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Thursday March 15, 2007
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 There are dozens of protocols and devices that claim to stream media from your PC to your television, all with limitations of one sort or another. Some can't handle those DRM-encoded videos you've bought online explicitly to stream to your TV. Whoops! Some can only handle vanilla file formats like MPG. Most--in fact, all, as far as I know--only stream stereo sound. And none of 'em can send the contents of an ordinary DVD across the airwaves. Except the Pegasus Cynalynx.
Which didn't really exist until a few days ago.
To be fair, it existed, if we're arguing semantics. I've seen it in operation two or three times, and it does exactly what it claims to, perfectly: It streams anything off your desktop and onto your TV, including commercial DVDs, and it sends a 5.1-channel audio signal to boot. Heck, I liked it so much that I nominated it for one of PC Magazine's coveted Technical Excellence awards a while back. But good luck buying one at retail; the company's much publicized financial struggles eclipsed the product's possibilities, and for a while, the product seemed destined to die a horrible death.
All hail the Caribbean! Pegasus recently opened a manufacturing plant in The Bahamas (of all places!), where it seems to have finally resolved its financial and manufacturing difficulties and is hard at work making and shipping products to the world. The Web site was completely overhauled as of March 1st, including an online ordering system--just $399.99 and 60 bucks in shipping will have one of these devices on your doorstep.
Needless to say, we've got a request in for a review unit and promise to share the test results with you as soon as we get one in. Pegasus, are you listening? Send us a Cynalynx!
Post by Jeremy A. Kaplan
Posted By:
Gearlog
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March 15, 2007 7:07 PM
I GOT MINE MONDAY ......AWESOME ....
March 16, 2007 11:26 AM
Great call in PC Magazine's 2006 Technology Breakthroughs!!! Pegasus Wireless' Cynalynx won the award in the 2006 "wireless" category.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C2064697%2C00.asp
April 1, 2007 10:00 AM
Don't waste your money, literally because they won't refund!! You could say I bought on faith as no one has ever really published any first hand tests of this device and clarified the differences between its hype and reality. Where to begin. I tested the device on Server 2003 and XP OS's on a multimedia desktop and on a laptop, various applications (i.e. web content streaming, HD TV Tuner card, media files, DVD etc.) The only thing it did do well was play media files. Steaming of internet content wirelessly produced choppy images, same for DVD's when they would play, often you just get some Linux error about DVD mount point? When a DVD would play wirelessly and you would be delivered to the DVD page where you select options of what content you wanted to view, directors clips etc., that was a far as you could go. The Cynalynx remote couldn't deliver a "Select" command or anything like that to view the actual movie. Now if you plugged in the hardwire LAN port, the DVD wouldn't play choppy anymore, but that defeats the whole purpose. I wasn't able to get sound streaming from the DVD either. The HD TV tuner card renderd nothing but that was a stretch anyway, I would have gladly overlooked if it could have delivered on some of its basic promises but it failed miserably. When I contacted Pegasus for a refund they told me NO REFUNDS! in a heavy Jamaican accent and were quite rude and unwilling to work with me. They insisted I talk to a Technician, to which I informed them of my numerous attempts to contact their support representatives, only to face phones that don't answer and e-mails with no replies. I agreed to a schedule time when their technician would call me (of course during the week and normal business hours) and of course they never called. These guys are close to something great, but not there and very shady business practices. I have basically been cheated out of $400. Don't waste your money.
April 1, 2007 11:55 AM
I have tested Cynalynx for the last two weeks. It is a terrific product. Not only that it streams media files and DVD's from my desktop PC, I now use Cynalynx as my media gateway and access internet and stream Youtube videos without a PC. I replaced my D-link router with Cynalynx which provides super fast wifi access to five computers in my house and has better security than D-Link. The media streaming works great. I can stream almost all of my 1000+ video movies to my big TV from anywhere in the house as far as 150 feet away. Both the video and sound quality are superb. I streamed DVD's from my desktop PC but had problems streaming them using my laptop. I called Pegasus Technical Support for help. I was pleasantly surprised. They returned my call within an hour and were very helpful. It is usually impossible to get this kind of prompt and helpful technical support from other tech companies. They told me that they had problems reported with some PC's and laptops in streaming DVD's, and a fix will soon be available for downloading. Apart from my laptop DVD streaming problem, the product works great an I am very happy with my purchase. I think both real-time DVD and media streaming from any PC or laptop and internet browsing and streaming of videos without using a PC are ground breaking technologies and I am very happy to be one of the first owners of the Cynlaynx technology.
April 1, 2007 1:52 PM
Wow..I just got my Cynalynx a couple of days ago, a 3 day delivery! I know absolutely nothing about how things work, but if I sit down and take my time to work it thru, with the manual close by, I can usually figure it out. I did have to call tech support a couple of times, so far, and they were a lot more savvy about helping me than I expected...lots of times, those people treat people like me as though I were an idiot. They walked me through step by step, and not once did I feel they thought I was stupid...we were moving forward in a 'situation' together. So far, I have been able to stream some 'funny stuff' off the internet to my TV, to entertain my family, who think, btw, that computers are aliens from outer space.
I am still working out the 'how-tos'on my cynalynx, but it has ALSO become my gateway for my computer, and I am discovering untapped possibilities every time I spend some time with it, learning what it can do, and how it does what it can do.
April 1, 2007 2:05 PM
Mr. Dolan sounds like Jimmy Noonan to me. I had issues with my cynalynx so I called tech support and they helped me get mine up and running. it did take a while but that was because of all the programs and firewalls that were set on my computer. The technical support was excellent as the person was able to weave through the windows program and route the system faster than I could keep up. The cynalynx works fine and I am still learning all of it's different uses. ihttp://www.gearlog.com/2007/03/the_pegasus_mediastreaming_giz.php#comments
April 1, 2007 3:06 PM
No one seems to be able to tell me a simple YES OR NO --- does this work with a MAC????
Hello -- open your manuals, what does it say???