The buzz phrase from Philips was ‘Connected Planet’. Philips believes that everything should be connected and that wireless networking is the key to this dream. With this in mind Philips has expanded its Streamium range that first reared it’s head in 2002.

The highlight of the new Streamium line up is the Streamium TV. This is a 23in LCD TV with a built-in 802.11g adapter. The Streamium TV can connect directly to the Internet and stream content. Unfortunately there’s no web browser in the Streamium TV and you can only access content supplied by Philips and its partners. One such partner is Yahoo. Philips announced a worldwide alliance with Yahoo. This will help create as much streaming content for the new Philips Streamium products.

Watch TV, online movie trailers or even your own DiVX movies with the Streamium TV.


I’m not convinced with the wisdom of Philips’ decision to leave a web browser out of the Streamium products. The reason given is that Philips wants the whole experience to be controllable by a remote control with no need for a keyboard or mouse. However, being limited to content provided by Philips and its partners is hardly making the most of the technology.

Of course you don’t have to stream media direct from the Internet, since you can just as easily stream content from your PC or server. With this in mind the lack of a web browser is less of an issue, since you can search for and download all the content you want on your PC, then view it all on your Streamium TV.

But what if you want Streamium functionality without having a Streamium TV? Well Philips has thought of that too. The MX6000i is a complete home entertainment package that includes Streamium features.

The MX6000i again uses 802.11g to connect to a wireless router. It will be able to output all the Streamium features to an external TV or monitor. Again you can stream media directly from the Internet or from a PC on your home network.

The MX6000i is a home entertainment system with all the bases covered.


As well as the Streamium features, the MX6000i incorporates a five disc changer that will accept DVD, DVD+RW, CD, CD-RW, MP3-CD, VCD and even jpeg picture CDs. The MX6000i also offers a complete 5.1 channel amplification system and front, centre and rear speakers.


Like LG, Philips is also pushing Digital Video Recorder products, with the flagship model being the HDRW 720. This device features a DVD+R/RW DVD recorder along with an integrated hard disk. The HDRW 720 has built-in EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) functionality that’s free in the US.

Digital Video Recorders are definitly en vogue at CES.