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Build An Entertainment Center For The Mac Or The PC: Page 6 of 8

Setting up the EVA8000 started out straightforward, but I found a few quirks. The first time it was plugged in and connected to a TV, I expected an automatic sign-on. Nothing happened. I had to unplug the device and the replug it again to get the startup screen, something that was not mentioned anywhere in the manual. This behavior became repetitive after any extended unplugged period.

Another quirk is that all text input during setup must be done through the remote control device. While setup is a hopefully one-time deal, it's still a bit of an annoyance; much like having to type e-mail on a small cell phone keypad. The remote also controls the device during media playback, as well as navigating though the control menus.

Configuring the EVA8000 out of the box for the Mac was impossible, as I found after many fruitless attempts. Finally, after a long period of diagnosis and e-mails with the top-level Netgear support team, I found out that the Netgear software needed an upgrade to handle some details right (like setting the location of where the data was going to be stored) and I needed to make sure that everything used the Samba SMB networking protocol so that Windows file sharing would work correctly on the Mac.

It is not a simple process, by the way, and it must be done exactly right. Unlike a PC, the data pathways must be manually established. But the device does work well, once configured. One can only hope that a walkthrough document showing exactly how to set up the EVA8000 to run on the Mac will be available at some future date.

The EVA8000 is a true Internet appliance as well as a display device. It can independently download content from the Internet. It browses and tunes Internet radio stations, building an internal stored playlist from choices that the user makes. On a PC (but not a Mac) it can play YouTube video content. However, it can browse Flickr photos on either platform using the Internet connection.