New Gear

by Charles Fulton
Winter 2003/Spring 2004

Burnin' TiVo
Pioneer's DVR-810H is the world's first TiVo Series2 DVR that includes a DVD-R/RW burner. The unit includes an 80GB hard drive, and allows users to burn programs recorded on the hard drive to DVD at high speeds. Free TiVo Basic service is available with the unit, upgradable to the full TiVo service. The unit can also edit and burn programs from an external source, such as a VCR or a camcorder, via FireWire and analog connections.
(800) 421-1404
[www.pioneerelectronics.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $1,199

Windows on the Satellite
You can now tune XM satellite radio directly on your USB-equipped Windows computer with the XM PCR (PC Receiver). The unit's software can alert you when your favorite artist is playing on another channel and show you what's playing on all 100 XM channels.
A desktop antenna is included.
(866) 962-2557
[www.xmradio.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $70

Air Streamer
cd3o's Network MP3 players can play MP3s, WMA, WAV over home networks that have at least one computer running Windows 2000 or XP. The c200 includes 802.11b capability in addition to the c100's ethernet networking. The c300 adds an extended-range antenna and coaxial and optical digital audio outputs.
(619) 238-9086
[www.cd3o.com]
Suggested Retail Price:
c100: $129
c200: $179
c300 (pictured): $199

Double-Plus!
Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition includes several add-ins for digital music lovers, including skins, media transcoders for WMA and MP3 formats, a sleep timer that plays content to lull you to sleep, a content-playing alarm clock, and dancing characters that keep the beat. You can also convert your old analog recordings to digital and utilize filters to remove pops and hisses.
[www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/dmehome.asp]
Suggested Retail Price: $20

Sirius-ly, Folks...
Get Sirius satellite radio in your car and in your home with Kenwood's Here2Anywhere system. Start with the KTC-H2A1 tuner, which docks with the KPA-H2C car unit and the KPA-H2H home unit. The car and home units come with magnetic rooftop and desktop antennae, respectively.
(800) KENWOOD
[www.kenwoodusa.com]
Suggested Retail Price:
KTC-H2A1 tuner: $130
KPA-H2C car unit: $70
KPA-H2H home unit: $70

The Big Burner
Panasonic's DMR-E100H set-top DVD-R/RAM burner includes a 120GB hard drive, and can display images and MPEG-4 video stored on SD cards. Camcorder users can connect directly to the unit via FireWire and either store footage on the hard drive or burn directly to DVD.
(800) 211-PANA
[www.panasonic.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $1,200

The Flexible One
Universal Remote Control's Home Theater Master MX-3000 can control up to 255 devices, and send up to 255 commands for each device. The remote control can transmit both IR and RF commands. Individual screens can be modified on a computer, and the remote control also handles macros.
(914) 835-4484
[www.universalremote.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $1000

All Connected
Gateway's Connected DVD player allows you to play MP3s and digital photos from your computer over a 10/100 Ethernet network or an 802.11b wireless LAN. The unit includes a progressive-scan component video output and both coaxial and optical digital audio outputs.
(800) 369-1409
[www.gateway.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $250

Extend 'er
Griffin Technology's Total Remote allows you to use a Windows CE-based Pocket PC as a remote control. The package includes a more powerful IR blaster than the IR blaster that's built into most Windows CE-based Pocket PCs. The software has over 300 presets, and can learn functions from other remote controls. Macro functionality is included as well.
(615) 399-7000
[www.griffintechnology.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $30

Audio-Tronic
The Turtle Beach AudioTron is available in both Ethernet-only and Ethernet/HPNA versions, allowing you to play Internet radio, MP3s, WMA and WAV sounds over the network of your choice. The unit includes an optical digital audio output, controllable over the Internet via a Web browser.
(800) 233-9377
[www.turtlebeach.com]
Suggested Retail Price:
AudioTron-100: $300
AudioTron-101: $350

G-Wiz
Netgear's WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router connects to your broadband modem, establishes connections as necessary, and functions as an access point for any 802.11b and 802.11g Wi-Fi devices, to function as the backbone of a wireless home network. The router also has stateful packet inspection to keep unwanted traffic from the Internet out of your network.
(408) 907-8000
[www.netgear.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $100

Stream to the Screen
Linksys' WMA11B is a wireless media device that plays MP3 and WMA music files as well as JPG, GIF, TIF and BMP images. The device allows you to zoom into still images. Support for RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service is included as well. The device connects to your 10/100 Ethernet network or an 802.11b wireless network.
(949) 261-1288
[www.linksys.com]
Suggested Retail Price: $199