Netgear Digital Entertainer
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Netgear's Digital Entertainer line of products are digital media receivers that can pull multimedia content from home computers to the typical audio/video entertainment center. There are currently only 2 products in the line: the EVA700 and the HD EVA8000, and while they both supports high definition video, the EVA8000 has an HDMI connector. Both models support audio, video, image and streaming audio and video formats. They also both can be networked via wired and wireless Ethernet, and are Intel Viiv compatible.
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[edit] Description
Common features of both EVA models include being able to access digital media files on a network attached home computer running Windows XP, stream audio and video from the PC, stream Internet radio (streaming MP3). USB storage devices such as iPods, thumb drives, and some digital cameras with USB interfaces can be attached directly to the units for playback of media on those USB devices.
As the Digital Entertainer products are Intel Viiv compliant, setup and media access with an Intel Viiv PC is more automated than without such a PC. However, an Intel Viiv PC is not required in order to operate an EVA unit.
The systems come with a remote control with which to manipulate the on-screen display on your television.
Inputs/Outputs: At a minimum, EVAs have RCA connectors for composite video output, as well as for component video output, S-Video output, a digital S/PDIF audio output, stereo RCA audio outputs, at least 1 USB 2.0 port and 1 RJ45 10/100 Ethernet port.
[edit] EVA700
Features:
- Dual 2 dBi antenna wireless reception
- Hardware-based Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) 40/64-bit & 128-bit encryption
- WPA-PSK (WPA-Personal) and WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Personal)
- 802.11g standard compliant (connects to 802.11b or 802.11g networks)
- Intel NMPR 2.0
- UPnP AV
- MP3s up to 320 kbit/s or variable bit rate (VBR)
- WMA8 and WMA9 files up to 192kbit/s or variable bit rate(VBR)
- WMV up to 1080p (down-converted)
- Internet Radio (streaming MP3)
- Video Formats: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, Xvid
- Audio Formats: MP3, WAV, WMA, M3U, AAC
- Photo Formats: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF
- Playlist Formats: M3U, PLS
- RCA connector for composite
- RCA connector for component (high definition up to 1080i)
- S-video port
- SCART connector for regions that require it
- Stereo RCA audio ports
- Digital coaxial S/PDIF audio port
- Ethernet port
- USB 2.0 port
[edit] EVA8000 HD
Apart from adding high definition video support over HDMI, the EVA8000 also adds a number of other features over the EVA700. Starting with HD support, it plays Windows Media Video (WMV) 9, and MPEG-4 formats up to 1080p. As it supports Windows Media DRM (WMDRM10), it can play protected downloaded content from online services like Yahoo Music. If the PC has a TV Tuner card, then the EVA8000 can be used as a pseudo-DVR, although it does not store any content on its own. By using 2 or more EVA8000s, music can be synchronized throughout a home (party mode) and there is also a "follow me" feature that lets you pick up where you left off on a program on another unit. The EVA8000 also comes with the ability to allow you to view and control your PC applications on your TV. Noticeable is the difference in the user interface between the 2 units.
Additional features over the EVA700:
- HDMI A/V connector
- Additional USB 2.0 port
- DLNA
- SMB Networking
- FLAC audio support
- Playlist formats: WPL, ASX, WAX, WVX, RMP
While the feature list is impressive, many users on the Netgear official forums are reporting many issues with the EVA8000 units.[citation needed]
Main reported issues:
- Random consistent noise on all audio output interfaces(squeaks and pops)
- Poor support of codecs listed as supported(eg. many formats can not be fast forward/rewind without error)
- Poor support of codec encoder features
- Inconsistent and poor user interface
- Lack of support for TV tuner cards, with some cards listed as supported also not working
- Crashes and hangs
