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interface posts

R2E cable adds eSATA transfer abilities to RED camera

by Darren Murph posted Apr 15th 2009 at 7:01PM


With NAB just about to get started in Las Vegas, CoolCameraGear is getting out ahead of the crowd with a newfangled adapter sure to please those who find themselves offloading gobs of RED footage. The R2E LEMO to eSATA cable essentially takes the burden away from your FireWire 800, FireWire 400 or USB 2.0 bus by enabling bits and bytes to flow over eSATA. RED camera users simply plug in their RED-Drive or RED-RAM using the original power adapter, then plug the LEMO end of the R2E cable into the drive and the other end into a standard eSATA port. Boom. Just like that, RED owners have instant access to eSATA transfers. For those unaware, eSATA support on camcorder is still a rarity, though the benefits are obvious for pros shuffling through multiple takes. Interested consumers can check this one out when the CoolCameraGear website goes live on April 20th for $230.

Gallery: R2E cable adds eSATA transfer abilities to RED camera

DiiVA home networking spec exposes itself to potential partners

by Richard Lawler posted Feb 25th 2009 at 2:24AM


Sporting an extra "i" DiiVA is back, ready to show off the initial draft of its home networking spec. The same old crew of Chinese manufacturers are still pledging support, claiming it solves data channel issues for the future of interactive TV and such. We'd probably want to make sure the name is nailed down before signing up but interested parties can register as a DiiVA promoter to review and provide feedback before its finalized. Still, in the China-based format race, it probably has better odds of ever catching on than CBHD or HD NVD.

Roku's HD Netflix interface gets pictured

by Darren Murph posted Dec 23rd 2008 at 6:58PM


Roku just enabled HD Netflix on its movie set-top-box yesterday (or earlier, for a select few), but DVICE has already taken the time to show us what it's all about. The update was said to be painless to download and install, and the new high-def UI was much appreciated. Unfortunately, there's no mention of the actual streaming quality, but we're hoping to have a review of our own cooked up soon to give you the details there. 'Til then, enjoy the interface shots in the read link below.

DisplayPort and HDMI square off in uber-thorough comparison

by Darren Murph posted Sep 19th 2008 at 11:48PM


Overwhelmingly, HDMI is the de facto standard these days for home component connections. For those who've been paying any amount of attention here lately, you'd also know that DisplayPort is lurking, waiting to pounce and grab some of that lucrative market share. An astonishingly detailed report at EDN pits the two digital-display-interface standards against one another in an attempt to discover whether we really, truly need two ways to plug things in. As expected, there are pros and cons for each, and while we wouldn't deem this a bona fide format war just yet, things could get hairy if some manufacturers start to favor one over the other. For the hardcore hardware nerds in the audience, the brilliant writeup in the read link is one that can't be missed. Place your bets at the door, the gloves are about to come off.

ReQuest produces HD user interface for its whole-home servers

by Darren Murph posted Sep 12th 2008 at 9:35AM


We can't say we're thrilled to hear that ReQuest's wares didn't already come with a high-def interface, but given that HD GUIs are still mighty tough to come by, we can't harsh on it too much. The media server producer has just cranked out a presumably gorgeous high-definition graphical user interface for its iQ whole-home music system as well as its N-Series / F-Series media servers. Users can navigate the software with just five commands -- Up, Down, Left, Right, and Enter -- and while entering those inputs in that order won't give you a 1-Up or anything, they should be manageable with virtually any IR remote.

Acentic Panorama HD-ready platform ready for five-star hotels

by Darren Murph posted Apr 12th 2008 at 6:34AM

For those traveling to select parts of Europe (on the company's dime, of course), you may get to enjoy an all new entertainment delivery system if you're greeted with Acentic's Panorama. The high-end platform is aimed squarely at five-star lodging facilities and promises to deliver "in-room digital broadcast, on-demand and interactive TV services in hotels." Aside from boasting a new graphical user interface, the HD-ready system enables guests to access content on the web, check out on-demand material and tune into hundreds of broadcast TV channels with the "use of the DVB-C standard and support for IP applications." As of now, Panorama is already entertaining patrons at Arora International's Sofitel London Heathrow, and it should be deployed soon to the Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour and The Cavendish London.

Comcast TiVo in pictures

by Darren Murph posted Jan 28th 2008 at 11:04AM


Sure, TiVo on Comcast has been available in the New England area for a short while now, but for most of the nation, they've no idea just how Comcastic (or not) the new setup is. Fret not, as a kindhearted Bostonian has gone well above the call of duty and provided us with no fewer than 46 snapshots of the interface and remote. Granted, there aren't too many surprises or anything, but do yourself a favor and check out the gallery below while you wait for the service to finally bleed out from the Northeast.

[Thanks, Chad]

VESA approves DisplayPort 1.1: kiss those DVI and VGA ports goodbye

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 4th 2007 at 3:21AM Breaking News


Get ready for hot, hot convergence kids 'cause the DisplayPort 1.1 specification was just approved. The new VESA-approved digital interface standard is meant to replace DVI and VGA ports while co-existing with HDMI for HDTV connectivity. As you can see in the picture above, it's about the size of a USB connector yet offers 2x the performance of DVI in a much smaller package. They also bake in a nasty dollop of HDCP 1.3 content protection to keep the Blu-ray and HD DVD kiddies happy. The wee size allows the interface to be included in smaller handheld electronics while enabling direct-drive LCD panels thereby eliminating the need for non-panel LVDS electronics in the monitor designs. Of course it also supports pass-through of DVI and HDMI signals via simple adapters similar to DVI-to-HDMI variety on the market today. So which of our esteemed manufactures will bite first? We're not sure, but VESA isn't shy about using Dell's high-end XPS systems in their marketing collateral. Of course, the question they don't answer is, why not just move everything to HDMI? For that, you just have to look at who backs royalty-free DisplayPort (the PC industry) and who backs HDMI (the consumer electronics industry). Yeah, we know.

Apple TV: the mother of all interface galleries

by Paul Miller posted Mar 22nd 2007 at 4:32PM Featured Story


As promised this morning, we've been spending some quality alone time with the Apple TV today, and we've got the gallery to prove it. We ran through most all of the options, hit a few bumps here and there, but for the most part had a good experience with the unit. Our favorite podcast, "William Hung Cooking Show" was a no-go thanks to the restrictive codec support, but otherwise our little collection of iTunes media transferred smoothly and played without a hitch on the device. In fact, sometimes it was a bit hard to tell if something had already been synced, or was just streaming off of our computer, or was in the process of both, since for the most part things "just work" with the unit. Setting up syncing was just like working an iPod, so there shouldn't be any worries for the noobs out there in getting this thing up and running. There is one huge caveat, however: TV shows and music videos don't look great after being scaled to 720p. Hopefully Apple has some HD content up its sleeve, 'cause otherwise it seems like waste of money to use this with a decent TV unless you want to look at photo galleries all day -- which look great, by the way. Actual operation and booting of the device is responsive, silent and energy efficient -- the unit is quick to fade the screen to black after going unused for a minute or so. For someone with a lot of cash invested in a collection of iTunes media, the Apple TV seems a solid -- if pricey -- buy, but for most people with more diverse media collections and saner pocketbooks, this is a hard one to recommend.

Sony STR-DA5200ES receiver adopts PSP/PS3-style interface

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 7th 2006 at 1:05PM

Sony's upcoming high end home theater receiver, the STR-DA5200ES features HDMI connections, 7.1 audio, video upconversion and everything else you would expect, will share something borrowed from the PSP. No, it's not a UMD-slot, it's the crossbar-style menu that will also be in use on the Playstation 3. You'll be able to access the menu as an overlay while still playing HD video playing behind it, picture-in-picture, and possibly be able to set up your A/V system without an engineering degree. This might be a bigger revolution in home theater than the Nintendo Wii controller is to gaming, a truly user-friendly UI would be a rare boon for users with complex systems. They'll be showing off this and many other components at CEDIA next week, if they really do have an interface that anyone can use the next challenge will be keeping your family away from it so they don't mess it up.




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