Netgear Digital Entertainer - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Netgear is a U.S. manufacturer of computer networking equipment and other computer hardware....

's Digital Entertainer line of products are digital media receiver

Digital media receiver

A digital media receiver , also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, digital media hub, or digital media adapter , is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files from a personal computer or other networked media server and...

s that can pull multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

content from home computers to the typical audio/video entertainment center

Home cinema

Home cinema, also commonly called home theater, are home entertainment set-ups that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood with the help of video and audio equipment in a private home....

. There are three products in the line, the EVA700, the HD EVA8000 and the current EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite. All support high definition video

High-definition video

High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...

, the EVA700 via component output up to 1080i and the EVA8000/EVA9000 up to 1080p with both component and HDMI connectors. All models support audio

Sound

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...

, video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

, image and streaming audio and video formats and can can be networked via wired and wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

Ethernet

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....

. The EVA700 is Intel Viiv certified.

Description

Common features of both EVA models include being able to access digital media

Digital media

Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...

files on a network

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

attached home computer running Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

, stream audio and video from the PC, stream Internet radio

Internet radio

Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...

(streaming MP3). USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

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

Remote control

A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...

with which to manipulate the on-screen display on your television along with a large selection of suitable connecting cables.

Inputs/Outputs: At a minimum, EVAs have RCA connector

RCA connector

An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals...

s for composite video

Composite video

Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...

output, as well as for component video

Component video

Component video is a video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals...

output, S-Video

S-Video

Separate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...

output, a digital S/PDIF

S/PDIF

S/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...

audio output, stereo RCA audio outputs, at least 1 USB 2.0 port and 1 8P8C 10/100 Ethernet port.

History: MP101 and MP115

NETGEAR started off in the media streamer arena with the MP101

MP101

The Netgear MP101 was the first of a series of digital media receivers by Netgear.-Family history:The Netgear MP101 was followed by the MP115 and the latest in the family are the "Digital Media Receivers" comprising the EVA700 and the EVA8000...

, an audio-only small form factor media streamer. It had a four-line fluorescent

Vacuum fluorescent display

A vacuum fluorescent display is a display device used commonly on consumer-electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. Invented in Japan in 1967, the displays became common on calculators and other consumer electronics devices...

display with line stereo RCA and 3.5" headphone

TRS connector

A TRS connector is a common family of connector typically used for analog signals including audio. It is cylindrical in shape, typically with three contacts, although sometimes with two or four . It is also called an audio jack, phone jack, phone plug, and jack plug...

outputs. Connectivity provided by built-in Ethernet and 802.11b wireless with WEP support. Controlled by a remote control, it had no external buttons at all, not even a power button. The unit could play MP3 and WMA files, along with PLS and M3U playlists. Rhapsody streaming radio was built in, and the unit could also play any MP3 streams through playlists.

The MP115 was a technology trial, and only 600 were made. It used the same small form-factor as the MP101 but without the display. This unit was probably what could be considered the beginnings of the Digital Entertainer line as it supported XviD and MPEG1 and MPEG2 playback and had composite, S-Video and SCART output for connection to a TV, along with line stereo RCA. Audio was still supported along the same lines as the MP101. Again, no external buttons and all control from the remote. Dual-antenna 802.11g wireless was onboard with wired Ethernet port.

EVA700 Digital Entertainer

Features:

Dual 2 dBi antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...

wireless reception
Hardware-based Wired Equivalent Privacy
Wired Equivalent Privacy
Wired Equivalent Privacy is a weak security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network...

(WEP) 40/64-bit & 128-bit encryption
WPA-PSK (WPA-Personal) and WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Persona)
Wi-Fi Protected Access
Wi-Fi Protected Access and Wi-Fi Protected Access II are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks...
802.11g
IEEE 802.11g-2003
IEEE 802.11g-2003 or 802.11g is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 specification that extended throughput to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band as 802.11b. This specification under the marketing name of Wi-Fi has been implemented all over the world...

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
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...

and WMA9 files up to 192kbit/s or variable bit rate(VBR)
WMV up to 1080p
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....

(down-converted)
Internet Radio (streaming MP3)
Video Formats: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...

, WMV, Xvid
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
Audio Formats: MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

, WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

, WMA, M3U
M3U
M3U is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. It is supported by many applications.An M3U file is a plain text file that specifies the locations of one or more media files. Each line carries one specification...

, AAC
AAC
AAC refers to Advanced Audio Coding, an audio compression format successor to the MP3 format.AAC may also refer to:-Aviation:* AAC, IATA airport code for El Arish International Airport, Egypt...
Photo Formats: JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....

, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
Playlist Formats: M3U, PLS
PLS (file format)
PLS is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. It is a more expressive format than basic M3U, as it can store information on the song title and length...
RCA connector for composite
RCA connector for component (high definition up to 1080i)
S-video port
SCART
SCART
SCART is a French-originated standard and associated 21-pin connector for connecting audio-visual equipment together...

connector for regions that require it
Stereo RCA audio ports
Digital coaxial S/PDIF audio port
Ethernet port
USB 2.0 port

EVA8000 Digital Entertainer 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

TV tuner card

A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for...

, then the EVA8000 can be used as a pseudo-DVR

Digital video recorder

A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...

, 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
HDMI
HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...

A/V connector
Additional USB 2.0 port
DLNA
SMB
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

Networking
FLAC
FLAC
FLAC is a codec which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed such that file size is reduced without any information being lost...

audio support
Matroska
Matroska
The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks in one file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows...

(MKV) x264 video support
DVD ISO / VIDEO_TS folder playback support
Playlist formats: WPL, ASX, WAX, WVX, RMP
Full HD (1080p) output

EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite

This unit is essentially an updated EVA8000. No big new file format support is added or needed, but the main addition is an internal 500GB hard disk allowing for playback of content without the need for a computer, NAS

Network-attached storage

Network-attached storage is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients. NAS not only operates as a file server, but is specialized for this task either by its hardware, software, or configuration of those elements...

or attached USB hard drive. At least one of these is required for the EVA700 and EVA8000 to play back content other than live over the internet. The internal hard drive also buffers streaming content if desired.

Other additions include an ultra-low power standby mode, updated chassis, onboard dual-band (i.e.: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) WiFi-N (aka 802.11n) wireless network with internal antenna, and a hard power switch.

External links

Netgear's Home Page for Digital Entertainers
Netgear Digital Entertainer Community - forums, articles
Details of EVA9000 leaked via FCC filing

Reviews

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.