HP stokes the digital home fire

Thought the 'digital home' was dead? That it was a buzzword without any real substance to it? Think again, because HP is showing the digital home some love with its new Digital Media Receiver (DMR), connected HD TV and Media Vault NAS.

The HP MediaSmart receiver hooks up to your HD TV, enabling you to watch video, view photos and listen to audio, from multiple PCs scattered around your home. The link can either be wireless, using any of the 802.11a/b/g and draft N protocols, or by Ethernet cable/Powerline.

Smart media devices

The receiver itself is designed to work with Windows XP and Vista Media Center PCs, as well as UPnP devices, such as NAS media servers. And so it won't look out of place in anybody's digital home, the MediaSmart receiver has a "stylish, high-gloss, piano black finish" with the same "Zen" Imprint pattern that adorns its new Pavillion laptops.

HP has also updated its range of HD TVs under the same MediaSmart branding. The TVs now stretch to full 1080p resolutions and include built-in Windows Media Center Extender technology (like the MediaSmart receiver and the Xbox 360). They also have three HDMI ports, wired and wireless network connections and a back-lit universal remote that can control up to four additional media devices.

To complete the line up, HP has also introduced a range of media-sever NAS devices, called Media Vaults. As well as acting as additional storage, the units can serve up photos and stream iTunes music. The entry level mv2100 series has 500GB of storage, while the Media Vault Pro mv5100, is available in 1TB and 1.5TB versions. No prices have been released.