Any time Apple enters a new product category it's obviously a fairly major development -- we're still getting bombarded with iPhone news over one month post-launch -- so now that you've had some time to play with it, it's only fair that we give the Apple TV the same vulture-like evisceration that we do any other high profile consumer electronics product. The little box seems to have received a warm welcome for the most part, with hackers quickly tearing it apart and adding all sorts of new capabilities to boot, but what we're interested in is how you'd change the device out of the box. Would you make it more or less integrated with the iTunes ecosystem? Should it be friendlier to a wider variety of codecs? Maybe open up the USB port? Okay, have at it...

Monster Cable, the company best known for its, um, cabling, has announced more information about its network media and home automation devices recently displayed at CEDIA. Everything in the Monster Einstein system is controlled by the Nucleus head-end, which runs the home automation and control elements, using Z-Wave and Bluetooth to control sensors and devices throughout the home, as well as interfacing with the media devices on the network. It has gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n network capabilities as well as a VOIP interface, and should retail for around $4000. The $2500 Electron components are the client end points and connect to the televisions and receivers on the network. You'll want at least one Photon 200-disc DVD changer in the system, because even though they're $2400 they have dual transports, meaning two different discs can be played simultaneously over the network. Also plan on attaching one or more of the $4900 Neutron RAID5-capable storage boxes -- each comes with 960 gigs of storage standard but can scale up to 7.2 terabytes. Other devices in the chain include the $1500 Astro Sirius satellite radio tuner with three zones, and the $1300 Tron seven-inch touch panel. Keep reading for more specifics, as well as another shot of the "monster" Photon changer...

So the worst-kept secret in the consumer electronics industry right now is that TiVo is on the verge of releasing the CableCARD-sportin', HD-recordin' Series 3 box -- but no one seems to know exactly when you'll be able to buy one. We heard from Todd the Best Buy employee that the new machines will be in stock on the 17th of this month, and now our friend Dave over at ZatzNotFunny has spotted the highly-anticipated DMR (remember, they're not DVRs anymore, and TiVo won't sell you one if you use that terminology) on Circuit City's website showing an October availability. Now does that mean October 1st? The 15th? The 31st? Well if we knew, we'd tell ya, but at least now we seem to have an actual release window: the Series 3 will (probably) be available sometime between September 17th and October 31st. As usual, we'll keep you posted as more information comes to light, but if that's not good enough, you're always welcome to switch over to satellite and pick up on of DirecTV's new HR20-700 HD DVRs -- thanks to HDBeat, we know that Best Buy will ship you one of those post haste.

Read- Series 3 [Via ZatzNotFunny]
Read- HR20-700 [Via HDBeat]

Ever since TiVo realized that it was actually going to be around for awhile and that lifetime subscriptions no longer made financial sense, those subscribers already locked into the $300 lifetime deal found themselves in a bit of a quandary -- how would they be able to upgrade to Series 3 without becoming one of the plebes paying for service by the month? Well current Series 1 and 2 owners looking to get their HD recording on need no longer worry about losing their lifetime subs, thanks to a just-announced offer by TiVo that will allow them to transfer that all-you-can-eat goodness to newly purchased Series 3 boxes -- with a few catches, of course. The TiVo Community forums are buzzing about a recently-recorded Teleworld-broadcast promotion, wherein lifetime subscribers who purchase their Series 3 devices prior to December 31st can transfer those subscriptions before January 31, 2007 for exactly $199; and what's more, this offer gives them a full year of free service on the box that they already own. Yeah, we know, you'd think that paying $800 for a new DVR would be enough to get those subs switched over for free, but considering that a transfer was previously thought to be impossible at any price, in the long run this is still a great deal -- plus, now the rest of us know that Series 3 will be available by the end of the year at the latest. See, everyone wins.

[Via TiVoBlog]

We've always suspected that TiVo was a little ahead of its time (ever try explaining its purpose to people immediately after it came out?), but none of us could have imagined that the original DVR technology was actually discovered among the ruins of an alien spacecraft that crash landed in the southern Nevada desert on March 31, 1973. Well, at least that's the premise of a new viral video making the rounds on the old internets, presented as a "top secret" training film for the "Bluemoon" project and designed as a primer for those with the proper security clearances to help Uncle Sam make the most of this wild new tech. Although the "leaked" vid doesn't reveal any clues about upcoming TiVo products or services, it is rather amusing to watch a fictional retelling of the device's origins, complete with 70's-style fonts and "dramatic recreations" of how its amazing functionality was first uncovered by stereotypically nerdy scientists. Best line of the movie? Project director A. Watterman claiming that "There are some who believe the potential uses for the box lie primarily in the consumer and household entertainment realm; others believe that the box will help us create an army of advanced super robots!" Cut to scene of a giant Robosapien attacking Leave it to Beaver-type family, and roll credits -- another Emmy-worthy presentation from the good folks at TiVo.

Question: how do you make a ginormous 100-inch LCD display even better (aside from actually releasing it to the public at a very reasonable price)? Well if you're Royal Philips Electronics, you endow that bad boy with some of your sweet, immersive Ambilight technology -- we've known since CES that Philips had both three-sided Ambilight Surround and four-sided Ambilight Full Surround in the pipeline, but we had no idea that the company possessed the strength, the courage, the sheer willpower to roll out ambient lighting on such a massive scale. Unfortunately for us consumers (and by "us," we actually only mean Mark Cuban), this monster display is only a prototype being shown off at IFA as a way for Philips to flex its technological muscle, so don't expect to see it at your local Costco anytime soon. Plus, even if you could buy one of these retail, it would probably cost approximately one million dollars; so for now, at least, you'll have to settle for plasma if you want a 100-inch set, or a relatively tiny 70-inch screen if you absolutely need to go LCD.

[Via HDBeat]

Back in our former lives as sales drones for the big box retailers, we used to cram all our computing gear onto the coffee table, because, well, we couldn't afford a proper desk. We sure wish Sony had been around back then with its all-in-one Vaio VGC-LS1 Media Center desktop, which like the latest generation of iMacs, packs all of the PC components neatly in and around a flat-panel LCD. First appearing in Japan several months ago, the LS1 will finally make it stateside come September, and PC Mag finds the Core Duo-equipped multimedia powerhouse to be a worthy adversary for similar machines from Apple (a wireless keyboard and mouse come standard here) and especially Gateway (its horribly-designed Profile 6 isn't even fit for public display). The LS1 improves upon Sony's previous all-in-one offering, the VA11G, by getting rid of the hardware at the base of the display as well adding ExpressCard and SD slots -- though you still have to deal with an unsightly appendage in the form of a tethered USB IR receiver dongle. The built in TV tuner, dual-layer DVD burner, and 250GB hard drive make this model sound perfect for college students or as a bedroom PC, but the main drawback lies in its lack of HD support: not only is it missing a Blu-ray drive, you're not getting a single HDMI, DVI, or component input for filling that 19-inch, 1,680 x 1,050 screen with high definition goodness. Overall, though, the $2,100 machine comes across as a pretty capable performer with an eye-catching design and only a few, mostly minor drawbacks -- meaning that we would have been proud to give it a home in our dingy little studio apartment.

Read- LS1 announcement
Read- PCMag review

Breaking with the tradition of beginning nearly all of its product names with the letter "S" (see the recently released Stiletto, Starmates, Sportsters, Stratus and old school S50 for reference), Sirius has announced a new in-home satellite radio tuner known as the Conductor. Instead of lugging your Sirius boombox all over the house, you'll now be able to hook the tuner directly into your rack-mounted receiver (though you'll still need to snake that antenna outside) and operate it from almost anywhere in your pad thanks to the handy RF- and IR-equipped remote. The LCD-sporting universal remote can also control up to five other members of your home theater family, and if you're willing to shell out for an extra Sirius subscription, it has the ability to rock two separate audio zones with a compatible SiriusConnect tuner. (Howard in one room and Martha in the other -- does life get any better than that?) Scheduled for a November release, the Conductor system will set you back $150, but if you've already got yourself a lifetime sub, this would seem like a must-have item (well, as long as you don't mind eating the transfer fee).

[Via Orbitcast]

We remember when $70 wouldn't even buy you a decent VCR, but oh, how times have changed. With upscaling DVD players -- not to mention next-gen optical formats Blu-ray and HD DVD -- currently all the rage, now that same $70 will buy you a device that not only plays DVDs but features memory card slots and a USB port as well. Coming in September for about 7,980 yen ($68 -- why, that's even less than 70 bucks!), the CDP-200UCR from Cima Laboratory will happily spin all of your plain jane DVDs and CDs, but ups the ante by including DivX, MP3, and WMA support as well. You're also getting 5.1 analog audio, an integrated card reader with SD / MMC, MemoryStick, and yes, even SmartMedia slots (do they even sell that format anymore?) plus a front-panel USB jack for piping in content from compatible devices. Sure this player may never make it Stateside, but its nice to know that our friends in Japan have all their bases covered.

Well, well, isn't this a pleasant surprise. With prices for Microsoft's impending Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on having being quoted as high as $500, it's certainly reassuring to hear DigiTimes confirm reports that the movie-playing optical drive will cost just $200 at its holiday release. Now it's not clear if this will be the price for stand-alone units or those that come as part of a "value" bundle (perhaps the one that Richard Teversham recently referred to?), but either way, the low cost would definitely help reinvigorate interest in the 360 in the face of fresh competition from Sony and Nintendo. So please, Microsoft, do us cash-strapped gamers a favor and make this happen -- we promise that we won't even feel too guilty if you're taking a huge loss on the hardware.

[Via HDBeat]

For Microsoft to demo their forthcoming Xbox 360 HD DVD isn't that surprising; to see them show off some UI mockups, ok, maybe a teensy bit surprising; to hear them give a price? Pretty shocking -- but they didn't, they gave a price range, and a nebulous one at that. HD Beat has it that during Microsoft's presentation at the North America DVD Forum Conference, the 360's HD DVD drive was said to "be the cheapest HD DVD player on the market for consumers who already own an Xbox 360 console." In other words, means it'll cost you less than a half a grand -- which is even less encouraging than what we heard before. Gee, thanks; playing this one close to the chest, are you Microsoft? Don't make us consult inside sources, because you know what happens when we do.

Oh you know how we're such suckers for anything that's extravagant, Japanese, and that would make a completely superfluous addition to our mounting collection of, um, unnecessary ridiculous and absurdly overpriced Japanese toys. Enter the Tannoy ST-100 super tweeter, the black truffle of high-end high-range speakers. If a 24K gold "evaporation" titanium dome diaphragm (we'll take their word for it) capable of playing back audio frequencies up to 100kHz -- far outside the range of normal human hearing -- gets the ink flowing in your check-writing pen, be warned: Teac expects you to part with yen;252,000 (about $2,200 US) for a pair of these things, so be damned sure your source plays DVD-Audio and SACD.

[Via AV Watch]

When it comes to improving their HDTV lineups, manufacturers generally go one of two routes: either they try to push out the biggest set possible, or they decide to pack more pixels into their smaller models. LG has chosen the latter path with its new 37-inch 37LB2DR and 42-inch 42LB2DR LCDs, which not only boast full 1,080p resolutions, but manage to sport a built-in 250GB DVR as well. Both models -- which will initially be released in Korea before gradually spreading out to the rest of the world sometime this quarter -- also rock some pretty impressive specs, as evidenced by their 6000:1 contrast ratios and 6-millisecond response times. Pricing on these sets is still somewhat of a mystery, but using LG's own formula of 1,080p models costing only 10% more than their 720p counterparts, we imagine that they'll go for between $4,000 and $5,000 -- still a pretty big window, but that's the best we can do for you right now.

[Via HDBeat]

Remember how TiVo recently sent that letter to the FCC and cable operators telling them to be prepared for the Series 3 rollout, partly because of reports that some providers were refusing to hook up beta testers with the necessary CableCARDS? Well now it looks like the company's concerns may be completely legitimate, as a complaint on the website ConsumerFury contends that Time Warner Cable's Raleigh division responded to a recent customer inquiry on the matter by stating that "Time Warner Cable of Raleigh does not provide support for or allow TiVo devices on our cable network...CableCARDS will only be installed on cable-ready, CableCARD-slot-available television sets." Pretty harsh, especially considering the fact that Time Warner's policy may not even be legal: federal regulations concerning CableCARDS seem to indicate that providers must support them for any unidirectional TV, set-top-box, or recording device connected to a digital cable system. We certainly understand that cable companies see TiVo as a direct competitor to their own DVR offerings, but we're not sure that alienating customers with such a hard-line stance is the best move; after all, isn't a customer who brings his/her own DVR to the table better than no customer at all?

[Via TiVoBlog]

We can't blame DirecTV subscribers for getting a little antsy over the company's HD DVR that has yet to materialize -- after all, it was originally scheduled to drop early this year -- so the fact that this highly-anticipated product has once again been delayed until the fall will probably cause some very understandable frustration. The satellite TV provider recently sent wait-listed customers a letter explaining that the box is undergoing additional testing to ensure smooth operation (yeah, we've heard that line before), and that it's now set to ship in "the September/October time frame." One skeptical analyst over at Sanford C. Bernstein, however, feels that the delay is actually due to inventory shortages, and that DirecTV is only putting off the inevitable cost it will incur from a new product deployment. Bernstein's Craig Moffett went on to speculate that the company's procrastination may actually cause some subscribers to flee to (future partner?) Dish or cable, but his analysis doesn't seem to take into account the somewhat-crippled and limited HD TiVo already available to DirecTV's customers. Still, these habitual delays are certainly doing nothing to bring new subscribers into the fold, so we humbly suggest that DirecTV give their testers a few cases of Red Bull and some serious overtime to get this thing out the door as quickly as possible.

[Via HDBeat]