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CES 2010: Axar Multiple HDTV Streaming Technology

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With CES 2010 just a few days away, manufacturers are already prepping up their latest wares for display during the said event. One of these latest wares that caught my interest was Provision Communications’ AXAR Technology that allows streaming of video content from one source to multiple HDTVs wirelessly.

AXAR Technology currently supports two separate HD streams at the same time, although Provision says it can handle more. Unfortunately, Provision has no plans yet of making this new technology available to consumer level. But it is already negotiating with various major players in the TV and network router markets to incorporate Axar technology into their products and services. And if we are lucky, AXAR will find its way to home TVs, set-top boxes and network devices just in time for Christmas 2010.

Pocket-Lint was given a demo by Provision of the AXAR technology. What it does is to stream HD video content from any HD source to AXAR enabled TVs or Wi-Fi connected PC and other mobile devices including your mobile phone. Or if luck comes our way, perhaps the new Apple iSlate or the rumored Google Tablet, without lag time. The video source can be anything from a Blu-ray player, PVR or HD set top box.

So, how good is this new technology really?  Pocket-Lint has this to say:

Picture quality was very good with the green hues of the grass of Centre Court at Wimbledon recaptured perfectly even though the signal was being fired over the air from a ground floor living room to first floor bedroom.

With new technology as good as the AXAR, I really envy those folks who will make it to CES 2010. If you’re going to be at the gig, be sure to look for Provision Communications booth and check out the AXAR.

Via Engadget

Originally posted on January 3, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

Yahoo Brings More of the Internet to the Living Room

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For its share of the news in the ongoing CES 2010, Yahoo is spiking up the delivery of web content through its Widget Engine for connected TV. Yahoo has announced partnership gigs with various consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Sony, LG Electronics and VIZIO. In addition, Yahoo has also teamed up with Intel to make its Widgen Development Kit available to developers to bring in more Internet-TV applications.

Yahoo’s TV widget brings popular Internet services and online media to reach viewers with applications specifically tailored to the needs of TV watchers. In other words, it’s like having a multimedia hub that you control on your TV screen. If you’re a couch potato like me, you’d definitely want to try this one out. That is of course if you have the supported consumer electronic products from the brands we mentioned awhile back.

And to make the user experience even more exciting and fun, Yahoo has also released the Widget Development Kit containing the Yahoo Widget Engine.  This WDK uses industry standard tools such as Javascript, XML and HTML to make it easy for developers and manufacturers to develop and deploy TV widgets of popular Internet services.  If this is the part of this news that interest you, check out more about the WDK here.

So, there. CES 2010 certainly brought us many new options for home entertainment.  Which is going to be for you? Boxee Beta? Boxee Box? Pophub Box or Yahoo Connected TV? Mind you, these are just some of the new options that you can use to spice up your home entertainment system. There are definitely many more which were announced at the CES 2010.

Originally posted on January 7, 2010 @ 5:22 pm