We have good and bad news after visiting the Dish Network booth first thing in the morning. We’re happy to say that Dish was proudly displaying a Dish Tuner for Media Center 7 at its booth. The bad news however is that it was just a “proof of concept.” Which means no matter how hard we tried, no one would tell us anything about price or availability. The other thing up in the air was if the actual implementation would be based on VIP211K HD STBs like the demo, or if instead there would be a dedicated tuner. The last unknown was around VOD or PPV, which we know

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but CEDIA has just kicked off down in the ATL. One of the first to introduce something genuinely fresh is Sherwood (of all companies), with its R-904N NetBoxx pulling double duty as a 7.1-channel AV receiver and an internet media portal. For starters, the compact set-top-box looks nothing like a typical AVR, but you’ll still find 700 total watts of amplification, three HDMI 1.3 inputs, one Toslink input, a pair of coaxial audio inputs and support for Dolby Volume, Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD Master high-resolution audio formats. Once

If you are still looking for a decent bit of kit to view high-def video with in your living room, then you might want to invest in Asus’ new O!play HDP-R1 HD player. Asus O!play features eSATA, USB 2.0 and LAN connectivity, so you can hook it up to everything from your PC or laptop or even your new 256GB USB thumb drive. Asus’ device has the standard HDMI connectivity to allow you to view any HD files on your living room telly, which you can control via the included remote. No wireless T3 notes that the main downsides with Asus’ latest HD

Virgin Media has confirmed that Channel 4′s high definition channel 4HD will be joining its raft of new HD offerings. 4HD is the second HD channel announcement of the day from the company, following confirmation that the new ESPN sports channel that replaces Setanta will also be available in high def. ESPN HD, and C4HD will join the only current HD channel BBC HD along with four other new HD channels Living HD, FX HD, MTV HD and National Geographic HD in the linear line-up. This will be complemented by the extensive existing library of on-demand HD programming through

Media centre PCs are an increasingly popular option, thanks to the low cost of storage, memory and processors powerful enough to decode and record multiple high-definition TV channels. If you’ve got an HD flat screen it makes sense to connect a PC with a couple of digital TV tuner cards – they can be easily upgraded for new formats like the forthcoming DVB-T2 for Freeview HD. Despite powerful media centre software like Myth TV being free, Microsoft’s Windows Media Center is always going to be popular because it’s bundled with so many new PCs. A new

Ofcom’s research into fixed line broadband speeds has revealed the ISP heroes and villains, with Virgin’s 10Mb service head and shoulders above many rivals. The research, conducted with SamKnows, took samples from ISPs offering fixed broadband speeds of between 8Mb and 10Mb. Virgin’s fibre optic cable was the only one at the higher level – but the research shows that it provided an average speed of 8.1 to 8.7 Mbps – or 81 to 87 per cent of the advertised speed. The likes of Sky and O2 also gained some credit, with the former’s 8Mb line offering

Apple would have you believe that the Apple TV is the perfect media centre; we disagree. Though the Apple TV is sleek and comparatively cheap, it’s too restrictive. No, for our money you need a Mac mini. It’s a proper little Mac, so it’s ready to be expanded, added to and turbo-boosted to do everything you need it to. The Apple TV, on the other hand, is pretty much a closed box and you can’t do anything with your films, television shows and music apart from play them back. Oh sure, it has an HDMI port that makes it easy to hook it up to your modern

Virgin Media will be offering a branded-up netbook for no added cost to those who sign up to certain packages from the company. The fairly nifty looking ‘Freedom’ netbook will be given to those who sign up for two year contracts on both fixed line and mobile broadband products. Virgin Media’s Freedom netbook has an Intel Atom N270 processor, a 10.2-inch screen and comes with Windows XP and Microsoft Works. Virgin Red or Black The netbook boasts a gig of RAM, wireless LAN, card reader, (fairly bog standard) 2.5 hour battery life and will be

After pairing your Bluetooth mobile phone with Phone Plugins, you can use your Mac to send an SMS or dial out from your handset. Just highlight a phone number offered in any application, right or click to access the contextual menu and pick one of the new options, Send Text or Dial Number. Naturally, the phone number must be an actual character string and not part of a graphic. Thus you could use a number offered in a text document, PDF, email or Address Book, but not from a screenshot or photograph. It ignores spaces, so numbers that are split for ease of reading work fine,

A small British company has announced the arrival of its new PMP and is claiming the gadget has enough firepower to outflank Apple’s miniature range. The Sonix7 Media Pro sells for a pinch over £100 and features a 3.2 inch TFT screen with touch capabilities, while boasting a battery life of 30-plus hours for audio and 20 hours for video. British-designed and proud The company is very proud of its British roots and feels that in the current economic market, the Sonix7 is perfect. "Value for money is what people demand in today’s economy,"