Netgear adds NeoTV media hubs, new powerline networking
updated 02:45 pm EDT, Wed August 25, 2010
Netgear NeoTV 350 and 550, Powerline AV appear
Netgear today brought out a pair of new media sharing hubs as well as its powerline networking hardware. The NeoTV 350 and 550 together take both on-device and local network sources. Either will play up to 1080p video, including in enthusiast formats like ISO, MKV and XviD, from sources such as local DLNA, UPnP or Windows Media Player computers and devices. Physical media comes from USB ports or an SD card slot; the 550 adds eSATA to support faster hard drives, and all can support Blu-ray drives.
The NeoTV models should arrive soon and will cost $220 for the 550 and an unspecified but lower price for the 350.
Among powerline networking gear, the Powerline AV 200 Wireless-N Extender Kit supplies up to 200Mbps in speed with 802.11n Wi-Fi on one end. The Powerline AV 500 Adapter and end-to-end kit boosts the maximum speed to 500Mbps; the AV+ 500 Adapter and its matching kit adds a filtered AC socket to allow another device to plug in.
Of the Powerline adapters, the 200 and 500 kit will ship first, arriving at the start and end of October respectively for $169 and $159. The regular 500 and the AV+ 500 kit ship in early November for $89 and $179 each, and the stand-alone AV+ 500 will ship at the end of that month for $99.
