Netgear says the booster device is simple to use, and based on the description, I’m inclined to agree. You just plug the device right into an electrical outlet and press a button to connect to and extend the range of your existing wireless network using the WPS, or Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard.

This product, not available until later this summer, has my interest because I recently upgraded my home broadband to 75 Mbps service and I’m finding two problems. One is that traditional 802.11n routers have theoretical top speeds of 54 Mbps, so I’m not getting the full bandwidth on my wireless devices. I can live with that problem (for now), but the bigger issue is one of coverage.

No matter how I place my current router and base station extender, I’m losing my wireless signal in some places at home. That means my phone, for example, is automatically switching to more expensive mobile broadband service. The Netgear booster won’t solve the first problem, but it should help with the second so I’m hoping to take the product for a spin once it hits the market in the coming weeks.

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Show notes for this episode:

• The Netgear NeoTV was originally priced at $100, but you can find it online for around $70. More info on the device on Neatgear’s website.
• Netgear had originally teamed up with Roku to distribute a co-branded player based on Roku’s platform, but that partnership only lasted a few months.
• Many of the NeoTV’s apps are powered by Flingo. Check out our previous Flingo coverage.

What kind of features are you looking for in a player like this one? Is not having Hulu Plus a deal breaker, or do you care more about having YouTube? Please share your thoughts in the comments, get in touch with us on Twitter (@cordcutters) or email us at cordcutters @ gigaom.com.

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On mobile networks, an undisclosed Tier One carrier is testing a new product released Tuesday from Openet, a company I wrote about last week that helps carriers implement personalized pricing plans. Today it launched a product it calls the Subscriber Engagement Engine (SEE). That sounds intimidating, but what it enables isn’t. SEE is a client that resides on a device such as an iPad, Android phone, or other connected device, and ties it back to the policy management and subscriber information on a carrier network. It acts as a bridge and as a layer of abstraction that allows a user to set up policies for their device on an operator’s network.

A portal to your broadband cloud.

For example you could set it to halt your data consumption when approaching a 5GB cap, or in a more complex scenario, you could tell it to clock your child’s access to Facebook during school hours. This would only work though if the child is using the operator’s cellular network. Once the kid flips over to the school’s Wi-Fi network all bets are off. Michael Manzo, chief marketing officer at Openet, says he uses it to limit his use of data guzzling apps while he’s traveling, such as maps and other data he’s not willing to pay high roaming charges for.

Manzo says for now Openet is marketing the service to wireless operators, because there’s a need, especially given the backlash against unexpectedly high mobile phone bills. But behind Openet’s product is a trend that is emerging as consumers carry many devices and hook up more service-dependent applications such as movie streaming or HD video conferencing to their networks.

The idea of having a broadband cloud inside your home or on the go, that you control make a lot of sense, because it allows the consumers to control a limited resource. Openet’s makes the process of letting the consumer control how they want to use their access easy for an operator to implement by adding a layer of virtualization between the customer and the operator.

Nick Feamster, an associate professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, is hoping to do something similar, but he wants to do it inside the home using software defined networks and OpenFlow inside a consumer router. At a recent conference Feamster described Project Bismark, an effort to help users manage their bandwidth caps and allocate broadband resources inside the home.

Two views of the network: smart versus dumb.

As is somewhat usual in these debates over where control should reside in the network, there is a divide in how someone at Openet as opposed to Feamster views the network. Openet wants to let carriers offer these portals as a customer service and perhaps as a revenue-generating product. For example, using the SEE, a cable provider that has switched to IPTV could let customers create their own a la carte channel line up.

However, Feamster’s vision puts the layer of abstraction on a device to allow someone to create a similar portal inside the home. In his case, the network is dumb and the device is smart. Openet has carrier customers it wants to sell its software to, so its positioning is understandable. Feamster would have to convince a router marker to put his innovation inside, which someone like a Netgear might do, but someone like a Cisco, which owns the Linksys brand and has carrier customers, may decline.

Regardless of how this happens, its clear that consumers will soon get a bit more say over how their broadband networks work–both on the go and at home. And that’s something most of us will look forward to.

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Netgear is no stranger to the online video set-top-box market. The company briefly teamed up with Roku last fall, bringing co-branded Roku boxes to retailers in time for the holiday season. However, the honeymooon between the two companies was apparently very short-lived: A Roku spokesperson told us recently that the partnership with Netgear ended “last year.”

The router maker is now trying to corner the market for media players under $100 with its own product dubbed NeoTV, which offers access to some 100 content sources, including Netflix and VUDU.

So why is Netgear looking at Google TV despite having just built its own platform? Access to the Android Market could be a boon for anyone releasing products for this market, and a built-in web browser will give users access to a wide range of additional content.

However, embracing Google TV is not without risks. Logitech recently had to write off millions after its Google TV–powered Logitech Revue set-top box sold far below expectations. The company is now selling the product below cost for $99. Netgear would probably want to wait until bigger players like Samsung and Vizio have rolled out their Google TV products to avoid a similar fate as Logitech’s.

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Speculation that Roku and Walmart had partnered began as its devices popped up on the Walmart website last week, and the companies have released a press release confirming the deal. Walmart will sell the middle-of-the-road Roku XD player, with the box showing up in stores ahead of Father’s Day. The Roku XD will go on sale for $78, a few bucks less than at most other retail outlets, where it typically sells for $79.99.

Striking a direct relationship with Walmart makes sense, as it will give Roku a huge new retail footprint to reach consumers. That will be necessary as the set-top box maker hopes to expand beyond the early adopter set that has largely made up its customer base. Roku announced late last year that it had sold about a million devices in the first few years of its operations. But it’s looking to aggressively ramp up sales and expects to end 2011 with more than 3 million boxes sold.

At the same time, it throws into question a partnership that Roku announced last year with CE maker Netgear, which had agreed to sell co-branded streaming devices through its retail partners. After striking retail partnerships with Walmart and Best Buy, it appears that Roku is focusing less on the Netgear deal and more on direct relationships with big-box retailers.

We’ve reached out to Roku for official comment on what this means for its Netgear relationship and will report back when we have an official statement.

Update: A Roku spokesperson confirms that its partnership with Netgear ended in 2010, and it is now selling products under its own brand directly to retailers.

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Check out this episode of Cord Cutters for a demo of the Imation Link, or continue reading below:

Why It’s a Good Idea

Apple TV, Roku and Boxee: These days, you’re going to find a ton of devices in stores that promise to bring Internet video to the TV without the need of an additional computer. However, all these devices are restricted by various licensing terms. Some offer the paid Hulu Plus service, but not the free Hulu, while others can’t access web sites at all. The only way to watch all the video you know and love from your PC on your TV is to use your PC.

Unfortunately, it’s a hassle to connect your laptop, adjust screen sizes — and some of us actually have work to do while the rest of the family watches TV. Enter wireless connectivity: Devices like Veebeam or the Imation Link promise to display your computer screen on the TV, making it possible to open web sites and watch videos on the biggest screen of the house.

How It Works

Let’s say you’re watching an HD stream on your computer via your home’s wireless network. This usually works fine, unless you’re in a dead spot. But if you wanted to send that same HD signal to your TV, you would risk saturating your network. That’s why most wireless streaming solutions use separate networks, or in some cases, even completely separate networking protocols. Each networking technology comes with its own downsides, so you should make sure you understand what you’re buying.

Most wireless streaming devices require you to use a USB dongle that functions as an antenna to send signals to a receiver box, which can be plugged into your TV. The exception from the rule is Intel’s Wireless Display technology, which is already built into a number of Windows laptops, meaning you won’t need to plug anything into your USB port.

For a detailed look at different approaches, check out the Imation Link, the Veebeam HD and the Netgear Push2TV, which works with Intel Wireless Link. We’ve listed some of the key differences below, followed by our take on each of them:

Review: The Imation Link

Imation’s device looks a little like a shark fin, and it’s supposed to work with both Windows and OS X. However, 720p HD video stuttered when I played it on my 2010 Macbook Pro, likely due to the lack of hardware acceleration under OS X. The product worked better with Windows, even though setting up the right screen size and figuring out how to route the audio output was somewhat of a hassle.

The one thing that sets Imation apart from its competition is that you can use your TV screen as an extended desktop, much in the same way you would if you connected a second computer screen to your laptop. This allows you to surf the net or chat while you stream Hulu to your TV, which is a big plus.

The Imation Link uses Wireless USB (an Ultra Wideband flavor), so you’re gonna want to make sure you have a clear line of sight to the TV, as obstructions interrupt the video playback. The overall video quality was very good, and the device was capable of playing HD video with up to 720p on Windows.

Review: Veebeam HD

Veebeam’s device comes with a little place-holder in the front that is meant to store the USB adapter when not in use, and it offers up to 1080p video playback in two different modes: Users can either mirror their desktop or stream video files straight to the device.

The mirror mode displays your entire desktop on your TV, so there’s no way to use your laptop while you’re watching a video on Hulu. The file playback mode utilizes a special Veebeam player, which frees up the desktop for other use. The player software doesn’t support many codecs out of the box, and attempts to play back .mkv or .xvid files failed. Veebeam advises its users to install third-party codec packs, but it would have been better to have these things work out of the box.

Veebeam’s device works with OS X as well as Windows, and the video quality was pretty good. Veebeam uses Wireless USB, which requires a clear line of sight. Obstructions regularly caused the device to lose sync, and it took some time to get it to play again.

Review: Netgear Push2TV

Netgear utilizes Intel’s Wireless Link technology, so you don’t have to clutter up your laptop with a USB antenna. The downside is that it won’t work with older laptops, and there’s no support for OS X at all. The device itself comes with both a reset and an on-off-button — and there seems to be good reason for both: I had a hard time getting it to sync with the test computer, which even crashed at some point, complete with a blue screen of death. However, once you have it up and running, it’s actually dead-simple to use.

Push2TV also simply duplicates your desktop, making it impossible to use the laptop for anything else while you watch TV. Unlike its competitors, it doesn’t use UWB, but Wi-Fi Direct, essentially opening up a second Wi-Fi connection that doesn’t interfere with your home network. The upside of that is that a line of sight isn’t quite as essential as with the Veebeam or the Imation Link. Moving further away caused the picture quality to go down, but I was still able to stream from a separate room. Netgear’s Push2TV can stream up to 720p HD (a 1080p capable model is also available, but wasn’t tested). The video quality was good overall, but there was occasionally some degradation visible.

Which One to Buy

Choosing a wireless video streaming solution for your living room depends in part on the computer hardware you’re using. If you’re a Mac user, the Veebeam is currently your best bet. If you already have a Windows laptop with Intel Wireless Link, you might as well give the Netgear Push2TV a try.

However, both these devices have one huge downside: You won’t be able to do anything else on your computer while you watch TV. That may not be a big issue for some, but personally, I don’t really see a good reason why I shouldn’t plug my laptop directly into the TV if I won’t be able to use it anyway.

The Imation Link is the only device of the trio that works with extended desktops, making it possible to multitask while watching TV. That’s clever, and it makes up for the slightly more complicated setup. So if you have a Windows laptop, take a look at the Imation Link — but otherwise maybe just buy a display port adapter.

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Netgear Gets Back Into Internet Video With Roku; at Fry’s, you’ll find the Netgear NTV 250, a re-branded Roku XD for $79.99. (ZDNet)

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Another feature setting the NeoTV apart from its competition is a memory card slot, which can be used to play media from camcorders and photo cameras on your TV. Other than that, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a media player:

• It’s capable of playing back a wide range of video formats and video container formats, including H.264, DivX, Xvid, Windows Media, and DVD ISOs, with a resolution of up to 1080p.
• You can connect hard drives or thumb drives through two USB 2.0 ports.
• It can access content from your local network and supports DLNA, UPnP AV and Windows Media Player 11 media streaming.
• It can also get content online, but this is currently limited to Flickr and Picasa. No YouTube, no Netflix, no Amazon VOD.
• You can hook it up to your local network via Ethernet. No Wi-Fi, which is sort of a hassle, but not uncommon for devices like this one.

The NeoTV 550 will go on sale in the U.S., Europe and Australia this fall and sell for a suggested retail price of $219.99. That’s a lot of money, especially for a device that doesn’t have Wi-Fi or Netflix, given the fact that the Boxee box is expected to sell for around $200, complete with Wi-Fi as well as a bunch of online content.

Netgear Connected Entertainment Product Manager Damir Skripic told me that the box supports the necessary DRM and hopes to offer additional online content soon. He said there will be an open-source SDK for content partners available.

The company will also release a cheaper NeoTV 350 device without eSATA and Blu-Ray capabilities in Europe and Australia for a suggested retail price of €129,99 ($164.70 USD).

But wait, that’s not all: Netgear is also preparing to announce a 500 Mbps Powerline adapter dubbed the XAVB5001 that supports multiple HD streams within the same network. The adapter comes with four gigabit Ethernet ports, and it’s backward compatible to HomePlug AV devices with up to 200 Mbps.

The XAVB5001 will set you back $159 for a pair of two, and $89 for every additional adapter. Pay 10 to 20 bucks more, and you’ll even get an additional outlet. Then there’s the XAVNB2001, which uses Powerline to extend your Wi-Fi network, essentially transmitting data through your home wiring to a kind of repeater. That one’s called the XAVNB2001, provides speeds of up to 200 Mbps, and comes with a suggested retail price of $169.

Netgear isn’t the only company specifically targeting video enthusiasts with networking gear. Earlier today, Western Digital announced the launch of ts own Powerline networking kit.

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