In standard Apple fashion, Steve Jobs took the stage today to announce several new products. The new AppleTV is the most compelling of these as they apply to our profession. We have been integrating AppleTV into our systems for almost three years now, but the old model has some drawbacks. The biggest being that it could be used as a space heater. It appears that Apple has taken these criticisms to heart and had designed a cool new version of the product that fits in the palm of your hand. At a street price of 99 bucks, probably every system should have one.

Even though the industry buzz is all about 3D, I think the real news is streaming content. It is capable of creating opportunities to offer our professional services to a much broader market than 3D technology will ever provide.

The MLB.TV service, when used through the PS3, is amazing. I’m a huge baseball fan and use it all the time. You can watch live games, or any game that has been played since opening day. There is a choice of home or away broadcasts and you can skip to the beginning of any half inning. It might be the most advanced streaming service out there and the HD quality is surprisingly good.

The only problem with streaming services right now is that you need multiple boxes with different interfaces to support all the services you might want. Not necessarily user friendly. A one-box solution with a unified interface would be huge. The Boxee Box is set to come out in November, so we might see one then.

Here at Quadrant Systems, we are always striving to pull off the delicate balance between cutting edge and reliability. As we all know from the computer world, new doesn’t always mean reliable. Most of the time we wait for others to discover the unfortunate pitfalls of new technologies and first generation devices. This way our clients are never the guinea pigs. And we prefer it that way.

With that said, a colleague of mine recently brought an exciting new technology to my attention. This person I entirely trust, which is what makes our business so fun to be a part of. Ideas bounced off of one another eventually lead to some very innovative and reliable solutions.

For us in the audio video business, we have been waiting a very long time for a reliable and economical form of HDMI distribution. It appears that a very promising solution has come to market. Best of all it combines a technology that is in its infancy with a time tested technology that enjoys a vast support base. After all, aren’t we best taught by people who have been there and done that?

What I am talking about is HDMI over IP, and by that I mean digital audio/video transmitted over a standard computer network. The folks over at Just Add Power have seemingly pulled off some magic, and we might just be thanking them for it! We are currently waiting on our evaluation units to run through the paces in our engineering department. With all the positive comments I have been hearing, I am confident that we will soon have a viable solution for an ultimately scalable and future ready technology that will propel us into the next generation of distributed media for any home or commercial application. Stay tuned…

Ten years ago I recall hearing someone say, “Someday you will be able to watch what you want, when you want, and it will all come over the Internet.” Over the past several years we have seen the Internet evolve from simple text based websites into full blown multimedia websites that stream media on demand. A great example of this is the evening news. Rather than watching the broadcast, you can visit the channel’s website and watch any news story whenever you want on demand.

Up until recently, Internet based videos have been most easily viewed using a computer. With new product offerings from innovative manufacturers and partnerships with online content providers, the Internet has finally arrived in your living room. New devices are regularly being introduced that are designed to connect with music and video services like Vudu, iTunes, Netflix, Amazon OnDemand, MLB.TV, YouTube, Hulu, Pandora, LastFM, and Rhapsody. If that isn’t enough, all of your digital videos, photos, and music stored on your computer can be accessed on your television.

With all the new products hitting the shelves, it can be easy to get lost in all the features and technical jargon. Quadrant Systems is here to help. Our designers and technical staff are up-to-date on the latest technologies and the popular online services. We offer several solutions that will allow you to connect to the services you want, as well as integrate seamlessly with a new or existing system. Whether we are integrating a Vudu, AppleTV, TiVo, or the latest gaming system, our goal is always a system that is simple and a joy to use.