Rethinking HD media extenders

[whurlston]

Turn your HTPC into a QAM channel:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/01/zee...your-hdtv/

Preorder link (The videos are worth watching): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018L7NUA/macnn

As a side note: This would make a neat early Christmas present for sub from all the QAM users, since it would give him in house access to at least one QAM channel.

[sub]

As a side note: This would make a neat early Christmas present for sub from all the QAM users, since it would give him in house access to at least one QAM channel.

Thats not a bad idea. I dont currently have any way to fake a QAM channel, but at $499.99 ... ouch.

[whurlston]

Yeah, it's steep but definitely cheaper than the alternatives. It's also why I suggested that the QAM users make the purchase for you. I definitely do not think that it is an expense that you could justify on your own.

[pBS]

most of that is probably the remote! i bet it's 25% of the price...
[nice lcd screen onboard]

i wonder what chipset it's using?
maybe this will usher in other qam transmitter hardware...

[whurlston]

most of that is probably the remote! i bet it's 25% of the price...
[nice lcd screen onboard]

i wonder what chipset it's using?
maybe this will usher in other qam transmitter hardware...

You're right. Purchaced seperately, additional remotes are 129.99 http://www.zeevee.com/products/zvremote

Specs on the box are available here: http://www.zeevee.com/products/zvbox-specs

[AndyPro]

If, and it's a big big IF, it does what it claims, then even if the box alone was $500 it would be an absolute steal. I've been looking for a lowish cost solution to accomplish just what this thing does for a while. Best I could come up with (and this is with steep "industry insider" discounts) was a PCI card for $1200, but that only did specific streams from a computer, or a combination of an SDI Card (about 3-4 hundred) and a broadcast modulator for anywhere from 2-5 grand. If you wanted a WYSIWYG solution, there are VGA to SDI boxes, but they're even more expensive than the modulators. If I recall correctly, a total setup would have cost me at least $3000.

Until today, I was almost resigned to the fact that it's just what it costs. If this zeevee thing turns out to be worth it's salt, it's an absolute bargain and I definitely want 3 or 4 (of course just one would still hurt the pocket book!).

I'm certainly not going to pre order one. I'll wait for proper reviews and bug workouts, perhaps some high resolution video of the output quality. It's most certainly on my list though.

If it does work, I'll bet that in 5 years you'll be able to get one form any number of vendors for $129 or less. I cant wait that long though

--Andy P

[whurlston]

I want one myself but I also want to stay married.

[mvallevand]

Other than the cool factor and multi-casting what is the real value of this to an average user? You are effectively using both a heavy-duty GBPVR machine and a $500 extender to get one display.

Martin

[AndyPro]

For the average user, it's probably not the best thing... unless you're a gadget freak:p

If you can send both high resolution video and surround audio over a single coax cable, you can put the computer essentially anywhere. Make it as loud as you want and put it in the basement, or a closet, or somewhere it wouldn't be intrusive. Just run $20 worth of cabling to your TV and you're set.

If you have multiple HD capable televisions, plug the output from the TeeVee thing into a combiner along with your cable, and it will feed all of the TV's. Doesn't matter where you are, you still have access.

The reason I've been looking for a solution such as this for a long time is that my living space is very integrated. Almost everyhting runs over the computer(s). Check the weather, news, watch a webcast or two, check my finances, control lights, view security information, check telephone usage/history/logs, keep track of my appointments, track my work hours and submit timesheets to my company, and so on and so forth...

If I had 2 of these, I'd have access to all that information from the primary server as well as all of my media stuff from my gbpvr computer anywhere I've got a TV by just tuning in a channel. If I had 3 of them I'd be able to tie in my radio telescopes as well for monitoring, listening, seeing, etc. If I had 4 of them...well...I could go on. If I were to do this all with VGA signals I'd need a matrix switcher for 2-5 thousand dollars plus all the cabling which would probably add up to another couple hundred dollars at least, and the quality wouldn't be there by the time it was all said and done.


This is just one (my) example. I'm sure there are just as many different reasons as there are people. For what they claim, this is so incredibly dirt cheap (on a relative scale) that I just cant ignore it

--Andy

[whurlston]

Other than the cool factor and multi-casting what is the real value of this to an average user? You are effectively using both a heavy-duty GBPVR machine and a $500 extender to get one display.

Martin

There's not really any for the average consuer unless they have more than three tvs.