Recently Filed in Powerline

Home control companies are making plenty to play with these days. PCS is throwing another entry in for your system—the TST TouchScreen Timer. PCS (also known as Powerline Control Systems) invented this 3.6-inch touchpanel to work with their PulseWorx line, as well as other UPB (universal powerline bus) products. Once connected to the company’s PIM-R Powerline Interface, the unit will control up to 250 different lights, or you can trigger custom scenes. The graphical interface allows for management of Room, Module, Scene and Schedule buttons… View this story
Touchpanels and Keypads • Powerline • Home Control • Product News

When it comes to computer-based control, Mac users are a tad limited. Now Perceptive Automation wants to add options for Mac fans, with its latest software. Just announced, Indigo 3.0 is a major update, allowing Mac users to remotely access almost any aspect of their home control. That means you can turn lights on and off while you’re on vacation, water the lawn on a hot day, or crank up the hot tub before you leave the office—all from any web browser. The new version… View this story
Home Control Systems • Powerline • Software • Home Control • Product News

CES ‘08.  Three days of walking, walking, and, well, you get the picture. After staring at yet another big-screen TV (Panasonic took the “biggest” prize with a 150” monster), I started looking for the new and the different. The most interesting new ideas I found were about connectivity (mostly wireless).  Here’s what caught my attention… I’m really impressed when someone takes a number of readably available technologies and combines them for a totally new purpose (like TiVo).  At this year’s CES, a company called Radiient… View this story
Networking and Communication • Powerline • Speakers • CES • Product News

Unless you’re into mood lighting, you may not have given much thought to whether powerline home automation products (X-10, INSTEON, etc) could improve your life.  Well they can, and in some rather surprising ways.  Powerline home automation products consist of two types of devices.  The first are keypads or other “controllers” which send specifically-targeted commands (like on or off) to receivers, over your 110V power lines.  Receivers are typically replacements for wall switches and outlets, or small standalone modules that have an A/C socket on… View this story
Home Control Systems • Powerline • Home Control • Info and Answers

Good communication is a must in a home filled with electronics. Your remote needs to talk to your audio/video components, your wall switches need to speak with your lights, your media server needs to share its music with your family room loudspeakers, and, more recently, it’s become important that your computer be able to transmit photos, videos and other information to every display in the house. There are several ways of getting information from one place to another. If you’re building a new home, high-speed… View this story
Ethernet • Powerline • WiFi • Holiday Gift Guide • How To • Networking • Info and Answers

If all of your friends are laughing off your 200Mbps powerline pieces, they can come and install new wires in your house—or they can get you something from DS2. The Spanish chipmaker just announced speeds that are exactly twice as nice, with 400Mbps. The technology was designed to allow those multitasking their electrical wiring to do things like personal video recording and multiroom HD IPTV. The new equipment will not only perform faster, but will be backwards compatible with the slower stuff, says Ubergizmo. D2… View this story
Multiroom Video • Powerline • Gadgets • Networking • Product News

It’s a little like winning the lottery. Panasonic has launched its Living in HD program and is looking for 30 families across the country to use a palette of high-definition electronics gear to explore how the latest HD technology affects the American lifestyle. The selected families will capture and share their lives using Panasonic camcorders, cameras, Toughbook computers, and plasma TVs. The product menu, with a retail value of more than $20,000, also includes a Blu-ray Disc player, surround-sound speaker system, A/V receiver, a powerline… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Displays • HDTV • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Miscellaneous • Web Services • Networking and Communication • Ethernet • Powerline • Speakers • Surround Sound • Enhancements • Product News

Two vendors unveiled somewhat offbeat HomePlug implementations recently: Sling Media—makers of the Slingbox, a hardware device that connects to your TV so you can watch TV content on Web-enabled devices—announced the SlingLink Turbo 1 Port and the SlingLink Turbo 4 Port. As the names indicate, these devices connect one or up to four devices respectively to a HomePlug ( 1.0) network. These come in pairs; one plugs into the power outlet near the router, the other connects to the device. The 1 Port costs $99.99… View this story
Set Top Boxes • Ethernet • Powerline • Networking • Info and Answers • Opinion/Soapbox

Sling Media, Inc. made watching TV on your PC a convenience. Now the company is trying to make connectivity of other A/V a convenience as well with its SlingLink Turbo products—the Turbo 4 Port and Turbo 1 Port. The SlingLink Turbo products are packaged as a pair, with one to plug straight into an AC outlet near a router and the other connected near the device you want to network into the Ethernet port(s). The Turbo 4 Port connects up to four devices, as its… View this story
AV Components • Networking and Communication • Powerline • Routers and Switches • Networking • Product News

Though the most popular, 802.11 wireless is not your only choice for home networking. You can network your devices over your phone lines, power lines, and even your coaxial cabling. And there’s always that old standby, wired Ethernet, which can’t be beat for reliability—if you don’t mind draping or snaking cables. This year, HomePlug power line technology is one the most interesting wireless alternatives. HomePlug 1.0 is a standards-based technology that yields 14 Mbps data rate (about 5-7 Mbps throughput). HomePlug products are easy to… View this story
Networking and Communication • Ethernet • Powerline • Networking • Info and Answers

In the old days of computing, each monitor used its own modem line, its own printer and its own disk drive. The recent proliferation of networking systems in homes has completely erased the lines of demarcation. By installing a system of high-speed cabling into a home, you can share files and peripherals. With a high-speed Internet connection, Web pages whiz into the PC at rates 10 times faster than a normal telephone wire can handle. Much like the networking systems used in commercial settings, these… View this story
Ethernet • Internet • Patchboards • Powerline • Routers and Switches • WiFi • System Essentials • Networking • Info and Answers