Introduction In today’s market of automated homes and wired (and wireless) networking, the idea of having to drag your CD collection to every room of your home is getting as outdated as a turntable. Music servers are nothing new; chances are you already own one. With the advent of the iPod, music servers have touched almost every facet of our daily lives. The ReQuest music server is by no means an iPod, but the underlining principles that drive both products are relatively the same: to organize, store and play back music with relative ease. That is where the analogy ends, as the ReQuest line of music servers are heavy-duty tools designed to faithfully recreate music and reliably broadcast the tunes throughout your home and even beyond. The ReQuest F4.500 music server is priced at $5,000. The ReQuest looks, more or less, like a single-disc CD player measuring in at 17 inches wide by 16 inches ...

Introduction Behind HDTV, “convergence” is one of the most bandied-about buzzwords in the consumer electronics industry. Companies large and small have deluged the market with products designed to meld the PC and A/V environments, from tuner cards that turn your computer into a DVR to media players that let you play your MP3 collection through your A/V system to standalone Internet-video players that connect directly to your TV. If you’ve already got a computer that you’re quite fond of, buying all of these separate devices might be the way to go. However, if you’re starting from scratch or looking to upgrade, why not purchase one product that does it all? And trust me, Hewlett-Packard’s z556 Digital Entertainment Center is just such a product. The poster child for converged entertainment, $1,499 z556 incorporates HDTV tuning, a DVR, a DVD/CD recorder, an FM ...

Introduction In the two decades since the Compact Disc (CD) was released, few can argue about the significant ways in which it has changed our habits in accessing and listening to music. Its durability, diminutive size and capability to be played universally in our homes, automobiles and portable players gave consumers the opportunity to take their tunes virtually anywhere. This had a phenomenal plus side over the previous dominant format, the vinyl LP, with its limited durability and restricted playback options. Unfortunately, the CD’s additional flexibility created the potential problem of having your music scattered throughout a multitude of listening environments and devices. Personally, I've struggled for years to keep all of my CDs organized and easily accessible. My collection has had a large amount of attrition due to lost and loaned discs, not to mention the mysteriously disappearing CDs that I keep buying repeatedly. As mentioned in a previous review, I have used computers to archive ...

Introduction Escient’s Fireball SE-80 is their latest entry-level music server offering. The SE-80 features an 80 GB hard drive, as well as an internal CD-RW drive, which can be used to load music onto the hard drive, create music discs from the music stored on the hard drive or as a CD player. Like the E2 and other Fireball units, the SE-80 also has a built in Internet radio receiver, file sharing and web server capabilities, all for the slim price of $995. The SE chassis and industrial design is consistent with the rest of the Escient family and measures 17-3/8 inches wide by four-and-five-eighths inches high and 11-7/8 inches deep. The chassis is finished in the same attractive brushed black aluminum as the E2 and other Fireballs. The front panel features a curved accent stripe, an oval CD drawer and a row of transport control buttons. The back panel of the SE is quite ...

Introduction For almost a year, I have enjoyed having the ability to record and play back high-definition programming from Dish Network on my Dish Player 921 satellite receiver/PVR combination machine. It has been a true workhorse, recording my favorite shows without fail, having virtually no downtime and other than the occasional lock-up that usually just requires a simple re-boot (these PVRs are essentially computers in an AV-like metal box), it has been a nearly flawless performer. It has powered my main home theater and has given me hundreds if not thousands of hours of HDTV viewing bliss, but something was seemingly missing. I recently cooked up the idea of adding a second television to my living room/kitchen area downstairs, but I didn’t want to have to install a second dedicated satellite receiver and PVR to control this TV. Enter the Dish Player 942 dual mode HDTV satellite receiver/PVR. Dish Network last year released an ingenious product ...