mediasmart

Here we go again with another installment of the weekly Crave giveaway. This week's gadget: the HP MediaSmart Server LX195, a great network storage and backup device for home users.

In case you're wondering what CNET really thinks about it, CNET editor Dong Ngo recently gave the LX195 an Editors' Choice award. He says, "The device offers stellar performance, and great backup and remote access options for a reasonable price." (Read the full review of the HP MediaSmart Server LX195.)

Normally, HP's MediaSmart Server LX195 costs about $400, but you have the chance to get … Read more

I just got my hands on the details of Hewlett-Packard's upcoming MediaSmart Server, the LX195. Originally, HP had planned on announcing the new network storage server on May 5, but as a retail vendor accidentally leaked the information about its availability, you all get to hear about it now.

The LX195 is in some ways the successor of the MediaSmart Server ex475 and its variants, which HP launched more than year ago. However, the LX195 packs some major changes.

The new MediaSmeart Server now is powered by Intel's Atom 1.6 GHz Processor (instead of the AMD Sempron … Read more

Intel's mainstay Netbook chip is finding a home in desktops, underscored by recent announcements from Hewlett-Packard and Acer.

On Wednesday, details emerged of HP's MediaSmart Server LX195, a home server packing a 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor that's priced at $400 with 1GB of memory and a 640GB hard disk drive. To date, HP has been using Intel Celeron and Advanced Micro Devices' Sempron processors. (Note: update adds Intel Celeron.)

Earlier this month, Acer rolled out the Acer AspireRevo, a small, slick box that augments the Atom with an Nvidia Ion chipset to boost graphics performance. This … Read more

Back in November of 2007, we took a close look at the HP MediaSmart Server ex475, a glorified network-attached storage drive that gathers, organizes, and streams your media content over a network.

The Server also gives users open access to their content from any Windows-based, connected computer in the world. About a year after its initial release, the new ex487 model arrived in early 2009 with significant tweaks to the user interface and a beefier set of internal components. Now, HP updates us once again with the release of a software update that adds streaming content to mobile devices like … Read more

When Hewlett-Packard showed us an early version of its $349 MediaSmart Connect digital media extender, our first reaction was, "It costs too much." Now that it's actually available, it appears the company has finally gotten the message. We're hearing from a source close to HP that the official price will drop to $299 in early October, and that "retailers are expected to offer instant rebates so consumers should find the product for around $249...maybe even lower."

Why the price cut? Remember that the Xbox 360 can duplicate much of the MediaSmart Connect's … Read more

Continuing the trend of media servers that play nice with home video game consoles, PlayOn! has apparently raised the bar. With the new beta software released to the public yesterday, Windows XP and Vista users can now stream video from sites like Hulu and YouTube directly to their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and HP MediaSmart TVs.

The technology is fairly simple; the software grabs RSS feeds from video content providers and pushes them through over your home network. With support already encompassing ESPN and CBS, it would appear that PlayOn! brings us a few steps closer to officially ditching our … Read more

Hewlett-Packard's line of MediaSmart TVs includes the built-in ability to stream digital media from your home network and the Internet straight to their screens. But for the vast majority of us who don't own an HP TV, the company will soon have a second option: the MediaSmart Connect. The little black box connects to your home network (via its built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet) and streams a wide variety of digital audio, photo, and video files--including content from compatible Internet services (including Live365, Vongo, CinemaNow, and MovieLink).

The MediaSmart Connect should be able to pull digital … Read more

There have been various efforts to bring YouTube to the TV and other devices that bypass the computer, from Apple TV and TiVo in the living room to Archos on the road. But most of these have centered on boxes made by third parties and not the TV makers themselves.

Hewlett-Packard is trying to fill that void with its "MediaSmart" products, which include an HDTV receiver that allows viewers "to create multiple playlists from anywhere they watch TV." There's a hefty price to watch those homemade cat videos on a big screen, however, as the … Read more

HP likes to hedge its bets. In addition to a couple of big-screen flat-panel TVs with built-in Media Center Extenders, the company is now offering a set-top box as well. Like the MediaSmart TVs, the MediaSmart Receiver x280N has the ability to stream a wide variety of video (including MPEG-2, DivX, WMV, WMV-HD, and H.264/MP4 files), audio (MP3, WMA, WMA-Pro, WAV, AAC/m4a), and images (JPEG, BMP, GIF, and PNG photos) from networked PCs to your living room TV via its wired Ethernet or wireless 802.11a/b/g/n connections. Local media playback is also available via … Read more