The D-Link MediaLounge DSM-330 is finally shipping to U.S. media streaming heads fiending for its 1080p upconverting, Divx/Xvid streaming abilities, although our excitement is dimmed a bit by all the competition that's popped up since we first laid eyes on the GejBox, and Stage6 falling by the wayside certainly doesn't help. That said, DivX has been on an upswing as of late, so the launch of its first Connected hardware couldn't come a moment to soon. Unfortunately MKV support isn't part of the package yet, but for $299 it does handle quite a few formats. Interested U.S. buyers should be able to find out if it matches up to Popcorn Hour's A-100 now, with Canadian distribution following shortly. Check after the break for the press release and the rest of the details.

While most Xbox 360 owners could find something to look forward to in the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update, Media Extender users just found out they've been skipped over, again. Just like the previous update adding H.264 support, the 360's newfound DivX compatibility doesn't apply when its being used as a Window Media Center Extender. AC3 audio support as well as a host of other media-related updates are nice, but Microsoft is leaving some of its most dedicated users out in the cold. We wonder what will get DivX first, Xbox 360 Media Center or the PlayStation 3?

Don't look now, but TiVo is apparently gearing up to unleash TiVoToGo version 2.5 to the masses any moment. The firm's webpage has already been updated to show the v2.5 graphic, yet the download link still takes you to the existing build. Nevertheless, TiVoPony has unveiled that the forthcoming update will enable support for Windows Vista as well as DivX / XviD formats for web video conversions, and it will also allow users to "convert individual shows from Desktop's Now Playing list at any time, to any profile, by right-clicking." Unfortunately, that last feature still won't be available for Series3 or TiVo HD devices, but those looking to browse photo slideshows can expect higher resolution support (huzzah?). So twiddle your thumbs a bit and keep checking the read link periodically, it's bound to show up sometime soon.

[Via TiVoBlog]

IGS of Japan has released a hard drive-based media player that supports up to 1TB internal drives, and plays back various high-definition video and audio formats. Similar to the MediaGate line, the Rapsody N35 supports DivX and XviD, MPEG-1,2, and 4, and WMV HD at up to 1080 lines of resolution over DVI, component, or S-video outputs. The Rapsody also plays back OGG, MP3, and WMA audio over its digital coax and optical connectors. With the 10/100-speed Ethernet jack and included NDAS software, you can connect to remote computers on your network, and the local USB port allows for connecting devices directly. The N35 is available for 28,000 ¥, or $235 US.

We quickly realized that the Apple TV wasn't going to be a HD powerhouse and our tests have indicated as much -- we have also discovered that the problem is not the hardware. The Apple TV will not sync many videos and Apple has yet to provide any HD via the iTunes Music Store. Sure some of the trailers are in HD, but not all and how can we tell which without watching them. When we first started testing the Apple TV with a few HD clips we encoded ourselves, we were very disappointed and while it is still crazy to compare the Apple TV to HD DVD or Blu-ray, acceptable results are possible. We opened up our Apple TV and added a few codecs as well as copied over a few videos that would otherwise refuse to sync and we were very surprised at the results, not only were we able to watch some great looking HD, but our surround sound came alive with Dolby Digital 5.1 (no we don't count Prologic II). The real question is why: why would Apple not support DD 5.1, other codecs and most of all, why wouldn't they support higher bitrate video than 5Mbps when the Apple TV can play them so well? If the Apple TV fails to follow the iPod in it's foot steps, we will most certainly blame it on Apple decision to leave these out.

Hacks don't come much quicker than this. Just days after they started rolling out, one early recipient of an Apple TV has already cracked his open and claims to have gotten it to play nice with XviD files, although not without some wrangling. The first step -- and the one sure to stop the more warranty-aware folks among us in their tracks -- involves removing the Apple TV's hard drive, popping it into a USB enclosure, and mounting it on your computer. From there, you simply install the Perian video tool and the Dropbear SSH server in the appropriate locations, along with a script that disables the Apple TV's firewall and opens up the necessary ports -- then put it all back together. It's apparently not quite an ideal solution, however, also requiring the creation of reference QuickTime files for each XviD movie -- although, not surprisingly, they're already working on a tool to automate that process.

[Via Electronista, thanks Jonathan]

I have had my MacBook Pro 2.0 for almost a whole week and let me tell you, it is fast! The only way I have been able to max out both cores is by playing a H.264 and HD DivX files at the same time. (If I try two H.264 files QT crashes) The 2.0 Core Duo has more than enough juice to decode any HD files I can find for my computer. It can decode two HD videos at once and watch them in Expose, but not without dropping a few frames