Front Row on networked TVs

UStec today released a new digital home networking solution that enables iMac users to create an audio/video entertainment network for easy access to iTunes playlists, photos and video all through the house. offers a multi-media, all-digital network that enables users to pull up the three-dimensional Front Row menu from any television in the house. Users can play music lists, view photos and video, and watch DVDs from multiple rooms even as the iMac G5 sits in one location like the study or living room. Once the Front Row menu is selected with the tecStream remote, iMac users can operate it with the iMac remote control or with the tecStream one.

"tecStream adds tremendous value to the new iMac with IR controls," said UStec President Bill Thompson. "With a tecStream network, what works in one location works all through the house. We're finding people really appreciate the added flexibility and convenience tecStream adds to a product like the iMac."

The company says that tecStream represents the first high-capacity home network for sharing entertainment media, data and voice over a single standard Ethernet (Cat5) cable. Using patented switching technology, tecStream enables multi-room, multimedia networking with one remote control and offers easy-to-use menu that pops up on networked televisions. UStec says it is the first home networking solution to overcome the limitations of Ethernet or IP-based technologies for transporting video.

"The tecStream network improves lifestyles by giving homeowners greater flexibility with and access to their entertainment devices. For instance, iMac users who want to share playlists with friends can call up their playlists from any television - in the living room, kitchen, home theater, or basement. They can view slide shows or home videos with synchronized music on the big screen TV in the living room or home theater. Or they can retrieve vacation photos to share spontaneously with friends while sitting in the kitchen, study, or any room with a networked TV."

The tecStream network allows homeowners to include up to eight locations with networked televisions and boasts the capacity to run up to 16 independent streams of high bandwidth video (30 Mbps and higher) simultaneously. It encodes analog streams from VCRs, set top boxes and DVD players at high bit rates to provide "extraordinary" picture quality at every networked television. It also includes IEEE 1394 interface for incorporating digital recording devices such as AV Hard Disk Drives and Digital VHS decks.

tecStream also supplies a data port for distributing broadband Internet and sharing files and peripherals among home computers and a telephone jack. The built-in Ethernet capability allows users to set up a home office virtually anywhere and move it without costly and time consuming re-wiring.

At the Electronic House Expo Fall 2005, UStec will demonstrate at Booth No. 368 how "tecStream allows easy access to the iMac three-dimensional Front Row Menu - making it easy to access iTunes playlists, photos and video from any room in the house." EH Expo runs from November 9-11 in Anaheim, California.

by MacNN Staff