Online video is a tempting target for computer companies trying to move out of your office and into your living room.

NetGear in is launching in Q1 2009 the new EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite Media streaming media player. The NetGear EVA9150 has 500GB hard drive and supports 1080p full HD output to TV. The device can also stream media content from your PC to TV wirelessly. Users can also use the EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite to enjoy free videos and photos from YouTube and Flickr.

The EVA9150 will cost $400 for the 500 GB hard drive model. By comparison Apple TV costs $230 and a Roku Netflix set-top box can be bought for $100.

Netgear is the latest in this crowded market to update its digital media player product line. The company is set to launch a new streaming media player called the EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite. For just $400, this box will put free videos and photos from YouTube and Flickr, as well as content from your PC, onto your high-definition TV.

"We are positioning it for people who are a bit in the know and looking for a way to get content of their choice on their TVs," says David Henry, director of home and consumer products for Netgear.

Though not as widely known as Apple TV, Netgear has had a media player for nearly two years. The company announced its first streaming media player in September 2006 and launched the product six months later.
The latest EVA9150 player includes an updated user interface that allows users to choose content from free sources such as YouTube and Flickr.

With the Internet TV Player (ITV2000), Netgear is taking a totally different approach than with the Elite. This tiny device is a plug-and-play Internet video streamer that doesn’t add a ton of other features. It connects to your home network either through its Ethernet port or a USB wireless adapter, and hooks up to your TV with an HDMI port. Its menu system offers a YouTube “channel” as well as a number of other online video content providers, such as the BBC, National Geographic, TMZ, ESPN. Video quality, of course, depends on the source file. Netgear has partnered with CinemaNow for paid streaming downloads, but doesn’t offer Netflix or Amazon on-demand video streaming like some other competitors. Support for Hulu.com, on the other hand, is more likely in the future.

The EVA9150, which will ship in the first quarter of 2009, will face some tough competition from rivals such as Apple TV, Linksys Media Extender, Roku Netflix player and even Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console system.

What sets Netgear's product apart from its competitors, says the company, is that it will include a 500 GB hard drive making it "the world’s largest video jukebox for the home." Apple TV offers 160 GB and XBox only offers 120 GB, says Netgear.

The EVA 9150 Digital Entertainer Elite also supports 1080p high-definition video and users can even swap out the hard drive and add another one. The product supports multiple content platforms as opposed to Apple TV which is tied to iTunes primarily or Roku to Netflix, says Netgear.

"Roku does not play anything from your computer or the network such as Internet radio, YouTube or photos. It also doesn't have a hard drive or wireless capabilities," says Henry. "The Digital Entertainer Elite is broader."

Where Netgear's media player fails compared to Apple TV or the Roku Netflix player is that it has no partnerships with content companies for user to buy a wide range of movies or TV shows. That means buyers of the Digital Entertainer Elite will have to depend almost entirely on free online content and pay a hefty price tag for the hardware to access that content.

While this is device with cutting edge features, but if you don't want cost that much just for entertainment, you just try DVD Ripper, or DVD to Apple TV Converter to realize transfering DVD from PC to Apple TV.

2009 - 02 -21