Welcome to CrunchGear’s Gala Best of 2008 Awards featuring the Best Gear, Gadgets, and Software of 2008. Best of all, we tallied your responses and collated them in the People’s Choice awards. Now that I’m wearing my tux, let’s get right to the awards.

Best Browser
Google Chrome
People’s Choice
Firefox
While we agree that Firefox is probably the best browser out there, we’re talking about the best browser of 2008. Chrome is what a browser should be – speedy, elegant, and easy-to-use. Sadly, it’s not cross-platform so only those running XP or Vista and join in the fun. As web professionals, browsers are important and Chrome gets our vote this year.

Best Console Experience
New XBox Experience
People’s Choice
New XBox Experience

Oh, man, awarding the Best Console Experience to the New Xbox Experience got a whole lot easier after we saw Sony roll out PlayStation Home, which, nearest we can tell, is a boredom simulator. The NXE didn’t change too radically what already made using the Xbox 360 so enjoyable; a spit shine, if you will. We think the avatars are 100 percent lame, but they don’t get in the way of Xbox Live or anything.

Best Game, Cross Platform
Left 4 Dead
People’s Choice
Grand Theft Auto IV

Really, does Valve do anything wrong? You and three friends running for your lives against a horde of debt collectors zombies while The Director toys with your pointless existence. Multi-player gaming at its best.
As for the People’s Choice, y’all sure do like beating up hookers and driving into helpless pedestrians, don’t you? We wouldn’t call the game perfect—really, no analog control of Niko? Mario had that in 1996!—but it’s certainly a fun, mindless romp, at least for a little while.

Best Game, Nintendo Wii
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
People’s Choice
Mario Kart
We award this to Brawl—an actual video game and not some weird Wii Taxes concept—in lieu of any truly big Wii game, like Twilight Princess or Metroid. It’s fun, sure, and now has Snake and Sonic, which is a plus. As a rule of thumb, though, you’re more likely to find us on XBL than playing Wii Fit, if you can even call that a game.
But, hey, Mario Kart is fun, too, especially now with that plastic wheel controller. Online multiplayer helps extend the sell by date.

Best Game, Xbox 360
>Gears of War 2
People’s Choice
Gears of War 2

Some of us may hate the game for no specific reason—Nicholas, mostly—but it’s hard to find a better Xbox 360-exclsuive game than this. (It’s hard to find an Xbox 360-exclusive game, period, but that’s another story.) As sequels go, it paints by numbers with the best of ‘em: running, gunning, ducking, etc. One thing: fix the bugs, Epic.
It seems you guys thought the same thing, too. If nothing else this helps show that, outside of Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo-funded endeavors, on their respective platforms, system exclusivity is dying.

Best Game, PS3
LittleBigPlanet
People’s Choice
Metal Gear Solid IV

Make no mistake about it, this is the reason to own a PS3 right now (outside of its Blu-ray capabilities, should that matter to you). Go ahead, create your own level, or play your neighbor’s. Go ahead, imagine that you’re a sackboy activating levers and going in and out of three planes of existence. Go ahead, actually have fun while playing a game and not worrying about if you have enough ammo or if some 12-year-old kid instantly kills you.
As for MGS IV, we would have picked this, too, if it weren’t for the game’s insufferably long cut scenes and poetical waxing about The Meaning of War & Life. The best entry in the series? We’re prepared to argue that MGS1 was better, but it’s pretty damn close.

Best HDTV Line
Mitsubishi LaserVue
People’s Choice
Sony XBR

HDTVs improve dramatically every year and this year’s batch certainly brings the goods. Our readers overwhelming picked the Sony XBR line and for good reason. They are solid HDTVs that are readily available for purchase. The latest ones feature industry leading 240Hz technology, too. XBRs are great sets; that is until you see in person the Mitsubishi LaserVue. This high-def set, powered by lasers, is astounding and pics cannot do it justice. You might not be able to hang it on the wall but it’s still thin at 10-inches at a 60-inch screen size. The Sony XBR is a great set and might be the best picture most will ever see, but the Mitsubishi LaserVue is our pick for the HDTV of the year.

Best Portable A/V Devices
iPod Touch 2G
People’s Choice
iPod Touch 2G

Apple knows how to make a killer mobile platform and the latest incarnation of the iPod Touch proves it. This little touchscreen device pretty much ensures that owners will never be bored again. There are even reports that state the GPU performance is great than that of the iPhone. It plays music, games, and movies. What more can you want? Larger storage option? Yeah, besides that.

A/V Devices
TiVo HD XL
People’s Choice
TiVo HD XL

TiVo had a killer year and released the monstrous TiVo HD XL equipped with a 1TB hard drive. Sure, the UI is a little dated, but it’s still easily the most complete DVR solution outside of custom built media centers. The large hard drive is great, but the HD and HD XL can also stream high-def movies from Netflix, they allow full access to YouTube, and even play back almost every video file format available (including MKVs). TiVo was the de facto standard for years but feel off the map once cable providers started offering DVRs. The HD XL proves TiVo is in it for the long haul and has a robust platform that’s not afraid of change.

Best Camera
Canon Rebel XSi
People’s Choice
Nikon D90

While you, the readers, loved the Nikon D90 we editors chose the Rebel XSi simply because it’s the best entry level DSLR on the market. Why? Because it’s inexpensive, it’s compatible with a constellation of great lenses, and the automatic setting is as good as any of the manual settings for beginners. But the D90 is pretty damn nice as well.

Best Camcorder
Kodak Zi6
People’s Choice
Canon hf100

As Nicholas said, the Zi6 is the video camera for the proletariat. It’s not as fully featured as the People’s Choice Canon hf100 but it gets the job done, it’s cheap, and it’s fun.

Best Netbook
MSI Wind
People’s Choice
ASUS Eee PC 1000

After spending a good amount of time with both, we’re going to have to disagree here, lovely readers. While the EEE series is arguably the match that set the netbook world ablaze, the MSI Wind has swooped in and shown them how its done. You get just as much bang for your buck, plus a VGA webcam. As a little bonus, the Wind is the most hackintosh-friendly netbook around.

Best Notebook
MacBook Pro
People’s Choice
MacBook Pro

Go to any tradeshow or convention, and sneak into the press room. Look for your favorite gadget blogger. More often than not, they’ll be rocking a MacBook Pro. That says something – and no, I don’t mean that it proves we’re all tools.

Make jokes about the “Apple tax” all you want – for the durability, for the genius bar, and for the ability to boot into OS X or Windows without having to hack a thing, the MacBook Pro takes the title.

Best Phone
T-Mobile G1
People’s Choice
iPhone 3G

We get it, you love the iPhone. So do we. But in the grand scheme of things, the G1 is the start of something great.

Naysayers might scream, but Android (and competing, open source platforms) is the future of mobile. The G1 proved that Android works, and for that, it overcomes the iPhone and Apple’s walled garden. 2009 will be Android’s year, and the G1 paved the way.

Worst Device of 2008
Blackberry Storm
People’s Choice
Blackberry Storm

We wanted it to be great. We were really excited. We love Blackberry. But we don’t love the Blackberry Storm. This device, designed by committee and released too soon, is the antithesis of the iPhone. The UI is wonky, the touch screen is horrible, and all of the features that make RIM products great are notably absent in this device. What could have been an iPhone killer will end up being a blight on RIM’s record for years to come.

Best Device of 2008
iPod Touch 2G
People’s Choice
iPhone 3G

Yes, we know. Apple this and Apple that. But you guys chose the 3G and we chose the Touch 2G. Why? Because these two devices get things right. The UI is responsive, the feature set is nicely refined, and the App Store turns both devices into what we can only call Apple’s real netbook. Best of all, the game Fieldrunners exists on both platforms breathing life into the atrophied casual gaming world.

Short Version: The Philips DC910 is great-sounding system for playing music from your iPod, a USB thumb drive, an SD card, FM radio, or up to two external sources — all for under $150.

 Overview and Features:

• Compatible with iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano 3rd Generation, iPod 5th Generation, iPod mini, iPod with color display, iPod nano 1st Generation, iPod nano 2nd Generation – iPhones will work, but you’ll deal with a bit of interference from the phone’s radio, especially when there’s no music playing to drown it out.
• Place your iPod touch in portrait or landscape orientation
• Play and charge your iPod
• USB thumb drive and SD/MMC card slots for MP3/WMA music playback
• Auxiliary input
• FM digital tuning with presets
• 3-inch wOOx subwoofer, two 1.5-inch tweeters – 30 watts RMS total power
• Alarm clock function for iPod, USB, or radio
• Wall-mountable
• Available online for under $150

Pros:

Wow. Dougie likee. This is a great all-around music system, like the kind you’d put on your wedding registry or buy as a housewarming gift. It’s not too big, yet it gets very loud, it can be wall-mounted, and it handles iPods, thumbdrives, SD cards, and there are two — count ‘em — two auxiliary inputs for plugging in whatever isn’t on your iPod or various flash memory cards and drives. The iPod mount can be swiveled horizontally for some hot Cover Flow action — a nice touch.

Sound quality is surprising. It’s kind of like seeing a smaller person excel athletically. Think of the DC910 as the Dustin Pedroia of music systems – the guy’s like 5’7” and he’s arguably one of the best players in baseball, especially when it comes to hitting. When you first see him, though, he’s relatively unassuming. Same thing with this music system. I opened it, put it on my desk, and thought, “Okay. Here’s another iPod dock.” Once I turned it on, though, I was pleasantly surprised. You could throw a medium-sized party in your house and the DC910 would get plenty loud.

Cons:

Nothing major, just some minor quibbles. First, the power brick is just that: a brick. It’s larger than most laptop adapters. You’ll have to find somewhere to hide it, especially if you’re thinking of wall-mounting this system. Thankfully, Philips provides plenty of cord length so you should have a few options when you’re wrangling everything.

Second, the remote is a little iffy. It works fine, but if feels kind of cheap and the buttons are pretty squishy. It’s not very intuitive at first but it’s not bad once you start using it regularly. The range isn’t all that great, either. It’ll work across small rooms but I had trouble between my kitchen and the adjacent living room.

Finally, the LCD display is useful for simple track information and the clock and whatnot but the system doesn’t ready ID3 info from files playing off of SD cards or thumb drives. You’re presented with a simple folder + track number interface – so song or artist information. I remember that kind of stuff being an issue like ten years ago when hardware players were first starting to emerge. It seems to just be a given nowadays.

Conclusion:

All in all, the pros far outweigh the cons, making the Philips DC910 music system a great choice for any home. Philips is currently selling it directly at $116.88 but, unfortunately, it’s out of stock at the moment. You can find it at most other online stores for well under $150, though. Amazon, for instance, has it for as low as $80 – likely in order to make room for the $180 DC912.

Philips Docking Entertainment System – DC910 [Philips.com]

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an audiophile. I enjoy music and I enjoy good sound but I have yet to be bitten by the high end audio bug. I understand that good audio gear is expensive but have also yet to feel that headphones are worth $1,700.

And yet, why am I so fascinated with the Ultrasone Edition9 headphones, a pair of closed-back cans with natural surround sound and an 8-35,000 Hz frequency range? What makes these headphones better or worse than anything else? What have I been missing?

I began my exploration by just plugging these things into an iPhone and listening to some MP3s. Bad idea. When it comes to audio, garbage-in/garbage-out rules the day so I regrouped and did a little research.

First, my biggest problem with audiophile gear. I cover watches so I understand the luxury gadget industry. When I see a $20,000 watch, I understand, at some visceral level, whether it is worth that much money. Is it handmade? Does it use precious metals or stones? Is the band made from the woven hair of Cuban virgins? Or is the company simply trying to sell a luxury product at a premium price because it wants to part suckers from their money? When I look at high-end audio gear, I see more than a bit of snake oil. While the core gear is nice and sounds great, wooden knobs to reduce vibration and magical electricity straighteners make the entire venture considerably less inviting.

Wanting to come at these headphones with an open mind, however, I asked my audiophile buddies for some advice. They told me to ditch the MP3s and go lossless. I got a few lossless music files, fired them up, and was blown away, with some caveats.

There are two problems I have with high-end audio. First, the brain registers the quality in the first few minutes and then you forget about it. You could stick these cans on my head, make me listen to some Ravel, and then take them off. Half an hour later you could stick ear-buds from a broken Coby CD player into my ears and I’d probably not remember much of a difference. But there’s always that little spot between the first note and forgetting that makes the experience worth it.

The sweet spot on these Edition 9s was right there in front of you, creating a soundscape so detailed that I was amazed at what I was hearing. Best of all, these headphones are designed to offer a sense of loudness even at low levels, ensuring you don’t go deaf while listening to the headphones for most of your life. They are also quite comfortable and filter out most of the surround noise. Now, again, are these worth $1,700, at least to non audio technicians?

I’m up in the air. The audio quality was excellent provided I listened to lossless music in perfect conditions on a good rig. You wouldn’t want to use these traveling or riding the subway. To truly appreciate them you need to sip the music from them in a comfortable setting, like a fine wine. You don’t drink Dom Perignon out of a rinsed out Coke bottle, right? You don’t listen to Mingus on these while sitting in a pool of vomit on the train, either.

So it is with some sadness and mostly relief that I packed these headphones away. Whereas I could recommend a pair of Ultimate Ears or some Sennheisers to any Joe off the street, unless you’re willing to invest in some gold remasters and a smoking jacket, I just don’t feel the impetus to recommend these. If, however, you want amazing sound for an amazing price tag, these are well worth the money. Great audio is a privilege, not a right, and these headphones are proof of that.

Product Page

Quick Version: In a world chock full of streaming music devices, the Philips Streamium NP1100 blends into the crowd as a straightforward, easy-to-use network device.

Overview and Features:

• Wired and/or wireless network music playback
• Internet radio
• Rhapsody online music service
• Connects to stereo/home theater or headphones
• Uses Windows Media Player 11 and/or UPnP to stream music
• MSRP of $179.99

Pros:

The Streamium NP1100 from Philips is a relatively unassuming network music player. You plug it in, turn it on, and it finds the music on your UPnP-enabled computers. It also connects to Rhapsody’s online music service and features internet radio stations from all over the world. Lest you think that “unassuming” sounds negative, when it comes to devices that are meant to play music, sometimes the simpler, the better.

Sound quality is excellent. I tested the NP1100 hooked up to the home stereo, computer speakers, cheap headphones, $100 headphones, and $400 noise-cancelling headphones and the music, whether streaming from my computer, an internet radio station, or Rhapsody, sounded great. If I had an awesome home stereo system, the likes of which you’d see in fancy houses with things like “fireplaces” and “recessed lighting,” the NP1100 would sit handsomely next to the other high-priced audio components and push out high-quality music for me to listen to while I read the evening paper over a snifter of brandy-flavored beer from the gas station.

Rhapsody users, especially, would do well by this device. You can stream all of your personally downloaded Rhapsody tracks as well as search for and play music directly from Rhapsody’s enormous library. You’d literally have an almost unlimited music collection at the ready without having to download a bunch of files.

Cons:

The interface is a little “blah,” which is unfortunate because the device itself looks nice, with a sleek black finish and handsome translucent edges. It’s kind of like buying a nice, shiny new flat panel TV and then hooking up an old VCR to it and watching movies from the 80s that you taped off of network TV. It just seems out of place.

Also, while the NP1100 worked really well over a wired connection, when hooked up wirelessly there was just enough lag and buffering to sometimes make navigating with the included remote kind of a pain. I’d end up trying to skip backwards to earlier tracks on an album only to restart playing the same track over and over again until I could finally double-press the back button quickly enough to get to the previous track.

Finally, an MSRP of $179 seems a bit expensive, especially given the sheer number of competing devices on the market. The NP1100 can be found for less online, though.

Recommendation:

If you like music, want it to sound good, and don’t want a bunch of extra fluff, the Streamium NP1100 is easy enough to set up and use that serious music lovers – especially Rhapsody subscribers – might find the device to be a good fit. The design of the hardware itself is sleek, although it’s evened out by a boring, dated UI. In a world full of music streamers, the Streamium NP1100 falls somewhere in the middle.

Network Music Player – NP1100 [Philips.com]

The Quick Version: The DVDO Edge will restore amazement and wonder to your high definition TV. It’s that good.

Remember when you watched high definition for the first time? Mine was a HDNet hockey broadcast on a 34-inch Sony XBR Tube (800 series, I think). There was a sort of magic that first time, and this DVDO scaler brought back that feeling on my old plasma. I have been watching a 37-inch Panasonic plasma for a few years, but this little $800 box made it seem new again. It even improved the Hitachi Director Series and Pioneer Elite sets that I am currently reviewing. 

The beauty of this scaler is that it is so easy to use. Plug in all your devices — hopefully they have HDMI — and it will only take a few minutes to configure everything. The setup wizard does most of the work and it’s easy to fine-tune settings later. 

You should notice a picture quality difference immediately. The biggest change you’ll find is that every source will be silky smooth. In fact, the picture was so fluid at first, it was somewhat nauseating. The refresh rate isn’t the only thing improved, either. The colors are better, the detail is higher, and it even helps to resolve TV-specific issues. 

The Edge makes colors more vibrant and saturated. Unfortunately, if your HDTV is painstakingly calibrated, like mine, you will have to recalibrate it. Once it’s redone, you will notice blacker blacks and whiter whites. It’s impressive.

The Hitachi plasma I reviewed has a great scaler that works wonders on standard definition content, but the Edge made my 3-year old Panasonic plasma just as good. If your set doesn’t handle non-HD material well, this will help a lot. Also, remember how the Hitachi had weird horizontal line issues? This mostly resolved it. Those lines are still present, but not nearly as prominent.

There are some quarks and limitations, but the benefits easily outweigh ‘em. For instance, when the content switches between resolutions — like when changing from an HD to SD channel — a blue screen flashes for about a 1/2 second before the new content is displayed. It isn’t a deal breaker for me, but it might annoy others. Also, the unit only has one S-Video and composite inputs, along with only has two component inputs, but the full array of HDMI inputs shows this is built for the modern AV rack. 

Anchor Bay has been making similar scalers for a while and this is their lowest-priced unit yet. Don’t think the price is a knock on the scaling capability, however, because due to some in-house engineering on the scaler (which saves money on licensing), this unit is still impressive. 

It doesn’t sport RS-232 control but it does have an IR input. The only output is HDMI, but at least it can split the audio off onto its own HDMI stream. It can’t be rack mounted, but it’s sexy enough to sit exposed on a TV stand. The Edge is aimed at the Best Buy crowd instead of the custom install market, which is great for you and me.

A good amount of HDTVs have lackluster and/or older processors. The DVDO Edge is a wonder of modern day high definition technology, and will improve any viewing experience. It should be noted that the upcoming Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player will have the same internal processor and hopefully that player will be equally as impressive. At $799, this scaler isn’t cheap — but the results are more than worth it. Don’t buy a new HDTV before checking out what the DVDO Edge can do for the one you already own.

So you want this scaler, do ya? Drop us a comment below with the model number of your HDTV, how long you’ve owned it, and why you want this scaler so badly. Is that begging? Yup. Don’t forget the Edge only outputs via HDMI, so make sure you can actually use this unit before entering the contest. A winner will be chosen at random.

For months now, I have been trying to play .MKV and other video files on my living room front projector. At first I tried to connect a laptop directly to the TV. But this didn’t always work, the audio was crappy, and it was awkward to have a laptop connected to the projector.

I started using my XBOX 360 to play video files. At first I wanted to stream the files across my network. This worked every once in a while, but mostly it was an exercise in frustration. And I got miserable fast forward and rewind capability because of the network bottleneck.

Then I tried using my Neuros OSD for this. That was a non-starter as the OSD only has a composite video out port and I wanted to play high definition video.

Eventually I started copying video files to big fat thumb drives and plugging them directly into the XBOX. This worked very well for a lot of video files, but didn’t work at all for high definition files because they were mostly over 4GB in size (the XBOX 360 only recognizes FAT32 formatted drives, and FAT32 doesn’t allow for more than 4GB per file).

I then started investigating the black arts of video transcoding. I looked for tools that would allow me to convert the video formats I found on the internet into something that was XBOX 360 friendly. But most of the automated tools were a compromise. If it converted the video into something XBOX friendly, and under 4GB in size, the audio would be downgraded to 2 channels (from 5.1). And I would run my computer for hours converting video, and many times something would go wrong and the file wouldn’t play on the XBOX.

I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure this out.

One Fall afternoon, Western Digital announced the WD HD TV Media Player. It promised to play high definition video over HDMI and optical audio, up to 1080p, all for about $120 street price. I was skeptical at first that such a tiny and inexpensive device would solve all of my months of video headaches. But any skepticism disappeared once I hooked the gizmo up to my projector and in about 20 seconds I was watching glorious high definition 1080p with DTS sound.

Basically the WD HD TV Media Player (horrible name, by the way) will play just about any video format you throw at it. You put the videos on any USB mass storage device, like a thumb drive or an external hard drive, and plug it into the device. It recognizes the files on the drive and plays any video, audio, or photo files it finds. It comes with a handy remote control, and the software interface is very simple and easy-to-use. The box has 2 USB ports for you to plug in any combination of mass storage devices. Even better, it supports the NTFS file format so you are not limited to files that are under 4GB.

I loaded up an external hard drive with all manner of video files and plugged it into the Media Player. Using the remote control I navigated the on-screen menu and chose several different file formats to test. The little black box played each of the files beautiful. The playback was smooth, even in fast action sequences. The digital audio worked flawlessly and it even supports subtitles. I tested a variety of 720p and 1080p and 480p files. I couldn’t find a single one the device had trouble with.

I connected the Media Player via optical audio and HDMI. It also supports composite video with analog audio, but I did not test those ports.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the compact yet powerful remote control. I hid the tiny Media Player box behind my media cabinet in the back of the room where my projector is. And I didn’t think the remote control would be able to hit the device, but sure enough I just pointed it at the ceiling above my head and it worked very nicely, registering each key press.

I love this little black box. It singlehandedly solved my video playback problems and ended months of frustration. People will gripe about the lack of network support, but I personally have no desire to stream high definition video over my local network. Direct hard drive or thumb drive connections ensure fast and reliable playback and controls. Simple and fast, the WD HD TV Media Player is a powerhouse solution in a tiny and affordable package.

Product Page

We’ve reviewed a lot of home audio solutions, and they all offer different benefits and drawbacks. The big trend is “music everywhere”, whether through powerline networking or wirelessly. Most of these products require a specific music source to feed into the system. Sonos brings something rather more complete to the goal of “music everywhere”. Read on for the complete review of the Sonos solution.

I’ve been testing the Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers combined with a Sonos ZoneBridge, and I have to say that this is an absolutely kick-ass product. The Sonos selling point is the idea of “zones” (read: rooms) each of which is capable of playing music from independent sources, all managed with a full-color handheld wireless controller. You can play the same music in every room, or give each room its own soundtrack.

Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers
The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is a complete solution for pumping music into two rooms. It includes the ZonePlayer 120 and the ZonePlayer 90, along with a Sonos Controller and a pair of bookshelf speakers. The ZonePlayer 120 provides power to the bookshelf speakers (or your own speakers), while the ZonePlayer 90 connects to your home theater or stereo equipment for output.

Both of the ZonePlayer units have RCA inputs, so you can feed it music from an existing audio source. They also both have a 2-port Ethernet switch, so you can connect one of them to a broadband router to access a variety of network-based music sources (Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, or your own music collection on a Windows share). You can use the two-port switch to squeeze these devices into an already-full switch, which is a helpful addition for folks with way too many network-connected devices.

There is no interface on any of the ZonePlayers other than simple volume controls. You use the Sonos Controller to manage everything. You can also use the Desktop Controller software to manage your zones from your PC or Mac, or you can use the free iPhone application to control everything.

The Controller is a hefty handheld device. You can plug it directly into AC power to charge the battery, which takes about 2 hours, or you can use the Charging Cradle, which I strongly recommend — especially since it’s currently being included for free with any bundle purchase. It has an accelerometer inside that detects movement, so it usually comes to life as soon as you pick it up. That’s a really nice touch. If you leave it lying around it’ll eventually go into a power-saving mode, requiring you to press one of the buttons to wake it up. Wake up time take a couple of seconds, but not so long as to be really annoying. The battery life of the controller is great: I’ve left it out of the dock for about a week now, using it at least a couple times a day, and the battery has just now depleted.

Sonos ZoneBridge

The ZoneBridge provides no audio output. It has two Ethernet jacks and that’s it. You use the ZoneBridge to connect to your Ethernet network. If you don’t have an Ethernet switch, you can place the ZoneBridge between your broadband router and your PC; or you can plug it into a port on your switch. The ZoneBridge then brokers all the Internet access required by the other devices in your Sonos setup, since presumably your audio equipment isn’t likely to be located in the same room as your networking gear.

Setup
Set up is extremely easy, and the Quick Setup Guide is surprisingly helpful. You can use the supplied software to set everything up, or you can do it all directly from the Sonos Controller. I chose the latter. Plug everything in — there are no power buttons on any of the devices — and then turn on the controller. It discovers the devices nearby, and asks you to press both the mute button and the volume up button on any of them. This puts the device in “configure” mode, and then you use the Controller to give it a name. Repeat this process for each device in your Sonos network. Since the controller is wireless, you can easily walk from room to room configuring your setup in a couple of minutes.

You can register your setup with Sonos directly from the Controller after setup, which I found extremely handy. Once registered, the system can automatically download software updates. Sonos has put a lot of effort into making this thing “just work”, and I think they’ve succeeded admirably.

I was able to easily connect to a share on my home server. The music was indexed, and ready for me to play within a couple of minutes. All the ID3 tags on my mp3s were read, allowing me to navigate my music collection by artist, album, genre, composer, track title or folder. It also provides a search function.

I have a pretty boring collection of music, so I next added last.fm. After keying in my account name and password, I was able to play my neighborhood, or manually key in tags or artists. I’ve found myself streaming a lot of last.fm into my living room since I hooked up the Sonos.

Usage
You can group your zones together, so that they all play the same music at the exact same time. Even without setting up specific groups, you can activate “All Zones Party Mode” to play the same music through all of your Sonos gear.

Each zone can have its own queue of music, which you can control. You can add new music — single tracks, whole albums, or all the music in your catalog — to the end of an existing queue, or you can replace the current queue with your selection. You can set up and manage specific playlists within Sonos, as well as feed it playlists you might have created in .PLS, .M3U or .WPL files.

You can listen to broadcast radio, which surprised me somewhat at first. You’re certainly not going to buy this thing just to listen to your local radio station, but it’s a nice feature to have handy.

Another nice feature is the alarm mode, which lets you specify what music you want to play in which zone(s). Multi-zone alarm clocks: cool! You can wake up to one music source, and you can wake the rest of the house up with another music source. The Controller allows you to snooze for 9 minutes, just like a normal alarm clock.

As for input:

Support for compressed MP3, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.

Native support for 44.1kHz sample rates. Additional support for 48kHz, 32kHz, 24kHz, 22kHz, 16kHz, 11kHz, and 8kHz sample rates.

Wireless
Each Sonos device will get an IP address in your network. They speak to one another over “SonosNet, a secure AES encrypted, peer-to-peer wireless mesh network.” For giggles, I pointed nmap at each of them. The only open port it found was 1400/tcp, which was reported as cadkey-tablet. nmap reported that they’re each running Linux 2.4.18.

Curious, I ran wireshark for awhile as I used the Sonos, to see what sort of traffic I might see. The only thing it collected was lots and lots of Spanning Tree Protocol packets, presumably for the mesh networking. I got bored after that, and went back to listening to music.

Shortcomings
In a word: price. These things are expensive. The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is $1149.00. You can shave off $150 and just get the Sonos Bundle 150 if you already have speakers to use with the ZonePlayer 120. The ZoneBridge is $99. A spare controller is $400, and the Controller dock is $40. You’re getting an awful lot of functionality for the money, but it might be too high a price for some folks to stomach.

The other notable shortcoming is that these things don’t speak iTunes. It’s not an AirPort Express, but rather a whole lot more. Still, I’m somewhat surprised that you can’t stream iTunes to the Sonos. Similarly, you can’t play Apple FairPlay songs. Nor can it play WMA Lossless files.

UPDATE: I just got a call from the folks at Sonos, and they wanted to make it clear that while the Sonos gear won’t speak the DAAP protocol used by iTunes, it will play non-DRM media in your iTunes library if you make it available via an SMB share.

A minor nuisance is the scrollwheel on the controller. It works, but it can be a bit laborious to enter text using this thing. In fact, the interface on the controller is a little awkward in general. You have the scrollwheel, shortcut buttons for “Zones” and “Music” along with a “Back” button above the wheel, and simple music controls for “back”, “play/pause” and “forward” buttons beneath the wheel. Along the left are mute and volume. Then under the screen are three context-sensitive buttons. It’s these buttons that I found annoying: you need to actually look at the screen to find out what they do, and they sometimes do what you would expect the center button on the wheel to do. It’s not a deal breaker, by any stretch, but it would be nice to see a slightly more elegant interface in such an expensive product.

The bottom line: if you can afford it, I think Sonos offers the best multi-room wireless audio solution we’ve reviewed yet. Robust support for local and Internet audio sources, an extremely functional wireless handheld controller to manage all your zones, and a plethora of extra features make this a complete package.

Short Version: The EOS wireless audio system is dead simple to set up and use, although a high price tag and so-so sound quality might keep some people away.

Overview and Features:

• Base station with iPod dock transmits audio to wireless speakers up to 150 feet away
• Features 3.5-inch auxiliary input for connecting to other music-playing devices
• Speakers are 2.1 stereo — left and right channel, plus back-firing subwoofer
• Uses proprietary 2.4GHz transmission to avoid interference
• Core kit comes with base station and one wireless speaker for $249 – additional speakers are $129.99 each

Pros:

Setting up the EOS system couldn’t have been easier — if you can plug things into wall outlets, you’re 95% there. The speakers are designed to either plug directly into an outlet and “float” or you can detach the AC adapter from the back of the speaker if you want to move it away from the wall to, say, a bookshelf or countertop. I had everything set up and playing in about five minutes. It’s super easy.

Wireless audio transmission was absolutely interference-free, which is refreshing for a wireless system. The EOS speakers sounded pretty good, although it was still somewhat obvious that they were wireless. You’d probably be able to fool regular folk, though, as each speaker features both a left and right channel and a subwoofer, which is far more ambitious than most wireless speakers setups.

Cons:

First and foremost, the EOS system is a bit pricey. The kit I tested consisted of the core system – which consists of the base station and one speaker – plus three add-on speakers. Total out of pocket cost for that setup would be $249.99 plus $129.99 per extra speaker ($389.97), for a grand total of $639.96.

Granted, you can just buy the base system and add speakers as you go, but keep in mind that the system only supports up to four total wireless speakers, so you’d be somewhat limited in your coverage if you have a big house.

And the sound quality, while free of interference, is still a bit tinny on the high end and songs with deep bass end up sounding pretty muddy. I ended up testing some bass-heavy songs with an iPod Touch, with the EOS plugged into my computer, and with the EOS plugged into a SanDisk Sansa Clip and the speakers bottomed out and distorted with each device when trying to handle songs with low, low bass.

Recommendation:

If you’re not put off by the price tag and you’ll be listening to relatively tame music at moderate levels (or podcasts and other voice-only stuff), then the ease of use as far as setup and functionality are concerned make the EOS system worth a closer look.

Product Page [EosWireless.com]

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Short Version: Are you an iFamily? Got lots of iDevices between you, your iDo, and maybe some iKids? Is your house sooooo big that it’s just too much trouble to walk to where your computer is to charge said iGadgets? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Griffin PowerDock 4 is 4U. If you are Brady-sized, you will need two of these.

What does it do? It charges up to 4 iPods/iPhones at a time. That’s it. Well, it looks nice while it does it, with it’s brushed aluminum shell. There is no way to sync while in the PowerDock. No audio or video outs. Just raw power. Well, not raw, but the 5V DC 500mA that iPods crave. It has inserts to fit any of the USB-chargeable models, but if you have an older one, don’t despair. Without any of the inserts, the PowerDock can accommodate the larger predecessors. They just won’t sit as securely.

We have 2 iPods and an iPhone in our house and I have only put one device at a time in the PowerDock, mostly because it looked lonely. Every iPod and iPhone comes with a charger and we tend to use them in different parts of the house with different chargers/bases/speakers. If you want a centralized place to charge your devices, here you go.

Bottom Line: It charges up to 4 iPods/iPhones. No sync. Each device came with a charger. Unless you need a centralized place to charge, spend your $70 elsewhere.

Product Page

To the point: A nice plasma that offers a quality image, good colors, and a great scaler. Too bad it’s overpriced.

Specs:

• 1080p24
• Three 24pHDMI inputs
• Deep Color/x.v. Color Performance
• PictureMaster HD VI Processor
• Power Swivel Stand

The good points:

Oh, boy. The P50X902 Director Series has a killer image processor. What that means is that non-HD materal looks fine on it. In fact, it looks, well, good. I have never, ever said that about an HDTV as standard definition generally looks like crap, but this TVs scaler is something special. I would dare say that the scaler in this Hitachi is better than the 60-inch Pioneer Elite that I also have for review. Yes, it’s that good.

The goodies doesn’t stop with the image scaler. The colors and contrast ratio are also good — not great though. Colors were generally accurate after my calibration, but I couldn’t get the black level as dark as I like it. 

Hitachi has installed power swivel stands on its sets for a while and this high-end model receives the treatment as well. It’s likely to get oohs and ahhs, but chances are you will never use it. How many times have you ever wished the TV was slightly turned towards you? It’s a plasma with a great viewing angle anyways.

Also, I have never been a fan of Hitachi’s menu tree. This one is particulary slow and painful to use. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was responsive. Thankfully, the video adjustments are extensive and complete. Hitachi allows you to change almost anything on the TV, which more than compensates for the slow and dated menu.

The not so good points:

While the image scaler does an amazing job upscaling lower resolution video, there is a strangle anomaly where strong horizontal lines continue through the picture. Check the pic. See how the blinds leave lines on Pam’s shirt? It’s strange and sometimes distracting. It happens on all sources and I can’t figure it out. Interestingly though, my wife has never once noticed or seen what I am talking about.

The HD image isn’t amazing. It’s good, but not breathtaking. The set’s high price kind of makes me want more. The images are a bit soft and there is that damn horizontal-line thing that bugs the heck out me.

Oh, and the speakers and remote are crap. But who uses the built-in speakers and standard remote anyway?

Overall:

This is a great HDTV. It’s pricey and hard to find thanks to a limited distribution, but it’s a nice HDTV. Someone that needs a top-tier HDTV with tons of picture adjustments, but doesn’t have the cash for a Pioneer and also watches a lot of standard DVDs/non-HD cable should buy this plasma. That’s it. If that doesn’t describe you entirely, look elsewhere ’cause this 50-inch is overpriced at $3,200. Great TV, yes, but overpriced. I would highly recommend this plasma if it can be bought for around $2,500.

Short Version: A full-featured 22-inch HDTV with a built-in DVD player for under $400, the N2201w from ViewSonic is a great option as a bedroom TV, office TV, or dedicated gaming TV.

Overview and Features:

• 22-inch LCD with 1680×1050 resolution
• 1000:1 contrast ratio
• 300 cd/m2 brightness
• 160-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles
• 5ms response time
• Two 3-watt speakers
• Inputs: VGA, coax, RCA, YPbPr/YCbCr, S-video, HDMI 1.3 with HDCP
• Headphone jack
• ATSC, NTSC, QAM tuner
• HD: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
• Available online for under $400

Pros:

The ViewSonic’s bright and vibrant picture, integrated DVD player, multiple hookup options, and relatively low price point make it a good choice for people looking to add a flat screen TV to the bedroom. Despite the integrated DVD player, the 22-inch N2201w is only about three inches thick and weighs about 20 pounds, so it’s easy to move around if needed. High-definition content looks really good, too, which is hopefully what you’ll mostly be watching on this TV. Standard definition stuff looks just fine as well – I tested this TV using Comcast digital cable, with nice results.

The TV has one of each of the standard connection options (RCA, YPbPr/YCbCr, coax, HDMI 1.3 with HDCP, VGA with audio in) and the integrated tuner pulls down ASTC, NTSC, and QAM signals. The inclusion of a headphone jack makes for a VERY nice feature when hooking your Xbox 360 up to this thing. I have mine hooked up via HDMI and the sound gets cleanly routed through the headphone jack, making late-night gaming and Rock Band/GHWT drumming much, much easier.

Using the VGA input will allow you to use the TV as a 1680×1050 computer monitor, which would make it a great choice for your home office. You could use it for work during the day and then take a break to watch a DVD, play some video games, or see what’s on TV. So the office is where the true 3-in-1 functionality would hit home most.

Finally, the remote control is actually – GASP! – thoughtfully laid out and easy to use.

Cons:

Those who have subscribed to the 1080p-or-die mantra will want to forgo this TV as the highest it’ll do is 1080i. Also, it won’t make for a great main TV if you need to hook a bunch of different components up to it because, as mentioned, it only has one of each port. That’s still plenty of stuff, though, considering your DVD player would be taken care of already. However, the single HDMI port might make life tough for people who wanted to hook up a cable box, Blu-ray player, and Xbox or PS3 via HDMI.

Recommendation:

If you’re looking for a nicely-priced TV for the bedroom or game room that’ll also allow you to watch TVs and will function as a 1680×1050 computer monitor too, the N2201w’s nice picture, low price, and relatively full feature set make it a great choice.

ViewSonic N2201w 3-in-1 LCD HDTV and DVD combo [ViewSonic.com]

As a dilettante musician I enjoy the concept – if not the process – of recording my reedy, whiny voice to digital files. Until recently, that process was fraught with trouble and high quality recording equipment was difficult to obtain and expensive. Now anyone with a six-string and a dream can record fairly acceptable audio with something like the Belkin GoStudio.

The GoStudio records directly to your iPod. It is compatible with iPod Classics, Videos, and Nanos in 16-bit 44kHz stereo. The recordings are stored on the iPod as voice memos which then appear when you sync the iPod. It has two combo XLR/mic jacks and two 3.5mm mini-jack inputs along with two built-in microphones. It has independent gain control on both channels, a main master level control, and a monitor/headphone jack and control.

The recorder works best without inputs. As a stereo audio recorder the GoStudio records with nice depth and quality. Below is a sample taken with the built-in mics:

Download audio file (nowoman.mp3)

This is completely unamped with me about three feet from the recorder. Once you get into add-on mics, unfortunately, things break down.

Because this doesn’t amplify line-in input, you get a bit of a mess. If you increase the gain and the levels, you get fuzz. If you don’t, you get silence. This is the best I could do with an XLR stage mic and a Dean Markley acoustic pick-up:

Download audio file (combo.mp3)

I’m sure with a bit of tweaking I could make it sound better, but I came at this as a novice and without trial and error you won’t be thrilled with the results. In short, the built-in microphones are acceptable and the combo and 3.5mm jacks are slightly less so.

How is this better than a standard iPod voice recorder, then? It’s more robust, definitely, and once you solve the problems I mentioned, it records audio quite nicely. Like the TuneStudio, Belkin is offering fairly high-end technology to entry-level consumers, which is admirable. At $119.99, the device would be good for recording concerts or seminars and even grab a quick musical performance in your bath- or bedroom.

Bottom Line
A nice little audio recorder that records directly to iPods.

Product Page

Why do you need a pig-shaped iPod dock? I don’t know, but it exists and it’s a sensible little device. The pig blows out some thin music but it’s nice and heavy on the bass and it looks great in a kids room. It is audiophile quality? Absolutely not, but it comes with a mini-remote that controls most iPod features and it costs about $150 – probably less when it comes to retail stores. Best of all, the website encourages you to make your neighbors jealous:

This speaker can be placed anywhere: on a shelf , a desk or any place you want in your rest room, study, sitting room……it will never makes you disappointing, but the only thing you should care is your neighbor’s jealousy.

Bottom Line
Great iPod dock for kids, the porcine inclined.

Quick Version: The $99.99 Pure-Fi Anytime is a good choice as an alarm clock and single-room speaker system. If you’ve got your life on your iPhone, you’ll appreciate this gadget as it pulls double duty as a bedside phone charger and music player.

Overview and Features

• Universal iPod/iPhone dock and alarm clock
• Motion activated backlight and snooze – just waving your hand over the top of the alarm clock acts as the snooze function
• AM/FM radio
• Audio input for non-iPod devices
• Remote control
• MSRP of $99.99

It’s good for…

…people who live and die by their iPhone or iPod. If your iPhone is a major part of your life – contacts, appointments, phone, mobile internet, music, and all that good stuff – then you might as well integrate it into how you wake up in the morning, right?

If you’re the type that has trouble getting going in the wee hours, you may appreciate the ability to flail your arms about wildly when your alarm starts up with the off-chance of activating the snooze. A simple Obi Wan Kenobi-style hand wave within a few inches of the top of the Pure-Fi Anytime is just as good as physically tapping the actual snooze button. The same goes for the backlit buttons on top of the device. They’ll remain dark until your hand gets close to them, at which point they’ll illuminate.

At under a hundred bucks, too, the Pure-Fi Anytime isn’t outrageously expensive. If you have a small apartment/dorm or spend a lot of time in your bedroom, it’s a nice do-it-all alarm clock and speaker dock if you’re low on space.

Not so good for…

…audiophiles, party people, those seeking block rocking beats and/or who wish to be taken to FunkyTown, etc. The sound quality is above average for an alarm clock but a little tinny once you crank it up. It’d also be a little too low-volume for a party, as it doesn’t get all that loud. If you’re from the Midwest like I am, you might be able to throw a successful party because everyone in the Midwest is polite and refrains from talking over one another in social situations. If you’re one of the 900 girls on the East Coast who are each somehow part of my wife’s side of the family, though, forget it.

Also, the remote isn’t really a selling point if you ask me. It’s one of those credit card remotes that seem to ship with every inexpensive audio device on the market. I find myself having to point the remote directly at the Pure-Fi, giving it a nice, hard, deliberate press. Even then, it still doesn’t register sometimes. Not really a direct Logitech issue – none of those tiny remotes seem to work well.

Conclusion

A good choice, especially if you have most of your music on your iPhone/iPod and want to listen while you’re getting ready in the morning. Many people sleep with their phones charging right next to their beds anyway, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone and cut down on the cords to boot.

The price is nice, the motion sensing stuff is pretty cool (if a bit gimmicky), and the unit itself is a handsome piano black which should go well with most bedroom motifs.

Pure-Fi Anytime [Logitech.com]

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The Pinnacle Video Transfer is a $99 device that promises easy one-touch recording to a myriad of devices including USB memory sticks and external hard drives as well as direct recording to the Sony PSP and iPod Video, Nano, and Classic devices.

In short, it’s super easy and it works well.

Overview and Features

The Pinnacle Video Transfer system records video at up to 720×480 using the H.264 codec. It’ll do 320×240 and 640×480 as well. There are composite video inputs as well as an S-Video input on one end of the device and a USB port on the other end of the device. You plug in your cables and your USB stick or external hard drive, select your quality setting, and hit record. There are only two buttons: Mode and Record.

When you’re all done recording, plug your USB drive or external drive into your computer and play your video. Easy as that.

I didn’t get a chance to try out the direct-to-device recording function as I don’t own a PSP and my iPod is an iPod Touch, which isn’t supported. The Video Transfer device will auto-sense which device you have hooked up and select the appropriate bitrates. For example, if you plug in your PSP, all quality settings will be at 320×240 resolution and run from 512 kbps to 768kbps to 1 Mbps depending on the mode you choose. If you’re using a flash drive, though, you’ll choose between 320×240, 640×480, and 720×480.

Pros

The Pinnacle Video Transfer device is really, really, really easy to use. It’s great for pulling stuff quickly off of your DVR and getting it on to your computer. At $99, too, it’s not all that expensive. Setup takes under a minute and you’re literally watching the video you recorded in the amount of time it takes you to plug in a USB flash drive.

Also, the video quality is quite nice. The H.264 codec does a good job of grabbing smooth, rich video over plain old RCA cables.

Cons

There’s no video throughput. So, for example, I did some videos using my Nintendo Wii but since the Wii only has one output, I had to basically split the cables from the Wii to the Video Transfer system and to my TV – otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to see what I was doing. So the device works best with video sources that have multiple outputs. My cable box goes to my TV using HDMI and I use the RCA cables to push video out to the Video Transfer box. It’s not a deal-breaker but you’ll have to rig up some extra wires to make pulling video off of your console while you’re playing.

Recommendation

If you need an easy, inexpensive way to grab video from your DVR, then the Pinnacle Video Transfer is tough to beat. If you want to be able to grab video from your next-gen console while you’re playing, then the Video Transfer is still a good choice at $99 — you’ll just need to pick up some splitters first.

Pinnacle Video Transfer [PinnacleSys.com]

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There hasn’t been a gadget that I was initially interested about more than the ZvBox. In my world of 250 press releases a week and thousands of random gadgets, that’s something. The device hijacks a QAM channel over your home’s coax network and streams digital media through it. Since most people already have coax ran, at lease close to their HDTVs, the concept is solid. With that being said, it was like Christmas morning when I received the review unit, but quickly turned into Christmas ’89. The year the big package under the tree turned out to be luggage rather than the PowerPad I was expecting. Yeah, I am that disappointed with the ZvBox.

In fact, when I was initially done testing the unit, I was convinced that I was going to send the unit back to the company, as I didn’t want to embarrass anyone. Then a few minutes later it hit me that I do not review products for companies but rather for you, the reader. There are some fine aspects to this product but you really should read on to hear the rest.

The ZvBox works. It does what it says it can do. The unit does in fact stream Internet media over your home’s coax network; the picture might be bad, and the controls clunky, but it does work. (More on that down farther) Installation wasn’t that hard either. The unit doesn’t ship with any software CDs but rather installs itself via USB when first plugged in; I love that.

The software guides you through the installation easy enough. Just a few clicks and it takes care of the rest. I should note that it took 20 minutes on one step to find the available channel but it did eventually install.

The ZvBox works by intercepting the host computer’s VGA output and streams that signal over the coax lines on a designated QAM signal. In doing so, it hijacks the home computer and does not allow any interaction while the service is ran which means, ZvBox owners should have a dedicated PC. Moreover, it seems that the software is a resource hog, causing the host PC to bog down when trying to run the software.

Eventually though, I got a signal on channel 125, the default ZvBox channel. The home screen popped up and it looked great. On the home screen was a bunch of links to different video sharing sites, so I immediately chose Hulu – huge commercial content with usually great picture quality. HD content was an option, and I picked the Office episode when Toby left. That’s when all my hopes and dreams came crashing down like on that Christmas morning long ago.

The ZvBox allows user access to video streaming sites but doesn’t optimize the front-end for users. Oh no, the link for the clip I chose took me to the normal Hulu website for that video stream. You then have to use the laggy mouse touchpad to navigate and start playing the video as if you were on your computer.

The same thing happens on all of the home page shortcuts. Trying to find the tiny, full screen shortcut on some video sites can be frustrating enough, but then compound a 1-second laggy mouse control on top makes the interaction throw-the-remote-into-the-wall frustrating. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that clips play full screen without any user interaction.

TIVO recent implementation of YouTube is great in comparison. The front-end is replaced with a TIVO-formatted screen and the clips automatically play in full screen. It isn’t perfect, but it is a hell of a lot better than using a website on a HDTV with bad controls.

On a couple of occasions, Hulu videos were playing on two different windows. It was almost like the website wanted to open a second window to play in full screen but kept playing one in the background. Eventually though, I was able to close down the top window, but I almost did reach the aforementioned throwing frustration with the laggy mouse.

I expected the picture quality to be low and I was right. The SD video of course stuttered, pixilated, and had terrible noise everywhere. Hulu’s HD content was better, but definitely not glorious high definition.

After exploring the home screen for a bit, I discovered that these shortcuts were not the main draw. Most of the content was just clips and even some of it wasn’t available on when the link sent you to the actual webpage.

The almost saving grace for the ZvBox is that it provides a direct link to Windows Media Center on the host computer. That computer does have to have the program installed in order to stream anything of your network to the hook’d up HDTVs and don’t forget that someone else cannot use the host computer when ZvBox is one.

Conclusion

I love the concept. Really, I do, but the implantation is horrible. Sometimes the ZvBox software reverted to the host PC, leaving the HDTV blank with no explanation why. I was able to watch clips of The Office and media off my network but it was frustratingly painful; there is no way a non-techie person could use this box. Jittery controls, non-formatted clips, and hijacking the host computer outweighs the potential benefits. It’s just bad.

Oh, and did I mention the ZvBox costs $500? For that price, a person has so many better options to stream media to their HDTV. Xbox 360, Windows Media Center Extenders and even TiVo can do a lot of what this box attempts. Even a low-end computer with an HDMI-out will allow people to watch Hulu and YouTube clips on a HDTV. Yes, none of those solutions streams the content over coax, but they do provide a better picture quality and a heck of a lot better experience. Perhaps firmware upgrades will eventually make this device usable, but until then, I simply cannot recommend the ZvBox.

These Wi-Fi radios have come a long, long way. Case in point, I have an old Linksys WMLS-11B from almost five years ago that requires me to spin around in a circle two times, add a single drop of blood to exactly 6.3 ounces of room-temperature tap water, and paint the Toyota Camry logo on my chest backwards before I can get the thing to reliably stream music wirelessly. Fast forward to the present day, and I just hooked up the Aluratek AIRMM01F and had it streaming music in under a minute.

Overview and Features

• Choose between more than 11,000 radio stations worldwide via built-in vTuner with no monthly cost
• Search music by genre, country or state
• Compatible with universal Plug-n-Play audio servers such as: Microsoft Media Player 11 (WMP11), Microsoft Media Connect, MusicMatch Jukebox
• Wireless access WIFI 802.11 b/g, Ethernet and USB 2.0 (host only) connectivity
• Built-in FM radio tuner for local FM broadcast service
• Access music files (MP3, WMA, WAV) stored on a USB 2.0 flash drive, MP3 player or Hard drive through the unit’s USB port
• Alarm clock function with 2programmable alarms wakes you up to internet radio, FM radio, digital music, or choice of several alarm tones
• Integrated amplifier: 2×2W stereo
• External plug for headsets (3.5mm)
• 2 RCA plugs (Stereo Lineout) for external speakers
• No PC is required
• 1 Year limited warranty

Pros

I need some sort of catch phrase or hook that I can give to product’s I really like. Something along the lines of “Doug’s Picks” or “Friends of Doug” or “Doug’s List of Crap He Likes” – we’ll stick to “Editor’s Choice” for now, how’s that?

Anyway, this thing is on that list. Setup consisted of screwing the antenna in the back, plugging the radio in, and choosing my wireless network. I had music playing in under a minute. You can tap into one of around 11,000 Internet radio stations, sorted by country, genre, or state. Music starts playing close to immediately and the sound quality is good enough that it sounds like it’s coming from an MP3 or CD player.

Menu navigation is intuitive and the built-in USB connection is a simple but wonderful addition, allowing you to plug in a flash drive or external hard drive loaded with music files. The radio also works with UPnP audio servers like Windows Media Player, allowing you to stream tunes from your computer. There’s also a hard-wired Ethernet connection and audio inputs on the back of the unit. If you choose a wired setup, you can use the AIRMM01F into a wireless access point. That’s a very nice touch.

Finally, the price is a reasonable $150 and the unit itself looks nice. I placed it on our fancy-pants Crate and Barrel bookshelf next to various glass jars filled with fake flowers and the martini shaker we never use and my wife didn’t notice it. That’s a good sign if she doesn’t notice a piece of electronic equipment. So you can keep this radio in your living room if you want. Or place it next to your bed and use the straightforward alarm clock function.

Cons

People who are really into AM radio are going to be left out in the cold here. So will a lot of Mac users, especially those with all of their music in AAC format. Music purchased from iTunes won’t play on this unit unless you hook your iPod up through the audio inputs in the back. Non-DRM music in MP3 format, though, such as that purchased from the Amazon Music store, played like buttah.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for something like this, buy it. Then put it anywhere in your house and stream music to it, listen to Internet radio stations, or plug in an external drive. It’s relatively inexpensive, super easy to use, and works well.

Internet Radio Alarm Clock with Built-in WiFi [Aluratek.com]

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My TV has two HDMI inputs but I have four HDMI-based entertainment devices I’d like to hook up to it. What’s a girl to do? Boy! I meant to say “boy” instead.

Welcome to the exciting world of HDMI switchers! Today we’ll take a look at the HDS-41Rv13 HDMI switcher from RT COM.

Features and Specs

The HDS-41Rv13 has four different HDMI inputs, one HDMI output, and can be controlled via the unit’s RS-232C port or the included infrared remote control. It conforms to the HDMI 1.3 standard, is HDCP compliant, supports 36-bit deep color, and will work with HDMI-to-DVI adapters. Thanks to the HDCP compliance, it’ll handle just about anything you plug into it, including Blu-ray players. The switcher costs $199.

Pros

It works. Simple as that. You plug four things into it, run one cable out to the TV, and it works. You can press the SELECT button to cycle through each of the four devices or use the included remote control to directly switch to a specific device. While the $199 price might be a bit steep for some people, the switcher uses a high-quality Silicon Image chipset as opposed to less expensive competing devices that use TI chips.

Cons

It costs $199 and doesn’t include an HDMI cable, so if you’ve got four devices you want to hook up, you’d better pick up a fifth HDMI cable.

Also, the remote is cheap. It’s a little, plastic doohickey with four buttons – one for each source. Simple enough and not a deal breaker but if you’ve got some sort of remote control fetish or you collect devices based on their remote controls, this’ll probably be one of the more lackluster remotes you’ll use.

Conclusion

The HDS-41Rv13 is a high-end HDMI switcher, built to accommodate four high-end devices. It’s solid, reliable, and dead-simple to use.

HDMI Switcher 4×1 V1.3 [DigitalExtender.com]

I’m new to the video review thing, so forgive me if the thing above is too long by half, which I’m pretty sure it is. I’ve included a traditional text review as well, in case you don’t want to look at my smirking video-face. Anyhoo, I’m reviewing Razer’s Piranha gaming headset. If you’re in the market for a headphones/microphone combo, this is a pretty solid bet; click below for details, pictures, and so on.

The Piranha is the latest headset from Razer, its precursor being the Barracuda, an older and (one assumes) inferior model. It was bigger and had a more ear-enveloping design, while you can see that the Piranha has the more compact setup and smaller ear-units. It also has the convertible microphone there on the left side.

The headphones are adjustable in the same way most are, and I found that they found their place on my head pretty readily, if perhaps a bit too forcefully. The headphones’ grip is almost vice-like, and while it has loosened up in the few weeks I’ve had this pair, I still have to shift them around when playing to prevent my ears from getting sore.

Fortunately, it was only the clamping that hurt my ears; the sound is great. I was pretty skeptical when I saw them and didn’t think they’d have what it takes to make good games go, but I played through much of Crysis with them and got many hours of Team Fortress 2 behind me as well and I was impressed the whole time. They’ve got a lot of force, but I heard a lot of clarity as well. Music sounds good, but it feels like stereo separation is exaggerated, so the music seems to be coming from two directions instead of being “inside your head.” Low and mid range have a lot of presence, upper range gets drowned out a bit but there’s enough treble to go around and that’s always something you can adjust in EQ.

The microphone works just fine. It looks like its just a piece of plastic, but it’s actually hard rubber with bendable wire in it so you can twist it into position and it’ll stay. Of course, it’s not that long so your configuration options are limited, but it’s nice to have it curve just right. It sounds just fine, though you’ll probably want to stick with your SM57 for those harpsichord solos. I had an issue with the Lycosa keyboard where the mic plug wouldn’t work, but Razer said they hadn’t encountered that before so it’s probably something freaky going on at my end.

The wires of the Piranha are probably the weakest link. First, it has a little puck where you can adjust the volume or switch the microphone on or off. Sounds good in theory, but their design aesthetic was a bit too minimalist, and there’s not much way to tell what volume it’s set to or whether the microphone is on or off. Then, as you move towards the terminus of the cord, you find that the nice, single, low-friction cord gives way to three thin, sticky-rubber-covered threads of cord that wiggle around like they’re alive and tie themselves in ridiculous knots (very annoying). And at the end, what do you have but a USB connector? What could this be for? Are they powered headphones? Do they have an accelerometer, do they massage your head, what? No, they light up. If you have enough USB slots that you can afford to use one on glamming up your head, then I have nothing further to say to you on this topic. The rest of you will be dealing with an extra cord for the lifetime of these headphones.

I guess I just lingered on their downside there for a while, but these are really a great pair of cans. I was very pleasantly surprised by their sound, and although they have some ergonomic, shall we say, idiosyncrasies, they never bothered me enough that I would consider them even near deal-breakers. At $80 MSRP (I say $50 in the video, I’m not sure why, and they’re $60 here) they’re perhaps a bit overpriced, but they’re totally solid and good headphones are an investment. You can get ‘em here.

The Soundcast OutCast had the unfortunate luck of arriving on my door step just days before I flew to Asia for a month. There it sat in my garage, sans melody, waiting longer to be poked and prodded than any gizmo should ever have to. I would have brought it with me if I could, of course, but I don’t think Homeland Security would have appreciated me carrying a 60 lb electronics-filled metal cylinder onto a plane.

Now that I’ve returned, it’s time for the OutCast to let its voice be heard. That it does – and it does it well.

The box:

• Soundcast OutCast Wireless Speaker
• Rechargeable NiMH Battery
• iPod/Line-in wireless transmitter
• Power, Composite, and 3.5mm audio cables
• Instruction Guide

Straight out of the box, I was impressed by the build quality of the speaker unit. It’s built like a friggin’ tank.

As you can see from the picture, they’ve included a rechargeable battery to free you from wall-warts and extension cables. I couldn’t help but laugh when I pulled the battery out of the box – it’s huge! You could kill a man with this battery. That said, I was never once able to fully-drain the battery, outside of the actual battery test session, before my music needs were fulfilled. So its chunk is definitely a plus. Soundcast estimates 10 hours on a full charge, and I got around 8 at a mid/high volume.

Anyone who has bought a lot of audio gear oughtta immediately notice one thing missing: a remote. There were multiple occasions while testing the OutCast where the absence of a remote was noticeable. It’s hard to justify getting up to change a song when you’re schmoozin’ and boozin’.

The Hook up:

Hooking things up couldn’t be much simpler. Put the OutCast in one place, and the transmitter in another. Plug in your iPod, or any audio source with a 3.5 mm jack. Press play. Ta-da! My girlfriend (who generally loathes tinkering with new electronics) was girling out to John Mayer within about 5 minutes of unboxing.

The Sound and the Signal:

While I’m no audio engineer, I’ve wasted spent enough money on audio gear that I’ve come to know what sounds good and what doesn’t. The OutCast sounds really, really good.

I flipped through a hodgepodge of genres, and everything sounded incredible. I was able to crank it to a deafeningly loud level without any distortion. Within about 15 seconds at about 70% max volume, neighbors across the street peeked out their windows to see what was making all the racket. Designed for 360 degree audio without weak spots, it sounded especially good outside. Indoors, confined by big mean walls, it got a bit bass-y at higher volumes.

Soundcast promises a 350-foot range from the 2.4 ghz wireless transmitter. While I didn’t bust out a tape measure and test the limits, I never once dropped signal be it I was upstairs, downstairs, outside, or in the garage. In a house with far too many things running on the 2.4 ghz band, I was expecting interference; there was none.

The Looks:

The eye-candy department is one of the few areas where the OutCast falls short. I wouldn’t call it ugly, really – it’s just bland. Amongst the comments made by wise-cracking peers: “Why do you have an air purifier outside?”, and “Hey, sweet R5-D4 replica.” Of course, ruggedness and aesthetics don’t generally go hand in hand, so that they made it anything but horribly ugly is an accomplishment.

The base of the OutCast features an optional bit of blue lighting, which helps things spiff things up at night.

The End:

At $699, the OutCast is a bit too rich for those whose outdoor audio needs would be satisfied by taking their iHome alarm clock outside. For those willing to drop a bit of extra change for audio quality, portability, and durability, this thing hits hard. The signal range exceeded my expectations, as did the audio quality. With a basic remote and a bit of visual polish, this thing would be perfect. In the few days I’ve had it unpacked and on the review floor, it has fueled 2 social gatherings without a hitch. I’m certainly sad to have to send it back.