Media extenders, which bridge the gap between PC and TV, are nothing new. And Netgear's Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9150 ($399.99 direct) is a useful update to previous iterations of the manufacturer's media extender line. Excellent file support and ...

Excellent file support. Intuitive user interface. Easy-to-use multifunction remote. HD-compatible. Several connectivity options. 500GB hard drive. Built-in YouTube, Flickr, Internet radio support

Video streaming is very weak. Graphics are rather plain. Sometimes displays wrong album art. Pricey

With a huge hard drive and excellent file support, Netgear's EVA9150 is a strong media extender, but its weakness with streaming video will likely be a deal-breaker for many.

Sony's PlayStation 3 game console has thwarted all attempts to lay claim to its title of fastest-loading Blu-ray disc (BD) playeruntil now, that is. The LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player ($349.95 list) knocked the PS3 off its pedestal on every ...

Fast disc load times. Solid DVD upconversion. Supports Netflix Instant Streaming.

BD-Live functionality requires external-USB-based storage device. Some on-player controls are difficult to operate.

The LG BD300 is the fastest Blu-ray player we've tested, and its support for Netflix Instant Streaming is a nice bonus that comes with this solid value.

We live in an era where every six months a newer and speedier graphics card emerges that pushes pixels exponentially faster than its predecessor, but at its core is still just a faster graphics card. There hasn't been much in way of truly mind-blowing ...

Enhances your favorite games. Easy setup. Will work with HDTVs and monitors

A pricey addition if you are not going to use it often. May cause some eye strain if used for several hours

Nvidia's GeForce 3D Vision is a little icing on the cake for anyone with a serious gaming computer. If you are a hardcore gamer and will use them regularly, these 3D glasses are a good investment and a fun treat.

has been co-opted by the masses as shorthand for "Record that program!" (as in "I need to TiVo tonight's episode of Heroes."). The "guts" of a TiVo DVR box are very similar to those of an average PC, with the addition of a couple of specialized chips. ...

Adds excellent TiVo interface and features to your PC. Complete hardware/software package includes TiVo remote and IR blaster. One year TiVo service included. It's easier to add hard drives for additional storage to a PC than to a TiVo box

No premium channels through included tuner without a set-top box. Only one set-top box supported, and setup requires wiring. Requires a lot of PC horsepower. DVR subject to PC crashes

Nero's LiquidTV brings the top-notch TiVo interface and all its talents to your PC. While it's not a replacement for a traditional TiVo DVR, it's a solid attempt at convergence between your computer and your living-room entertainment.

Linksys EasyLink Advisor 3.0 has a ways to go before it threatens the Network Magic network-management application.

Free with router purchase. Cool network-map graphics.

Confusing install process for newbies. Many nonworking features. Fewer diagnostic and security tools than Network Magic.

LELA 3.0 will be a handy home network monitoring utility as soon as Linksys irons out some significant bugs.

MediaGate's new MG-450HD media extender looks very similar to last year's MG-350HD model. In fact, there are only a few differences: The new device has an HDMI output (instead of DVI), SATA hard drive support instead of IDE, and the remote control now ...

Wirelessly loads a local hard drive with content from your PC. Supports high-def playback. Streams audio and photos from PC. Plays content from USB flash drives. Nice-looking user interface.

Poor video-streaming capabilities. Difficult to set up.

The MediaGate MG-450HD living-room media extender offers minor improvement over the original and comes at a slightly lower price.

Even with skyrocketing fuel prices, millions of Americans will soon be heading out on summer road trips. And of the hundreds of million pictures taken to remember the vacations, I'm betting that a pretty good percentage of them will be digital. Wouldn ...

Easy-to-use software. Sensitive GPS receiver. Helpful status LEDs. Good battery life.

Relatively expensive.

The Merax Photo Finder GPS has easy-to-use software that simplifies tagging photos and uploading albums to the Web.

There's a lot of buzz about geotagging these days. In fact, this year I expect we'll see cameras equipped with built-in GPS receivers that can automatically tag photos with location information as they're shot. But what if you don't have one of these ...

Sensitive GPS receiver. Supports Google Earth, Microsoft Streets and Trips, and Microsoft Visual Earth.

No Mac support. User guide is difficult to find.

Pharos Trips and Pics logs your journeys and provides geographical information for your photos in popular mapping programs like Google Earth.

This 7-inch digital photo frame's rechargeable battery makes it handily portable, but poor contrast levels mean drab images.

Sharp images. Runs on AC or rechargeable battery. Changeable faceplates.

Low-contrast levels result in overexposed images. Battery provides only an hour of photo viewing. No remote control.

This 7-inch digital photo frame's rechargeable battery makes it handily portable, but poor contrast levels make images look a bit washed out.

The Zenith digital TV tuner delivers DVD-quality digital broadcast images even on older analog TVs. Perhaps even more significant, it also will receive many more programs, the "multicast" channels delivered by many digital TV broadcasters without a ...

Not yet reviewed by editors.