Netgear has expanded its ReadyNAS line of home media servers, with the introduction of the Ultra 2 and Ultra Plus series. The Ultra Plus lineup is claimed to deliver 30 percent faster performance when compared to the Ultra series. The servers support TiVo DVR integration, along with Orb transcoding for various screen sizes and remote streaming to mobile devices.
Western Digital has unveiled its new My Book Live home network drive that delivers transfer speeds of up to 100MBps using gigabit Ethernet connectivity. The new drive offers video streaming via its built-in DLNA media server and includes automatic back-up software for Windows machines. It is also compatible with Apple’s Time Machine.
LaCie on Tuesday introduced the LaCinema Classic HD, a media server capable of full 1080p video playback. Users can connect an HDTV using a standard HDMI cable, while Composite connectors are also available. Multichannel DTS audio is supported, sent via HDMI or a dedicated S/PDIF optical port. A 1TB hard drive is integrated for storing movies, music or photos, while a USB 2.0 connection is provided for interface with a computer.
Telestream and Wowza Media Systems have announced a new platform for streaming live media to the iPhone and other web players. Using Telestream's Wirecast production software alongside Wowza's soon-to-ship Media Server 2 Advanced, which has expanded beyond Flash by adding H.264 support, users can stream high-quality video to the iPhones or iPod touch, Silverlight, Flash, QuickTime and IPTV-based set-top boxes.
HP has launched an updated home storage/media server with new Mac-specific functionality. Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 functions as a central repository for digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network. The device automatically organizes files across all PCs (including Macs), streams media across a home network and the Internet, and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.
