Scans of DirecTV’s PC Tuner showed up on the DBStalk forums, which supposedly has two coaxial inputs, one USB output, ethernet and USB inputs, Vista Media Center support, and a DVR interface that uses your PC’s HDD. No word on whether the tuner is HD or SD, but If this is the real deal, it looks promising. [DBStalk Forums]
The intelligent lantern could be termed the Swiss Army Knife of flashlights—although the purists among you will probably complain that you can’t file your nails, peel an orange or get a stone out of a horse’s hoof with it. As well as a super-bright beam that can be seen a mile away, the nine-inch outdoor gizmo rocks stereo speakers, an AM/FM tuner, access to NOAA Weatherband and an MP3-compatible connection. There’s a digital clock, and as well as running on 6 C batteries (alkaline or rechargeable) you can also run it through your vehicle’s cigarette lighter or the mains. And all of this will cost you just $US39.[Norm Thompson via Crave via PopGadget]
The Nintendo DS TV Tuner was released yesterday in Japan for about $60 and the people from Impress have got their hands on one. The device will let you watch digital terrestrial television on the DS top screen while giving all sorts of controls on the bottom part. The surprise: it includes the all-time-classic Game&Watch Fire game in the package. Can’t remember Fire or even the Game&Watch? Check the retro godness after the jump:
Information about Asus’s new UMPC, the R50A, is out and about. And, if you like these kind of things, the chunky handheld with a 4.8-inch, 1024 x 600 screen boasts both 3 and 3.5G connectivity. And that’s not all:
Far be it from us to taunt you with a video highlighting a product most of you won’t be able to get your hands on, but here you have it —a video of the DS Tuner in action. On the other hand, if you live in Japan it is a whole other story. The tuner is set for release there on November 23rd for around $60. [Gamebrink]
NEC demonstrated a new HDTV server at CEATEC this week, and this one’s “Multi Record Cast” tech is powerful enough to distribute two HDTV programs within the home while recording two others at the same time. Its Remote Screen Technology also enables control from the outside like a Slingbox, letting you program its PVR functions from afar. NEC plans to ship the server next year, and didn’t mention price, which is a crucial point because this tech is already topped by Life|Ware’s quad-recording media centre PC that can record four HDTV channels while playing back four. The big nut to crack? That Life|Ware server costs $15K. Can NEC beat that with this two-channel system? Probably. [TechOn]
As we predicted on Monday, ReplayTV rolled out its Personal HD today, a USB tuner dongle that we’ve confirmed is a Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950 modified especially for ReplayTV. It’s the software that makes this product unique, giving you the ability to convert those videos you record on your PC to formats that will play back on Apple TV or any of the video-enabled iPod/iPhone products.
To take advantage of its multiple tuner capability, though, you’ll have to add another tuner to your PC to complement the one inside this USB dongle. Also keep in mind that its tuner snags HDTV signals over-the-air, so if you don’t have good TV broadcast reception in your area, the ReplayTV Personal HD is not going to do you much good.
Price for the software and hardware will be $99.95, and the company didn’t say exactly when it would become available, but said it would be sold at online retailers and direct from ReplayTV.
