for faster UI and EPG navigation – the HD EM7195 can record two shows simultaneously as well as stream network content.
Ports include one USB 3.0 Device, for hooking up to a computer and dropping files onto a SATA HDD in the EM7195′s internal bay, together with three USB host ports for external storage. There’s also 10/100 ethernet, HDMI and a multi-format memory card reader.
Supported file types include MKV and H.264, though Eminent is yet to reveal a full list. It also gets a backlit remote control. No pricing, but the Eminent HD EM7195 is set to hit the UK come March 2011.
Press Release:
Eminent announces new HD media player EM7195 with DVB-T twin tuner
The Eminent HD media player EM7195 with DVB-T, USB 3.0 and a next-generation Realtek chipset offers a complete home cinema experience. Eminent expects the HD media player EM7195 to be available in the UK in March 2011.
Supplier of ICT accessories Eminent will equip its HD media player EM7195 with a DVB-T twin tuner. As a result, it is possible to watch one Freeview™ channel and record another one at the same time. Use the electronic program guide (EPG) to choose from free digital TV channels. The Eminent HD media player EM7195 allows to schedule recordings and record up to two channels simultaneously.
Eminent is the first company offering an HD media player with the next-generation Realtek RT1183 DD C+ chipset in the UK. High stability, fast navigation and HD audio support add to the comfort of using the Eminent HD media player EM7195. It supports a broad range of video formats, including MKV and H.264.
The USB 3.0 connection facilitates fast movie transfer from a PC to the hard disk inside the Eminent HD media player EM7195. It takes seconds to copy a complete movie to the HD media player. Furthermore, it is possible to connect external storage devices to the USB ports, SATA port and card reader. Connect the Eminent HD media player EM7195 to the home network to stream multimedia files from a PC to the TV.
Additional accessories, such as the full-size luxurious backlit remote control, clearly add value to the Eminent HD media player EM7195. Eminent provides all necessary cables, including an HDMI and USB 3.0 cable. The Eminent HD media player EM7195 is an elegant black device made of brushed aluminium.
Eminent offers a 5 year warranty. This HD media player will be available in the UK in March 2011.
The developers of VLC for iPad and iPhone have responded to Apple yanking the media player software from the App Store, criticizing Rémi Denis-Courmont – one of the original developers of VLC, and the person who complained to Apple about the apparent GNU licence infringement – in the process. According to a statement passed to 9 to 5 Mac, VLC’s removal came as a “surprise” to the Applidium team responsible for the iOS version, and in fact they claim to have received approval from the VideoLAN association before embarking on the port.
“Much to our surprise, we received this friday an email from Apple that said “We regret that the dispute regarding your application named ‘VLC Media Player’ could not be resolved amicably between the parties. We have removed your application from the App Store. For any questions relating to this matter, please contact Rémi Denis-Courmont directly.” This was a follow-up from an email we received from Apple last October : “On 10/20/2010, we received a notice from Rémi Denis-Courmont that Rémi Denis-Courmont believes your application named ‘VLC Media Player’ infringes Rémi Denis-Courmont’s intellectual property rights. In particular, Rémi Denis-Courmont believes you are infringing their copyright.” Rémi Denis-Courmont’s complaint came pretty much unsuspected, since we did receive approval from the VideoLAN association before starting the iOS port of VLC. As a matter of fact, some members of VideoLAN even helped us porting VLC to the iOS. It goes without saying, we still believe the AppStore licence is compatible with the GPLv2 under the which VLC is released. Therefore, together with the VideoLAN association, we’ll do our best to not let this be the end of VLC/iOS. As a final word, we think it’s pretty sad to deny millions of users the right to enjoy a nice piece of open source software … in the name of freedom.” Applidium
In fact, the team continues, some of the members of VideoLAN actually helped them with the port to iOS. Denis-Courmont’s complain centered around the DRM Apple apply to App Store titles and how that contravenes sections of the GLPv2 licence under which the media player is released. Applidium still believe there’s room for both to exist, and will be pushing to have the VLC app reinstated.
VLC was a surprise addition to the App Store back in September, but one which iPad and iPhone users quickly came to appreciate. Now the multi-format media player has been yanked from the store, the result of incompatibilities with Apple’s App Store DRM policies and the terms of the GNU General Public License on which VLC is based.
“At last, Apple has removed VLC media player from its application store. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved – the hard way. I am not going to pity the owners of iDevices, and not even the MobileVLC developers who doubtless wasted a lot of their time. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone.” Rémi Denis-Courmont, VideoLAN
The difference in the two policies was flagged up to Apple by Rémi Denis-Courmont, one of the original developers of VLC. The GNU license would allow Apple to distribute the iOS version of VLC, but not to apply DRM to it; as has been the case with previous GNU-licensed apps, Apple has chosen to pull it from the App Store rather than amend their DRM policy.
Two new Iomega media streamers have shown up for a CES 2011 debut, though the company isn’t talking about them quite yet. The Iomega ScreenPlay DX HD Media Player and Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link DX HD Media Player each pack network connectivity, HDMI and multiple USB 2.0 ports, as well as a QWERTY-equipped remote control.
According to the ScreenPlay DX HD Media Player product page, the box has a 2TB hard-drive inside and comes with a WiFi USB dongle for wireless network connectivity. There’s also up to 1080p Full HD playback, DLNA support and an optical digital output. Supported file types include H.264, WMV, RMVB, MPEG-1/2/4 (part 2, ASP), DivX, DivX Plus HD (MKV), XviD, AVI(Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), ISO, VOB, MP4, MOV and MKV.
We can’t spot a product page for the ScreenPlay TV Link DX HD Media Player, but it has fewer output options and no USB device port; we’re guessing that means it lacks onboard storage. Iomega will likely make these two media players official any time now, so we’ll update when we known more.
A new version of the Android music player app has leaked ahead of official release, updating the PMP software’s UI and bringing it more in line with the Android gallery app. Available from xda-developers if you’re willing to try out alpha software, the new app gets refreshed iconography but lacks the media streaming functionality which Google showed off at Google I/O earlier in the year.
Video demo after the cut
Andy Rubin had shown how an Android device could wirelessly access a computer’s media library and stream content from it, or have files pushed across from the computer to land on the phone’s memory. That was expected for Froyo or Gingerbread but failed to arrive; it now seems it might be a part of this new music app, which could be released as a standalone upgrade or may be held back until Android Honeycomb, expected in the first half of 2011.
Samsung is readying a new PMP version of its Galaxy S family of Android smartphones, with the Samsung Galaxy Player YP-GB1 expected to make its debut at CES 2011 next month. The 4-inch WVGA PMP measures 9.9mm thick and uses a Super LCD display rather than Super AMOLED; it also loses the cellular connectivity, with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS, though Samsung Hub says that does free up room for a T-DMB digital TV tuner.
There’s also a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera for video calls. The battery is a 1,200mAh unit, and there’s a microSD card slot along with Samsung’s 1GHz Hummingbird processor running Android 2.2 Froyo.
Interestingly, despite the lack of cellular connectivity, the Galaxy Player is supposed to have access to the Android Market (along with Samsung’s own app store). No word on pricing or availability at this stage.
ASUS has pushed out a new version in its O!Play media streamer range, slimming down the STB and simplifying the onboard connections. The ASUS O!Play MINI drops the USB 3.0 connection found on the O!Play HD2, making do with a single USB 2.0 port and a multi-format memory card reader; you still get HDMI connectivity, among other ports, and a healthy clutch of supported media standards.
That includes 1080p MPEG 1/2/4, H.264 and VC-1 formats with ISO, AVI, MP4, MTS and various other file types supported. Audio doesn’t fall short either; Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD all make an appearance, with 7.1 surround sound on offer if you have the speakers for it.
Unfortunately, there’s no network connection – either wired or wireless – which means you can’t use the O!Play MINI as a DLNA streamer or access online video such as YouTube or Netflix. Still, it’s priced accordingly: €69 ($91) when it arrives in January 2011.
Orb’s $69 MP-1 WiFi audio streamer was good, but we couldn’t help but wish it worked with the place-shifting software’s video capabilities too; it seems the company was listening, as they’ve just outed the Orb TV. Priced at $99, the Orb TV VP-1 looks just like its audio-only sibling, but adds a composite/component video output alongside the stereo audio output, so you can hook up your TV.
There’s no HDMI port, which is disappointing, but you get WiFi b/g/n and a decent clutch of supported formats. That includes H.264 BP/MP/HP, VC-1 SP/MP/AP, MPEG4 SP/ASP, MPEG2 MP and MPEG1, while audio file support is the same MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4), AAC, Lossless, WMA and WAV from the MP-1. Right now streaming is only in SD, though Orb apparently intends an HDMI version together with APIs to add extra video sources.
As before, remote control functionality is via an Android or iPhone app, since there’s no independent remote bundled. You’ll also need to install the Orb Caster software on your PC or Mac. The company says that, because of the computer-based nature of the system, you’ll still get access to Hulu, Netflix and all of the other online-streaming services that rival platforms like Google TV and Boxee have had to negotiate special deals for. The Orb TV VP-1 is available to order now.
Having been spotted flirting with the FCC earlier today, the HTC DG H100 Media Link streamer has been confirmed by retailer Clove. Priced at £89.99 ($145), the HTC Media Link hooks up to your TV via the bundled HDMI cable and allows you to stream content via DLNA over WiFi.
Once hooked up, it’s possible to transfer media from your PC or smartphone to the TV, view media from your PC on your device, or even use your device as a controller for the media streaming from the PC to the TV. Some of that functionality will require an HTC device, however, but we’re guessing the more generic DLNA abilities will work cross-platform.
Official availability for the HTC DG H100 Media Link is unknown at this stage, though HTC has previously confirmed that it’s due sometime this quarter. However, retailer HTCDirect is claiming UK stock will arrive on December 10 2010.
Acer has injected some of their nettop DNA into a new network-capable media player, the Acer Aspire RevoView. The STB is capable of Full HD playback from local storage – either on memory card, USB drive or in the user-accesible 3.5-inch hard-drive bay – or streamed over the network via the RevoView’s ethernet port.
Ports include two full-sized USB 2.0, HDMI, 10/100 ethernet, S/PDIF optical digital, component and composite, along with a miniUSB port for hooking the RevoView up to a PC and treating it as an external hard-drive. There’s also a multi-format memory card reader on the front.
Up to 2TB drives can be installed inside, and the RevoView will work with UPnP/DLNA streaming sources. The compatible file types and codecs includes MKV, MP4, H.264 and ISO – there’s a full list in the gallery below – and the STB itself is expected to go on sale in the UK on November 8 for £119.99 ($194).
Press Release:
Acer Aspire RevoView – the best TV companion
London, 3rd November 2010 – The new Aspire RevoView is an HD DLNA certified media player that can playback media content from all DLNA certified devices that helps you share and enjoy your digital media. Featuring network capability and Full HD 1080p playback, it makes watching digital content on a high-definition TV easy and intuitive. There is no need of complex devices settings, burning DVDs or connecting a computer to the TV: Aspire RevoView connects directly to your TV via an HDMI port, plus it seamlessly integrates with your surround speaker system for an immersive entertainment experience.
Four easy steps are all you need to enjoy digital content on your TV with the Acer Aspire RevoView:
1. Save your created or downloaded content to an USB storage device or memory card
2. Plug USB device into the Aspire RevoView or insert memory card in the slot
3. Connect the Aspire RevoView to your TV
4. You are ready to enjoy your HD content on TV!
It can get even easier than that. The Aspire RevoView can be equipped with an internal swappable 3.5” HDD for seamless media exchange. The HDD tray can be shared with the 2010 Aspire M Series desktop PCs, allowing you to easily share and enjoy your downloaded or created content. The RevoView really bridges the gap between the computer and entertainment world.
An Ethernet port provides direct access to the Internet allowing you to watch online videos via YouTube or enjoy your or your friends Flickr or Picasa photo slide-shows in the comfort of your living room.
There’s no end to the fun thanks to the extensive digital media support: the Aspire RevoView makes it easy for everyone to store, play and share their media with no concern for compatibility.
A user friendly interface brings together all available media, permitting to effortlessly navigate through music, video and photo collections. Content can be displayed by folder, list or thumbnails and it can be sorted either alphabetically or by date. Plus, you can playback content from USB connected mass storage and memory cards as well as optical disks.
For seamless operation, the Aspire RevoView comes with an handy 26 keys remote control permitting to easily work media playback functions from afar and to swiftly navigate through the user friendly media center. What’s more, main functions, such as videos, photos and music are quickly accessible through dedicated hotkeys.
Aspire RevoView can also be used as an USB external hard drive where you can store your growing digital libraries and can be used as a back-up drive. A fully featured media player, Aspire RevoView combines high storage capacity, a compact design and seamless playback functionalities.
The Aspire RevoView will be available from the 8th November with RRP starting at £119.99 inc Vat.
The developers of VLC for iPad and iPhone have responded to Apple 
VLC was a surprise addition to the App Store 
