The Digital Media Zone

HD Sportsman Sept. 7-12

Phil Lozen — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:20:54 +0000

It’s the NFL’s turn in the spotlight this week. The college game kicked off a week ago, and on Thursday the big boys take center stage on NBC with a full slate of games set for this weekend.

SPOTLIGHT

Thursday night, 8:30 p.m. on NBC watch Minnesota head to New Orleans to take on the Super Bowl champs.

Here’s the rest of the week, big games in BOLD.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7

11 a.m. – US Open Tennis (720p)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

11 a.m. – US Open Tennis (720p)
7 p.m. – MLB Tampa Bay at Boston (720p)
10 p.m. – MLB LA Dodgers at San Diego (720p)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

11 a.m. – US Open Tennis (720p)
7 p.m. - College Football Central Michigan at Temple (720p)
7:30 p.m. – College Football Auburn at Mississippi St. (720p)
8:30 p.m. – NFL Minnesota at New Orleans (1080i)
11 p.m. – MLS Salt Lake at Seattle (720p

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

12:30 p.m. – Tennis US Open Men’s Double finals Women’s semis (1080i)
7 p.m. – College Football West Virginia at Marshall (720p)
10:15 p.m. – College Football UTEP at Houston (720p)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

College Football 12 noon

– San Jose State at Wisconsin (720p)
– Georgia at South Carolina (720p)
– Michigan State vs. Florida Atlantic (at Detroit) (720p)

3:30 p.m.

– Miami (FL) at Ohio State (720p)
, – Florida St. at Oklahoma OR Iowa State at Iowa (720p) (check local listing)
– Michigan at Notre Dame (1080i)
– Kent State at Boston College (720p)
– Colorado at California (720p)
4 p.m. - BYU at Air Force (1080i)

Late Games

7 p.m. – LSU at Vanderbilt (720p)
7 p.m. – Penn State at Alabama (720p)
7 p.m. – Oregon at Tennessee (720p)
10:30 p.m. – Stanford at UCLA (720p)
10:30 p.m. – Colorado State at Nevada (720p)
10:30 p.m. – Virginia at USC (720p)

Other Sports

12 a.m. – Tennis US Open Men’s semis (1080i)
4 p.m. – MLB Seattle at LA Angels (or other regional action) (720p)
8 p.m. – Tennis US Open Women’s finals (1080i)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

NFL Football

1 p.m. -Carolina at NY Giants OR Atlanta at Pittsburgh OR Detroit at Chicago (720p)
1 p.m. – Cleveland at Tampa Bay OR Denver at Jacksonville OR Indianapolis at Houston OR Miami at Buffalo OR Oakland at Tennessee OR Cincinnati at New England (1080i)
4 p.m. – Arizona at St. Louis OR San Francisco at Seattle OR Green Bay at Philadelphia (720p)
8 p.m. – NFL Dallas at Washington (1080i)

Other Sports

1:30 p.m. – MLB Teams TBA (1080i)
4 p.m. – Tennis US Open Men’s finals (1080i)
8 p.m. – MLB St. Louis at Atlanta (720p)

*If Needed

Technorati Tags: HDTV, PGA Tour, MLB, HD Sportsman, College Football, NFL

6 p.m. – Little League World Series (720p)

The Movie Podcast for Sept. 6th 2010

Adam Thursby — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:59:01 +0000

It seems like another week of mediocrity here on The Movie Podcast. While James absolutely loved MacGruber, I couldn’t find anything that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go this week. None of the movies you’ll hear us discuss were bad, but none were that special either. That said, all of the major releases from this week are definitely worth a watch so hit up Netflix or Red Box and have a look.

With James leaving soon, we’ll be recording next week’s show early. As such, you have until Friday at 12 noon ET to get your pick for WORST MOVIE EVAR in to us! Just 4 more days folks. Don’t miss out on your chance to win a four Blu-ray prize pack!

Click here to download this week’s show!

Movie Releases

TV Releases

Theatrical Releases

Music for The Movie Podcast provided by Amish Rake Fight

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HTPCentric 07: CableCard Breaks Out of Media Center

Adam Thursby — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:35:49 +0000

While the news broke not too long ago right here on The DMZ, we’re back this month to discuss CableCard moving beyond the Media Center scope and into the wild. So far, this is all taking place within the MythTV realm and as such we’ve brought together two folks who will be affected by the recent CableLabs spec changes. First up is Patrick Archibald. You may remember Patrick from Episode 03, dedicated completely to MythTV. Our second guest this month is Jeremy Hammer, Vice President of Systems Integration for Ceton Corporation, creators of the Ceton InfiniTV4. A four tuner CableCard solution.

The recent changes to the CableCard Spec. are what prompted this month’s show, and these guys take the time to run through how this changes the HTPC picture. Even though there haven’t been any SageTV announcements as of yet, we walk through those possibilities as well. We thank them both for joining us!

Click here to download Episode 07 of HTPCentric!

Also, if you’re looking to find back episodes of HTPCentric or support the show through donations or subscriptions, you can do so by heading to our brand new sub-domain here on The DMZ. Our show is 100% listener supported and we appreciate your support!

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Dell Inspiron Zino HD Review

Josh Pollard — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:51:32 +0000

It’s not very often that you see a mainstream computer manufacturer make a PC that seems almost perfectly intended to function as a home theater PC, but that is exactly what Dell did with the Dell Inspiron Zino HD. When you think of a desktop computer that you would get from a company like Dell, the last thing that you envision is the style and functionality of a machine that is designed to fit in with the rest of your A/V equipment in the living room. Dell really nailed the styling on the Zino HD though, and it looks right at home next to an HDTV, A/V receiver, and video game consoles. The real question then is how well does it function as a home theater PC?

Specifications

Size (H x W x D) : 89mm x 197mm x 197mm (3.4″ x 7.8″ x 7.8″)
Processor : AMD Athlon X2 3250e Dual Core (1MB L2, 1.5GHz)
RAM : 2GB 800mhz DDR2 – Add $39 for 3GB, or $79 for 4GB
Video : ATI Radeon 3200 HD
Hard Drive : 250GB SATA 7200 RPM
Network : 10/100/1000
Optical : 8x DVR-RW
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Let’s start with the specifications. As with most Dell computers the Zino HD offers a plethora of options, allowing you to configure it to fit most of your needs. The particular box that we received for review was equipped with an AMD Athlon 3200e dual core processor, 2GB of 800Mhz RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 3200 video processor, 250GB hard drive, DVD drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. As configured you could pick this Zino up for $324.99. There are numerous options that you could choose instead, such as: Dual Core Athlon Neo X2 6850e, up to 8GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n wireless, and a BluRay drive.

Video Playback

Definitely one of the most important aspects of a home theater PC is how well it handles displaying video. I started off by copying a couple of HD recordings (recorded on a separate HTPC using an HDHomeRun) directly to the Zino HD. As expected, they played great with no stuttering. Next I setup the Zino HD to use the HDHomeRun. You can’t put an internal TV tuner inside of the Zino, so if you need a tuner your only options currently are USB or networked tuners like the HDHomeRun. The Zino, again, did a great job handling the recording of two simultaneous HD recordings. I was able to watch one while recording another without any noticeable drop in video or audio quality. Next I ran the Digital Cable Advisor within Windows 7 Media Center (7MC) to see if the Zino would meet the minimum requirements necessary to use a CableCARD tuner. The test passed, clearing the way for future external or networked CableCARD tuners. When Ceton releases their firmware upgrade that will allow tuner sharing you should be able to access those CableCARD tuners, located in another box obviously, from within the Zino HD. Of course television isn’t the only place people get their content, so next up was Netflix streaming. I tested Netflix using the built-in plugin within 7MC. The Zino HD handled HD content with no stuttering at the maximum available bitrate of 3800Kbps.

Looks and Noise

The Zino HD absolutely looks great! The shiny piano black plastic gives it the look of most of the other equipment that you probably already have next to your television. For it to work well in the living room though it also has to be quiet. The Zino is not fanless unfortunately. It does have a fan on the back panel. It also has many cooling vents located on the bottom curved ridge to aid in keeping the box from getting too hot. At idle the fan doesn’t spin very fast, and the Zino HD is almost completely silent in a room with a moderate noise floor. When the fan spins up under load you may notice the noise more, but because you would probably be watching something in this situation, you may still not notice the sound. So while it’s not a completely silent device, it is still considerably quieter than an original XBOX 360.

Upgrade and Expandability

The Zino HD I received for review was equipped with a 250GB hard drive. If you were to use it as the primary recording HTPC then this hard drive would not be nearly big enough. You can of course upgrade all the way to a 1TB drive though. On the back panel there are also two eSATA ports for attaching external hard drives. There are only two usb ports on the back though, so you wouldn’t want to consume them with hard drives. You will most likely want to attach an IR receiver so that the computer can be controlled via remote, so that will take one of the precious slots immediately. Because the included wired keyboard and mouse don’t really fit in the living room you’ll probably want to use a wireless keyboard/mouse combo which typically only uses one USB port. But if that is the case, then you’ve already used all of the USB ports on the back of the computer. There are two more USB slots on the front of the device, but using them could be less than ideal in terms of aesthetics. If USB TV tuners are going to be used then you will definitely run out of USB ports very quickly. You may want to invest in a powered USB hub if you need the extra connectivity. Another downside is that while the Zino does of course have an HDMI port, it is lacking S/PDIF entirely. This may not be an issue for you though, especially if you plan to use this in a room that doesn’t have an audio/video receiver.

Conclusion

Pros:
Smooth HD video playback
Relatively quiet
Gorgeous design for the living room
Small
2 eSATA ports

Cons:
Higher cost than equally equipped desktop pc
Only 2 USB ports on the back
No S/PDIF

As mentioned earlier, our review unit would run about $325. While it would definitely be hard to build something as beautiful as the Zino HD, you could probably build something more powerful. While the Zino is not the most powerful computer available it does still handle HD video playback quite well. If you’re looking for a slightly higher than average performing HTPC, in a package that looks beautiful, consumes very little power, and is relatively quiet, you’d be hard pressed to find a better solution for the money.

[View with PicLens]

Seen in HD 46 – The Angry Episode, City Island review

Phil Lozen — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:10:21 +0000

News

Feedback? You can call us at 1-877-856-4933 or visit our Facebook page.

Here’s the rundown of this week’s show:

Microsoft announces Xbox Live price hike – Major Nelson

HDTV season starts – HD Guru

Shipments of HDTVs are down – Home Media Magazine

Panasonic Getting Avatar 3D exclusive – Blu-ray.com

Marketshare/Sales

Blu-ray revenue and market share. Wow was it bad.

Blu-ray sales | Combined DVD/Blu-ray sales

Blu-ray Review - City Island | Doblu.com review

Vitals: MPEG-4 AVC, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, LPCM 5.1

What we’ve seen/are watching

Blu-ray deals/Releases

Blu-ray releases for August 31

Click here to download Episode 46!

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Technorati Tags: blu-ray, Seen in HD, City Island, College Football, podcast

http://majornelson.com/Ma

Entertainment 2.0 #92: A Plethora of Streaming Topics

Adam Thursby — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:32:31 +0000

We drift a bit off of the Media Center path this week to talk about some of the other topics that have been floating around lately. You’ll find out why I don’t think Hulu Plus is worth it and we touch on Netflix as well. This along with listener messages from the past week await you with the simple click of a button!

If you need to use multiple audio outputs on your PC you’ll want to have a listen and check out the link to Hack7MC below. As well, we discuss the Xbox Live price hike that’s coming in November. I have to say that I’m not too happy about this one but wanting to keep certain services alive, I guess they’ve got me for now.

Click here to download this week’s episode!

Show Links:

WTV –>TS

Audio Device Switcher

Be sure and send us your emails and voicemail! (1-877-856-4933)

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HD Sportsman Sept. 2-6 – Time for Kickoff edition

Phil Lozen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:50:50 +0000

Celebrate! The college football season is upon us. Everything else takes a backseat this weekend to ivy-covered walls and pigskin perfection.

SPOTLIGHT

Two games stand out. Monday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN Boise St. travels to Virginia Tech and 3:30 p.m. Saturday when Notre Dame hosts Purdue on NBC.

Here’s the rest of the week, big games in BOLD.

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

1 p.m. – Tennis US Open (720p)
7:30 p.m. – College Football S. Mississippi at South Carolina (720p)
7:30 p.m. - College Football Minnesota at Middle Tennessee (720p)
8:30 p.m. - College Football Pittsburgh at Utah (1080i)
11 p.m. – College Football USA at Hawaii (720p)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

1 p.m. – Tennis US Open (720p)
8 p.m. – College Football Arizona at Toledo (720p)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

College Football 12 noon

– Miami (Ohio) at Florida (720p)
– Western Michigan at Michigan State (720p)
– Samford at Florida State (720p)

3:30 p.m.

– Texas at Rice (720p)
, – Connecticut at Michigan, UCLA at Kansas St. OR Kentucky at Louisville (720p) (check local listing)
– Purdue at Notre Dame (1080i)
– North Texas vs. Clemson (720p)

Late Games

7 p.m. – Washington St. at Oklahoma St. (720p)
7 p.m. – Memphis at Mississippi State (720p)
7:45 p.m. – Oregon St. at TCU (720p)
8 p.m. – LSU at North Carolina (720p)
10 p.m. – Cincinnati at Fresno St. (720p)
11 p.m. - Wisconsin at UNLV (1080i)

Other Sports

11 a.m. – Tennis US Open (1080i)
4 p.m. – MLB LA Angels at Oakland (or other regional action) (720p)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

11 a.m. – Tennis US Open (1080i)
1:30 p.m. – MLB Baseball Chicago White Sox at Boston (1080i)
2 p.m. – College Football Tulsa at East Carolina (720p)
3 p.m. – PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship (1080i)
3:30 p.m. – College Football SMU at Texas Tech (720p)
8 p.m. – MLB San Francisco at LA Dodgers (720p)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

11 a.m. – Tennis US Open (1080i)
2 p.m. – PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship (1080i)
4 p.m. – College Football Navy at Maryland (720p)
8 p.m. – College Football Boise St. at Virginia Tech (720p)

*If Needed

Technorati Tags: HDTV, PGA Tour, MLB, HD Sportsman, College Football

HD Racer – September 3-5

Josh Pollard — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:23:53 +0000

It’s a holiday weekend in the United States, and with it comes a truck-load of motorsports action. Friday gets kicked off with IndyCar qualifying on Versus, followed by SPEED’s coverage of the NASCAR Truck series qualifying and race at Kentucky.

Saturday is, once again, packed. Throughout the middle part of the day keep it on SPEED for NASCAR Sprint Cup practice and qualifying from Atlanta. In the evening you can catch the first D1GP Drifting event from Tokyo on SPEED. ESPN2 has the NASCAR Nationwide race that night, and Versus has the IndyCar race.

Sunday morning, or Saturday night if you don’t head to bed too early, SPEED has coverage of the Patron GT3 Challenge race from Mid-Ohio. After the sun has come up keep it on SPEED for the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix. The night is capped off with a rare Sunday night race as the NASCAR Sprint Cup hits Atlanta for the Labor Day Classic 500.

Friday, September 3

5:00 p.m.		IndyCar Qualifying from Kentucky
6:00 p.m.		NASCAR Trucks – Qualifying from Kentucky
8:00 p.m.		NASCAR Trucks – Built Ford Tough 225 from Kentucky

Saturday, September 4

11:00 a.m.		NASCAR Sprint Cup – Practice from Atlanta
1:30 p.m.		NASCAR Sprint Cup – Final Practice from Atlanta
4:30 p.m.		NASCAR Sprint Cup – Qualifying from Atlanta
6:30 p.m.		D1 Grand Prix Drifting from Tokyo
7:00 p.m.		NASCAR Nationwide – Atlanta 300
8:00 p.m.		IndyCar – Kentucky Indy 300

Sunday, September 5

1:00 a.m.		Patron GT3 Challenge* from Mid-Ohio
8:00 a.m.		MotoGP – San Marino Grand Prix
7:30 p.m.		NASCAR Sprint Cup – Labor Day Classic 500 from Atlanta

*Unfortunately the Patron GT3 Challenge is not available in HD, but it is a series I enjoy, so I decided to share it with you.

Apple Announces Apple TV v2.

Adam Thursby — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:24:59 +0000

The big fall apple event has just wrapped up and while most of the stuff out of Cupertino isn’t related to The DMZ, Mr. Jobs did take time to announce the company’s second version of Apple TV.

It’s small, that’s for sure. Looks to fit in the palm of your hand. Connection-wise the device will come with HDMI, USB, Ethernet and Optical audio connections. Wireless N will also be built in so wiring won’t be a problem.

You won’t be able to store anything on the device itself however you will be able to stream music, pictures and video from a computer as well as the iPad using AirPlay. As well as local content, you’ll be able to rent content from iTunes. HD movies and content from two networks will start off the party. Apple claims movie availability day and date with DVD and Blu-ray. ABC and Fox are the only networks to have signed on so far and it’ll be interesting to see if other join anytime soon. The usual online content providers are in full effect including YouTube, Flickr and Netflix.

I was really hoping for a lot more from the Apple TV announcement. Some of the ideas I’ve heard in the last few weeks were truly interesting and could have really changed the way TV worked. It’s too bad Apple doesn’t listen to the same podcasts I do…

Images and liveblog courtesy of Engadget

The Movie Podcast: Aug. 30th 2010

Adam Thursby — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:38:25 +0000

Back for the last show of August and things are starting to pick up a bit. While we did have to watch Marmaduke this week, we also get into Tyler Perry and a cult classic that every horror fan should see at least once. Take a listen for all the details.

Hopefully, with September starting this week, the big summer blockbusters are just around the corner. Stay tuned to The Movie Podcast for all the latest releases!

Don’t forget, you have one more week to get your submissions in to win a four Blu-ray prize pack! We’ll each be picking two movies and sending them off to our lucky winner after next week’s show. Just use the contact form, email us directly or call and leave a message at 1-877-856-4933 and tell us your pick for WORST MOVIE EVAR! We’ll choose a winner at random during next week’s show.

If you’re a TV junkie, run, don’t walk over to Geektonic and check out Brent’s 2010 fall TV schedule. He’s gone all out this year and provides PDF documents by name as well as date. Also, you can go ahead and add the full schedule right to your calendar so you’ll never miss a show! Absolute BEST TV guide on the web!

Click here to download this week’s episode!

Movie Releases

TV Releases

Theatrical Releases

Music for The Movie Podcast provided by Amish Rake Fight

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