Your Guide To Wireless

Archos 705 WiFi

Flashing a diamond ring is all good and well, but if it's too puny to see, what is the point? This seems to be the mindset Archos was in when it forged its mammoth 705 Wi-Fi portable video player. If you like your mobile audio and video served up in super-sized portions, open your eyes wide because you are about to be dazzled. Unfortunately, open your wallet, too, as this gem doesn't come cheap, especially after shelling out extra for accessories you'll actually want. When you see how t...

Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender

Sure you're waiting for media-streaming devices to catch up to 802.11n, and the Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender does it in style, geek style, that is. The box isn't particularly attractive, but the dual-band Wi-Fi radio inside that's capable of operating on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequency bands. The built-in DVD player that is capable of scaling standard-def DVDs to 1080i. The wireless connection stumbled when tried to stream HD video with 5.1-channel audio attached, however...

Creative Xmod Wireless

Creative is a little late to the wireless music-streaming party, but the company comes with a gift its competitors can’t match: the X-Fi Crystalizer technology lifted from its X-Fi soundcard line. The Xmod Wireless base station captures your PC’s audio stream and transmits it to a remote receiver. The system relies on your PC’s media-player software, which means it can stream any track your media player is capable of playing, including WMA Lossless, FLAC, and DRM-protected songs. The transmitter receives power and audio from your PC over a USB cable, but it’s also equipped with line-level RCA jacks. A 1/8-inch stereo jack enables you to plug in a set of local speakers. The receiver is powered by an AC adapter and has line-level RCA and 1/8-inch outputs. Both modules have buttons for play/pause, track forward, and track back as well as a large volume-control knob, so you don’t need to hunt for the simple included remote to control the devices. The Xmod Wireless costs $120 more than Logitech’s Wireless DJ, but it can’t match that player’s awesome remote (which displays your track list and current tune on its LCD). On the other hand, the Xmod sounds considerably better than Logitech’s product and it can stream to multiple receivers (a feature Logitech promised but never delivered). The Xmod wireless costs $70 more than a Squeezebox, doesn’t rely on your wireless router, and is much cheaper to expand to a multizone system. But it lacks that device’s excellent display and it can’t stream Internet radio. And then there’s the Sonos Digital Music System. For its price, you could buy three additional Xmod receivers and have $160 left over to buy music. But all the Xmod receivers will play the same music, the system can’t be expanded beyond four zones, and each receiver must be within 100 feet of the transmitter. The Sonos comes with that brilliant remote control, supports up to 32 zones and can stream independently to each, and operates on a wireless mesh network that delivers substantially greater range.

Get More Out of Your Wireless Network (Part 2) on Media Player

If music alone isn’t enough for you, some players can stream video and show pictures thru wireless connection as well. These multimedia boxes let you send almost any video or still images that are stored on your PC to your TV set without needing to run cables in between. In this post, we will look at devices that able to progressive-scan DVD as well, so they can replace a regular DVD player in your home theater setup. D-Link DSM-320RD A step up from the audio-only DSM-120, the DSM-320RD has excellent audio quality and supports a broad range of music formats, including Live365 and Radio@AOL. It also has a 5-in-1 card reader. But the photo and video playback quality was mixed, mainly due to the inherent limitations of a TV screen versus a PC monitor. Unless you have an HDTV set and an HD-capable streamer like the Buffalo unit, your digital photos will be reduced in resolution to about 720 by 480, and their edges might be cropped. That said, navigating to photo folder and selecting pictures for display via the player was simple, and a slide show-creation feature lets you choose accompanying background music. Video files don’t share the transfer troubles of still images. Most standard-format videos that you might store on your PC are already in the right aspect ratio and resolution for your TV, and the D-Link’s playback quality was similar to system monitor. Its major drawback for video is its lack of high-definition output. Also, as with the DSM-120, the remote control is small and overly sensitive buttons. Buffalo LinkTheater The Buffalo LinkTheater audio quality was excellent, and the product’s ability to display album artwork embedded in MP3 files was good too. On the video side, the player supports the popular DivX format. Finally, if you have an HDTV, the unit’s high-def mode delivers higherquality photo and video playback than the DSM-320RD, a big plus. However, the LinkTheater’s lack of HDMI or DVI connectors, given that it supports HDTV. The model could benefit from WPA support as well, which the DSM-320RD has. Slingbox and TiVoToGo If you want to watch TV on your PC in another room, check out Sling Media’s Slingbox or TiVo’s TiVoToGo. With the free TiVo Desktop software, the TiVoToGo feature lets Series 2 TiVo owners use a $50 USB 802.11g adapter to pull shows from the TiVo to any PC on their network. You can also burn programs to DVD, or save them to your laptop to watch on the road. The Slingbox goes even further, letting you send video from almost any source ; including cable, satellite, DVD, VCR, and TiVo or another digital video recorder directly to your computer. What’s more, your PC can be in the next room, or anywhere it can access the Internet, say, in a Bangkok hotel room. You have to add a standard 802.11g Wi-Fi ethernet bridge to make the Slingbox wireless and image quality is less than what you’ll get on a TV. But you can view both live and recorded video from afar in real time.

Get More Out of Your Wireless Network – Music Player (Part I)

Wi-Fi: It’s not just for laptops anymore. With these products and tips, you can cut the cord when making phone calls, streaming music or video, sharing files, and more. If you think your wireless network is good only for using a laptop in the living room, think again. A slew of new Wi-Fi peripherals promises to send your music, movies, pictures, and even phone calls flying from room to room, no cables required. These days, we’re seeing products for just about any task that might benefit from going wireless. Not surprisingly, some of the newcomers don’t live up to the hype. In this series, we checked out 12 of the latest cordless creations in several categories to determine which products are good mates for Wi-Fi and which still need some work. Wireless Music Player Today’s Wi-Fi enabled streaming music players let you access your entire digital music collection from any room in the house. The ones we tried were by far the most consumer friendly, mature, and useful of the Wi-Fi peripherals we evaluated here. Each allows you to plug in your powered speakers or hook up to a tuner with standard cables, so you can play music on your existing stereo. The devices can also bypass your PC to play Internet radio stations, and you can set up multiple units to play tunes from one PC. We took a look at three popular players: D-Link’s DSM-120 MediaLounge Wireless Music Player, Roku’s SoundBridge M1000, and Slim Devices’ Squeezebox version 3. The SoundBridge and the Squeezebox have slick interfaces, great sound quality, and robust features. Though the Squeezebox’s extras make it our favorite, the SoundBridge and the MediaLounge have the digital rights management (DRM) support required to play Napster and Rhapsody files. D-Link DSM-120 This stylish music streamer has a digital optical output jack for higher quality audio with compatible receivers, as well as standard analog outputs and support for most unprotected music formats. It doesn’t handle iTunes AAC files, but it does support Windows DRM-10 audio playback, as well as protected Napster and Rhapsody music, via Windows Media Connect. A USB port on top lets you play tunes from a flash drive, and you can install a 2.5-inch hard disk. You also get an alarm clock feature, which will play music on cue from an installed (not a flash) drive. A few things left us less than tingly, though. The companion PC software for music-folder and playlist setup isn’t very friendly, and the number-pad remote control makes entering song titles or other alphabetic information painful. Also, Live365 is your only Internet radio option. Roku SoundBridge M1000 The SoundBridge, a sleek player with a big, bright fluorescent display. It has digital optical and coaxial outputs, and it supports Windows DRM, iTunes, and unprotected AAC music formats. Interestingly, the SoundBridge has no PC software to install. Instead you use Windows Media Connect, or one of several popular software music players including iTunes, Musicmatch, Napster, and Rhapsody in its music-sharing mode. Or you can use Roku competitor Slim Devices’ excellent open-source Slim-Server software, which includes support for FLAC and Ogg Vorbis playback. The SoundBridge’s visual display is nice, excellent Internet radio interface, and wide range of supported stations, including Rhapsody. But as with its MediaLounge counterpart, its remote control could use text-entry buttons. By the time you read this, Roku plans to ship an alarm clock version of the SoundBridge, the R1000 with 18 Internet radio presets. Slim Devices Squeezebox The elegant Squeezebox device uses 802.11g Wi-Fi, and is the only one of the three to support WPA encryption, the more-secure successor to the WEP encryption in the other products. An alarm clock and a headphone jack make the Squeezebox a fine bedside companion. Getting the SqueezeBox to work with the convenient remote (which has an alphanumeric keypad for easier navigation) took just a few minutes; on the PC side, the useful SlimServer software was simple to install and set up. SlimServer can play pretty much every unprotected digital music format, including AAC, but not DRM-coded tracks. It can handle Live365, Radioio, and Shoutcast Internet radio streams, as well as MoodLogic mixing. The company says Rhapsody support is coming soon. One last bonus: You can read RSS news feeds on the Squeezebox’s display without going through your computer. [tags]Wireless Music Player, D-Link DSM 120, Slim Devices Squeezebox, Roku SoundBridge M1000[/tags]

StarTech MP3 AirLink

The startech MP3 Airlink lets you send music across your home without making your floor look like a snake pit. The 2.4-GHz transmitter and receiver are two nearly identical 1- by 3.1- by 3.1-inch (HWD) plastic boxes. Each box has its own wall-wart AC power adapter, and the system comes with two sets of RCA-to-3.5mm cables and one 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable. Overall, the AirLink’s sound quality and ease of use is impresive. It has a significantly clearer signal than Bluetooth-based products. But if you have a lot of interference in your space from other devices that use the 2.4-GHz frequency band (Bluetooth headsets, microwaves, some RF remotes), the AirLink may disappoint. With a dead-simple setup and a price that won’t hurt your wallet, this is an excellent wireless music system. If you don’t, you’ll find this is a very useful, and affordable product. [tags]Wireless MP3[/tags]

Philips Wireless Music Center WACS700

Store your entire CD collection on a 40-GB hard disk and listen in every room. Looking like a super sleek plasma screen music to up to five Station units in any room you want. Everyone can set-up their very own playlists or select albums of their choice, and with a remote control it's pure joy to operate. Philips legendary audio quality is enhanced with an innovative Super Sound Panel with deep bass and clarity for pitch perfect grooves. Even if you're no audiophile, you can't deny the high coo...