During Sunday’s keynote address at the 2008 International CES, Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft Corp., announced that premier consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will include Extender for Windows Media Center technology in its Home Digital Media Adapter arriving this year for compatible Samsung HDTVs. In addition, HP is launching a new Extender device for Windows Media Center, the HP MediaSmart Receiver x280N, designed to work with any high-definition television.

Extenders for Windows Media Center allow viewers to enjoy digital entertainment, including live and recorded HDTV, Internet TV, music, movies and photos, from their PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate on any TV in the house through wired or wireless home networks

Digeo releases Moxi TV for PC, a software application enabling PC users who have a TV tuner card and Windows XP to use their personal computer as a DMR. With Moxi TV for PC, users can watch, record and play TV content from their PC. For a limited time, those interested can sign up to for the Moxi TV for PC beta program at www.moxi.com. The beta will be available to beta testers for download at no cost.

Moxi TV for PC offers the same award-winning Moxi Menu and a new, improved version of the user experience found in the popular Moxi television set-top boxes, which are currently delivered through cable operators. It includes many of the Moxi features planned for the highly anticipated Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR, available soon via retail outlets. As consumers increasingly look to their PC as a complement to their TV watching routine, Moxi TV for PC stands to offer better overall navigation and usability.

We took a look at SanDisk's Fanfare today to evaluate their new product that offers a mobile media center experience. First step is to download the Fanfare software, which is a 7 meg file. After downloading and starting the install, the software does a quick check of your system specs and will require the following system requirements:

• Windows XP/SP2+ or Vista
• Internet Explorer 6.0+
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0+
• Adobe Flash Player 9.0.47.0+

Unfortunately we weren't up-to-date on our Flash player but they provided us a link to update it. Once that was done, we clicked Retry to validate our system was up to par and passed with flying colors.

Once installed, we launched the application for the first time from our desktop. The application resides on your computer and runs a Flash graphical user interface. We would have liked to see the interface expand to our viewing resolution seeing as how we run in a 1920x1200 resolution and Fanfare only took up a little over half of that in width. Needless to say, most people will find it fits nicely.

Here's a list you won't see published soon by game console manufacturers the top 10 things you can do on your Wii, xBox 360 and PS3 that doesn't involve playing any games. That's right. No games, but free and personal entertainment for the exploding population of more than 28 million households with a game console in the United States alone. Using any major game console and Orb Network's free software, gamers can now consume all of the digital media on their PC -- music, videos, photos and more on their preferred screen -- the TV.

Hauppauge Digital has made a price breakthrough for consumers wanting to experience High Definition TV. The company is introducing a £99 TV tuner card that allows owners to watch free-to-air HD content on their PC or linked TV. Available immediately, the Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 card simply plugs into a PCI slot inside a desktop PC and connects to a satellite dish to provide live HD TV on the PC. Included with the Nova HD S2 is CyberLink PowerCinema application for full screen TV or TV-in-a-window on the PC.

Hauppauge Digital has released WinTV version 6, a major new version of its TV viewing software for use with Hauppauge TV tuners. The new software is available immediately for free download from www.hauppauge.co.uk

WinTV Version 6 allows Windows users to watch analogue or digital TV on their PC screen, in a window or full screen. One of the new features of this application is an improved user interface with clearer controls and a new "taskbar" to record, pause and play TV. The interface is also user modifiable through the use of 'skins', allowing anyone with Photoshop experience to make changes to the colours and layout of the TV application.

In addition, the latest software allows the remote control provided with Hauppauge TV tuners to function as a full Media Center remote, including the "Green Button" and quick access to Guide, Music, Video and Pictures. Current owners of Hauppauge products with Generation II remote controls (supplied from 2005) can upgrade their software for free to allow operation of Media Center (including Vista) functions with their existing remote control.

This week at CES, Amedia Networks, Inc. showcased its Broadband Entertainment Center, an all-in-one gateway, home networking appliance, and personal media library. Amedia designed the Broadband Entertainment Center to replace the computer as the media hub and central point of networking within the connected home.

Some of the features the Broadband Entertainment Center includes are:

• Store, organize, and search all types of multimedia content -- from movies, to home videos, to music, to games -- within a personal media library right on their residential gateway
• Play that content on virtually any television, monitor, or networked device
• Serves as a modem, router, wireless access point, VoIP adapter, and more within a compact device
• Wireless HDTV transmission via Ultrawideband (UWB) to various home entertainment and media devices throughout the home
• Quality-of-Service (QoS) console, allowing subscribers to prioritize their entertainment and communications services to avoid disruption of quality or speed
• The built-in software operating system allows subscribers to surf the Web on their televisions
• Deliver proprietary or third-party software programs and networking capabilities to subscribers, such as in-home messaging, remote home monitoring, a virtual family calendar, personalized family firewall, and much more.

SageTV Media Center becomes the first full- featured personal video recorder/media center software product to offer placeshifting capabilities enabling users to access their live or recorded TV, music and photos on any PC when they are away from home. The integration of PVR and placeshifting functionality in a single system yields better video quality and faster navigation than a separate placeshifting box connected to a PVR while also costing significantly less than purchasing two separate solutions.

Aeon Digital announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with MusicNet to provide key technological and programming components for the on-demand music service and make its catalog of licensed digital music tracks and videos available to Aeon Digital's online network subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The agreement with Aeon Digital reinforces MusicNet's ongoing diversification to deliver its industry-leading digital music services and content on the PC, directly to portable devices and set top boxes, and over the air to mobile phones.

Consumers can choose either the DV-220 set top box or a specially-equipped 32" LCD TV to access the Aeon Digital network.

SageTV, LLC, released SageTV Media Extender, a $99.95 accessory for SageTV Media Center for Windows that provides a whole-house PVR, music and photo media center system with no subscription fees. Now any TV connected to the SageTV Media Center through the home network with the SageTV Media Extender, or any networked PC running the SageTV Client software, can access the SageTV user interface as well as any media available through the software.

Content Tested, Verified to Work with Upcoming PC Platform to More Easily Manage and Enjoy Movies, TV, Music, Games and Photos

As part of its forthcoming Intel Viiv^TM technology PC platform, Intel Corporation is enabling a broad choice of on-demand, Internet-delivered digital entertainment along with several options for how families view, manage and share content – options that range from a "10-foot" living room TV viewing experience in the home to laptops or handheld devices for on the go.

Intel today said it is working with a wide variety of movie, music, television, gaming and photo editing companies worldwide and announced that more than 40 are already testing and verifying services and software applications to meet this objective.

SageTV, LLC, released SageTV Media Center Version 4.0 for Windows, an upgrade to its Media Center software suite that adds the ability to watch or record HDTV (High-Definition) programs and stream them anywhere in the home. The new edition also enhances the rich feature set built into earlier versions by providing an integrated electronic program guides for Canada and Europe, expanded support for music file types and playlists, and a new configuration wizard that simplifies the process of turning Windows PCs into complete PVR/media centers.

X2 Corporation announces the IPTV MEGA PC Media Center powered by DAVE.TV and the DAVE Media Center (DMC) software. X2 recently announced a strategic partnership with DAVE.TV, a global IPTV digital entertainment distribution network, in which the companies are working together and collaborating in building cutting-edge IPTV and ITV platforms. The IPTV MEGA PC is just the first of several next generation IPTV devices to come. The unit directly integrates IPTV technology allowing for more personalized entertainment for the user and access to thousands of hours of video, music and other digital content.

Broadstream Communications, Inc., the industry leader in outsourced video head-end and content distribution and management services to the telecom industry announced separate content agreements with Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movie Channel, OLN, The Tennis Channel, Bloomberg Television, and The Golf Channel, further enhancing the industry's largest library of linear content for the IPTV industry.

Video Without Boundaries, Inc. announced that its MediaREADY 5000 Advanced Digital Media Center has been chosen by Brightbox, Inc., a new company, as the basis of Brightbox's innovative Internet TV content delivery concept. Brightbox, which plans to private-label the MediaREADY 5000 under the Brightbox brand, will sell the unit through a network marketing program focused on delivering a wide range of programming including entertainment, learning, shopping and more to the general public. The initial contract is in excess of $500,000 with options for significant incremental shipments which will be announced separately based on successful product sell through.