ltdiver 3 #1 March 7, 2004 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/tech/weekly/2434241 Check it out! Wireless from your Mac to your TV... ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #2 March 7, 2004 OK, for those who don't want to register for yet another newspaper.... Here it is in long form: Quote March 4, 2004, 11:55PM Dr. Mac Media player lets Mac, TV play nice together By BOB LEVITUS For as long as I can remember, industry pundits have predicted the intersection of computer and television. In their worldview, someday one huge flat high-definition screen will serve movies, television, the Web, your e-mail and everything else. That's not going to happen. TVs are great for moving pictures, but not for reading pages of text from 10 feet away. The highest resolution television of today isn't even close to good enough to read a page of text from across the room, let alone work with e-mail or write a book. And even if they solve the resolution issue soon, it's unlikely to be affordable. My point is: Don't hold your breath for your TV and computer to merge into one device any time soon. But TV and computer are becoming friendlier each day. The SuperDrive and iDVD started it all. For the first time mere mortals could present Mac-made movies on a television, and do it quickly, easily and cheaply. Elgato Systems is taking that friendship to the next level. Elgato, the inventors of both Toast, the best optical media burning software which is published by Roxio, and EyeTV, their own USB device to watch, record, and play television programs on your Mac, just introduced an invention that brings your television and computer closer together than ever before. It's called EyeHome, and it's a digital media player. Just connect this small, sleek, silvery box to a television, and you can play media from your Mac's hard disk on your TV. It really is almost that simple. Setup was a breeze. Install a background application on your Mac to serve up the media, connect the EyeHome to the TV and/or audio system, connect the EyeHome box to your Mac with the included Ethernet cable. Then sit back on the couch and enjoy your Mac media as it plays on your TV and stereo. The songs in your iTunes music library are available. The movies in your Home/Movies folder are available. The pictures in your iPhoto albums are available. Movies and TV programs you've recorded using EyeTV are available. Even the Web is available. And EyeHome includes a remote control, so you can watch and listen to your Mac all day long without leaving the couch. EyeHome includes every port your home audio or video system is likely to require: Component video for the highest picture quality on HDTV-ready sets; S-Video; RCA; an optical digital audio out; and an Ethernet port so the EyeHome can join the network using Apple's Rendezvous technology, which means there's no network configuration. Just connect EyeHome to your network, and it works. You don't have an Ethernet network? If you have an 802.11g wireless network, such as AirPort Extreme, you can use EyeHome, but you'll also need a wireless bridge like the D-Link DWL-G810. This little box lets EyeHome or any other Ethernet device become a wireless network device for around $100. Elgato says it works. I haven't tried it yet but will soon. If playing your Mac's movies, pictures and music on a big TV and/or audio system, even in another room, I recommend an EyeHome of your own. There is one last thing: After seeing mine, several friends said they'd buy one in a heartbeat. But EyeHome is Mac-only, and they are Windows users. Bummer. - EyeHome, Elgato Systems, $249, www.elgato.com. Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 45 computer books, including Mac OS X For Dummies, Panther Edition and Dr. Mac: The OS X Files, Panther Edition. E-mail comments to doctorX@boblevitus.com. Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
