June 30 - 1:10pm EDT   For the past six years, a group of developers scattered across the globe has been quietly working to reinvent the way we watch movies and listen to music. The result is Boxee -- a media player based on the XBMC Open Source platform -- released in alpha form this month initially on the Mac. The developers says Boxee was born of frustration over what they saw as the somewhat clunky way computers gather and display content. Separate applications are needed to display photos or play music and movies, and content is often delivered in formats requiring proprietary media players. The ambitious end game for Boxee is to become the “one-size-fits-all” media center that works ... [full story]

June 25 - 1:00pm EDT   Sony has updated the VAIO TP1, a Media Center PC based on an unusual puck-shaped chassis. The VGX-TP1DQ/B and VGX-TP1D are both equipped with two land-based digital TV tuners, HDMI output, and new video recording software. The DQ/B however is considered the top model, and is equipped with a Blu-ray drive, along with a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of system RAM, a 500GB hard drive and a GeForce 8400M GT video card with 256MB of memory. [full story]

June 17 - 12:55am EDT   HP on Tuesday unveiled the MediaSmart Connect, a new digital media receiver that can obtain images, music, and movie files from a home network to display on an HDTV. The piano black-finished device also includes connectivity with online media services like Snapfish, CinemaNow, Live365, and several others, as well as Windows Media Center Extender functionality. HP is expected to sell the MediaSmart Connect unit for $350, and will be available later on this year. [full story]

May 16 - 12:35am EDT   Users of Microsoft Vista's Media Center were unable to record prime-time NBC TV shows on Monday night. Reports maintain the problem was caused by a broadcast flag which activated Media Center's DRM copy protection measures, stopping recordings of over-the-air and cable broadcasts. Neither NBC nor Microsoft have an explanation for the issue, but are looking into it. No other reports of such problems came from users of either DirecTV or TiVo DVR services. [full story]

May 1 - 9:55pm EDT   Mvix on Thursday launched an ultra-compact HDD-based, portable media player: the new high-definition Mvix MV-2500U media decoder supports the small 2.5-inch hard drive, while including key features of its predecessors like MX-780HD or MX-760. The black device, which can support HDDs as large as 250GB, measures under 5x3x0.5 inches; it uses a 2.5-inch PATA / IDE HDD and when connected to the PC, it works like a standard external USB 2.0 hard drive; however, it ships with an IR remote control to allow playback of standard or high definition digital video (480p, 720p, 1080i) in over a dozen file formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX (3/4/5/6), ... [full story]

April 17 - 3:35pm EDT   Popular Mechanics says that Macs run Windows Vista better than PCs designed to run the operating system. The magazine published an analysis based on user feedback and performance benchmarks for similarly equipped machines, using a number of 'real world' tests to evaluate the machines. Testers were asked to set up the computers right out of the box and "explore the machines through everyday tasks such as Web surfing, document creation, uploading photos, downloading Adobe Acrobat files and playing music and movies through Media Center and Front Row." The magazine said that in both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple's computers were the winners. Results found that ... [full story]

December 21 - 4:15pm EST   Danish luxury HDTV maker Zepto has wrapped up its year by releasing its new Helios LCD sets. Both the 32-inch A32 and 40-inch A40 have the option of a built-in wireless media center that picks up nearby Windows XP Media Center or Vista Home Premium computers on the local network, allowing the TV to stream video or other content without a separate set-top box. The bundled TV remote switches over to browsing the networked content, Zepto notes. [full story]