Crave

Don't tell him I said that please.

(Credit: Touchgloves)

Happy belated Halloween! I know, I know. Halloween is so last week! Still, Dong and I discuss our experiences of the most popular holiday that you don't actually get to stay home from work for.

Then, we move to the toilet. Or more specifically, toilet technology. Even more specifically, we talk about motion detection technology used in the toilet. And by toilet, I don't mean in the toilet, just, you know, in the washroom. Also, clam-shell packaging? Who needs it?

Then we get down to serious business with Dong detailing the WD TV Live and the first 6GBps SATA controller card. I think you can actually hear me snoring during this segment. For my part, I point you directly in the direction of the Monitor Buying Guide.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the podcast link on the right. Don't forget to leave us voice mail at 1-800-947-6399 or e-mail us at insidecnetlabs@cnet.com.

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The new WD TV Live DH Media player shares the same shape and size with the previous model, the WD TV, but has a lot more to offer.

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

Awhile ago, Western Digital tackled the home entertainment arena with the WD TV, which turned out to be a success. Nonetheless, a lot of enthusiasts, including me, were turned off by the fact that the WD TV lacks support for networking and doesn't include the capability to decode DTS audio, which is popularly used in compressed high-def video formats.

It seems Western Digital took our complaints to heart as the company announced Tuesday the availability of the next generation of the device, the WD TV Live HD Media Player.

Outside, the WD TV Live has the same shape and size as the WD TV. However, on the back, apart from the USB, HDMI, and composite ports, you'll find the newly added 10/100 Ethernet port. This port opens the device to many possibilities, which, for now, include access to YouTube, Flickr, and Internet radio stations.

On the inside, the device now can decode both DTS and DTS 2.0 audio encoding and sports a faster processor.

Like the previous WD TV, the new WD TV Live supports playing back all kinds of video, audio, and photo formats, including the most popular high-def video formats such as Matroska (MKV) and DivX. In addition, it also has these new and improved features:

• Full-HD 1080p video playback with support for different sound tracks, subtitles (when available), and the capability to decode DTS audio
• Capability to play videos, music, photos, and radio from the Internet
• Ethernet port for wired connection to access digital content from other network devices
• Supports two USB mass storage devices at the same time, including external hard drives, digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players

WD TV Live DH Media Player photos

I tried the unit out and it was indeed a much better experience than the WD TV.

Hey! I can see those TV connections on your back. You're not fooling anyone!

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

What's the difference between an HDTV and a computer monitor? Well, let's see. HDTVs are for the most part made for watching movies and HD broadcasts, and playing video games. Monitors are made for everyday computer operations, productivity tasks, computer games, and to a lesser extent movies. Also, monitors are generally smaller than your average HDTV, and HDTVs usually have more in the way of connection options.

So where does this leave my latest two monitor reviews? The LG Flatron M237WD and the Samsung SyncMaster P2370HD are both monitors with many features only TVs usually have, including multiple connection options--HDMI, Component, and Composite, as well as VGA and DVI--and even remote controls.

If you're interested in a monitor for watching Blu-ray movies, playing video games, and catching your favorite HDTV shows, check out the reviews of both the Samsung and LG to see how well they're able pass in both the TV and monitor worlds.

Also, don't forget to check for the latest monitors reviews from CNET.

Another day, another external hard drive. I thought by now, storage vendors had exhausted ideas for new external hard drives. I was wrong.

Western Digital announced on Thursday its new and refreshed lines of My Book external hard dives, including the My Book Essential and My Book for Mac. Both hard drives are for desktops, and most importantly, they come with the new WD SmartWare software that's designed to ease the job of backing up your data.

The new My Book Essential external hard drive from Western Digital.

(Credit: Wetern Digital)

Both new external hard drives are available in capacities ranging from 500GB to 2TB and feature user-selected password protection combined with military-grade 256-bit hardware encryption, which scrambles files before they're stored. Prior to these drives, these security technologies have been available mostly in much more expensive storage systems.

The two new drives also use WD's GreenPower Technology that helps lower the power consumption of the internal drive, according to WD, by up to 30 percent. They both sport an illuminated capacity gauge that gives you a quick glance of how much space is available on the drive.

The My Book Essential drive is a budget product and comes with only one USB 2.0 connection and is preformatted for Windows. The WD SmartWare software will launch by itself the first time the drive is plugged in and offers a real-time visual interface of the backup process. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file. This is similar to how HP's SimpleSave external hard drive works, with the exception that it requires a bit more user interaction than HP's solution.

The My Book for Mac is essentially the same as the My Book Essential with the exception that it's preformatted for Macs and comes with the Mac version of the WD SmartWare software. It also is compatible with OS X's built-in Time Machine backup solution.

The two new external hard drives are available immediately and are estimated to cost between $100 and $250, depending on the model and capacity.

On Tuesday, Netgear announced its new Internet-connected Digital Entertainer Live set-top box.

(Credit: Netgear)

If you're a fan of devices that play media from USB drives, such as the WD TV, you'll probably find the newest toy from Netgear interesting.

The company announced Tuesday the newest Internet-connected set-top box in its Digital Entertainer product family, the Digital Entertainer Live (model EVA2000). The device is similar to the WD TV as it also has two USB ports and supports playback of a long list of digital media files, including DivX and Matroska MKV, a popular compressed format for high-definition movies.

(Credit: Netgear)

The EVA2000 incorporates an Ethernet port that gives it access to Internet-based media options that let you view YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and a wide range of other free content on HDTVs. Other than free content, the EVA2000 also supports pay-per-view movies, such as those from Roxio CinemaNow.

According to Netgear, the Digital Entertainer Live features a built-in search engine that can perform dynamic keyword searches of more than 100,000 Web sites for Internet videos. The search results are categorized by popular subjects and put into separate folders.

The Ethernet port can also be used to connect the EVA2000 to other network devices, such as other computers or network storage devices to play digital content stored on them.

For those who want to use the new set-top box with fewer wires, the EVA2000 has an optional Digital Entertainer Live Wireless USB Adapter (EVAW111) that connects the device via Wi-Fi. However, it's always better to connect it using a network cable if you want to smoothly stream high-definition content from a network storage device.

The EVA2000 comes with an HDMI port for HDTVs and composite cables for older TVs. It also has regular RCA jacks to support analog TVs.

The Netgear Digital Entertainer Live is available now and costs $150. Its optional Wi-Fi adapter is available for another $40.

After releasing relatively low-performance 2TB hard drives a few months ago, Western Digital announced Tuesday that it's now shipping high-performance versions of these top-capacity drives.

The WD RE4 drive

(Credit: Western Digital)

The new drives are the WD Caviar Black and the WD RE4. According to the company, the former is designed for desktops while the latter is suited for servers and network storage devices.

These two new hard drives are based on WD's 500GB-per-platter technology. They both combine 7200rpm spin speed, 64MB cache, dual-stage actuator technology, SATA 2 (3Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor.

(Dual actuator technology is a head-positioning system with two actuators that improves positional accuracy over the data track. The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.)

Other features of the two drives include:

• IntelliSeek, a technology that calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.
• StableTrac, a mechanism that makes sure the motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations.
• NoTouch, a ramp-load technology that keeps the recording head from ever touching the disk media to significantly reduce the wear and tear of the recording head and media as well as provide better drive protection in transit.

In addition, the WD RE4 2TB enterprise drive features 1.2 million hours mean time between failures (MTBF) and other power-saving, speed-enhancing, and fail-proofing technologies.

The WD Caviar Black 2TB (model WD2001FASS) drive is available now for $299. The WD RE4 2TB (model WD2003FYYS) drive is currently being qualified by OEMs. Both drives are covered by a five-year, limited warranty.

It's a logo, an acronym, and a smiley, all in one.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET)

Last week, I explained my reasons for holding off on the review of the LG Flatron M237WD.

I know it's a disappointment to those you who have been inquiring about the review for a while now, but I still believe that waiting for a very similar comparison monitor--in this case, the Samsung P2370HD--will make for a much better and useful review.

So, to tide you over, I recorded a short video of me taking a quick look at the LG Flatron M237WD, very early in the morning. Notice my workout clothes. Also, please forgive the amateurish camera work. I'm still getting used to using that thing and it'll be much better in the next vid.

Enjoy, and look for more of these quick little videos in the near future.

Samsung's XL2370 (back when it was the 2370L) supposedly ends wars and cures diseases. We'll see.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET)

I've had the LG Flatron M237WD in-house for a good minute now. I've yet to review it, however, because I felt that unless I had something appropriate to compare it to, the review wouldn't be as useful.

For awhile I'd been begging waiting on Samsung to send its 2370HD, as it has many of the same "TV like" connections as the Flatron, as well as the same 23-inch screen size and 1920x1080 resolution. Samsung just informed me that I should be receiving the display either later this week or next, but that I would also need to give up my firstborn. Look for reviews of both monitors in early to mid September.

Samsung also informed me that a release of the LED-based XL2370 is imminent and that I should also be receiving an evaluation unit soon. This is the long-anticipated LED version of the Samsung 2370 I reviewed a few months back.

Last but not least, Samsung should be sending the F2380 which is a full HD 23-incher featuring cPVA panel technology. This one probably just edges out the XL2370 as my current most anticipated monitor.

Hopefully all of these monitors actually arrive in the CNET Lab soon. A man can have only so many firstborn, so here's hoping the sacrifices needed to receive all of these leave me with at least a sliver of my soul intact.

The WD TV Mini has a list price of $99.99 but can be found online for $80.

(Credit: Western Digital)

We reviewed Western Digital's WD TV HD media player several months ago and generally liked what we saw. Now the company is back with a less expensive--and smaller version--that's called the WD TV Mini. The unit costs $99.99 and is allegedly available now.

Like its big brother, the Mini is designed to read a wide assortment of audio and video file formats from an external storage device, whether it be one of Western Digital's own external hard drives or just a simple thumb drive, and play it back on your TV.

The WD TV HD media player offers an HDMI connection and 1080p playback capabilities, but this model goes with component video (as well as S-video) and tops out at 1080i playback. Interestingly, the WD TV HD is selling for $99.99 right now at some online outlets and the Mini is going for $80 at Amazon, though it's listed as "not yet been released."

It's also worth noting that some photos of a networked version of the WD TV HD have surfaced. That unit includes an Ethernet port, as well as HDMI connectivity and an optical output. No word on when that model will be released, but we suspect we'll hear more about it soon.

To see the full press release on the WD TV Mini, click here.

(Via Engadget)