Netgear unveils new Powerline, Wi-Fi adapters to connect HDTV, home theater devices to home network

More and more home theater devices are Internet-enabled, but sadly most of these new "networked" HDTVs, Blu-ray players, streaming media players, etc. are packing an Ethernet port that doesn't have anything to connect to in the living room. Netgear is continuing its mission to eliminate lonely, unused wired Internet connections in your home theater, with two pairs of products that solve the problem through Wi-Fi and Powerline networking, respectively.

Netgear is thinking a little different when it comes to wireless support. The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) plugs into a device's USB port for power, then lets you hook the Ethernet connection to the WNCE2001's base unit, which transmits wirelessly. It only handles a single device, however, and at $79 when it becomes available in May, it will be a little pricier than getting a little Wi-Fi USB adapter if your device supports that option.

If you have a setup with an HDTV, Blu-ray player and game console each sporting Ethernet ports, you may need to step up to the Netgear High-Performance Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit (WNHDB3004, pictured). You plug one unit from the kit into your router and then connect your electronic devices to the second unit's LAN ports (four in all). The second unit then acts like a wireless gateway for your devices, communicating with the first unit. Netgear is touting the WNHDB3004's superior performance, claiming it can "wirelessly stream multiple 1080p HD streams with wired-equivalent reliability." Because the company is stressing the reliability and throughput of this product, this may be a solution that's marketed more to cable, satellite, and phone companies for multi-room streaming of HD video than to consumers. Pricing might give us a clearer indication, but Netgear didn't disclose any details, but does say it will hit the market in Q3 2010.

If your living room's wireless reception isn't great, you might want to try a Powerline solution, which lets you connect devices to your home network through ordinary electrical outlets. Performance has improved greatly with each generation of Powerline equipment, to the point where Netgear claims its new Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001) and the Powerline AV+ 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5501, pictured) can offer throughput of up to 500Mbps. Whether that can hold up in third-party testing remains to be seen, but it's still a long way from when Powerline kits could barely deliver 802.11b level speeds. Both new kits feature smaller adapters than previous iterations, which means they don't block as many free outlets, with the XAVB5501 going the extra step to including a pass-through outlet built right into its face. Again, Netgear doesn't provide pricing details, but is targeting a third quarter availability date.