Netgear Press Conference: Dual-Mode Skype Phone, Storage Central Turbo & Digital Entertainer HD

Articles: Event Coverage: CES 2007

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Rich & Anthony
Brian

Jan. 7, 2007

Specifications

Netgear Press Conference

This morning we attended the Netgear press conference, which I had high hopes for. I had visited their booth at CES Unveiled, and had been pretty disappointed by their lack of dazzle. At Unveiled they did show off some of their products such as their PowerLine HD adaptor, their Skype Wifi phone and one of their existing media players as well as their wireless N router. Nothing was really functional; they didn't even have the media receiver plugged into a huge TV! Now I know why. They saved the best for today. Today Netgear announced three new products: The EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, the Storage Center Turbo, and the Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype.

Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype

Last year at CES, Netgear announced their WiFi phone with Skype. This year, they took it to the next level and debuted a new Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype (SPH200D). The difference is that you are now able to use a standard landline as well as the functionality and cost savings of skype, all in a small portable handset. The device uses DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony) technology which transmits on the 1.9 GHz band thus enabling longer range and a clearer sound. The phone connects with a base station which houses connections to the tradition landline and Ethernet. The phone includes a TFT display and also a built-in speakerphone.

By adding the ability to make regular landline calls, Netgear has managed to position a product that can reliably replace your existing wireless phones. A single base station has the ability to link 4 separate handsets. The use of the 1.9 GHz band means that you won't interfere with wireless anymore. That fact alone would be worth giving this a look. Adding the ability to make Skype calls for free, well, that only sweetens the deal. Besides the standard functionality of Skype, the phone includes an easy to use interface and address book. You can store your favorite Skype accounts or landline phone numbers. The phone also supports all of the usual functionality of Skype including SkypeIn and SkypeOut. The phone is available now at a price of $199 MSRP.

Storage Central Turbo

Today Netgear also announced the Storage Central Turbo which follows on the success of their Storage central device. The Turbo designation comes from the Gigabit Ethernet adaptor that is now present as well as the use of 3.5 inch SATA drives. The device supports two disks and utilizes mirroring to ensure data integrity. Included with the device will be software to enable advanced backup and synchronization as well. The Storage Central Turbo uses Z-SAN technology from Zetera. This technology is supposed to enable better performance from networked NAS devices. Of course, if you have a good product to begin with, making it faster never hurts. The Storage Central Turbo should be available the first quarter of 2007 for an MSRP of $249. It is sold as a diskless system, so you are only limited in space by the size of your wallet.

Digital Entertainer HD

Netgear also announced today at CES 2007 their new Digital Entertainer HD set top box. The Digital Entertainer HD hooks to your TV via HDMI and allows you to view digital content from any computer in the house, running Windows, OS X or Linux, down to the TV.

The first and foremost feature is the ability to view video stored on your computer or NAS on your TV. The unit has an HDMI connection for hooking to high definition TVs at up to 1080P (which is the highest HD standard), as well as component, S-Video and composite video output for TVs that don't have HDMI connectors. Also, for you home theater buffs, the unit has coaxial and optical digital audio outputs for hooking into your A/V receiver. The unit can decode MPEG 1/2/4, WMV, XviD and H.264 video. Another compelling feature of the device is that, with the assistance of a computer, it can stream YouTube videos from the site to your television.

The Digital Entertainer HD also integrates with a TV tuner card in your Windows PC. You can schedule recordings and playback previously recorded content from your set top box with the included IR remote. The device can also play music, both unprotected and purchased. The device can playback MP3s, WAV, WMA FLAC, M4A, AAC and AC3. It also is a qualified Windows Media device, so it can play Windows Media DRM 10 protected files, and can stream Internet radio.

You can check the headlines and the weather forecast using the Digital Entertainer HD. Using a network connected PC it collects RSS feeds for news and NOAA data for weather forecasts and maps and the device will display it on the TV. One USB port is located on the front of the Digital Entertainer HD to plug in your iPod or USB mass storage device to access and playback media. The unit is about the size of a DVD player, 17" wide, 10" deep and a svelte 2" tall (minus the antennas on the rear of the device).

The Digital Entertainer HD makes it easy to browse through content by providing navigation based on attributes of the media instead of just a list sorted alphabetically. You can browse movies by genre, actor, browse music by artist and even have the unit display DVD covers or album art. An interesting feature called "Follow Me" allows users to pause viewing of a movie or TV show in one room, and resume it in another. The "Party Mode" allows you to have some or all of your devices playing the same music simultaneously.

The Digital Entertainer HD has a 10/100 Ethernet port in addition to supporting wireless G networks, and supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 security. I should note that Wireless G networks don't have enough bandwidth to stream HD content - around 20Mb/s. Streaming HD video will typically require a wireless N network or a hardwire connection. It supports not only streaming from Windows PCs but also any server that supports the UPnP AV standard for media servers and computers that have SMB files shares (so Linux and Mac users can run Samba and share their media as well).

Netgear has a very intriguing product in the Digital Entertainer HD. It packs quite the feature list and doesn't look too bad. The price point for this unit is $349 and it is expected to ship in Q1 2007. In a few days, we'll find out how well it stacks up against its main competitor - Apple's new iTV product.

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