That’s why I thought I would love the Verizon FiOS Mobile Remote. It’s an app that turns your smartphone (currently only two phones, the excellent Motorola Droid and the so-so HTC Imagio, are supported) into a remote control for your FiOS set-top box. As it turns out, though, setting up the app was much more difficult than it should have been — thanks to some weird settings on the HTC Imagio review unit I used for testing — and the app itself left me wanting a bit more.

To use Mobile Remote, you need to install the app on your Droid or Imagio smartphone. Droid users will find the app in the Android Marketplace, while users of the Windows Mobile-based Imagio can download it via their mobile browser. (Note that your phone must be connected to a Verizon FiOS Wi-Fi network in order for the Mobile Remote app to work. ) You then need to enable the Mobile Remote widget on your FiOS set-top box. You register your phone by entering your mobile number on the TV. Once the setup is complete, you just launch the app on your phone and it will automatically connect to your TV; a small icon will appear, briefly, in the corner of your TV to tell you that the connection has gone through.

Getting to this point, though, was difficult for me. I followed the setup instructions to the letter, only to find out that my phone wouldn’t connect to my TV. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app on my phone and tried again. Still no luck. I then exchanged several e-mails with Verizon’s tech support, and talked to them on the phone several times. They checked all of the settings on my set-top box, and said they could find no discernable problems.

I was ready to throw in the towel when the FiOS folks offered to send help directly to my house. Two reps walked in, one of whom already had the app installed on his Motorola Droid. He took a look at my TV, and within minutes had his phone connected to my TV. The problem was, we had discovered, with my HTC Imagio. He fiddled with the wireless settings and was able to get the Imagio connected to my TV, too. Finally. (As a side note, the Imagio review unit that I have for testing has had repeated problems establishing and maintaining a Wi-Fi connection.)

After all that work to get it up and running, the Mobile Remote app had a lot to live up to. And it did deliver, to a certain extent. I was able to instantaneously adjust the volume and channels using the up and down arrows on my phone’s screen; the TV reacted to the phone just as quickly as it did to my actual remote.

The biggest drawback of the Mobile Remote app is that it does not display a numeric keypad on the screen; it shows only arrows or DVR controls. And you’ll need numbers, especially if you’re hoping to switch from channel 103 to 665 in time to catch your favorite show. To access numbers, you hit the “keypad” icon on the bottom of the screen, which brings up an on-screen QWERTY keyboard — letters, not numbers. You then hit the numbers icon to find the numbers themselves, which are laid out in a straight line as if you were accessing them on a keyboard. I’d much rather see the Mobile Remote app display an on-screen replica of the number buttons as laid out on your actual remote. Verizon says this is something that could be added to a future release.

The app does have some nice touches though. For one, it automatically mutes the TV when a call comes into your phone. It also lets you display photos from your phone on your TV, and lets you import your favorite channels from the TV to the phone to make switching to those channels easier.

Mobile Remote is not quite the improvement over my actual FiOS remote that I was hoping for. If Verizon adds a numeric keypad, though, and makes it available on more phones, Mobile Remote could be the answer to my remote control woes. It’s just not there yet.

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FLO TV launched the Personal Television late last year, but the company has been providing mobile TV service via cell phones for a couple of years now. FLO TV service is delivered over a dedicated mobile TV network; it doesn’t piggyback on existing 3G networks used by cellular carriers. The company says this allows it to deliver a higher-quality television experience, one that is more like the TV-watching experience that people are used to having at home.

But using the Personal Television did not quite live up to that standard, even though the $200 device makes a great first impression. It’s small (4.5 inches wide by 3.1 inches tall by .5 inches thick); at first glance you could mistake it for a portable GPS. It features a 3.5-inch touch screen for watching TV, and a neat little kickstand that flips out for propping it up on a table or desk. 

The Personal Television relies on FLO TV’s service for content, and the service is a bit expensive for what it delivers: it costs $14.99 per month (though you do get six months of free service when you purchase the device). FLO TV delivers about 15 channels to the Personal Television, including ABC Mobile, CBS Mobile, NBC 2Go, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon, among others.

Some of the content is simulcast with what the networks are broadcasting to regular old TVs. If you turn on CBS Mobile at 11:30 at night, for example, you’ll see David Letterman. But some of the content is also “timeshifted,” according to FLO TV. Letterman’s show, for example, is shown again the day after it airs at 11:30 am, so that people can watch it on their lunch break.

The timeshifting serves a couple of purposes. One, it fills gaps that might occur because FLO TV does not broadcast your local programming, like the news you might see at noon every day. It also allows you to watch programs that you’d miss because the Personal Television does not offer any DVR-type recording features, nor does it offer access to any sort of on-demand library — yet. FLO TV says on demand features are likely to be added to future products.

The absence of a DVR and an on-demand library is not a deal breaker for me. But the poor reception I often experienced when testing the Personal Television would be. According to FLO TV’s coverage map, I live in an area with relatively good service. Yet, in some areas of my house, reception ranged from poor to nonexistent. Programs often looked pixelated and smeared, and sometimes the video froze up completely while waiting for a signal.

Reception did improve when I moved around the house, and got even better when I drove to a neighboring town to test the device. At its best, the picture looked as crisp and clear as anything you’d see on a standard definition TV. The 3.5-inch screen can feel small, though, so expect to squint if you’re trying to make out the text in a news report, for example.

The Personal Television is FLO TV’s first dedicated device, and the company says it does not consider itself a “device company,” but rather a company committed to bringing the experience of mobile TV to consumers. To that end, FLO TV is currently working on both an in-car TV system and an iPhone add-on.

The Personal Television is hampered by its high price and mixed reception, but it could also benefit from more programming. I think the idea behind it has promise, though, and I’m very interested to see how well the iPhone add-on works when it’s available later this year. Using a device I already own to watch TV on the go could be a lot more convenient — and affordable — than purchasing an additional device just for that luxury.

Now that I’ve spent some time testing out the Intel Wireless Display system, I can say that it lived up to my expectations — for the most part. The system was not without the occasional hiccup, but overall, it provided one of the best ways I’ve found for viewing PC-based content on your TV.

The system is only available on three laptops: the Toshiba E205-S1904, Dell S15Z-2249CPN, and Sony VPCS111FM/S, all of which are available exclusively from Best Buy. As of this writing, the retailer is offering the Push2TV adapter as a free add-on when you purchase one.

Once you have a compatible laptop and the Netgear Push2TV adapter (I tested the system out on the Dell model), the setup is quick and easy. You connect the Push2TV, which is about the size of a small external hard drive, to your TV using the included HDMI cable and then plug it in. (Alternatively, the box can connect to your TV via component A/V, but you’ll need to supply your own cable.) You then turn it on, and you’ll see a screen on your TV telling you the device is ready to make a connection.

The Push2TV box came with a note suggesting that you update the Intel Wireless drivers on your laptop before using the Intel Wireless Display software. As it turned out, updating the drivers was the most time-consuming part of the setup. After I installed the new drivers, I was unable to connect my laptop to any wireless networks for several minutes. It took several reboots before my computer was up and running again. (NOTE: I’ve asked Intel about this and they are looking into it.)

Once my laptop was back in working order, I launched the Intel Wireless Display software using the handy shortcut button on the top of the keyboard. You press a button to scan for available adapters if yours is not showing up in the list of devices. (On subsequent connections, the device should already appear when you launch the software.) You click a button to connect, and, if it’s your first time making a connection, you’ll need to enter security codes that appear on your TV screen into the software on your laptop.

Once the Intel Wireless Display is connected to the Push2TV box, you’ll see your laptop screen mirrored on your TV. You do not have the option to extend your computer display over to your TV, thereby leaving you with space to work on your laptop; both displays show the exact same contents. If you bring up your e-mail, you’ll see your e-mail on your TV. If you bring up your Facebook page on your computer, you’ll see it on your TV.

And if you bring up Hulu and launch a video, you’ll see it on your TV. You’ll also hear the sound on your TV — and through your laptop, so you’ll want to mute your computer in order to have the best audio experience. 

I watched an episode of Lost from ABC.com and it looked and sounded very good on my TV. In fact, the video looked just as good –- if not better –- on my TV than it did on my computer. Audio and video were perfectly in sync, and I noticed only one small instance of the video stuttering. The only oddity was that I was unable to get the white cursor of my computer to disappear, so I saw it on my TV screen, even when I was watching the video in full-screen mode.

The experience was even better when I used the Intel Wireless Display system to watch a video that was stored locally on my hard drive. I used VLC’s excellent media player to watch an episode of 30 Rock that I had downloaded, and when I put it in full-screen mode, I was able to forget that I was actually watching it via my computer — that is, until my screen saver launched, obscuring the video.

The Intel Wireless Display and Push2TV box are designed to play back almost any kind of content, including YouTube videos, Flash content embedded in Web sites, video from Hulu, and content purchased from iTunes. The Best Buy sales rep that I spoke to said that the system would not play back content from commercial DVDs or Blu-ray discs, though, as they were copy protected. But when I inserted a DVD in my laptop (a new copy of the Disney Pixar movie “Cars”), it played back on my TV without a problem. In fact, it looked stunning. Video was crisp and clear and very, very bright.

It supports video resolutions up to 720p, which may seem low if you have a 1080p TV. But keep in mind that the video resolution is more likely to be restricted by the source content anyway. Netgear’s instructions tell you to keep your laptop and the Push2TV box within 12 feet of each other, and say that you need a line-of-sight between the two. I tried putting my laptop in another room, though, and the video played back flawlessly.

Oddly, though, on another occasion, when my laptop was sitting less than five feet away from the Push2TV box, the Intel Wireless Display lost the connection between the two. It was unable to find the Push2TV box again until I rebooted.

This was a minor annoyance only, though, and one that seems even less consequential when thinking about how easy this system is to set up and use. Right now, the biggest weakness of the Intel Wireless Display/Netgear Push2TV combo package is how limited it is in availability. You need to purchase a brand-new laptop in order to take advantage of it. If Intel could offer the Wireless Display technology as an add-on for existing laptops, it would make this system more appealing — and affordable.

The BlackArmor NAS 110, which is available in versions with 1TB and 2TB of storage, is designed for the small/home office or “prosumer” user, according to Seagate. And it does have some very business-focused features, such as the ability to back up as many as 10 connected PCs and support for Windows Server 2008, so that a small office could use the device as its primary server.

But it also offers some home entertainment features, too, such as the ability to share media files with DLNA-compliant devices, like many set-top boxes. It also works as an iTunes server, letting you share audio and video files with other computers on your network running Apple’s software. All of its media sharing features worked as advertised, but the BlackArmor NAS 110 doesn’t offer any extra media-friendly features that would make this drive stand out from what it becoming an increasingly crowded market.

Seagate’s BlackArmor NAS 110 sports a sleek black design that belies its geeky interior; it’s a bit smaller and more square-shaped than your average hardcover book. To install it, you just connect it to your router using the included Ethernet cable and then plug it in. You then install the BlackArmor Discovery app on your computer (Windows or Mac) to locate and map the drive. Seagate also includes a BackArmor Backup app that can be used to set up automatic backups.

Seagate’s Discovery app automatically finds your Seagate drive, and you just click a button to see the drive details. It shows you the folders that exist on the drive, and you can connect to them from within the software, or you can choose to map them so that you can access them later, without using the software.

But things go downhill when you enter Seagate’s Web-based interface for actually managing your BlackArmor drive. You get a Spartan interface — which I actually like, as it loads quickly and doesn’t overwhelm — but the options become more complex. You can delete the existing folders on the drive and add new ones, but when you create new folders, you’re presented with options that can be difficult to navigate. For example, when you add a new folder you have to select which of the following services you’d like: CIFS, FTP, or NFS. While a technically-savvy user may be able to select his service without a second thought, a home user who’s looking to share some video files may be confused.

Also confusing : Once you create a folder — selecting the services you want — you’re then presented with a second screen where you have to set access rights to the drive. I thought I had granted myself (as the admin) rights to all of my folders, but found myself unable to access any of them a few minutes later. My error was easily resolved by a quick trip back to Seagate’s software, but a clearer setup process could have helped me avoid it altogether.

Once you get past all of the administration woes, though, the BlackArmor NAS 110 performs well. It streams files to DLNA-compliant set-top boxes without incident, and allowed me to share audio files between two computers running iTunes.

But performing well on these, the most basic of media streaming tasks, isn’t reason enough to buy this drive. When you compare it to Netgear’s Stora, which has its own embedded media player software that lets you play back music and video files right from the drive, Seagate’s drive feels downright pedestrian. If you’re a business user looking for secure file storage and backup, the BlackArmor NAS 110 could meet your needs. But if you’re a home entertainment junkie looking to share audio and video files throughout your house, you can do better than this drive.

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That’s why I thought a USB TV tuner might be the perfect solution: I could hook it up to my computer and view HD content on my shiny new 20-inch monitor. I’d pay only once — the upfront cost for the TV tuner — and could kiss cable bills goodbye forever.

As it turns out, though, paying cable bills might not be so bad after all, if the few days I’ve spent testing Hauppauge’s WinTV-HVR 1950 USB 2.0 Hybrid TV tuner are any indication. This $149 device has plenty of potential — and in the right circumstances, could prove useful — but it didn’t work well enough in my house to make me think about cutting the cable.

The WinTV-HVR 1950 is actually a small box, slightly smaller but thicker than a CD case, that connects to your computer via USB 2.0. It can capture analog NTSC and digital ATSC channels, as well as ClearQAM (unencrypted cable) channels. You also can connect external video sources (like DVD players) using the tuner’s S-Video and composite video inputs.

Hauppauge recommends connecting an external antenna when scanning for over-the-air channels, but, unfortunately, the company does not supply one with the device. Even a small, portable antenna, like the one included with the company’s WinTV-HVR-950Q I tested a few years ago, would have helped. When I connected the tuner in my home office and scanned for ATSC channels, it found zero. My computer is next to a window, and there are no tall buildings in my neighborhood to block transmission, but when used without an antenna, the WinTV-HVR 1950 was not able to pick up any channels.

When I tried the tuner on my laptop, in a downstairs room in my house, I had better luck, and was able to pick up a handful of over-the-air stations. Still, if you want to use this product on a desktop computer that’s in a fixed location, you’ll need to purchase your own antenna. Unless you happen to have one sitting on your roof, that is. The user manual notes that a roof-top antenna will deliver the best picture, but let’s be serious: who has a roof-top antenna these days? And who’s willing to hook one up just to use a TV tuner with their computer?

Not me. That’s why I switched to scanning for ClearQAM channels. To do so, you need to connect a cable line-in to the WintTV-HVR 1950, so you’ll, presumably, need a cable subscription. You could get by with paying for only the most basic service, I suppose, but doing so defeats my stated goal of going without cable entirely.

But the tuner did find plenty of ClearQAM channels; after scanning for just a few minutes, it identified more than 600 channels. That number was made even more overwhelming when I started watching them on the included WinTV software, and found that the way they were numbered made absolutely no sense. The HD broadcast of what is usually Channel 2 appeared as Channel 12203. Channel 4 was channel 63.10451. Only a few of the stations had names with them; most were represented as only a baffling series of numbers.

None of the channels had any programming information with them either, all of the shows were labeled “Unknown.” That means that if I wanted to record them using the WinTV software, which is actually pretty slick, I’d have to do so manually.

The good news is that all of the channels I was able to watch, both the ClearQAM stations and those that I was able to receive over-the-air without an antenna, looked great. HD picture quality was excellent, and even standard definition programs looked relatively clear. That’s why I think that Hauppauge’s USB TV tuner does have potential. If your computer is portable, or in an area that gets good reception, this device could prove to be cost-effective. But for the rest of us, Hauppauge needs to include an antenna. Until then, I guess I’m stuck paying for cable.

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To be fair, the ViewSonic MovieBook is not designed to compete with a full-scale tablet; it’s more of a rival for Apple’s iPod Touch. Like the iPod Touch, the MovieBook plays back audio, video, and image files stored on its 8GB of internal memory. Apple’s device packs in more internal memory — it’s available in 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions — but the MovieBook does features a microSD card slot for adding more storage.

Like the iPod Touch, the MovieBook features a minimalist design: from the front, all you see is the 4.3-inch screen, which is significantly larger than the iPod’s 3.5-inch screen. What the MovieBook offers in size and resolution (its screen displays HD content up to 720p), it lacks in touch, though. To use the device, you’re forced to rely on its sub-par controls, which sit on the edges of the player.

The MovieBook also lacks any sort of wireless connectivity for accessing content; the only way to get content on the player itself is to transfer it using the included USB cord or to put it on a microSD card. Once the content is on the device, ViewSonic’s menu system makes it easy to find. It’s organized with folders for music, photos, videos, e-books, and voice recordings (which you can create on the player); those folders each have sub-folders for the different storage locations, such as local disk and external disk.

While the menu system is nicely laid out, the same can’t be said of the MovieBook’s controls. To move through menus and play back content, you’re forced to rely on a series of small buttons on the top of the player. They’re easy enough to find by feel, but their functionality isn’t always intuitive, so I found that I often had to tilt the player down to see which button I needed to press. A touchscreen with on-screen icons would be much easier to use.

While the lack of a touch screen is almost forgivable, the inability to fast forward and rewind video content is not. I accidentally re-started one of the videos I wanted to watch, and could find no way to fast forward to the point where I’d left off. (The device gives you that option when you resume playing a file, but I accidentally chose the option to start the file over from the beginning, and then had to sit through 20 minutes of content I’d already watched.)

Content looks great on the MovieBook’s 4.3-inch screen, though. The device supports a wide range of video file formats, including AVI, RM/RMVB, MP4, MOV, PMP, MPG, DAT, H.264, and H.263. All of the files I transferred to the device started playing instantly, with no lag time at all, and the picture was crisp and clear. The included speaker provided decent, if not overwhelmingly loud, audio, and ViewSonic includes earphones, too.

Also included are the necessary cables (audio out and composite A/V) for connecting the MovieBook to your TV. Doing so is easy, and content looked decent when viewed on a bigger screen. A remote control is included, too, which can be handy when using the MovieBook as a set-top box.

ViewSonic’s MovieBook sells for about $120, which seems like a bargain compared to the $199 price tag that Apple’s 8GB iPod Touch sports. But while its bigger screen is nice, the MovieBook lacks the intuitive controls that make Apple’s device and its ecosystem so appealing.

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But that doesn’t mean I’m writing off the products from CES entirely. Here are five devices that were on display at CES that I’m hoping to get my hands on, and soon.

HTC HD2

I know Windows Mobile phones are yesterday’s news. But, to be honest, it’s not the phone features of HTC HD2 smartphone that have me so interested; it’s the phone’s 4.3-inch screen. I loved the roomy 3.7-inch screen on the Motorola Droid, so I can’t wait to check out this one. I’m often watching video on or capturing video with my phone, and I sometimes find myself squinting at the 3.5-inch display. An upgrade to a 4.3-inch screen would be welcome. But, we don’t yet know which carrier will offer the HTC HD2 in the U.S.; that could make a real difference in what kind of video services it offers — and could make or break this phone as a mobile video device.

Tivit

Now the Tivit would make a killer accessory for the HTC HD2 — if only this portable TV receiver worked with Windows Mobile phones. Alas, the Tivit, made by a company called Valups, compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry phones with Wi-Fi, and some Android phones. The Tivit uses the Mobile DTV standard and, after you download the necessary viewing software on your phone, broadcasts Mobile DTV channels to your phone.

Vizio TVs

Vizio is known for making budget-friendly HDTVs, and the company had a presence at CES, both on and off the show floor. One of my former colleagues from PC World visited Vizio at CES and got a peek at some pretty cool sounding products — they’re so cool, in fact, that I’m putting two of them on this list.

One is the XVT Pro series of HDTVs. These feature built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity; support for Vizio’s own line of apps and Yahoo Widgets (so I can access ZeeVee’s Zinc app on my TV); support for Wireless HD; and — best of all — Bluetooth remotes with slide-out keyboards.

That’s for when I’m at home. When I’m on the go, I’ll take one of Vizio’s portable televisions — either the 9- or 10-inch model, which the company says are among the first to receive broadcasts using the new ATSC mobile TV standard.

Intel Wireless Display

I spend a lot of time testing various devices that let you take the video content stored on your PC and view it on your TV. So, naturally, I spend a lot of time messing with cables, struggling through confusing set up menus, and swearing at the TV. But Intel’s Wireless Display technology promises to help clean up my cable clutter…and my vocabulary.

To use Intel Wireless Display, you’ll need a compatible laptop — meaning one that’s has one of Intel’s new processors, its HD graphics, and its wireless technology. You’ll also need an adapter to connect to the TV, and a TV that has HDMI or component A/V inputs. Once you have all the parts, the content on your PC is sent to your TV wirelessly.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1

Tablet PCs were big news at CES this year, but I’m not entirely sold on the idea of an all-touch-screen PC. That’s why I like the idea behind the Lenovo IdeaPad U1. This device is a hybrid netbook/tablet; when you need to type, you can use the built-in keyboard. But, should you want to ditch the keyboard to, say curl up on the couch and watch a movie, you can just pick up the detachable display and go. Perfect for indecisive folks like me.

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Like the original version of ZViewer, Zinc Beta 5 aims to provide a single portal to various sources of Internet video. The free application offers access to a variety of sites and services that offer TV shows and videos, such as Hulu.com, Amazon’s Video on Demand, ABC.com, CBS, and FOX — to name just a few.

You don’t have to go out and access each site individually to find out what TV shows and movies are available online; Zinc collects all the information for you, and presents it in a consistent, searchable interface. Zinc does not actually play back any of the content; instead it offers easy access to the various players you need, which open from within Zinc. So if you want to watch a show on Hulu, Zinc brings you to the page on Hulu, where you view the site’s ads. If you want to watch a movie on Netflix, Zinc pushes you to the Netflix player, but you’ll need your own account.

The organization features are fine, but they’re not enough to make Zinc essential to your TV watching experience. What could make Zinc a must-have, though, is its new Queue feature. This allows you to create your own list of shows and movies that you’d like to watch, whether those shows are on ABC.com or the Onion News Network. That means if you’re browsing the available episodes of Glee on Hulu and Amazon on Demand, you can just click to add them to your queue. Next time you launch Zinc, you don’t have to go out and find them again; just click on the title in your queue and the video will launch (provided you’ve coughed up the cash for any paid titles, of course).

What’s nice about the latest beta of Zinc is that you can take your queue and your Favorites (a feature launched on an earlier beta that lets you bookmark your favorite shows) with you to another computer, as the whole experience has been moved to the cloud. The “cloud” is one of those buzzwords I’ve come to detest, but I like how it works here. You can download Zinc to another computer, sign into your account, and presto, your queue of shows is waiting for you.

The queue is not without its limitations, though. For one, you can only add single episodes to it; you can’t add a whole season or series at once, so it can be time-consuming if you want to add several titles. It also doesn’t automatically delete titles, or even prompt you to delete them, once you’ve finished watching them. And it doesn’t remember if you’ve started watching a show or not, or allow you to pick up your viewing from where you left off.

Zinc is appealing on a computer, but ZeeVee’s goal is for you to access it from a TV. To that end, the company also is announcing today a Zinc TV Widget for Yahoo Connected TVs. While these connected TVs are becoming more popular, they are by no means ubiquitous. So, how else can you view Zinc on your TV? ZeeVee is no longer pushing its set-top box; the company realized that the devices were too expensive and difficult to install — something I experienced first-hand.

ZeeVee CEO Vic Odryna suggests two ways: either using a VGA cable to connect a computer or laptop to a TV, or buying an inexpensive netbook and creating your own dedicated set-top box. This idea sounds good in theory, but when I tested Zinc on my (admittedly worn-down) laptop, the application was so slow that using it was an exercise in frustration. When I used Zinc on my speedy new Windows 7 desktop PC, it ran at light speed. I’m not sure what kind of experience you’d get running Zinc on a netbook.

So, right now, Zinc remains a bit of an enigma. It’s a good piece of software for your computer that could be great for your TV. But getting it there could prove tricky. If ZeeVee — or another company — could come up with an easy, cheap way to get Zinc on the TV, the app could flourish. Until then, its purpose is limited.

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The Stora looks almost like an old-fashioned safe, with its small, squat design. Only the flashing lights on the front (indicating power and connectivity) give it away as a high-tech alternative. And high-tech it is: The Stora packs in a 1TB drive, and has a bay for adding another, should you need more space. It supports gigabit Ethernet, offers a USB 2.0 port, features a built-in iTunes server, and is DLNA certified, so it can stream media to compatible gear. It’s also remotely accessible from the web, allowing you to access multimedia files from within its web-based interface.

Setup is pretty simple: You connect the included Ethernet cord to the drive and your router, plug in the AC adapter, and turn it on. Netgear includes a CD with the Stora Desktop software; installing this was a bit time-consuming — the CD took awhile to run — but not complicated.

And the included software was worth the wait, as the Flash-based application is slick. Netgear says the Stora is designed for “first-time users who don’t want to learn server administration as a hobby,” and the software’s interface goes a long way toward that end. It features an attractive black and purple design, with appealing, easy-to-identify icons. Folders are automatically created for family sharing, as are a private set of folders for each user. Each of these libraries contains folders for documents, music, photos and videos, though these can be renamed or deleted and new folders can be added.

My only complaint about the application is that its graphic-heavy interface means uploading files takes a few more clicks than it might otherwise. If you were accessing the Stora through the plain-old Windows Explorer interface, you could just drag a file right to the desired folder on the Stora and transfer it with one click (and you can access the Stora via Windows Explorer, if you’d rather). To transfer the same file in the Stora Desktop app, you have to click on the folder, select “upload” from the drop-down menu, and then a new pop-up window appears. Here, you can either navigate to the file you want to add, or you can select the “Drag and Drop” option, which allows you to drag your file to the new window.

This is a minor annoyance, though, and it’s one that I quickly forgot about when I began exploring the rest of the app’s features. You can easily create a slide show of the photos you’ve uploaded, or create an album and upload it to a site like Facebook.

But where things get more interesting is when you begin exploring the embedded media player. Stora’s software has its own multimedia player, so you can play back music and video files from within the app. Just click on the file you want to view, or the playlist you want to listen to, and a new pop-up window with the player appears. It’s remarkably simple, and you don’t need to launch any external applications…unless your file format isn’t supported by the player. And the file format support could be better. Right now, the Stora player supports just a handful of formats (MP3 audio files, and MPEG-4, MOV, and FLV video files).

Sharing content is another strong point for the Stora. To access your content remotely, you just point your browser to mystora.com, and you can quickly navigate to your device. The web-based interface is nearly identical to the Stora Desktop app, so right away, you’re in familiar territory. You can set up shares to send to family and friends who might want to view your content, too.

Netgear offers a premium Stora service that, for $20 a year (after a free 30-day trial), offers some added remote access features. For one, you can play your media files over the web, using the same embedded media player. In my tests, performance was very good; video looked great when accessed remotely. The Stora premium service allows you to download files remotely, too, so you can access them from the computer itself if your file format isn’t supported by the embedded player.

We all know that we should be backing up our files for safe keeping. Thanks to Stora, securing your files doesn’t have to feel like work.

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• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
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NetGear’s latest set-top box, the Digital Entertainer Live (EVA2000), is a good idea, on paper. The $150 device, powered by Verismo’s VuNow technology, lets you access video content from the Web and your home network. It lacks any built-in storage, but does have two USB ports for connecting drives.

But in my tests, Digital Entertainer Live proved mixed. I like its smaller design and ease of use. And I especially like that it comes with a lower price tag than past Netgear devices. But the device is a bit buggy, and it suffers from sub-par video quality, leaving me unable to whole-heartedly recommend it.

Set up is pretty simple: you connect it to your TV via HDMI, but you’ll have to supply your own cable, which is disappointing considering that more and more products are bundling HDMI cords. Alternatively, you can use the included composite A/V cable. You connect it to your home network via Ethernet or wirelessly, but the wireless adapter is a $30 accessory — and it will occupy one of the device’s USB ports. I used a powerline networking kit to connect the Digital Entertainer Live to my home network with a wired connection, which the company says will provide the best performance.

Once the device is connected, you can use it to access videos from various online sites like YouTube and various Internet TV stations, and, through the use of PlayOn’s $40 Media Server software, content from sites like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon (a AMZN) Video on Demand. (Mac users, beware: PlayOn only runs on Windows PCs.) You also can browse through files stored on networked computers and hard drives.

Using Netgear’s on-screen menus to navigating through all of these sources could be a lot easier. The menu is organized into three main choices: My Collection, Movies on Demand, and Internet Video. But you’ll find some of your content sources under all of these headings; your Netflix Instant Watch queue, for example, appears under both “My Collection” and “Movies on Demand.” Hulu, meanwhile, is accessible through both “My Collection” and “Internet Video.” A little bit of streamlining would great enhance the user experience.

So, too, would improving the organizational system. Much of the content from sources like Netflix and Hulu is annoyingly categorized in a series of folders. To access a TV show from Hulu, you have to go into a folder called “TV Episodes” and then scan through a series of folders for each letter of the alphabet. If you’re looking for Glee, you have to go all the way to the “G” folder, and then scan through more folders for each TV show that starts with G — and there are more of them than you might think. Once you find the Glee folder, you have to scan through its contents to find the episode you want. A search feature would be a welcome addition.

But the lack of a search function for some sites is a minor annoyance. More pressing is the poor video quality I often experienced. In my tests of streaming video — all over a wired connection — the video ranged from unwatchable to just good. The box supports video resolutions up to 720p, but none of the streaming content I watched seemed to come close to HD. YouTube videos fared the best, with some HD YouTube clips looking pretty sharp. But Netflix Instant Watch movies and HD TV episodes rented from Amazon Video in Demand looked decidedly low res. I wouldn’t bother paying a premium for HD content if I were planning on watching it via the Digital Entertainer Live.

I also had trouble getting the Digital Entertainer Live to play back some of my Amazon video content. I rented The Hangover from Amazon on my computer, and sat down in front of my TV, ready to watch the movie via the Netgear box. The Digital Entertainer Live found the title in my Amazon library, but was never able to play it back. Each time I tried, the box seemed to freeze, and one time required a reboot. A VuNow representative thought this problem might be a PlayOn issue, but I was not able to resolve it. However, I purchased an episode of Parks and Recreation from Amazon, and this played back without a problem.

Not surprisingly, video quality improved dramatically when played from a USB drive connected to the Digital Entertainer Live. This is one of the reasons that Netgear requires you to download movies to a connected USB drive when you purchase them from CinemaNow — a feature that is enabled on the box. It may seem like a hassle, but one that is worth it for the improved video quality.

At $150, the Digital Entertainer Live is less than half the price of Netgear’s Digital Entertainer Elite, which lists for $400. It’s also less than half the size; the Digital Entertainer Live is about the size of a router, while the Elite model is comparable to your average DVD player. But the Digital Entertainer Live is not meant to compete with devices like the Elite; it’s positioned instead as an alternative to boxes like those designed by Roku.

The Digital Entertainer Live offers features similar to those of Roku’s $130 HD-XR box, which I have not tested. That device is $20 cheaper, and it comes with built-in wireless capabilities to boot. But it also lacks the ability to access Hulu, which Netgear’s box offers. If only the Digital Entertainer Live offered better video quality, I could recommend it easily. But for now, if you can live without Hulu, Roku’s box could be worth a look.

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• Report: The Connected TV Marketplace
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Initially, the External TVBox may sound like any old HDTV tuner, and it does work like many external TV tuners in some respects. It can connect to your computer, allowing you to use its monitor for viewing HDTV content.

But KWorld’s device does more than that. Because it doesn’t require a computer to run, it can be used to turn a standalone LCD monitor into an HDTV. So, if you happen to have a spare LCD monitor, you can turn it into an affordable HDTV.

The TVBox is bigger than your average USB-based TV tuner card; it’s closer in size to a paperback book. But it’s sleek design is attractive, and the device will fit in nicely next to a flat-panel TV. It works with any monitor that has a DVI, HDMI or VGA connector. (A $99 version, called the SA290-Q LE, offers many of the same features, but lacks the HDMI connection.)

All of the cables and adapters you’ll need are in the box — and then some. That’s why opening the box can be a bit overwhelming. The meager user guide doesn’t provide a whole lot of actual guidance, so the setup was more confusing than it should have been. I first tried connecting the TVBox to my Windows Vista PC, where it should, conceivably, act as both a TV tuner and a switch that allows me to move back and forth between viewing TV content and content on my computer. (A button on the remote allows you to switch back and forth between both views.) But I was left fumbling with cords and adapters, and wasted the better part of an hour trying to get it to work.

I had much better, and faster, results when I used the TVBox as a standalone HD tuner for an extra LCD monitor I had at home. I connected to the monitor using the included DVI to HDMI cord, plugged it in, and turned it on. I used the included over-the-air antenna, which found about two-dozen stations. The channel scan completed quickly, and within minutes I was watching TV — and enjoying a surprisingly excellent picture. Picture quality was as good as the HD picture I regularly see when using my Verizon FiOS set-top tuner box. I watched TV for a couple of hours (hey, it’s my job!) and noticed only occasional pixilation and blockiness. Overall, image quality was superb.

The TVBox also supports ClearQAM channels, so you can connect a cable line-in (you’ll find the necessary port on the back of the TVBox) to gain access to unencrypted digital cable channels without a cable box — but you’ll need cable service. I was able to gain access to almost 200 channels this way, but found many of them confusingly named and some weren’t actually available for viewing. Picture quality on the stations I could see, though, was as good as when using the antenna.

The image quality alone is reason enough to buy the TVBox. Sadly, though, the dinky remote control is almost enough to warrant leaving this product on a store shelf. It feels flimsier than I’d like, but that’s not as problematic as its poorly labeled buttons. The TVBox’s on-screen menu kept telling me to press an “OK” button. Too bad the remote doesn’t actually have a button labeled “OK.” What it does have, though, is an oddly designed set of rockers for moving up and down through the channels and adjusting the volume. The remote also failed to work unless I aimed it squarely at the TVBox.

If you’re looking for a PC-based external HDTV tuner, KWorld’s External TVBox isn’t the best fit. It’s harder to use than any USB-based TV tuner I’ve tested; one of those devices offers a much simpler way to get HDTV content on your computer. And most USB-based TV tuners come with some sort of software that allows you to turn your PC into a DVR; the KWorld device does not. But, if you’re looking for a way to turn an LCD monitor into an HDTV on the cheap, the TVBox is the way to go. For this task, it’s easy to use and delivers excellent image quality.

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The C-200 is a bit bulky — it’s slightly bigger than your average DVD player — but it packs in plenty of features. It connects to your home network via Ethernet (a wireless adapter is in the works, but wasn’t ready in time for me to test), and can play back audio, video and photos stored on your home network. You also can transfer content to the device itself; it has a 3.5-inch tray for mounting an internal hard drive, DVD drive, or Blu-ray drive and, inside the box, an internal mount for a 2.5-inch laptop hard drive. You also get four USB ports that can be used to connect external storage devices. In addition, the C-200 can connect to a few online sources for content.

Setup is relatively easy, though you’ll need a long Ethernet cord or a set of power line networking adapters if you’re looking to put the Popcorn Hour box in a room that doesn’t house your router. The C-200 connects to your TV via HDMI, S-Video, Composite A/V or Component A/V.

The C-200′s on-screen menu is the first sign that the device is lacking in the finer details; it’s not the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen. You get basic icons for each of the device’s functions (like USB storage, network connectivity, and so on) and you can cycle through them easily with the included remote. But the purpose of each icon isn’t immediately apparent — after a few weeks testing the box, I’m still confusing the icons for the media service portal (where you can access the limited web-based content) and the icon for the network browser. The interface also suffers from a disappointingly bland blue-and-white color scheme, but that seems to have been fixed, somewhat, in the latest firmware update, which adds yellow and black to the mix.

I did not have an internal hard drive or DVD drive to install in my review unit, but the process looks remarkably simple. There’s a door on the front of the C-200 that you can open, and it looks like the drive will simply slide right in. I was able to attach various USB-based storage devices to the C-200, though, and I was awed by the video quality on playback.

The C-200 offers the best video quality of any set-top box I’ve tested, bar none. Video looked incredibly sharp, and I saw no formatting issues, something that often plagues these kind of devices. The C-200 can handle files up to 1080p, and plays back just about any video file format you can find. It didn’t balk at anything I threw at it. (You can see a full list of supported file formats on Popcorn Hour’s site.)

So, what’s not to like? Well, accessing content that’s stored on your network sure could be easier. Syabas (the company behind Popcorn Hour) offers an application called myiHome that’s supposed to turn your PC into something of a network server for the C-200. But, as Syabas tech support admits, it can be hit or miss as to whether the C-200 will find the server. They recommended setting up a network share instead, which is a pretty tedious process, made more so by the fact that you have to use the remote’s numeric buttons to enter all the information. It’s like composing the world’s most annoying text message.

Once you can access your networked content, though, video quality is surprisingly good. Aside from some buffering when I launched files, I saw almost no difference between video streamed over my network and that stored locally on the C-200.

Accessing online content isn’t a strength for the C-200. You can’t use it to access content from YouTube, as Syabas had to remove access to the service because YouTube says it was in violation of its terms of service. The company says it hopes to restore YouTube access soon. You also can’t access sites like Hulu or Netflix directly from the box, though Syabas says it may work if you have the PlayOn digital media server app running on your computer. But PlayOn costs $39.99 after a two-week free trial.

That you have to purchase an extra app to get access to the most popular online video sources highlights one of the C-200′s biggest flaws: Everything costs extra. (The other big flaw? That user interface.) The box alone costs $299 — and all you’re getting is the box. You have to add your own hard drive, DVD or Blu-ray drive, or external USB-based storage. By the time you’re done, you could have spent $500 or much more. You’ll have a complete home entertainment center with superb video quality, though.

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• Report: A Global Mobile Video Forecast, 2011 – 2015
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• Report: The Live-Stream Video Market

Well, I have news for both crowds: When it comes to video recording, the Droid and the iPhone 3GS are nearly identical. While the Droid produces video that is a bit crisper and clearer, the difference between the two is not marked, and the video cameras on both phones offer the same features.

Like the iPhone 3GS, the Droid’s video camera is easy to operate, but skimpy on the extra features. You access it through the Droid’s camera, where you just slide an on-screen toggle to switch to video-recording mode. You can then press a big on-screen button to begin recording. So far, the experience is virtually identical to recording video on the iPhone 3GS; the only difference is that the Droid has a physical button on its right side (or the top of the phone, if you rotate it to record) that you can use as an alternative to the on-screen button. The hardware button is a nice touch as it allows you to stop recording without having to move the phone and look at the screen, which can result in a jerky camera movement.

What the Droid lacks, though, is even the most basic video editing tools. Where the iPhone 3GS allows you to trim video clips on the phone, the Droid doesn’t offer anything. If you want to edit your videos, you have to do it elsewhere. But transferring your video clips to another device from the Droid is a breeze. Once you’ve captured a video, you can click a link to share it, and you’ll be presented with a list of all the accounts or connections available to you, such as MMS, e-mail, YouTube or Bluetooth. It’s similar to the way the iPhone 3GS allows you to share video via e-mail, MMS or through YouTube.

The similarities between the two phones don’t end with the experience of using them as video cameras; they also offer similar specs. The Droid’s video camera offers a slightly higher resolution, as it records video at a resolution of 720 by 480, and captures 24 frames per second. The iPhone 3GS, meanwhile, offers a video-recording resolution of 640 by 480, but captures 30 frames per second.

So, now comes the big question: What does that translate to in actual usage? Take a look at these two videos, shot using a Motorola Droid and an iPhone 3GS held side-by-side (video captured by the Droid is on top; video captured by the iPhone 3GS is on the bottom):

The Droid’s camera picks up a bit more detail, and the colors look brighter; the iPhone 3GS video looks more washed-out. The Droid does handle colors nicely. Here’s another clip captured by the Droid in a more colorful environment:

Where the Droid beats the iPhone 3GS easily, though, is when you’re watching videos on the handset itself. The Droid’s screen measures 3.7 inches diagonally, and it boasts a resolution of 480 by 854 pixels. The screen on the iPhone 3GS, meanwhile, is 3.5 inches in size, but offers a resolution of just 480 by 320. Videos look decent on an iPhone — until you’ve seen them on a Droid. It’s like watching a miniature HDTV.

Neither of these phones is going to blow you away with its video-recording capabilities. The Droid will impress you with its stunning screen, though. So if you plan on watching a lot of videos on your handset, the Droid is the phone for you. If you’re looking for a phone that will serve as a video camera in a pinch, however, both the Droid and the iPhone 3GS will suffice. It won’t please the Droid fans or the iPhone-crazy to hear it, but when it comes to video recording, these two phones are equal.

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• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
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Almost.

RedEye’s system is a hardware base station that works in tandem with an iPhone app. The app is free from the iPhone App Store, but the base station, which doubles as a charging dock, costs $188. Together, the hardware and software combination turns your iPhone (or iPod touch) into a universal remote that can control your home entertainment system.

Setup is relatively easy, though a bit time-consuming, depending on how many devices you need the RedEye to control. You pair your phone with the RedEye base station, which is done through your home’s wireless network. You must keep the base station in the same room with the devices you’d like it to control, but once the system is up and running, you can enter commands from your iPhone from any location where you have access to your wireless network. (If you don’t have a wireless network, you can still use the RedEye system, though your range will be more limited.)

Once your RedEye is connected to your network, it automatically sets up a profile for the room in which you’d like to use it. You complete the profile by adding all of the devices you have in the room, such as TVs, cable boxes, CD and DVD players, AV receivers, and more. (Blu-ray players, curiously, weren’t included in the list of devices.) The process is simple — if the RedEye system has your device and its necessary infrared codes in its database. If your device isn’t listed, you can add it manually, but be prepared to spend some time doing so.

I added three components to my RedEye system: a ViewSonic TV, a Motorola cable box, and a Magnavox DVD player. The RedEye found the necessary codes for both the TV and cable box (it searches the database and presents you with a few options, which you can test to make sure you’ve found the right device), but not the older DVD player. That’s where things got annoying: In order to control my DVD player, I had to add each control manually. That involved taking the DVD player remote, aiming it at the RedEye base station, pressing a button, and logging that button into the software on my iPhone. I got through “power on” and “play” before giving up.

Matt Eager, ThinkFlood’s president and co-founder, says that the company recognizes this limitation, and notes that getting as many devices as possible into that database is an important goal. And rightly so; the RedEye system is so much more usable when all you have to do is sit back and watch the software add your device, rather than having to do it yourself, step by painstaking step.

Once your devices have been added, you can use the system to control them, almost as you would with any remote. What’s surprising about RedEye, though, is that it doesn’t present you with a virtual replica of a hardware remote, as other software-based systems do. Instead, you get a scrollable list of choices, such as Arrow Down, Arrow Up, Channel Down, Channel Up, and so on. The end result is the same, and any time I pressed a command, it was instantly accomplished on my TV; the channel or volume changed with little to no lag time. But it feels a bit awkward to scroll through a list to find the commands. I wish RedEye would put a virtual remote on the screen instead.

Once you’ve added devices, you can set up activities that require multiple commands on different gadgets. This is a feature that some universal remotes offer, and, in theory, the idea is great — it eliminates the fumbling with various remotes and buttons. But I found it a bit flaky in actual use.

I created an activity called “Watch DVD” that would turn on my TV, change its input, turn on the DVD player, and start playing a DVD. (Once you launch an activity, you’re presented with an interface that looks like an on-screen remote, which shows me that ThinkFlood has this capability; I just wish it were offered elsewhere in the app.)

This is where I ran into problems: The RedEye system would only change my TV’s input to the next one on the list (from HDMI to S-Video), when I needed it to move three ahead in the list to AV (which is the input I use for my DVD player). So I amended the activity to move to the next input three times, and then start playing the DVD. This failed, too, but it seemed to be more of a problem with my TV, which didn’t always change the input as fast as the RedEye system seemed to want it to.

This limitation isn’t a RedEye-specific problem; it’s something I’ve noticed with other remote control systems. And it’s one of the reasons I’ve never made the leap to a true universal remote. The other is price: Logitech’s well-regarded Harmony universal remotes, for example, can cost $400 or more. That makes the RedEye system look like a bargain in comparison. If I were to consider a universal remote, I’d take a long look at the RedEye. It has lots of potential, and while it’s not quite ready for a spot on my holiday wish list this year, with some fine tuning, it could be a contender next year.

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• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
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But most of all, why would anyone pay $279 for this device?

On paper, the Cyberus ID700WTA “Smart Info Engine” sounds great. It’s a portable media player/e-book reader with a big 7-inch color touchscreen. It plays back photos and videos, as well as audio tracks in a variety of formats such as AVI, MPEG4, DVIX, XVID, WMA, JPG, BMP, TIFF and PNG. It has wireless Internet access, and allows you to watch video from YouTube, listen to IP radio, check weather, get news updates and driving directions, check your Gmail, and look at photos from Picasa.

And the device looks good out of the box. It comes wrapped in a handy leather case (my test unit came in a black case, but brown and white also are available) and is light and comfortable to hold. It comes with an AC charger for powering up, and Sungale says it will offer three to four hours of battery life once fully charged.

The Smart Info Engine also comes with a mini USB cord for connecting to your PC. Once I made the connection, though, I started to notice the device’s flaws. One of its biggest drawbacks is its included software, called File Converter, for transferring content over to the player. The app’s interface is downright ugly, which would be acceptable if the app were usable, but it’s not.

The File Converter software should, conceivably, convert files to the right format for you. I’m not just going on the name alone here: The software has a button that says “Convert.” But each time I pressed it, nothing happened — until the software froze on me. I thought I might have better luck with the app’s other option: “AddFile.” And I did, to an extent — it added my content to the list, eventually. But it was incredibly slow to respond, and several times the app just froze up on me. Each time, I had to force-quit the application, and finally resorted to transferring content over using Windows Explorer.

Once I managed to get the content on the Smart Info Engine, I was hoping things would go a little more smoothly. I was wrong. When you turn on the device, you’re presented with two options: Link to Internet or Go to Main Menu. I attempted to connect to my home wireless network, which is protected with a WEP password. But the Smart Info Engine wouldn’t connect — it kept giving me an error message. I was able to connect to my neighbor’s unsecured Wi-Fi network without a problem, though. (And, yes: I double-, triple-, and quadruple-checked that I was entering the correct password.) Sungale provided me with a firmware update for the device, but this did not correct the problem. It said the issue was likely due to a flaw with my home network setup, but I have since been able to connect multiple other devices with no problem.

Once connected, you’re instructed to proceed to the main menu, which is a bit, well, basic looking. It features small square icons for the various features of the device — almost in the style of an iPhone. But the design lacks the finesse of an iPhone, even though the 7-inch, 480×800 pixel screen should be up to the task.

You tap on the icons to access various features, like YouTube or Gmail, but the touchscreen is not nearly as responsive as I would like. Prepare to push hard. The Smart Info Engine also lacks a stylus, which would have been helpful, as some of the text you have to tap is small, particularly when you’re using an onscreen keyboard.

Once you access YouTube, you can browse available videos in categories like Top Rated and Top Favorites Today. You can access your own YouTube account, but I couldn’t find any way to search the site. And you’re not actually seeing the YouTube site; you’re seeing a list of videos reformatted for viewing on this device. Once I played back videos, though, most looked surprisingly good. I noticed some occasional stuttering, but nothing terrible.

I wish I could say the same about watching the videos I had actually stored on the device. I transferred a couple of titles to the device itself and loaded some videos on an SD card that I inserted into the available slot. Finding the content was a breeze, but when I played it back, it looked awful. My video constantly skipped, and often was too pixilated to be viewed at all. And despite the fact that the Smart Info Engine has a big 7-inch screen, video plays back in a smaller window that looks to be about 3.5 inches diagonally. Why not just use the whole screen?

That’s yet another question about this device, but the answer seems to be: just don’t buy it.

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Avaak says the system is designed for a variety of uses, including keeping an eye on pets or elderly parents; monitoring vacation homes; checking in on latchkey kids; securing a small business; and more. And it’s so easy to set up that anyone can use it. Unfortunately, the web-based surveillance tools are too limited to be a truly useful remote security system; at this point you can only watch live video, though the company says it plans to add recording scheduling soon.

The kit includes two tiny wireless cameras and a wireless gateway that connects to your router. You just turn the battery-powered cameras on, press a button to pair them with the gateway, and you’re good to go. The four included magnetic mounts are so well-designed — they’re the shape of a ball, cut in half — they impressed me with their simplicity. They grab the camera and hold it securely; it really couldn’t be easier.

Once the cameras are in place, you can log onto my.vuezone.com and create an account, with an identification number from your wireless gateway. Once you’ve created a user name and password, you can access your cameras from any browser that supports Flash. (That means you can’t use the iPhone’s Safari browser, but the company says an iPhone app is coming soon.)

The Vuezone’s Web interface is neatly laid out: Your cameras appear in a window on the left side of the screen, and you can drag them to the main window to play their video feed. The video quality is decent, but varies greatly depending on the lighting in the room. (And these cameras have no microphones, so the feed is video only.) You can change the settings to accommodate for low, normal or bright light, and to a certain extent, this helps. I used the “low light” setting in a room with a dim lamp, and the video appeared nice and bright. But when I tried to use the camera in a darker room, lit only by a nightlight, the video was so dark it was difficult to see — even on the low light setting. This is too bad, because this camera could really appeal to parents who want to see what their little ones are doing in their bedrooms when they’re supposed to be sleeping.

That’s not the only limitation of the Vue network. While the system comes with two cameras — and supports up to 50 (additional cameras are available for $99 each) — you can only see one feed at a time. You can drag all of your cameras into the main window, but only one will play at a time — if you have one camera playing, it will stop automatically if you start another one.

Another limitation: You can only watch live video. You can’t see what happened while you were away — so if someone broke into your house, robbed you, but put everything back in place, you might never even know that they’d been there. You can’t schedule video to record while you’re away from your computer, though Avaak says the feature is coming soon — and it will be a most welcome addition. (You can record video as you’re watching it, but I’m not sure why you’d want to.) And the Vue cameras don’t have any kind of motion detector that would cause them to turn on when something happens in the room, but the company says it is considering adding this to future versions. Scheduled recordings and motion detection would greatly increase the appeal of this product to people looking for a home or small business security system.

Avaak is off to a good start with the Vue personal network; it’s incredibly easy to use. Once the company adds the ability to schedule recordings, it will be far more useful, and able to compete with similar systems, like Logitech’s Indoor Video Security Master System. Until it has those features, though, its appeal is limited.

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