I have this mini-quest to remove wires in my house and access content anywhere, any room with no need for a PC or Xbox/PS3 etc. These new Media Smart TV’s from HP are very interesting… Look at the diagram below:
Those two red arrows tell part of a big story:
You can connect your TV direct into the network Cat5 cable or through wireless (n/g/b etc). Stream all your content from your PC running media centre or NAS device. (watch DivX / xvid / mov etc). Unfortunately although it touts HD there appears to be no support for the high def formats AVCHD or H.264.
[Update - Thanks to TV Guy for his comment - it appears that it does support H.264 and a forthcoming update will give media centre extendibility].
The good news: It will also work with Windows Media Player 11 (through library sharing) in XP. (This means Vista/Media Center PC is not required) …although if you want to browse/surf you would need a media centre PC.
The LCD TV is full HD (1080p / 1920×1080 pixels) in either 42 or 47 inch. Retails for $1899 to $2399 USD. No details of a release in Australia that I can see.
http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/366142-0-0-225-121.html
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The TV does support H.264; you can play .mov (with H.264 content) or .mp4 files. It also support DRM-free iTunes.
In a month or so, a free firmware upgrade will let you also use the TV as a Media Extender, so if you have Microsoft Vista HOme Premium or ultimate you will get the full experience through the TV.
I own this TV and I have been unable to get it to stream H.264 content in the .mp4 format.
What’s the trick?