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Less than a decade ago, tech-watchers had predicted that one major issue that will confront technology consumers would be storage.
As man (and woman) is not made from skin and bones alone, but the sum of varying life experiences collected along the journey of life, the baggage we used to carry around mentally has now become a real, physical load. Stored on CDs, memory cards and other bits and bytes, the different facets of our lives may not weigh much but they do take up space. Sometimes, too much space.
That of course leads to the question "how do I store all of this?" and the related puzzle "where did I store all of that ?"
Most of you probably don't have a problem sorting and storing documents along with all the miscellaneous 'boring stuff'. When you get to the stacks of music CDs, movies and photos it's agonising just trying to think of where to start.
Western Digital which is well versed in storage came up with its solution for media management a couple months back.
Dressed in a sleek little box, the WD TV Media Player offers consumers the chance to simply plug and play everything from their favourite tunes to home videos, out of the box and straight onto TV.
It was really as simple as getting the device out of its packaging and connecting it to the TV before settling down for a good few hours of entertainment. My only problem in the entire process ironically, was getting the TV to play back from the correct channel after connecting the WD TV Media Player - which was easily done via USB if your TV has a port or with the composite (RCA) cables enclosed.
Resembling a small and compact desktop external hard-drive, the WD TV Media Player sits nicely alongside any media set-up and basically acts as the go-between for your USB storage device where all your media has been stored and the TV monitor.
True, some of you may already be able to plug your USB device into a port on your TV monitor for play-out. But chances are, you can't scroll through the different media and take your pick.
With the WD TV Media Player, there is a remote control which will allow you to pick and choose your media from music (whether AAC or MP3 and more), to stills (from jpeg to png) and video in all its varying format.
Since there is a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port you can also enjoy full HD (up to 1080p) playback on your HDTV or home theater.
What also makes the WD TV Media Player attractive (apart from its price of S$199/-) is that it will play media saved not on a Western Digital storage device but any USB mass storage device, which is very handy. It will also interface with camcorders and digital cameras.
The only drawback would be the need to attach your storage device to a PC for downloads and uploads then attach it to the WD TV Media Player for playback.
If you don't like wires and the hassle, you might like the Linksys by Cisco solution. Yes, the folks who have been providing you with network and router solutions.
Those who thought the company's association with business solutions provider Cisco Systems would make it more serious, will be pleasantly surprised at its fun side. Its offerings for the home-user target to make life easier and enjoyable.
Combining storage and playback management is the new Linksys by Cisco Media Hub.
Dressed in de rigueur black the Media Hub comes in two versions, NMH305 and NMH400. My vote goes for the 400 which features a little LCD front panel.
The panel allows you to view the data you are downloading to the device via the front USB port or 6-in-1 card reader so you don't need to boot up the PC.
I also like the fact that it starts by offering at least 500 GB, enough to play around with and still with room to grow to 1TB.
What's good and bad about the Media Hub is its wireless connectivity. Bad, only because you need to also budget in a good router that is capable of relaying media if you want a seamless experience.
Would you be surprised to know that the team at Cisco also has on hand, the Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT610N).
"It is like having 2 N band routers in 1 device" says Jaimohan Thampi, Asia Pacific head of Product Management for Cisco's Consumer Business Group, of the the device which he says is designed to offer true Wireless-N performance in both the 5GHz and 2.4 GHz bands.
The lure is the dual-band Wireless Access Point built into the Router that uses Wireless-N technology to increase the range while reducing “dead spots” in the wireless coverage area.
With more speed and output from the Wireless-N router which works with standard Wireless-G, -A, and -B equipment and the built-in Media Server, you can easily stream music, video, and photos to a TV or audio system from any UPnP compatible media adapter such as the Xbox or PlayStation3.
With the Linksys Dual-Band Router and Media Hub, you can call up any media by scrolling through the special home screen. Apart from the various folders stored on the device you can also look up related devices in range such as a camera or mobile phone, from which you can upload/download media.
The media playback of data, even if it has been called to or from another room, is smooth.
What was equally impressive was the clear streaming of different type of media simultaneously, from the same source and tapping on the same router.
Not only that, different users can also drop in and join a media session at a different point - in other words, if you're watching a movie and you teenager decides he wants to watch the movie too, but from his room, he can do so and from the start of the movie, even if you are 45 minutes into the same movie.
With the Router's ability to handle so much of data flying around, you might expect a chunky box sprouting antennae. But the real deal is way more subtle and even sexy.
The WRT610N is a slim black box with curves in the right place to dress any desk or shelf without fuss or clutter.
As for the Media Hub, it stands just 198 x 111mm.
With the entire ensemble users are not only freed from wires, they are also freed from their daily bulk and weight.
That's because the bundle includes a Cisco offer for remote data access of what you stored.
If you don't want to FTP or can't get your head around proxy details, this is the solution you'd want.
Be warned though, to upload or download media files through remote access will be slow and tiresome and you'd be best served with just transferring photos, documents and some music files.
The convenience of course, comes with a catch. After the initial trial period of one year, enough time to get very comfortable with the service, you'll have to pay for it. Fortunately, it is not budget-busting, just US$9.99 a year.
If you want to clear out all the CDs and DVDs taking up space, the Linksys by Cisco Media Hub is a good first step and investment. But that is if you don't mind spending about S$500-600, depending on whether it's the NMH305 and NMH405 Media Hub plus about another S$280 for the Dual-Band Router.
If you're planning around a budget, then you might want to try the Western Digital's TV Media Player, which is about S$200 minus the storage devices which you most likely would already have on hand.
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