Mvix Ultio Pro Media Center

Well it would appear as if set-top boxes are popping up left and right around here. The sad part is that they all only differ slightly, but none get it all correct. That said, the Mvix Ultio Pro Media Center comes pretty close from my initial impressions. It will stream your media from across the [...]

Tags: hd, media center, ultio
Posted February 13, 2010 by vidkun under Hardware

XBMC Gets 1080p Across All Platforms

XBMC will now have the ability to decode and playback full 1080p streams with ease. And the best part about it, is that it will have full cross platform support! Previously, anyone looking to decode any 1080p streams in H.264 or VC-1 would need a nice beefy processor to do all the heavy lifting. Then [...]

Tags: 1080p, Boxee, H.264, hd, high definition, htpc, Linux, os x, vdpau, XBMC
Posted December 31, 2009 by vidkun under Hardware, Software

Patriot Box Office – The Promising New Set Top Device

The world of set top devices just took a great leap forward in the evolutionary process! Patriot Memory has released their set top media player they call the “Box Office.” Although it still hasn’t reached the point of being the best all-around device for the home theater, it has taken two giant leaps toward becoming [...]

Tags: 1080p, blu-ray, dvd, hd, hd-dvd, hdmi, media, media player, media server, movie, streaming
Posted December 30, 2009 by vidkun under Hardware

XBMC 9.11 Released

XBCM has released version 9.11 of their Xbox Media Center with a whole slew of updates, changes, and tweaks. The most noticeable difference is the new default theme. XBMC switched over to the new Confluence theme as the default with the recently updated PM3.HD set as the secondary default. As part of their cleanup, XBMC [...]

Tags: blu-ray, hd, high definition, home theater, htpc, Linux, media, media server, streaming, XBMC
Posted December 28, 2009 by vidkun under Software

Netflix Review

It has been a few weeks since I first mentioned my plans to review the Netflix and Blockbuster rental services. As promised, here is the first of those reviews detailing my experience with Netflix’s free two week trial. So let’s see how things went… Netflix quotes an average 3 day turnaround on their shipping, but [...]

Tags: 1080p, blu-ray, hd, home cinema, home theater, Linux, movie, netflix, streaming
Posted December 16, 2009 by vidkun under Services

Blu-Ray: Obstacles and Advantages

A few years back when blu-ray was just starting to come about, Richard Weber wrote in an article entitled “The Age of Blu-Ray” detailing some of the main benefits of blu-ray technology: “Do you remember how awesome it was when you upgraded from you old VHS tapes to DVDs? The picture was way clearer and [...]

Tags: 1080i, 1080p, blu-ray, hd, high definition, home theater, media, movie, netflix
Posted December 13, 2009 by vidkun under General, Hardware, Movies, Software