PopBox is the first over-the-top set-top box to support the stereoscopic RealD Format for the delivery and display of high-quality 3D content.
ENGADGET: PopBox licenses RealD's side by side frame compatible 3D format
What people do not want to have to do, he says, is switch back-and-forth between the set-top box UI and the smart TV UI.
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Even so, device makers are hard at work striking content deals to help them insert themselves--in the form of yet another set-top box--into your living room.
The Wall Street Journal has anonymous sources saying the company will unveil an Internet-connected set-top box that combines live, on-demand and recorded TV to compete with the likes of Apple and Google.
So, while the Xbox 360 experience still has a few unique elements that can't be matched by the brand-new Echo -- the animated transitions are still something almost no other set-top box can do -- we found the overall experience more enjoyable than what we've become accustomed to recently.
ENGADGET: Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender review HD
In brief, the physical installation simply involved plugging the AV cables (included) into the SlingBox and our set-top box (a Philips Freeview box, to be precise), then taping a couple of IR emitters onto the front of our set-top box, and finally hooking the SlingBox up to our router (via a couple of SlingLink ethernet wall-plug bridges as our router was too far away).
There's yet another catch for Gemstar: TV Guide Interactive was built for a high-speed set-top box, Motorola's DCT 5000, which was promised months ago but held back because of high costs and software integration glitches.
The Peerless drive, for instance, which uses big cartridges that hold up to 20 gigabytes of data, might be useful for in-car digital audio players or as a removable drive for storing video in a TiVo -like TV set-top box.
Neither company's effort has done anything to shake the shared stronghold of Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) and Scientific Atlantic (nyse: SFA - news - people ) on the cable set-top box industry.
Areas of concern: Several areas have been under pressures, he says: consumer, set-top-box, public sector, switching.
"CableLabs is moving too slowly, " says Tony Aoki, the director of Sony's set-top-box division.
Say you want to just sit right in front of your TV and use your set-top-box (STB) to play games on your TV.
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Cisco also is diversifying, acquiring companies like set-top-box maker Scientific-Atlanta.
The bottom line is that local broadcast channels are available in HD to any cable subscriber with a clear QAM tuner, whether you have a set-top-box or not.
Said microchip is designed to be integrated into essentially any device (a set-top-box, router, TV, toaster oven, etc.), enabling the host device to deliver H.264 compressed HD streams over long distances.
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Now, for the first time, Allen is competing directly with Gates for the same business: set-top-box software that lets cable companies offer digital video recording, video on demand and, eventually, shopping.
The sets are apparently targeting consumers who use their TV primarily for gaming or multimedia activities, or to customers who prefer to use a set-top-box to receive digital and HD content.
Hoping eventually to do to the set-top-box duopoly what it did to the videogame duopoly with its PlayStation consoles, the company announced in September 1999 that it would distribute 3 million of its new set-top boxes through Cablevision in Long Island, New York.
On televisions, this is achieved via a small set-top box -- a prototype of which approaches the size and noise level of a mini-fridge -- that plugs into the video source and the TV and converts the video in real-time with virtually no latency.
Distributed DVR allows for any hard drive on the home's network to act as the storage device for your DVR, theoretically eliminating the need to even include an HDD in the set-top-box and giving customers the unadulterated ability to scale their storage capacity to fit their needs.
We do know that Microsoft has been working on IPTV stuff for years now (they already offer a set-top box-based system that's being test marketed by a handful of telcos around the world), so it wouldn't be a shock to see them try and leverage the Xbox 360 as a platform.
The Slingbox 500 features built-in Wi-Fi and integrated IR emitters for controlling a set-top box.
ENGADGET: Sling Media officially unveils the Slingbox 350 and 500 HD
Apple updated its poor-selling Apple TV set-top box, iPod Touch music player and the iPhone, and built out Apple's lineup of notebook computers with a new, lightweight laptop.
Valve, best known for the Half-Life, Left4Dead and the Steam online game store has long been known to be working on a console or set-top box that puts PC-based titles onto a TV.
And it even ran a Kinect-like videogame through the set-top box that looked similar (though much less polished).
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Samsung also announced that it would make a Google TV set and a set-top box, both of which can run Adobe's software but not Hulu's.
For remote controls and game controllers, this enables the MotionEngine to run on the controller, on a USB dongle, or directly on a TV or set-top box system-on-a-chip (SoC).
Amazon is developing two smartphones, an audio-only streaming device and a set-top box, said the people.
WSJ: Google Follows Amazon's Lead on New Shopping Site, Delivery, Other Services
Microsoft may be preparing a lite version of its next-generation console specifically made for set-top box purposes.
Yes, there was more on display, but we've decided to spare you the sight of every walkie-talkie, cable modem, set-top box and cellphone in Moto's lineup.
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