Posts in Home AV
The Xbox Live Marketplace: Now in your browser
Josh Lowensohn | Nov 19, 2008
As mentioned early last month by our colleague Daniel Terdiman, Microsoft is giving US Xbox users the option to browse and purchase Xbox Live Marketplace content within the browser. The new storefront, which is slated to go live today, is already beginning to appear on Xbox.com, albeit in incomplete form.
The new system gives Web users the same catalog to browse through and purchase as they get on the Xbox 360, including themes, gamer pictures, demos, and downloadable games. Once players turn on their system at home, all the purchased items are queued up and begin downloading right away.
Editors' note:
The Xbox Live Marketplace is strictly for the US market at the moment. Microsoft has not decided to bring this feature to Asia.Users are also able to manage their download queue from the site. This includes the option to view your past purchase history, and re-download old content. Microsoft's new system only lets you do this one item at a time, however we can easily see the company adding a bulk queue management tool later on down the line. In the meantime, this is a far better way to go through and re-download a large number of items than navigating the list on the console. In case of a hard drive crash or any other loss of data, this is a quick way to get back up to speed.
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Yamaha sound bar in a console
Philip Wong | Nov 19, 2008
That's right folks! Instead of hanging your virtual surround sound bar below your flat-panel HDTV, Yamaha has integrated it right into a TV console designed to accommodate up to a 46-incher with a few crucial extras. Besides an obvious two-tier shelve space for your players and settop box, the Polyphony YRS-1000 theater rack is also loaded with a built-in subwoofer for added oomph and HDMI-CEC function. The latter allows you to control Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony TVs and video recorders via the bundled YRS-1000 remote controller.
As for connectivity, it offers two HDMI, two analog audio, two digital optical audio and a digital coaxial audio inputs. For outputs, there is a single HDMI and composite-video. It does not support any of the latest studio-grade surround sound formats but will readily decode standard Dolby Digital, DTS and DTS Neo 6 out-of-the-box. Yamaha has not indicated the YRS-1000 availability outside Japan at press time.
Via Born rich | Photo credit: Yamaha
New Xbox 360 accessory bundles in celebration of NXE
Philip Wong | Nov 18, 2008
Are you ready for NXE? The New Xbox Experience with an overhauled user interface and deep social networking features will go live on November 19. To commemorate the launch and to get its users up to speed on NXE, Microsoft will be offering two new Xbox 360 accessory bundles in Asia.
If you're facing a storage crunch, the US$99 Xbox 360 60GB Live starter pack is your ideal solution. The package comprises a 60GB hard drive, headset, Ethernet network cable and a three-month Xbox Live gold subscription. This will be available in Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, except for Singapore.
Furthermore, the Redmond company has lined up its Xbox Live wireless connection kit for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. You'll get a wireless network adaptor and a three-month Xbox Live gold subscription for HK$399, NT$1,999 and S$93.90. The two accessory bundles are now available on shelves.
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Photo credit: Microsoft
DIYed speakers, Russian style!
Philip Wong | Nov 17, 2008
Our hats off to the modding community in Russia! The country which brought us the famous musical Sovtek and Svetlana vacuum tubes has returned with a one-of-a-kind concoction. This time, however, a Russian genius has created a pair of DIYed speakers based on some old school fire extinguishers. Appropriately dressed in red, they feature woofers with integrated tweeters for that added treble extension. It even comes complete with a matching amplifier and authentic fire hazard logos as well.
If you're up for the job and would like to undertake a similar project, click here for pictorial instructions to build your very own fire extinguisher hi-fi.
Via Hack n mod | Photo credit: TopMods.NET
Oppo BDP-83: A true universal disc player?
Philip Wong | Nov 14, 2008
For diehard DVD fans, the Oppo DV-983H is the holy grail of DVD players that delivers both outstanding picture quality and value. It's no wonder the Net is abuzz with speculation after the company released new teasers on its upcoming Blu-ray player. If everything turns out according to its plan, the Oppo BDP-83 is going to be the world's first "true" universal player that supports Blu-ray, DVD-Video, Super Audio CD, CD and possibly DVD-Audio from a single box.
Another carrot is the BDP-83's onboard Anchor Bay VRS chipset which is found on other high-end external video processors. This should give the kit enough "horsepower" for enhanced DVD upscaling performance, while the 7.1-channel analog audio and HDMI outputs cover Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound decoding. The Oppo BDP-83 currently has a projected street price of between US$500 and US$1,000.
Via Engadget | Photo credit: Oppo
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