CES Goes to the XStream

This was the third year satellite start up XstreamHD appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and for the first time ever I walked away from their booth excited for them and felt that this company was for real. In fact I walked away saying that this company is ready for it’s launch.

I was able to sit and chat with XStreamHD CEO George Gonzalez at CES about his company and I could feel the pride and excitement beaming off of him. You could tell he was now ready for this product to launch and he gave me a demo of the system showing it in full operation.

To explain XStreamHD is hard, think of it like a VUDU or BOXEE type system where movies are brought into your home via a set top box. What makes XStreamHD different is that the content is delivered to your homes via satellite and the big stand out is that you receive these movies in the highest quality possible, complete with full 1080p output and full 7.1 loss less master audio.

With XStreamHD is is possible to enjoy movies that as good as if not better then what you can get off of Blu-ray discs. But the satellite delivery of movies was only one of the features of XStreamHD. One of the main features I like is that it brings multi-room entertainment into your home. Because it is a media server you can start watching a movie in one room, pause it and enjoy it in another room. Or you can enjoy one movie in your living room while the kids are enjoying a kids movie in the family room.

The XStreamHD Media server also features three ATSC over the air tuners allowing you to watch live television anywhere in your house and features a networked video recorder allowing you to record and enjoy your favorite shows when you want.

One of the features I like is that it also is a DLNA server meaning you can load all of your music, movies, and photos on your server and access and enjoy your content anywhere in your house. In fact since the media server is DLNA certified you can access and enjoy all that XStreamHD offers on DLNA compatible equipment such as your PlayStation 3 console. (No need for an additional receiver!)

As George demoed the system to me I asked him when we will finally be able to buy and use XStreamHD and that’s when the biggest smile came across his face and he told me that it would be available in April. I could almost tell how relieved he was that he finally had a date to go live.

George also showed a lot of pride by showing me a waveform display showing me that XStreamHD was now actually broadcasting via satellite, and again he seemed excited as he could see that he dream was finally coming all together.

The cost to get a XStreamHD system start at around $400 which to many folks might sound high, but when you consider that this system will give you the best movie sound and video combined with hardware which will become the hub of your entertainment center (for your entire house) then the price is not bad at all. Truth is if you want the best then XStreamHD will give it to you.

When George and I were done talking I walked away from the booth excited about XStreamHD and also felt good for George as his dream is almost real. 2010 will be the year (finally) for the true birth of XStreamHD and I look forward to being one of Georges first customers.