More on Life|ware's CEDIA offerings

I just wanted to add to Adrienne's comments about Life|ware's new models with a few impressions of the company's so-called "High Density TV" feature. It’s one thing to hear a marketing guy say, “We’ve got eight CableCARD tuners and support for ten Media Center Extenders.” It’s another thing entirely to witness Life|ware pulling this feat off on the CEDIA show floor firsthand.

The centerpiece of Life|ware’s booth is a monstrous display, with the company’s Windows Vista-based Life|media 810 server and Life|tuner streaming contently seamlessly and effortless to ten Xbox 360 Elite’s and into ten flat panel displays.

Previously, Microsoft limited such streaming to five Extenders per server, but with the advent of quad-core processors, that artificial ceiling has been lifted. Just thinking about the implications is a bit staggering: you can now record eight high-definition cable TV shows simultaneously, and watch ten different recorded shows throughout the house at any time. If you need more TV than that, you might consider counseling. But the point is, it works flawlessly.

Another cool debut at the show is Life|ware’s complete integration with Kaleidescape movie and music servers. I was treated to a demonstration in Life|ware’s theater on the show floor, and have to admit I was a bit blown away by the lightning-quick response. If I didn’t know better I would have wondered if somehow Life|ware had integrated the Kaleidescape interface directly into its own media servers.

Somewhat less lickity-split, but just as cool, was the demo of Life|ware’s iPod Touch/iPhone app. I’ll admit, the GUI wasn’t quite as nice as Life|ware’s own Life|point touch panel, but it’s still quite handsome, and a snap to control every aspect of a complete Life|ware system right from the palm of your hand.