Every single time I’ve tried to Liveblog for Giz, I’m hamstrung by the fact that I’m one man with a laptop, a camera, a wireless connection and talent (OK, I made that last one up), but have to connect them all the old fashioned way. If only I could wirelessly stream the photos directly to the laptop from the camera as soon as its taken.

The Samsung ST1000 has got almost everything in the way of connections — Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth, plus GPS, 720p video recording at 30fps, and is available for an RRP of $749. There’s also a haptic touchscreen and 5x optical zoom.

If you’re a part of that sub market that needs Wi-Fi in its cameras, the ST1000 is available now.

[Samsung]

While you can use the MS 400 HD DVR’s Wi-Fi connection to access media on your home PC or NAS using DLNA, there doesn’t seem to be any provision to copy your HDTV recordings back to your PC so you can watch them on the go.

You do get customised YouTube and Picasa access though, and the detachable HDD slot is a great addition for anyone wanting more storage on the cheap. But is that enough? Outside the DVR functionality with its 8-day EPG and twin HD tuner, I’m more inclined to use my PS3 to access remote files.

Would you pay $849 for a 250GB DVR (or $999 for 500GB) model?

[LG]

It looks like there’s always going to be a tradeoff when choosing software to move media from your PC to a PS3, Xbox 360 or any of the other DLNA-compatible hardware that plugs into your TV. PlayOn, for example, has built-in support for Hulu, ESPN, CNN, Netflix, and CBS—but it costs $US40 and can’t handle RSS, audio or photo streaming. For our money, we’d go with TVersity, mostly because there’s no money involved. [TubeCentric]

Besides adding Rhapsody music, an enhanced Flickr with “mosaic” photo viewing, and DLNA connectivity for streaming video, music and photos from computers and servers around the house—three pretty obvious moves—Moxi now gets distributed with the PlayOn client for Windows, which actively takes Netflix, Hulu, CBS and other high-quality on-demand web video streams, and steers them right to the set-top box.

For the time being, Moxi is condemned to be the “other” CableCard-savvy set-top box. Yeah, it’s lightyears better than the boxes most cable operators willingly hand over to you, but TiVo has worked hard at both interface and expansion, mixing Netflix, Amazon VOD, Rhapsody and other services into its menu to make it that much more valuable. Moxi has taken the cue, and is piling on services too.

Rhapsody was an obvious addition, and just like everywhere else Rhapsody turns up, there’s a free 30-day no-strings-attached no-credit-card trial, which is nice.

It’s also nice that Digeo added DLNA. It’s not quite the DLNA 1.5 that we talked about in reference to Windows 7 (remember Play To?), but it is good enough to serve up video and other files via a simple browser.

What surprised me was that Moxi didn’t add any VOD service directly to the box. I thought Netflix was getting in bed with everybody, but it sounds like they’re tied up with the big CE companies now, and Digeo doesn’t make the cut. So, instead, Digeo starts sharing PlayOn, this Windows app (which usually costs $40) that’s sort of in the XBMC/Boxee/Twonky family of software. Moxi owners get it free, and use it to browse Hulu, YouTube, CBS.com and plenty of other VOD services, even grabbing their own Netflix video choices too. Any video you select is carried over your home network to the Moxi box and your TV.

The good news is, we have a box now, and I intend to test all of this once the firmware update happens. But even now I am heartened that the newcomer to the BYO-set-top-box category is pushing ahead. Remember, it’s $US800 for the Moxi HD, and now only sold on Amazon or Moxi.com, but that includes service for as long as you run it. I’m not saying buy one, at least, not yet, but I do think they’re finally putting out a product worthy of review.

Digeo® Releases Major Enhancements to Flagship Moxi® HD DVR

Moxi® Entertainment Experience Gets Even Better with PlayOn™ Internet Video; Rhapsody®
Music; Home Theatre Controls; and Enhanced Photos, Internet Services and DLNA-Certified™
Home Networking

KIRKLAND, WA – April 09, 2009 – Digeo, Inc. today announced new features and enhancements to the
Moxi® High Definition Digital Video Recorder (HD DVR), further advancing the world’s best DVR. The
Moxi HD DVR has new services available directly from the on-screen menu including Internet video from
YouTube, Netflix, Hulu™ and more streaming directly to the TV through MediaMall Technologies’
PlayOn™ media server software as well as the streaming digital music service from Rhapsody®. The
Moxi HD DVR also now includes eControls, a home automation feature that allows users to customise the
home theatre experience by adjusting lighting and other Z-Wave supported products. The Flickr® online
photo service and MoxiNet Internet browser were also enhanced, and Moxi is now certified to support the
DLNA® standard for improved home networking.

These new services will be available automatically to customers with a Moxi HD DVR via a software
upgrade at no additional charge from Digeo.

Additionally, as part of this new functionality, the company is offering existing and new Moxi customers a
PlayOn® licence key (value $39.99) free for a limited time, as well as a free 30-day Rhapsody trial (value:
$12.99).

“In the current economic climate, people are more focused on at-home entertainment options and on
getting the most out of their HD investments,” said Greg Gudorf, CEO, Digeo. “The world’s best HD DVR
now delivers even more valuable entertainment services for the best home entertainment experience.”

The Moxi HD DVR is designed to appeal to the most demanding digital cable entertainment enthusiasts.
With its native HD interface and Emmy® award-winning Moxi Menu, dual tuners, and up to 75-hours of HD
recording space (up to 300 hours at standard definition, and expandable well beyond with an external
eSATA drive), the Moxi HD DVR makes it effortless for consumers to discover, experience and share high
definition media from their digital cable provider, PCs on the home network and the Internet.

Adding to an extensive list of advanced features and services, the enhancements announced today as
part of the Moxi HD DVR Spring 2009 software release include:

• PlayOn – This media server software currently provides access to Internet videos from YouTube,
Hulu, CBS, Netflix, CNN, ESPN and more through the Moxi HD DVR from a PC on the home
network. Video formats are automatically converted so Moxi users can watch Internet video
directly on their widescreen HDTV.

• Rhapsody® – The leading on-demand digital music service is now available through the Moxi HD
DVR, allowing users to easily listen to any one of more than 7 million songs from all the major
record labels and hundreds of smaller independent labels. Rhapsody delivers complete control
over the music experience, helping users to easily find and play full length tracks, build playlists of
favourites or listen to Rhapsody’s professionally programmed genre & artist channels. Starting
today, Rhapsody and Digeo are bringing music without limits to every user of the Moxi HD DVR.

• Media Link – Certified to support the DLNA home networking standard, Media Link connects the
TV or home entertainment system to PCs on a home network. Moxi users can easily stream
digital movies, videos, music and photos from their PCs for viewing or listening from the comfort
of their home entertainment environment.

• eControls – Moxi users can now manage their home entertainment environment through the Moxi
menu to set the mood. Users can adjust most Z-Wave-certified products such as lighting (e.g.,
turning sets of lights on, off or dimming), control volume and power on AV devices, as well as
monitor IP baby-cams or outside cameras, all from the remote control.

• Mosaic – A new browsing feature for the Flickr® online photo service available through the Moxi
menu, Mosaic allows users to rapidly scroll up, down and across their photos as they are
displayed as mosaic tiles on the display.

• MoxiNet -Moxi registered users can now bookmark their favourite websites at Moxi.com and
browse them on their home entertainment display using the Moxi remote as a virtual mouse. This
expands upon MoxiNet’s quick access to news, sports scores, movie times, weather and other
information from the Internet.

For more details, including details of the PlayOn licence key offer, technical specifications and screen
images of the Moxi HD DVR expanded feature set, please visit: www.moxi.com. You can also follow Moxi
on Twitter at www.twitter.com/moxi_hd or on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/c9vuxf

About Digeo
Digeo, Inc., a Paul Allen-backed company, provides premium home entertainment products including
digital video recorders (DVR). The company’s mission is to enable the best consumer experience in high-
definition entertainment for the connected home. The company’s flagship product – the Moxi® HD DVR
with Emmy® award-winning menu and features – serves as the hub for whole-home distribution of digital
entertainment. The Moxi platform empowers consumers to discover, experience and share high definition
media, including TV, movies, music, games, photographs and video. The Moxi HD DVR is available
directly to consume
rs at moxi.com or via Amazon at www.amazon.com/electronics. Moxi products are
also available through cable providers, with nearly a half million units deployed to U.S. households to
date. Digeo continues to innovate and provide Moxi solutions to the cable and IPTV industry, including
the licensing of the Moxi platform and services to consumer electronics manufacturers and service
providers. To learn more, please visit www.digeo.com.

The key is that you have to have compatible networked “digital media renderers” at the receiving end. Right now, the list is verrrry short: Sonos is the poster child for the feature at this point, and when you right click a song and send it to the Sonos ZonePlayer in any room, it starts playing no problem. But Sonos is for music only and so is Roku’s SoundBridge, which has a variation of the feature enabled on its latest firmware. Video is the holy grail, but for now, the only thing you can send video to is the Xbox 360—and then only when it’s running Media Centre Extender.

This will change soon, when the DLNA rolls out its “Play To” certification as part of the 1.5 specification. The functionality will likely find its way into loads of media-rendering products: The PS3 is key, but ideally this will be in TVs, connected stereo systems, media adapters and digital picture frames too. Can you imagine how nice it would be if sending a photo to a frame was a right-click away, instead of some convoluted 12-step process requiring proprietary software and a steady easterly breeze?

In other words, though Play To is first coming to life as a Windows 7 attribute, it will hopefully not be just some Microsoft (TM) thing, but a platform that all computers and devices can get with, a whole-house “This just works” thing. Yes, I can see you naysayers wrinkling your noses already: It’s a dream that potentially has nightmare written all over it. But at least with Windows 7 and supported devices, Microsoft is burning some midnight oil to make it work.

And the PC is potentially good for getting around kick-in-the-stomach file-format rejections we see in connected products: Windows 7 will automatically render files that it knows the networked device itself can’t accept. For instance, a media player that doesn’t like AAC will be delivered a more palatable WMA audio track in realtime. Microsoft even says conversion will work with video files—as in, flipping an XviD of The Big Lebowski into WMV as you’re watching. It’s early in the beta, so there’s no telling how pleasant or painful that experience will be. Needless to say, it’s not testable just yet.

The other reason the PC is so cool for this is that you can browse files that live somewhere else on your home network. When you find one, you right-click and send it to some other device, clear at the other end of your house. The computer isn’t a media player at all anymore, but a big expensive universal remote that also does email.

The experience today isn’t life changing, but I was able to play networked music on the Sonos, control its volume, build a playlist and skip around, all with no problem, and with no Sonos software installed. Play To isn’t entirely compatible with official Sonos controllers yet (those show that the ZonePlayer is doing something, but won’t name the track or show any metadata). It’s possible that these issues will be solved by the time Windows 7 is released.

I mentioned that the Xbox 360 needs to run Windows Media Center Extender to use Play To. I think this is a design flaw. I hope that the developers will see fit to make Play To work with Xbox’s native media players, because they’re much better than the Extender in a lot of ways. In testing so far, we’ve been able to send WMV and certain AVI files over—even, as you can see in the image, while sending music to a different media player. Still, not all files work yet, not even all the ones supposedly supported. I chalk that up to the beta status, though, and I know Microsoft is doing some serious problem-solving in that area even now.

I don’t want to sound like some hippie, but there’s no telling what Play To could achieve if everyone—Mac and PC, PS3 and Xbox, and any digital media renderer, be it a Samsung Blu-ray player, a Philips photo frame or a Sony Bravia connected LCD—got on board. Here’s to hoping, and to this first step looking none too shabby. [Windows 7 on Gizmodo]

The new Mini packs dual 120GB, 2.5-inch SSDs that allow the drive to run at a ridiculously quiet 2.3db. This setup also allows for either 240GB of data storage or a RAID1 mirroring configuration to protect your data should your new, fancy storage fail on you. The system is also DLNA-compliant to share media while supporting both USB and ethernet connectivity.

So now that we’ve sold you the Buffalo LinkStation Mini, we should probably mention…it’s Japan-exclusive for the time being and will cost $US1,200. No hard feelings though, right? Who want’s a crummy, monster external SSD anyway? [Buffalo via Engadget]

For live video, the camera runs its own IPTV server, which compresses the video down to H.264 in real time before sending it out to a compatible TV. The folks at Tech On are claiming this all goes down over 802.11g, though (and not n), so quality may not be the best. Cool capabilities to have built-in, though. And if anyone has a line on IDing the liquid-filled banana being filmed in that image, please share with the rest of us. [Tech On]

The first Sony Ericsson phone to feature DLNA is the C905 Cybershot snapper, which comes with Wi-Fi, an 8.1-megapixel snapper (and typical camera functions like face detect, BestPic and a Xenon flash).

Connected to other DLNA devices on your network, you can use the C905 to access and view content stored on your PC, PS3 or other DLNA device. Or, you can access content (like photos) from your phone on your PS3, without having to plug it in.

The C905 is looking to land in Australia in October. And if you happen to be a Mac user and therefore aren’t impressed with the whole DLNA thing, then you’ll be happy to know that the C905 is also one of the first Sony Ericsson phones that is OS agnostic – so you’ll be able to sync your content between your phone and your MacBook.

[UCHI on Giz]

Sony claims that these are “affordable,” starting at US$1,500, which, when judged against their direct competition, I guess they are; if you’re looking at building a system that would even necessitate this type of hardware, US$1,500 isn’t too much. The iPod dock and bluetooth connection give it a bit of mainstream cred as well, but just a little. For the A/V diehards, a full press release below. [Sony]

DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008 (CEDIA Booth #600) – Sony today introduced two new ES A/V receivers with a CAT5e port, allowing them to provide high-definition video to a second room.

The STR-DA6400ES and STR-DA5400ES models offer second room high-definition video and audio distribution via CAT5e wiring. The CAT5e output shared by both models provides an inexpensive option in sharing HD video in a second room.

Additionally, the STR-DA6400ES features an extra CAT5e input and is Digital Life Network Alliance (DLNA) compliant. The combination makes the STR-DA6400ES Sony’s first network A/V receiver. Now there is a Sony A/V receiver that can stream music, photos and video from a DLNA-compliant PC plus it can access online music content from Rhapsody® and Shoutcast® Internet Radio without a PC.

“High-definition and other digital content is no longer limited to the living room and Sony’s new ES receivers have been designed to be the hub of this change in entertainment options,” said Tyler Ishida, director of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Digital Imaging and Audio Division. “Backed by 25 years of expertise, Sony’s new ES products not only deliver high quality audio and video, but offer the ability to connect new types of entertainment while distributing them throughout the home.”

Designed to provide the highest audio and video performance, the new receivers are fully compatible with Blu-ray Disc™ format by supporting 1080/24p video signals and the latest audio formats (Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby® TrueHD, DTS® High Resolution Audio and DTS® HD Master Audio).

Both receivers add a second Faroudja DCDi Cinema® chip allowing standard definition video sources to be up-scaled to 1080p in the main room (zone 1) when connected via HDMI™. The second Faroudja DCDi chip upscales standard definition video content in a second room (zone 2) to 1080i. This latest chassis innovation insures an outstanding picture no matter where you are watching your content. Both receivers also support x.v.Color and Deep Colour enabled sources.

The dual Faroudja DCDi Cinema chips also allow Sony’s xross media bar™ -inspired graphical user interface to be shared in both the main plus a second room for easy navigation and control of content. The Faroudja chip can also blend the onscreen GUI over 1080p sources via HDMI and provide picture-in-picture monitoring of another room or second room (zone 2) source.

The models decode Direct Stream Digital (DSD) audio sources such as that from Super Audio CD players, and feature Sony’s D.L.L. (Digital Legato Linear) audio scaler. The proprietary technology works much like a video scaler, analysing standard definition (compressed) audio signals like MP3 audio files and upscales them to 192 KHz resulting in higher quality audio.

Dual Digital Media Ports adds control and connectivity options for music playback through more than one accessory, including a cradle for iPod®, a Network Walkman™ cradle, a PC client device and a Bluetooth® adaptor (each is sold separately). The models are also Sirius® and XM Connect-and-Play™ ready and offers RS-232C, 12 volt triggers and IR repeaters for custom installation solutions.

Other features include Sony’s Digital Cinema Auto Calibration™ for simple surround sound setup and BRAVIA® Sync™ for Theatre for easy synchronisation of compatible home theatre components.
The STR-DA6400ES 7.1 channel receiver has a 120-watt power amplifier x 7 (8 ohms, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0.09 percent THD), six HDMI inputs (five rear, one front) with Direct Stream Digital and two HDMI outputs.

The model’s Ethernet port allows it to connect DLNA-compliant PCs via CAT5e wiring. Not only does this connection allow users to stream photos music and video, it provides access to Shoutcast® Internet Radio and Rhapsody Music Service. Additionally, the Ethernet connection provides easy access to firmware upgrades and service.

The model also distributes HD video to a second zone via CAT5e wiring and offers audio distribution to three zones and picture-in-picture for monitoring of multi-zone output or an external video source.
The STR-DA6400ES also features Sony’s High Quality Audio Transmission System (H.A.T.S.) that efficiently manages the robust digital signal insuring a consistent, high quality exchange.
The model will be available in October for $2,500.

The STR-DA5400ES 7.1 channel receiver has a 120-watt amplifier x 7 (8 ohms, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0.09 percent THD), six HDMI inputs with Direct Stream Digital and two HDMI outputs. The model’s CAT5e port allows it to distribute high-definition video to a second zone. It also offers audio distribution to three zones and picture-in-picture for monitoring of multi-zone output or an external video source.
The model will be available in September for about $2,000.

Sony also announced a new Super Audio CD and compact disc player complementing the new ES receivers. The single-disc SCD-XA5400ES incorporates an uncompressed digital output for DSD signal via HDMI. Leaning on Sony’s ES heritage, the model incorporates audiophile-grade discrete components such as twin R-Core power transformers and gold-plated outputs to maintain the utmost performance.
The SCD-XA5400ES will be available in October for about $1,500.

Both ES receivers and the SCD-XA5400ES are supported by a five-year limited manufacturer warranty and will be available online through HYPERLINK “http://www.sonystyle.com/” www.sonystyle.com, at Sony Style stores nationwide and at authorised Sony dealers across the country.