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Planon PrintStik PS910

Gordon Mah Ung — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:30:14 -0600

We thought thermal paper was dead and buried along with mimeograph paper, but look out, it’s back!

Folks who are nostalgic for the ’80s can get their curly thermal-paper fix with Planon’s portable PrintStik printer. Designed for road warriors, the PrintStik is a self-contained, battery-powered portable thermal printer. It’s small enough to fit in your bag, and if your expectations are low enough, it does the job. How low? It’s a gray-scale thermal printer, so you won’t be printing color graphics with it.

About the only thing it’s good for is printing directions or a legal contract that you need signed right that freaking minute. You certainly wouldn’t use it to print a resume—unless you’re trying really hard not to get that job.

The PrintStik charges via a standard USB port and will churn out about 30 pages on a charge—10 more pages than the printer can hold. Thermal paper is usually cheap, but not with the PrintStik. Planon charges $25 for three 20-page rolls, which is pretty steep pricing given the output quality. We thought about simply refilling the printer with generic thermal paper, but Planon has you there: The rolls are integrated into a cartridge, so you’re stuck buying from the company. Thanks, Planon.

The PrintStik is like a teleportation device back to the 1980s.

The printer can connect to a device via USB or Bluetooth. The latter could be used for connecting to a phone, but only BlackBerry drivers are currently available—Planon says it will add other phone types. We tried to print from our Bluetooth-enabled notebook PC but failed. We can’t necessarily blame Planon; if you can actually get something that’s Bluetooth-based to work, you should either buy a lottery ticket or steer clear of lightning storms. Success with the wireless standard is that rare.

Unfortunately for Planon, the USB installation wasn’t much better. We had to repeatedly cycle the power button on the printer to get it to work. We finally gave up on one machine and moved to another with the same result. Just as we were about to fling the PrintStik against the wall, the blasted thing started to work properly—on both machines.

To sum up, what you get is curly, monochrome output with terrible graphics reproduction in an expensive, albeit tiny, printer. To us, that’s just not a winning proposition. We do acknowledge that it has some utility for an extremely small set of users. For those people, it certainly is better than writing something out longhand, but for the rest of us, it might be better to just break out the Ticonderoga No. 2.

Polaroid PoGo

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0500

If you still get warm and fuzzy thinking about those James Garner and Mariette Hartley Polaroid commercials, it’s time to let go of the past. Traditional film is barely hanging on, and Polaroid has completely ceased production of instant film.

But Polaroid hasn’t abandoned its interest in prints. The company is trying to rekindle the instant-print picture industry with its new Polaroid PoGo portable printer. This 4.75”x2.75”x1” device is the first to use Zink Imaging’s Zero Ink paper. Instead of shooting dots of ink onto a piece of paper, the PoGo uses a thermal head to heat up tiny crystals embedded in each sheet of paper. Polaroid says standard dpi rules don’t apply, but the resolution is comparable to 300 dpi and each sheet has about 100 billion crystals in it. Each pic will cost about 33 cents to print.

Fun yet flawed, the PoGo tries to recapture the fun of a Polaroid.

The PoGo holds 10 2”x3” borderless sheets of paper. On a full charge, you can get up to 20 prints out of it, if you’re lucky—not enough, in our book. It doesn’t help the PoGo that its power brick is about the same size as the printer itself.

When we connected our camera via the PoGo’s USB type A port, the printer cranked out a photo in 30 seconds. You can also hook up your Bluetooth-enabled camera phone to print pictures. Or maybe not. Three of our phones failed to print via Bluetooth. After browsing Polaroid’s list of approved phones, we came to the conclusion that you have a 50 percent chance of printing from your handset. It’s not Polaroid’s fault, though: Bluetooth is one of the most botched technology rollouts in history, but Polaroid will certainly get the blame.

That’s unfortunate because there’s a lot to be said for the PoGo’s fun factor. Each print has a light adhesive backing, so you can stick your prints anywhere. Image quality is average, but the PoGo isn’t about creating crystal clear photos. It’s about the instantaneous fun of being able to give a picture to someone right after you snap it.

The PoGo is definitely a generation 1.0 product, and as such, we recommend it only for someone willing to overlook its numerous flaws in image quality, battery life, and Bluetooth connectivity. We do, however, look forward to the second-generation PoGo.

Accell’s UltraAV HDMI 4:2 Switch

Michael Brown — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:11:55 -0500

When we first reviewed Accell’s UltraAV HDMI 4:2 Audio/Video Switch, we described it as a Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde home-theater product. If you intended to use it with a PC, we recommended calling the company to find out which personality would manifest itself to you. But if your plan was to use it only with a consumer-electronics products (e.g., a standalone Blu-ray player), you didn't need to worry--it was a solid product.

Fortunately, that's all changed now--just be sure the box you pick up sports a sticker that reads "Works with PCs." This version has newer firmware that can read a PC's EDID profile properly; the original version of the product didn't and you can't update its firmware.

Accell's switch would be a great solution for folks with multiple HDMI sources and multiple HDMI displays--too bad Accell can't guarantee it'll work with your PC.

When we integrated the original version of the powered switch—which has four HDMI inputs and two HDMI outputs—into our entertainment system, we discovered a bug in its firmware that prevents it from establishing a proper handshake between some PC videocards on one side and display devices on the other. The switch worked fine when the PC was first booted up, but if we switched to another input and switched back to the PC, our two displays (a ViewSonic n4280 HDTV and an Epson PowerLite Cinema 500 projector) went black. The switch wouldn’t work at all when connected to the HDMI output of an HP Pavilion HDX notebook PC.

Accell tells us the bug did’t affect every videocard, and that it doesn’t affect consumer-electronics devices at all. Indeed, when we tested the device with a stand-alone DVD player, it worked like a charm. The problem apparently resides with the firmware’s inability to correctly serve an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) profile to the PC’s videocard. The EDID informs the videocard of the display’s basic capabilities, including the timings that the display will sync to. If the switch fails to pass the EDID to the videocard, as in our experience, you won’t get a picture.

The new version of Accell's 4:2 HDMI switch includes updated firmware that renders it compatibile with PCs; unfortunately, the old version cannot be udpated.

It’s an unfortunate problem for Accell, because the switch is an otherwise excellent value. The $175 device can not only switch between four HDMI inputs, it sends audio and video to both its HDMI outputs (at resolutions up to 1080p) at the same time. An onboard signal booster enables you to send an HDMI signal much further than the 32 feet the HDMI spec supports (Accell claims a maximum cable length of 82 feet). In our scenario, we connected our playback device to the switch using a three-foot cable, and then ran a six foot cable from the switch to a wall-mounted HDMI jack. This jack is connected to a 32-foot in-wall cable. We then used another three-foot cable to connect the projector.

An infrared remote control is included, and the switch has an IR extender jack and a five-foot cable, so you can hide the box away in an equipment closet. But for all the features and excellent performance the switch delivered with consumer-electronics devices, there’s no way we could recommend the original device; the version with the new firmware works flawlessly.

Editor's note: This review, including its verdict, has been updated to reflect our experience with a newer version of the product with revised firmware. Consumers can tell the two products apart by looking for a sticker on teh box that reads "Works With PCs." Our opinion of the original product (which doesn't have this sticker) has not changed and our "4" verdict stands.

Hands-On Reviews of 12 Hands-Free Bluetooth Devices

Steve Klett — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:21:28 -0500

Do yourself a favor: make sure your car is up to code by this July—no broken headlamps or taillights, up-to-date registration, etc. – and, oh yeah, make sure you pick up a hands-free Bluetooth device for your cell phone.

On July 1st a new law will go into effect in California making it illegal to talk on a wireless phone while operating a motor vehicle. If you are 18 or older, and you want to use your phone while driving, you will need to use a hands-free device – no “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” about it—and there will be no grace period either. If you are under 18, you can’t use your phone while driving, period. The fines are small ($20 first offense, and $50 thereafter—but amounts can triple with penalty assessments) but convictions will appear on your driving record, potentially ballooning insurance fees. Find out all about the law here: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/index.htm.

Contrary to the rumor mill you can and will be pulled over just for using your phone—no other infractions are needed. (However, running around with a headlight out and gabbing with your wireless glued to your ear will only increase your odds of getting nailed.) With the hassles and fees that come with ignoring the law, and the relatively low cost of Bluetooth hands-free devices these days, it just makes sense to cover your ass—dontcha think?

We put 12 of the newest Bluetooth devices through the wringer to help you find the right one for your car-talking habits. All of the devices were tested with one phone along the same stretch of highway at the same time of day, and call clarity was compared via voicemail recordings. Read on to find out which ones made the grade. (Prices listed are MSRP—street prices may be much lower.)

BlueAnt Z9

Website: www.myblueant.com
Battery: 5.5 hours talk time, 200 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $79.99

One of the smallest and least expensive devices in our roundup, the Z9 sports two levels of noise reduction, which BlueAnt terms Voice Isolation Technology. The first level is for standard use in normal everyday environments, the second level is for use in “extreme noise” environments, such as a car. We found both levels worked fairly well, though our voice did sound muted at times when using the maximum setting. Also, we did experience some intermittent and random “crackle” interference. Overall the Z9 delivers solid performance while also being both easy and comfortable to use.

Verdict: 7

Jabra SP5050

Website: www.jabra.com
Battery: 6 hours talk time, 150 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $98.78

Okay, so you don’t like sticking anything other than your finger into your ears. No problem—check out the sleek and stylish Jabra SP5050 speakerphone. This device clips onto your sun visor and is remarkable easy to set up and use. There’s even a night driving mode that turns off the LEDs so they won’t distract you. We also like that the device shut off automatically after losing connection with your phone for more than 15 minutes, which saves battery life.

Too bad the included car-charger cord is only three feet long, as it can interfere with driving controls if you have to use the charger while on the road. Also, while the call quality was great on surface streets, there was a definite downgrade when we hit the highway (due to escalated cabin noise) – something we experienced with all the speakerphones we tested.

Verdict: 7

Cardo S-640

Website: www.cardowireless.com
Battery: 8 hours talk time, 250 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $59.99

The S-640 is a sleek, miniscule device that clips to your shirt or pocket and strings along a tethered earbud on an 18-inch cord. In addition to the fashion benefits, this also makes the S-640 very comfortable to use during long drives. Unfortunately, the device lacks noise-cancellation technology, and our voice tended to sound more muffled on calls when compared to standard headsets. Voice clarity during non-highway use—both in the car and out—was excellent, however.

Verdict: 6

Cardo S-800

Website: www.cardowireless.com
Battery: 8 hours talk time, 168 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $79.99

The S-800 is one of the most feature-packed headsets we tested. Just about all the latest buzzwords are here: favorite numbers hot button, call back, location buzzer (love it!), auto answer, missed call indicator, conference call, voice dial—the list goes on. It also looks exceptionally cool it its silver shell (we like shiny things). Plus, embedded audio balancing, noise reduction, and speaker boost combine to deliver voice quality that is among the best we have tested.

Unfortunately, the button layout and overall design make the S-800 difficult to use, and the large earbud made for an uncomfortable fit—which definitely isn’t ideal in the car. An optional ear loop improves fit slightly, and a lanyard is included to wear the device around your neck while not in use.

Verdict: 7

Venturi Mini

Website: www.myventuri.com
Battery: DNA
Price (MSRP): $129.99

This Bluetooth speakerphone plugs into a cigarette lighter and can be used to stream music and phone calls through an available FM frequency on your car’s stereo. It also packs in a mess of useful high-end features (if your phone is compatible, that is). For example, you can import your phonebook into the device—eliminating the need to use your phone to make calls. If your car radio supports RDBS, your radio will even display phone book contacts. The Mini’s bright OLED display also shows caller ID information, and a USB port is provided so you can use the Mini to charge your phone or other USB devices.

Call clarity was acceptable, but not as good as the SP5050 or Supertooth Light speakerphones. (This may be because of the recessed location of lighter plugs, which can make it hard to speak directly into the device.)

Verdict: 6

Plantronics Explorer 370

Website: www.plantronics.com
Battery: 7 hours talk time, 200 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $79.99

This headset looks and feels like it was built like a tank—and for good reason. It was designed to meet military specifications for dust, water, and shock resistance. Indeed, we let a couple of 5-year-old rug rats play with it for an afternoon and it still worked fine—plus we soaked it in the sink and tossed it around a bit ourselves.

It’s basic as far as features go, but the controls are simple, and the set delivered good sound quality that put it squarely in the middle of the pack. Also, the 370 may be a big bulky for some ears—and aesthetic tastes. It comes with a lanyard so you can wear the device around your neck while not in use.

Verdict: 7

Plantronics Voyager 855

Website: www.plantronics.com
Battery: 7 hours talk time, 200 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $149.99

The 855 weighs in as the most spendy option in our roundup, but the extra clams are worth it if you use your phone for music playback, too. An extra, detachable earbud is included so you can listen to music in stereo, and the device’s intuitive control layout makes handling calls and music a breeze. The 855 uses Plantronic’s proprietary AudioIQ nose-reduction technology, and it works: voice clarity was excellent on both sides of the conversation. The set has a sliding boom mic that we found improved our voice quality slightly in the car. An optional ear loop is included, which is a good idea if you plan to extend the mic, as are three different sizes of gel earbud covers that help achieve the perfect fit.

Verdict: 8

Aliph’s New Jawbone

Website: www.aliph.com
Battery: 4 hours talk time, 200 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $129.99

We were a fan of the last Jawbone headset simply because calls sounded clear on both ends. However, last year’s device was a bit bulky and heavy, and the controls took some getting used to. Enter the New Jawbone, a slimmer version of its predecessor that sounds just as good, and is much more comfortable (and less embarrassing) to wear.

Cutting the Jawbone to half the size comes at a cost of 1/3 of the talk time when compared to last year’s model—but the sleeker, beveled design does not sacrifice any style points. Unfortunately, it may be too “cool” for its own good: the invisible button design still takes some getting used to, making the manual a must-read (which you really should do anyway, with any headset.) What matters, though, is that voice quality is king and the New Jawbone was neck-and-neck with the Plantronics Voyager 855 at the top of the heap. It’s not cheap, but Aliph caters to the mobile elite by throwing in four leather earloops and three sets of cushy earbuds.

Verdict: 9

BlueAnt SuperTooth Light

Website: www.myblueant.com
Battery: 15 hours talk time, 800 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $99.99

This visor-mount speakerphone uses voice-isolation and echo- and noise-suppression technology to achieve the best voice quality of the speakerphones in this roundup, delivering the clearest-sounding voice recording results. We could hear callers loud and clear while driving up the highway at 65 mph (not a smidge faster, of course). And other than our voice sounding a little muted (again, common with all speakerphones we tested), callers on the other end reported no issues with hearing us. The simple setup, intuitive controls, and excellent battery life makes this one a winner.

Verdict: 9

Jabra BT8040

Website: www.jabra.com
Battery: 15 hours talk time, 800 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $99.99

The BT8040 bests the Z9 for the smallest headset award in this roundup, and it also shaves a bit of weight and “klunkyness” by eschewing the earloop in favor of just a gel earbud for a solid fit. Three sizes of gels (six total) are provided, and we were able to achieve a comfortable, secure fit with little difficulty – your ears may differ. Some may find the lack of an earloop unsettling, but the BT8040 is ideal to use if you wear glasses. The onboard DSP combats background noise, putting the BT8040’s voice quality square in the middle of the pack. We found inbound quality to be noticeably better than outbound quality. The set also supports A2DP for music playback.

Verdict: 7

Garmin Nuvi 760

Website: www.garmin.com
Battery: DNA
Price (MSRP): $642.84

With the popularity of Garmin’s Nuvi 760 for GPS navigation the verdict we’ve rendered here is akin to heresy. However, we are looking at the device mainly for its hands-free phone feature, not its GPS functionality (which we admit is superb). As a speakerphone, the 760 just doesn’t cut it, despite handy features like the ability to upload your phonebook and view call histories, etc. The voice quality is simply marginal, on both sides of the call, and the 760 was at the bottom of the list in our roundup in this all-important category. It would be a good backup option, but we’d only recommend it for primary use if you have the quietest vehicle cabin on Earth.

Verdict: 4

Anycom Solar Car-kit

Website: www.anycom.com
Battery: 15 hours talk time, 600 hours standby
Price (MSRP): $59.99

Going green is all the rage and this speakerphone attempts to cash in on the growing desire to be eco-friendly. The device is designed to attach to your windshield, and a solar panel on the back converts three hours of sunlight into 30 minutes of talk time—should you get caught with your battery power down. The solar feature works, but is really of questionable value. And, since you have to mount the device on your windshield, it is more susceptible to road noise, which likely contributed to the lackluster call quality. Plus, right now, it is illegal in California to attach anything to your windshield. (A law allowing GPS units to be attached has been passed, but has not been enacted.)

Verdict: 5

IntelliScanner Mini

Tom Edwards — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:29:41 -0500

It’s estimated that two percent of the population suffers from OCD; IntelliScanner’s business model seems predicated on being able to capture but a small fraction of this fraction of the populace, for only the most compulsive of collectors—like me—will find a use for this product. However, if you are an obsessive collector of media—and you have a reasonable amount of disposable income—the IntelliScanner Mini might very well become a lifelong companion.

The IntelliScanner Mini set includes a small barcode scanner, a database program, and a set of 10 barcode stickers. While you can scan just about anything that has a barcode, in reality the device is best suited for keeping track of your media. After you scan items and then upload this data, the IntelliScanner’s software matches the codes with the appropriate products and creates a database. The software also uploads box art images, release information, and reviews. In our tests, the software had occasional problems finding a match, but it’s easy enough to add pertinent data by hand as needed.

For items that lack barcodes, the IntelliScanner Mini includes a pack of 10 you can affix to your belongings. However, if you collect older media (first-edition hardbacks and vinyl, in particular), it’s unlikely you’ll want to stick a barcode to your collectibles and diminish their value. Thus, the Mini’s market becomes even narrower, to those collecting new media.

An additional use is to scan your valuables in order to keep a database of items in case of fire or theft. But we can think of less costly means of tracking our items, but if you are the lazy sort who wants some peace of mind, perhaps this is the product for you. While we don’t typically blanch at a $300 price tag and would easily shell out more for any number of components for our rigs, that kind of scratch for a gadget is a bit steep

Headplay Personal Cinema

Michael Brown — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:17:41 -0500

If you’re just dying to strap a display to your head, the Headplay Personal Cinema is your best choice. It’s comfortable, even for people who wear glasses, supports a wide range of input devices, and delivers relatively high resolution, and the only virtual-reality feature it lacks is head tracking.

The Headplay’s liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display, which sports an 800x600 resolution, is a step above the Vuzix iWear VR920’s LCD, which is limited to 640x480. And while the Headplay’s simple padded visor might look cheap, it’s much more comfortable than the Vuzix’s eyeglass frames. The inclusion of focus sliders enables even folks who need prescription bifocals to use the Headplay without their cheaters. (There’s an interpupillary adjustment, too.)

Flexibility is the Headplay’s other strong suit. Rather than plug straight into your PC, the visor connects to a powered brick (battery power is also an option) with a host of inputs, including VGA, S-video, mini USB 2.0, and two USB 2.0 ports (acting as either host or client); there’s even a Compact Flash slot. The earbuds aren’t integrated into the visor, which makes it easy to replace them with your own.

The Headplay supports Nvidia’s stereoscopic drivers, but we consider this to be a checklist item rather than a crucial feature: Nvidia is notorious for leaving stereoscopic support out of its most recent drivers, and AMD doesn’t support stereoscopic viewing at all.

The primary advantage that manufacturers such as Headplay and Vuzix always boast of is that playing a game or watching a movie on their headsets is equivalent to sitting in front of a 50- or 60-inch conventional display. While that may be true, it doesn’t change the fact that the displays these headsets provide are extended definition at best, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. For the price of the Headplay Personal Cinema, you could buy a 24-inch monitor capable of a 1920x1200 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. You won’t be able to watch porn in secret, but you will get a compelling visual experience.

Amazon Kindle

Will Smith — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:37:51 -0600

We’ve long appreciated the concept of the eBook, but we’ve been disappointed in its execution. The old Franklin readers ate batteries, had small screens, and included only a meager selection of books. Sony’s Reader has a better battery life, but the selection of first-run books leaves much to be desired. Amazon’s new Kindle solves many of these problems but introduces an even thornier one.

The Kindle's screen is made up of a ton of tiny magnetic balls, which are light on one side and dark on the other.

Like the Sony Reader, the Kindle sports a 6-inch black-and-white E Ink screen. Unlike backlit LCD screens, E Ink draws power only when pixels are changing, which greatly improves battery life for this type of device. There are other benefits as well: The screen looks more paperlike and is easier on the eyes than a typical backlit LCD. Of course, there’s a downside: The screen redraw time is very slow, you need an external source of light to see what’s on the screen, and E Ink is limited to black and white, at least for now. The Kindle’s 188MB of onboard memory should be sufficient to hold at least 100 average-size books and an integrated SD card slot allows for additional storage.

What separates the Kindle from other electronic books is its tight integration with Amazon. By building in an EVDO cellular data connection and connectivity to the Kindle store, Amazon removed the requirement for a PC from the eBook equation. There’s no monthly charge for the wireless service, and downloading books takes less than a minute. Furthermore, Amazon is selling electronic books at a steep discount over their dead-tree brethren. The most expensive (non-textbook) title we’ve seen on the service is $9.99, with many older books priced substantially lower. With only about 90,000 titles available currently, finding the book you’re looking for can be hit or miss, but the selection is growing every day, and includes all the current bestsellers, plus a respectable back catalog. Unlike other eBooks, the Kindle could be a money-saving proposition for voracious readers who purchase lots of hardcover books.

Kindle also allows you to access newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For a small subscription fee (the New York Times costs $15/month, Boing Boing costs $2/month), your Kindle will automatically download the news of the day from your publication of choice. The newspaper selection includes major dailies from around the country, but the magazine selection lacks many publications we’d like to have. Because of the limitations of the black-and-white screen, only text-heavy magazines like Newsweek are available via Kindle. We wouldn’t buy a Kindle just to read the San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek, but it’s a handy bonus.

Naturally, if you live outside an area serviced by Sprint/Nextel’s data coverage, then you can use your PC to download and copy content to the Kindle, either over USB or by copying it to an SD card. You can also use the same mechanisms to back up your purchased Kindle content, although that isn’t necessary. All of your digital purchases are automatically backed up online at Amazon’s digital media locker. If you delete something from your Kindle and later want to reread it, you can easily redownload it from Amazon at no additional charge.

There are some problems with the Kindle. Using the wireless service absolutely destroys the battery life. With wireless disabled, the Kindle’s battery lasts more than a week, but we could mow through a half-charge in the time it took to find and download a couple of new books. We also strongly dislike the Kindle’s proprietary file format. In order to view a PDF on the device, you must email it to a special email address, which will convert the PDF to the Kindle format and automatically deliver it—for $0.10. And the larger problem is that Kindle books you buy from Amazon won’t necessarily work with future eBook readers. By using a closed format, Amazon effectively locks you into its hardware platform, at least if you want to be able to revisit your old purchases. There isn’t even a reader program for your PC. Be aware of this before you shell out $400 for a Kindle.

The Kindle is an extremely promising platform, but until Amazon commits to building a migration path for users to move their books from one eBook platform to another, we just can’t give it a glowing recommendation.

Niles Audio RCA-HT Remote Control Anywhere Kit

Michael Brown — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:33:11 -0600

You can take one of two approaches with the gear in your home-theater system: Put everything on display, or you hide your components in a cabinet or closet. If you prefer discretion over exhibitionism, Niles Audio’s Remote Control Anywhere kit lets you to control all your infrared-controlled components no matter where you’ve stashed them.

The $270 kit—which consists of a master connection hub, one master sensor, five infrared emitters, and 50 feet of Cat5 cable (to extend the master sensor’s 10-foot cable)—is extremely easy to deploy: Simply glue the emitters in front of the IR receivers on your components, plug their cables into the control module, glue the surface-mount master sensor somewhere discrete, and plug in the power adapter. Pre-drilled holes in the flanges of the control module’s metal housing renders the device easy to mount on most any surface.

The master sensor can be hidden in an inconspicuous spot. Niles also offers other types of sensors that can be placed on a tabletop or in the ceiling.

The master sensor has a receiving angle of 60 degrees off axis (horizontal and vertical) at 20 feet, which enabled us to tuck the receiver in a very inconspicuous spot between two cabinet doors. We attached the emitters to our A/V receiver, satellite set-top box, DVD player, and VCR and had the system up and running in the media room at Maximum PC Lab North inside of 15 minutes. We spent most of that time finding the sweet spots on our components’ IR receivers.

The master IR sensor has a green LED (to the right of the sensor lens) that informs you when your system is powered on; unfortunately, actually making use of it requires the purchase of a $15 accessory.

If your A/V receiver has provisions for a second zone (meaning it can play audio and/or video—either from the same source or from an independent one—in a second room), the connection hub can accommodate a second master sensor. This would enable you to manage all your gear from a second room. Unfortunately, the second master sensor is not included in the kit. We’re guessing this is because Niles offers a variety of sensors (wall mount, tabletop, ceiling mount, flush mount, wall mount with volume-control knob, and so on), but none of them are cheap. The identical surface-mount model, for example, carries a street price of $117.

The surface-mount master sensors are equipped with a green LED that glows to inform you that your A/V receiver is powered on. Here again, however, enabling this feature requires optional equipment. In this case, a $15 power adapter that you plug into the switched A/C outlet on your receiver.

The kit includes five IR blasters that you'll need to glue to the components you wish to control.

We don’t usually discuss a product’s user manual, but we’re making an exception in this case. Although Niles does a great deal of business with custom installers, this seemingly simple product comes with an extremely thorough 24-page user manual that covers installation in both new and existing construction.

If you don’t need the second-zone feature this kit has to offer, Niles’ model RCA-SM is about $50 cheaper. Heck, you could avoid buying the kit entirely by putting a glass door on your entertainment center, but where’s the fun in that?