Popcorn Hour’s latest all-accessing all-playing media device has finally made its way into our hands, and while we haven’t had nearly enough time to put the C-200 completely through its paces, we did spare a moment to take some pictures and play a movie or two. Other than using RF (no line of sight needed here) the remote is mostly unchanged from the earlier A-110, though we have had some issues with the box not responding to inputs, tightening the antenna seems to have made things better for now. Slipping a SATA hard drive in requires only the lightest tug on the drive bay door, it really couldn’t be easier — we’ll have to see how a Blu-ray drive fits soon. With the exception of slight noise from the HDD we put in, the C-200 is nearly silent in operation, and home theater nuts will be glad to know that bright blue display up front can be dimmed all the way to off. An extra USB port front and back hasn’t hurt usability either, though it would have been nice if it recognized a keyboard when we were setting up new RSS feeds. Thanks to DLNA support, Windows 7 Play To functionality worked sufficiently playing media, but we couldn’t get the titles to display properly on the C-200 whether initiated from the PC or on the box itself. So far it’s played everything we’ve thrown at it, from legitimately downloaded trailers to less MPAA-authorized material. Anything you want to see tested as part of our full review? Leave ideas in the comments while you check out the pictures.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Popcorn Hour C-200 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Historically, wireless rollouts have been miserably long, protracted affairs that take countless years to complete, but Verizon’s talking in some really aggressive terms as it moves to LTE. The company wants to be at or near 100 percent overlay with its legacy CDMA footprint by 2013, but a ton of major markets will be covered and commercially well before then — up to 30 in 2010. Speaking in an interview this week, Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone has reiterated that the company is still on track with its LTE deployment — music to our ears — and that they’re not looking to “tease” customers at length with trial deployments that would require moving cross-country to enjoy. They’re looking to establish a “significant footprint” out of the gate, which is allegedly made possibly in part by the LTE equipment’s ability to share some infrastructure (backhaul equipment, for instance) with the CDMA network it’ll be joining in cell sites around the country. Now, how about those USB LTE modems, Verizon?
Filed under: Wireless
Verizon: LTE rollout to be ‘as close to all-at-once as possible’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What could possibly cause nearly 700 comments on an official Sony blog post announcing the relatively minor 3.01 firmware update for the PS3? Plaudits? A Kanye meme gone awry? No, it’s the age old problem of an update that apparently breaks more than it fixes. In this case, a sizable number of users are reporting that the
3.0 and/or 3.01 update caused their PS3′s Blu-ray drive to be all but unusable for both games and Blu-ray movies (although some folks report that DVDs still work). Other users are also reporting intermittent problems like no sound, and some problems with specific games, but it does seem like the complaints are pretty widespread and, as of yet, Sony isn’t saying much about them. Bitten by the upgrade bug yourself? Let us know in comments.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Gaming
PS3 3.0 / 3.01 firmware update making Blu-ray drive unusable? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure, JVC’s new Picsio GC-FM1 pocket video camera has the specs to complete with the likes of Flip Video’s Ultra HD and other similar offerings (1080p video, 8-megapixel stills, a 2-inch LCD, and HDMI out), but it also has a little something extra, something rarely seen in the world of anthropomorphized products since they heyday of the California Raisins: showmanship. Still no word on a North American appearance just yet, unfortunately but it looks like the camera will run around ¥20,000 (or about $220) when it hits Japan by the end of the month. In the meantime, we’re sure the video after the break will more than tide you over.
[Via Akihabara News]
Continue reading JVC Picsio GC-FM1 video camera flips out for its debut
Filed under: Digital Cameras
JVC Picsio GC-FM1 video camera flips out for its debut originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s a bit hard to tell if Artcoustic’s latest wall-mounted, ultrathin loudspeakers, the Crystal line, are incredibly horrid or insanely awesome. There’s no denying that high-end loving audiophiles are enticed by the brand — but the Crystal line? Well, let’s just say that adding a bunch of Swarovskis to any product won’t necessarily make it better. Regardless, these bad boys are customizable and if you’re into ostentation, they probably belong in your apartment. There’s also a matching iPod dock available, and it’ll run you about $3700 to get one, speaker included.
Filed under: Peripherals
Artcoustic vomits bling allover its Crystal line of wall-mounted speakers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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