Items Tagged With tv

We interviewed DF Solutions last summer but with one thing and another we never got this to you (sorry, our bad).  But suffice to say the home grown UK company is one we are always interested to hear from.  While it continues to face competition from DIY systems like Plex, it's definitely worth a closer look if you are in the market for a media server and not the hands on type, (we first heard about DF Solutions through a shining endorsement of a well known Customer Installer company in the UK).  Their interesting 3D matrix UI makes spotting the movie poster or album cover art you are looking for faster than with the normal single row scrolling UI's. DF Solutions also now integrate Spotify as a music source too.  Check out the videos after the jump...

For whatever reason many manufactures don't seem to think people put even a 32" HD TV in their bedrooms these days.  We've seen many flat-screens with a huge range of inputs but missing a vital headphone socket.  Many insomniacs rely on their wireless headphones to maintain marital bliss in the bedroom and so this can be quite a problem.  After being called in to look at just this situation for a family member it turns out there's a simple, effective and inexpensive solution...

Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) is bidirectional serial bus that allows components to control each other across an HDMI cable.  You've probably already heard of this system without knowing it as each manufacture gives it its own name, for example 'Bravia Sync' from Sony, 'Kuro Link' from Pioneer and 'SimpLink' from LG.  With the new kwikwai unit you can control your AV system from Ethernet with CEC replacing stick on IR emmiters for example.  The unit also bridges CEC to USB and RS232 Serial.  You could, for example, send a text string to the OSD of your TV, perhaps to show the name of a caller phoning you or that there's movement outside...

Friends of Automated Home, WeGotServed.com have just published this video from CES showing an LG NetCast Smart TV running Plex.  The UI looks exceptional for something that's built into a telly (checkout 'Powered by Plex" in the top right hand corner).  Last week brought you news of the LG ST600 and speculated that Plex would most likely be included in it too. We believe the ST600 is the identical (1080p capable) hardware that's going inside the 2011 LG NetCast HDTVs and Blu-ray players, but despite this, "Media Link" (LG speak for Plex) doesn't appear to be included in the the TV Upgrader from what  we can see in this video.  Tell us it isn't so LG?? This is the box we're all waiting for to bring Plex to all our existing HDTVs!