Streaming Device Reviews

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Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Report, Part 2: Speakers, Amps, and More
Brent Butterworth  |  Oct 18, 2011  |  0 comments

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is growing up. A few years ago, it was known as a gathering of small (sometimes one-man) companies demonstrating exotic (sometimes downright wacky) audio products. Some of those guys are still there, but so now are most of the better-known high-end audio companies.

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New ProductsAudio Video NewsStreaming Device Reviews
Whole-Home Audio for the Rest of Us
Michael Berk  |  Oct 13, 2011  |  0 comments

Legrand - a leader in residential wiring and custom install components - in something of a surprise move announced the airQast wireless music system at this year's CEDIA Expo.

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Streaming Device ReviewsCustom Installation How-To
Review: Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 Network Music Player
Daniel Kumin  |  Aug 30, 2011  |  0 comments

Cambridge Audio is a British electronics maker with a long-running dedication to serious audio (minus the silly-expensive audiophile pricing) and a long-running commitment to quality digital playback. So, when the company first previewed a network music player in late 2010, it got my attention.

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Streaming Device Reviews
Review: Meridian Sooloos Media Core 200 and DSP3200
John Sciacca  |  Aug 16, 2011  |  0 comments

Wikipedia says minimalism “describes movements in various forms of art and design . . . where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.” At Sound+Vision, we generally preach the exact opposite: a “go big or go home” view toward TVs, speakers, and subwoofers. Why settle for 5.1 and a 42-inch screen when 9.2 and a 100-inch screen would be so much better?

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Streaming Device ReviewsNew Products
Boxee Comes to the iPad
Michael Berk  |  Aug 09, 2011  |  0 comments

HTPC, PC, Mac, dedicated hardware, and now the iPad. Boxee continues to extend the footprint of its video interface software with its iOS application, a nifty little front end for the iPad. But don't expect a mobile version of the full Boxee experience.

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New ProductsStreaming Device Reviews
Bang & Olufsen's BeoSound 5 Encore Digital Music System
Michael Berk  |  Jul 25, 2011  |  0 comments

Bang & Olufsen have announced the BeoSound 5 Encore, the baby brother of their BeoSound 5 music system.

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Streaming Device ReviewsNew Products
The Sonos Play:3 makes its debut
Michael Berk  |  Jul 20, 2011  |  0 comments

Always looking for new ways to make good on their promise to let users stream all the music on earth in any room, Sonos today announces a new player - the Play:3 - and a new naming scheme for their product line.

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New ProductsStreaming Device Reviews
Hands on with the Roku 2: Less is More
Michael Berk  |  Jul 20, 2011  |  0 comments

The cat's been out of the bag for a month or two now, but today Roku officially announces an entirely redesigned line of streaming media players, featuring a smaller form factor, a few new content channels, Angry Birds - and, on the top-of-the-line XS, a motion-control remote. The new units should hit stores by the end of the month.

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Streaming Device ReviewsBlu-ray Player Reviews
Review: LG BD670 Blu-ray Disc Player
Al Griffin  |  Jul 13, 2011  |  0 comments

Blu-ray players are becoming less a means to play discs than a gateway to online services — and to any media stored on computers, smartphones, and iDevices lying around your home. Take LG’s BD670. You might pick up this modest-looking machine thinking you’d use it to play Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs, along with DVDs and CDs.

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Streaming Device ReviewsCustom Installation How-To
Review: Sonos S5 ZonePlayer and 3.4 System Update
Michael Berk  |  May 23, 2011  |  0 comments
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Streaming Device ReviewsCustom Installation How-To
Digital Media Receiver Roundup
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 09, 2011  |  0 comments

DEFINING A NEW PRODUCT CATEGORY

I'm struggling with this: What do you call these things? Digital Media Streamers? Digital Media Receivers? How about media extenders, media streamers, or digital media adapters? Maybe Internet Streaming Devices? If you abbreviate that last one, it sounds a bit sinister. "Dude, I got an ISD." Annnnnnnd, you're on a list somewhere.

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Streaming Device Reviews
Apple TV 2
Kim Wilson  |  Apr 14, 2011  |  0 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $99

At A Glance: Rent iTunes movies and TV shows • Stream Netflix content • View pictures galleries on Flickr and MobileMe • Extends Apple ecosystem with AirPlay

Getting content from our computers to the home’s main entertainment hub is like the Holy Grail. Some manufacturers have achieved it for a high price; others have achieved it poorly for a reasonable price. In the Apple ecosystem, Apple TV has allowed simple, inexpensive iTunes integration for years. The original model required you to sync with your computer but, the latest Apple TV (ATV2)—which is less than half the size of its predecessor—only streams content. You can easily stream whatever you have on your computer in the way of movies (created or ripped), photos and music to your A/V system over a wired or wireless network.

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Streaming Device Reviews
Roku XDS Streaming Media Player
Kim Wilson  |  Mar 15, 2011  |  1 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $100

At A Glance: Instant streaming • Easy installation and operation • Simple, user-friendly interface • Access to multiple services, paid and free • 1080p/24 compatible

Roku’s players have come a long way since I reviewed the first Roku device in our November 2008 issue. All that player did was stream Netflix movies. You had to go to Netflix.com to queue up your movies before you could stream them from your Roku box to your TV via your wireless network. Since every major Blu-ray player now offers Netflix streaming, Roku had to make its box more competitive, and it did. There are three Roku products; for this review, I’ll focus on the XDS, Roku’s high-end unit at a whopping $100.

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Streaming Device Reviews
Google TV: Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TV
Kim Wilson  |  Jan 31, 2011  |  0 comments
Does Google TV’s Android-based media hub deliver as promised?

Both the computer and consumer electronics industries have spent years trying to find the perfect solution for the connected home. Late in 2010, Google jumped into the fray with Google TV. Its purpose is to let you search and watch your pay TV services, schedule TV shows for your DVR, surf the Internet, and play media from a USB hard/flash drive or from networked computers. At the core of both the Logitech Revue and the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray player is Google’s proprietary Android OS running on an Intel Atom processor. Like the Android-based smart phones, Google TV will have its own app store, although it wasn’t open at the time I was reviewing these two early models.

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Media Server ReviewsWireless Multiroom Speaker ReviewsStreaming Device ReviewsWireless Multiroom Speaker ReviewsDesktop Speaker ReviewsPortable Player Reviews
Sonos ZonePlayer S5
Kim Wilson  |  Jan 19, 2011  |  1 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $399

At A Glance: Single-box solution • Easy setup and operation • Perfect for smaller rooms, garage, and outdoors • Integrates with existing Sonos systems • Product now called Play:5

Sonos, a leader in low-cost, wholehouse audio, has made it possible to inexpensively stream audio from a computer to multiple A/V systems using one or more of its ZonePlayers. The $399 Sonos S5, the newest ZonePlayer, is completely self-contained. It incorporates its own power supply, amplification, and internal speakers, which allows audio streaming from a wide variety of sources without a dedicated sound system. It can serve as your main (or only) ZonePlayer or as an extension of an existing Sonos system.

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