Continue reading ASUS O!Play HD2 finally launching this week

ASUS O!Play HD2 finally launching this week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we weren't able to see the "wealth of cloud infotainment" touted in the official release, we did get a chance on the CeBIT show floor to see up close and personal ASUS' new O!Play HD2 media server. The design's a beaut and it's actually quite small in form factor. As for precisely what's running under its hood, the local ASUS rep was pretty mum -- what we do know is that it's HDMI 1.3 compliant and also boasts Composite / Component / Optical outputs and USB 2.0 / eSATA inputs, card readers for CF, SD, and Memory Stick, and that coveted USB 3.0 PC link. We'll try to dig deeper on a return trip, but in the meantime, check out our images and video below!

Continue reading ASUS O! Play HD2 spotted, spec'd, explained

ASUS O! Play HD2 spotted, spec'd, explained originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chances are you're not a part of the SuperSpeed revolution yet, and that's okay. It's early days yet, but ASUS is doing its part to make that transition to USB 3.0 a little more appealing with its O!Play HD2. A follow-up to the earlier O!Play models, the HD2 offers what looks to be plenty of connectivity options (we're seeing USB, memory cards, and eSATA) and promises a "wealth of cloud infotainment." ASUS isn't sharing any more details than that right now, but we're going to try to track this guy down on the CeBIT show floor and, when we find, it you can be sure we won't spare the hard questions.

ASUS introduces O!Play HD2, first networked media player with USB 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA, along with the PC manufacturers, notebook panel manufacturers, and content developers, announced the expansion of the NVIDIA 3D Vision ecosystem to include HD notebook platforms that integrate advanced 120Hz 3D Vision-capable displays directly into the chassis for on-the-go 3D.

The first notebook utilizing NVIDIA 3D Vision is the G51J 3D, introduced last week by ASUS.

Filed under: Media streamers, Others

Hey, you -- yeah, you. Remember that O!Play HDP-R1 media player that ASUS teased us with back in June? Remember how you dedicated a calender to it so you could count down the days 'til its arrival? Time to stop all that madness, as said box is finally on sale and shipping right now within the US of A. For the surprisingly reasonable price of $99.99, users can utilize this very device to stream and play back an array of formats with 1080p resolution support. Heck, there's even an eSATA and Ethernet port there, just waiting for your love. So, will you show it? Or is life still worth living knowing what you've neglected?

[Via Slashgear]

ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blu-ray

ASUS unleashes USB 2.0 Blu-ray drive -- government denies knowledge originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Industry, Media streamers

We knew it was coming, now the ASUS O!Play is official. The HDP-R1 HD Media Player supports HD video playback in a variety of codecs including MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, and RM/RMVB in a multitude of packages including .mp4, .mov, .avi, .divx, and .mkv just to name a few. FLAC and OGG audio? Yup, no problem. The box connects to your display over HDMI or composite A/V with an option for optical digital audio for multi-channel setups. Media can be slung off a single USB 2.0/eSATA combo port, second vanilla USB 2.0 jack, or streamed over fixed Ethernet if you prefer to keep your content on the other side of the house. Sorry, no 802.11n because, you know, everyone's home is wired with Cat 5 (riiiight). No price or release date given; but it would have to be cheap and soon for us to be even remotely interested.

ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 media player won't likely get an O-face originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Media streamers, Others

Wait, what's this? ASUS diving head first into the HD media streamer game? Based on images and details acquired by Hardware, we'd say chances are looking pretty good. Reportedly, the aforementioned outfit will showcase its very own media player at Computex next week in Taiwan, and our expectations are already fairly lofty. The O!Play (codename HDP-R1) is said to be a fair bit quicker than competing models, and the file compatibility list is also worthy of laud. Port wise, this one's packing eSATA, USB, HDMI, stereo audio jacks, optical digital audio, Ethernet and an AC port. If all goes well, we could see this little bugger in European stores by July, with a price tag pegged at €119 ($168). Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if that price nets you an internal HDD, but we'll find out for sure soon enough.

[Via The Inquirer]

ASUS to introduce O!Play media player at Computex originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 30 May 2009 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Media PCs

Despite earlier claims to the contrary, it looks like the new ASUS Eee Box, the B206, isn't quite the high-def powerhouse it was intended to be. According to Register Hardware's review, the poor little thing had a real hard time playing even 720p video, only managing to render every frame when video was played back in DirectX Video Acceleration-capable players. That rules out many popular choices like QuickTime and VLC, and you can forget about 1080p entirely. Benchmark scores were low, as you'd expect given the standard 1.6GHz Atom N270 internals and 1GB of memory, leaving it best suited for casual web surfing and SD video playback -- and making it seem like not much of an upgrade over its predecessor.

ASUS Eee Box 206 reviewed; has HDMI but can't handle high-def originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 07 May 2009 08:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Media PCs, Recorders, Tuners, OTA

We can't say that the market has been calling out for a USB stick that combines both a tuner and a flash drive into one tidy package, but that's just what ASUS has delivered with its new Express TV Stick. Aimed at markets outside the US, the Express TV Stick makes good use of the storage by packing all the software necessary to run the hybrid DVB-T / analog tuner right on the device itself. Plug into a USB 2.0 port, install a driver, and away you go. If you can record right to the flash drive -- and we don't see why you shouldn't be able to -- we think TV junkies who need a DVR with truly grab-and-go portability might find room for this among their gear.

ASUS adds 4GB of storage to its USB Express TV Stick tuner originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Media PCs, Ports, Others

Man, talk about maturing early. ASUS' Eee Box just hit the shelves here in America a few months back, and now the company is already pushing out a pair of successors. Both the Eee Box B204 and B206 retain the same overall design and processor (1.6GHz Intel Atom N270), but you will find a 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3400 GPU to complement the 1GB of RAM, 160GB SATA II hard drive, multicard reader, 802.11n WiFi, Windows XP Home, 10GB of online Eee Storage, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, DVI connector and the freshly added HDMI socket. The B204 trumps the B206 (weird, right?) with the inclusion of Bluetooth and a built-in battery that acts as a UPS in case of power failure. We've already seen just how decently the B202 could handle 1080p playback; it's just that much easier with a dedicated HDMI port. As is par for the course with ASUS, there's nary a mention of price / availability.

ASUS Eee Box B204 / B206 grows an HDMI port, handles high-def material originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Tuners, OTA

You're going to have to sit this one out, Americans -- unless you own a vacation cottage in Europe, that is. ASUS' latest PCIe TV tuner is aimed squarely at those in DVB-T territories, as the My Cinema-PE6300 hybrid card tunes both digital (DVB-T, obviously) and analog (PAL / NTSC) signals. There's also a hardware MPEG2 encoder to take some of the strain away from your CPU, not to mention an IR sensor input and FM radio tuner. In typical ASUS fashion, it's not even trying to dish out a price or release date, so our best advice is to simply keep an eye out if this is the card for you.

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European viewers can now watch live high-definition television programming on their mobile devices using a USB TV dongle developed by the Chinese company Aigo.
The dongle, first released for the Chinese market in April, is compatible with European HDTV standards.
It will enable users to watch live HDTV on their laptops, desktop computers, portable video players and portable navigation (GPS) devices.
Viewers simply plug the device into their PC or portable video player’s USB port to capture HD programming wirelessly from local TV stations.
Feng Jun, president and founder of Aigo, said: “People across China, and now also in Europe, will have access to live HDTV on their laptops and portable video players.”

Filed under: Displays, Others, LCD

As ASUS continues to rapidly dilute its Eee brand like it's going out of style, we still find the 42-inch Eee TV somewhat intriguing. It seems that the set was bolted up with a PlayStation 3 'round back, which was obviously used to pipe the Blu-ray version of Cars on-screen for onlookers to fawn over. Check out a few more snaps of the sides at Engadget Chinese.

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