Podcast #764: Kodi

There has been an explosion of devices recently, or perhaps going back a couple years, that are based on the Kodi Media Center software or include Kodi as a standard app you can run along with other the other apps available on the device. A simple search at Amazon for ‘Kodi’ yields pages and pages of options for devices. Intrigued by this streaming platform that seems to have taken off like wildfire, we decided to pick up one of these little boxes and see what all the fuss is about.

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Podcast #480: What is RVU?

DirecTV recently began testing what they’re calling a new “media center” that will allow customers to watch live and DVR recorded programming on any TV in the house without the need for a set-top box in each room. This new media center is built on a technology called RVU. But what exactly is RVU? There’s an RVU Alliance, but what do they do? What does “RVU” even mean?

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Podcast #477: Panasonic DMP-BDT110 Blu-ray Player

We have been doing this show for the past six years and have had an opportunity to review a lot of Blu-ray players. So when the Panasonic DMP-BDT110 (Buy Now $135) showed up on our doorstep we were pretty sure we knew what to expect from a sub $150 Blu-ray player. We were wrong! Panasonic has raised the bar for every player out there regardless of price.

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Podcast #470: Samsung BD-D6500 Blu-ray player

There’s a lot of talk about streaming movies eventually taking over for conventional disc based media like DVD and Blu-ray. But we all know the quality just isn’t quite there yet to eliminate Blu-ray entirely. So what are you to do? Why not buy a Blu-ray player that also streams movies so you’re covered for both cases? If it also supports 3D, you’re triple covered. That’s what you get with the Samsung BD-D6500.

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Podcast #395: brite-View CinemaTube and Philips Prestigo SRU8008

We'll admit it, there are other companies that make remote controls.  We decided to try one this week.  The Prestigo 8008 is a cool remote with a color screen, but how does it stack up to the entry level Harmony 510?  Excellent question.

And we had a chance this week to take a look at the CinemaTube from brite-View.  It's a network media player that supports full 1080p/60 video and Dolby Digital and DTS audio, so it's right up our alley.  After all, who wants to stream video if you can't get it in high def?

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