Category: News


Dear brite-Viewers,

We hope that when you think of brite-View, you’re filled with bright thoughts only. But in order to keep streaming your digital entertainment happily, you’ll need to voice your opinion about this matter now.

I’m sure you’ve heard about this by now, that Google and Verizon just drew up their blueprint of how the Internet should look like. And Google+Verizon are definitely not the only companies who want to ensure they get on the fast lane online. Remember what happened to Comcast and FCC back in April?

That’s right. All the “big guys” – be it Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Google or Yahoo – want to have a say of what applications, videos, websites or content are supported by them and their partners, and what should not be prioritized in the online traffic.

What does that mean to the Internet? If our worst fear happens, it “could” mean that, when your ISP provider is AT&T, you can’t watch Hulu videos (or AT&T just makes Hulu traffic unbearably slow so you would eventually give up), or when your ISP provider is Verizon, your iPhone won’t work at home. It may also mean you can’t use the torrent download feature on the CinemaTube or CinemaTube Mini any more.

Imagine the Internet becoming more and more like what’s happening to your TV programming. You have to pay a ton of money for 500 channels, but in reality you’re only watching 20 of them. And no, you can’t choose what you want and when you want it. It’s all decided for you.

The beauty of net neutrality is that, as long as you have great new idea or insightful thoughts to share, you don’t have to be a big corporation to have your voice heard. There are many bloggers who pose greater influence than the traditional media outlet nowadays. And in fact, 75% of the news consumed online is through shared news from social network sites or email. But now the big guys want to decide for us where we should go online, and what information we should receive. Once again.

So tell Congress today that you want your Internet to stay open. Tell Google to not be evil. There is only one Internet! And remember – these companies have deep pockets (= huge lobbying power) and they can schedule a meeting with Washington D.C. any time. We are on our own so we have to make sure we will let their phones ring off the hook!

(Source: Public Knowledge, Free Press, The New York Times, and Mashable)

(Photo: http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/google-dr-evil.jpg)

CinemaTube’s 100th Review Available on Amazon!

(Warning: this post may appear to be cheesy and sentimental)

Since the launch of the CinemaTube in September 2009, it has become, well, if not “well-known”, at least “known” in the “scene”. It is a product people talk about, wonder about and sometimes criticize about. We welcome all thoughts and suggestions, because the day when people stop criticizing it is when the product is dead (or when it becomes perfect – not to look for excuses, but we all know there is no perfect product that pleases everyone. We can only try.).

Another example: when you login to your Linkedin account, in the middle section of your right-hand side it says “Who’s Viewed My Profile?” The day I saw “someone from the product marketing team of Western *igital (or *estern Digital; either way)” had viewed my profile, I knew we kind of made it.

Today is especially a good day for us, because we just received the 100th review on the CinemaTube on Amazon. We were holding our breath for it because we weren’t sure if it was going to be positive or negative. We really wanted to encourage our customers to leave that comment but we knew we couldn’t bribe you. It wouldn’t be an authentic one, and thus less iconic.

(But boy, can you imagine the torture? We sometimes just sat there refreshing the page 100x times. Yes, pretty pathetic.)

And… whew! It finally showed up today after lunch time (PST) and it was a 5-star review. Thank you, Mr. Douglas A. Weber! We have announced earlier on Facebook that he will get a pair of the LinkE powerline adapters. We hope it helps with his media streaming experience. :)

Thanks for reading this and thanks for being here with us. It’s true. We mean it.

*picture “borrowed” from this page

If you would like to connect with me on Linkedin, you are more than welcome to do so. Thank you in advance for taking the time to do so!

Sincerely,

Charlotte Han

brite-View by Xpike Innovation

New brite-View LinkE Review from “TechyDad”

Hello brite-Viewers,

TechyDad was kind enough to take the brite-View LinkE (BV-210C) for a spin, and is now sharing his review and observation in his blog.

In case you’re wondering what the “LinkE” is: it is a pair of powerline ethernet adapters with up to 200Mbps data transfer rate. They either have two 1-port bridge (BV-210D) in the package, or one 1-port bridge + one 4-port switch (BV-210C). In this review the TechyDad was reviewing the BV-210C package (1-port + 4-port).

If you already love the Wi-Fi setting in your house, that is great. The LinkE, however, may add an extra layer of security: the 128-Bit AES encryption can protect the privacy of your data, and because they use the existing electrical wiring in your house to transfer data, it makes the communication safe and hard to “crack”, since almost no one else can enter your “domain”.

What did TechyDad think? Conclusion:

“I would definitely recommend the LinkE for connecting home theater equipment to the Internet. Nowadays, many electronics (Blu-Ray, Roku, CinemaTube, etc) come with ethernet ports. Not all come with wireless built-in. Instead of buying wireless adapters for each of these, you could hook up one LinkE and network all of our devices. The LinkE can be purchased from Brite-View. The 1 port bridge + 4 port switch model that I tested retails for $84.99.”

The full review can be found here. Thanks TechyDad!

(Photos taken from TechyDad’s blog)

First CinemaGo Review Here!

Dear brite-Viewers,

We have a first CinemaGo review available on GizmoScene.com for your reference. More reviews should be available soon!

Conclusion:

“The brite-View CinemaGo is the perfect HD media player that boasts a built in torrent downloader, wireless streaming, 1080P video, and Internet Radio. This media player does it all and more and I can’t find another product that features all the things this player does. In addition the performance is stellar and the design is sleek and minimalist.

9.8 Out of 10″

Please see more details and the complete post here.

Hello brite-Viewers,

TGIF! You might have noticed that there is a new firmware (IPB10106251) available for the CinemaTube today. Again, you can choose to perform an online update (which I think is the easiest) or the “USB update” (more “advanced” :) ). I’ll explain in detail about how to do both, later in this post.

Before I do that, though, please note that if you are a proud new owner of the CinemaTube, you will see that when you receive the box, it still has the IPB1009C021 firmware on it. We suggest that you update the firmware to IPB10106251 as the latest firmware addresses many known bugs within the C021.

IPB10106251 Release Note:

  1. Resolved photo thumbnail display issue via UPnP
  2. Resolved rebooting issue caused by “File Copy”
  3. Enhanced HFS+ compatibility

IMPORTANT:

  • If you choose to perform an online update:

Your CinemaTube will go from IPB1009C021 –> IPB10101111 –> IPB10106251. Yes, you’ll go through 2 (TWO)

updates and it is normal.

  • If you choose to perform a USB update:

You can take the shortcut and go directly from IPB1009C021 to IPB10106251; no problem.

Ok! Are you ready for a step-by-step guide to firmware update?

P.S. We’ll make this document available on our support page soon, and we can also email you the document if you send a request to service@brite-view.com. Enjoy your CinemaTube!

CinemaTube + CinemaGo Owners – Check This Out

UPDATE: this version (new GUI) will be applied to the CinemaTube, as well as the CinemaGo.

Hello brite-Viewers,

We hear your concerns when you question whether the support will still be the same for you, CinemaTube owners, since that we changed the company name, and have just launched a new product, the CinemaGo.

While we can not and will not give you empty promises, we can show you, however, what the team has been working on. And a picture paints a thousand words, doesn’t it? Not to mention we have 3. :)

Doesn't This Excite You?

Is It Possible? Movie Cover Art?

Flickr Gets A Face Lift, Too

Now you can see why it’s taking a bit longer to debug, because we’re working on adding something new at the same time, too. Please stay tuned – you will not be disappointed.

And in case we don’t post anything new before then, happy July 4th weekend everyone!

Would A Rose by Any Other Name Smell As Sweet?

Hey there brite-Viewers,

Thanks to your support, the previously mentioned “issue” seems to be resolved now. Give it up to consumer influence!

There are many other products similar to the brite-View CinemTube (heck, some even look the same) in the market nowadays, but we only provide service, giveaways, rewards and community support to our own products (“brite-View” branded) and to those who purchase brite-View branded products. We have no comment on other similar-looking products (for example, ZIN-5005HD or even ViewSonic VMP70) (or especially on how other resellers would copy top Amazon reviews for the CinemaTube and use them as reviews for their products – no, we have no comment :) ) and frankly we cannot speak for them, either.

So, would a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? The answer is “it depends”, and it’s up to you to decide.

Thanks again fellows. We are honored to represent the brite-View brand and to serve you.

Dear brite-Viewers,

You might remember when the CinemaTube was first launched last year, it was open for international shipping.  Because of the surging demand combined with lack of manpower to properly handle international orders, we had to close that part of the business.

We are ready to ship CinemaTube to Canada and Brazil again! We learned from the experience that some packages got lost on their way to our Brazilian friends under mysterious circumstances. We have decide to go with USPS Priority Mail with tracking information instead of USPS First-Class without tracking information.

CinemaTube is now available for

US$129.99 shipped to Brazil

US$122.99 shipped to Canada

However, the first 100 orders from each country will enjoy a promotional price of

US$116.99 shipped to Brazil

US$109.99 shipped to Canada

Please see more details on our website.

The Price is Right! Enter to Win an Amazon $10 Gift Card!

Wanna play “The Price is Right” and win a $10 Amazon gift card?

We are going to launch the “LinkE”, which is the world’s smallest powerline Ethernet adapter kit (1-port bridge + 4-port switch) next week, and we want you to guess the price for this kit.

To enter, place your best bet on the wall of our brite-View Facebook page now, and the first two participants with the exact or closest bet will win one $10 Amazon gift certificate each (which will be delivered by email).

We will announce the price in a press release on Mar 9, 2010. Want some hints?

  1. The price tag for similar kit/technology is above $100.00.
  2. We will offer a bundle deal of the CinemaTube + the LinkE kit for $174.99.

That’s it! No trick, and it’s free to enter! Good luck everyone!

brite-View Blog is Mobile Friendly

If you just can’t get enough of our products and our site, now you can take it with you! Our blog has been made mobile friendly so you can enjoy brite-View on the go.

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