Digital Trends

Netgear EVA8000

September 5th, 2007 | by Marshal Rosenthal

Features and Design 

About the same size and weight as that of a standard DVD player, there’s no moving parts, so the unit can sit on a shelf or be placed just about anywhere without worrying about heat build-up.

There’s nothing really special about the device’s looks (except maybe for the dual antenna), but no sweat: It’s all about accessing your digital library, with the icing on the cake being some Web-based content like Internet radio stations and YouTube videos.

All the connections are on the back, so once everything’s set up, you’ll just use the remote to navigate. And about the only reason to turn the Digital Entertainer around is if it locks up and you need to push reset, which happened just once over an extended period of time and came from a momentary power glitch. (Serves me right for not having it plugged into an uninterruptible power supply…) 

Image Courtesy of Netgear

Installation/Setup 

If you just want the Digital Entertainer to hook up to your TV, use the HDMI port to send video and audio together via a single cable and also get up to 1080p resolution capability. 

Of course, there’s also the choice of a component cable, S-Video and composite. But using the analog video outputs should be a last resort, as are the RCA stereo outputs – taking the optical or coaxial out will let you hit 5.1 multi-channel audio through a receiver. In addition, ignore the rear USB 2.0 port and use the one on the front instead – it’s next to the headphone jack. 

The Digital Entertainer features both wired Ethernet and wireless connectivity. (It uses the “G” standard which is fairly fast for most content, although it can hiccup when high-resolution video is being transmit-ted.) Just remember that a network – whether wired or wireless – is required, or pretty much all of the de-vice’s personality is lost. That said, I prefer going with a wired connection to keep things simple, but I’d make sure both antennas were pointing straight up if wireless was my choice. I’m also taking the HDMI into my Denon amp, which takes care of the 5.1 audio and feeds video to my 1080p front projector. 

Turning on the Digital Entertainer, you’ll wait through a modest startup and navigate to the basic setup, which is optimally geared for PC use. (Mac/Linux users will find setup requires more personal technical expertise and offers limited functionality). The Digital Entertainer will auto-join your network, which is par for connectivity devices these days, and have you input your zip code for accessing online weather and news feeds (complete with modest imaging). 

Now it’s time to get the PC involved, and for this you’ll run step-by-step, software-based wizards that take care of needed configuration. Fortunately, the software knows its business, and as long as Windows XP is up to date, there won’t be any problems – even typical thorny issues with firewall protection and other security bugaboos are effortlessly taken care of. 

Content is aggregated so that the Entertainer can access it, and pretty much all of the expected audio and video formats are supported, from MPEG to H.264 to AVI, etc. (Including those featuring the dreaded DRM – digital rights management.) Just make sure you have the most recent version of Windows Media Player. Intel’s Viiv Media Server and iTunes are supported for use as well.