This article's focus is on how to setup and use RSS Text, AOD (Audio on Demand) and VOD (Video on Demand) feeds with NetGear's Digital Entertainer EVA8000. The EVA8000 comes with some feeds already set up for you to try. From the Main Menu, choose "Internet Media," then "RSS News and Podcasts". You will find some sample video and audio feeds from National Geographic, CBS, CNN and others. To watch or listen to any of the feeds, simply select the one you would like to view using the Up/Down arrow buttons on the remote and press "OK". Each entry will contain the text from each section and if available, the audio/video which can be played by pressing either "Play" (>||) button to play all media files in descending order or "OK" button to play just the current entry. Try watching the first feed in the list (National Geographic's Wild Chronicles). Press the "Stop" button to stop playback, then press the "Back" button to get back to the "RSS news and podcasts" menu.

For people that don't know what RSS feeds are, here is a quick overview.

RSS - otherwise known as Really Simple Syndication - is an easy way for people to view information sources (such as text, audio and video) that interest them. The source could be a blog (text), a podcast (audio), a videocast (video) or any web site that includes RSS feeds. An RSS feed (also known as a web feed, or channel) contains either a summary of the content from an associated web site (also audio or video links usually called enclosures) or the full text from the site. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite news feeds, podcasts or videocasts in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually - most RSS feeds use a subscription system that is free.

When visiting a website, such as MyDigitalEntertainer, you will see an RSS icon or an option to subscribe.

By clicking on this icon, you will usually be brought to a webpage with a listing of all available RSS feeds for that site. In some cases it will bring you directly to the "feed" page. These pages are normally written in what is known as "XML" code. They separate each entry into different sections that the EVA8000 can parse and display as individual entries.

There are 3 different ways to enter these feeds on the EVA8000. In the following sections, I will show you the ways to do this, and give some examples of feeds that will work with the EVA8000. First, you must find a feed that you would like to read (text), listen to (audio) or watch (video). For audio, the EVA8000 will stream both MP3 and WMA formats. For video, it will stream XviD, WMV, MP4, M4V and most MOV files (as long as it's encoded in a format the EVA8000 understands). The EVA8000 will stream other formats as Netgear adds support for more formats in the future.

In the first example, I want to read some "Recent Articles" from MyDigitalEntertainer. I surf over to the MyDigitalEnteetainer website and scroll down to the "Recent Articles" section, then I click on the RSS link in that section. I am presented with the RSS XML page for that feed. I write down the full address from the address bar (http://www.mydigitalentertainer.com/rss/articles.xml). Now, I go to my EVA and enter the feed via the EVA's remote control.

Entering Feeds Via the EVA 8000 Remote Control

Note: This was done using the latest firmware (Version 2.0.150). See my other article entitled "EVA8000 Firmware Release 2.0.150 Adds New Features and Formats" to learn about the latest firmware.

From the Main Menu, choose "Internet Media" then "RSS news and podcasts." To enter a new feed, choose "Add New RSS feed" from the menu. On the next page, enter the web address of the feed with the on screen keyboard, choosing "Done/OK" when finished, then arrow down and choose "OK". On the "Enter the RSS description" page, enter the name of the feed, choosing "Done/OK" when finished, then arrow down and choose "OK". This will add the feed to the end of the current list. Now, you must arrow down to the bottom of the list and press "OK" to view the articles in the feed. Use the Up/Down arrows on the remote to read the article, and Left/Right arrows to move through each article. Press the "Back" button to return the "RSS news and podcasts" menu. That's it: you have just added your first feed!

Entering Feeds via the EVA 8000 Web Interface

In this example, I will setup an RSS video feed for an Internet TV show called Tekzilla from the Revision3.com website, through the EVA8000's web interface. I open a browser and surf over to http://revision3.com/tekzilla (go to http://revision3.com for a full listing of their shows). Once at the Tekzilla site, I look for the RSS icon or for a subscription option. Revision3 offers their feeds in multiple formats (the EVA should be able to stream all of the formats listed), so I navigate to the XML page for the feed I want (in this case, the WMV Large feed) by clicking on the RSS icon for the WMV feed. Once at the page for the feed, I either copy down the web address for the page or easier yet, I just highlight the address in the web browser's Address Bar, then right click and select copy.

To enter feeds via the EVA8000's web interface, start a web browser (Internet Explorer 7 used in this example) and enter the IP address of the EVA8000 in the address bar. In the following picture, my EVA8000 is at IP address 192.168.1.14. To determine the IP address of your EVA8000, from the EVA8000's Main Menu choose More/Supervisor functions/System Information and look under the Network information (LAN) section.

After entering the IP address and pressing enter, you will be at the EVA8000'S web interface's Main Menu.

Click on the "News/Weather" link to open the "Rss News and Podcasts" page (Figure 4)

Now click on "Add New RSS Feed" (Figure 5)

In the "Enter the RSS Description" text box, enter the name of the feed. This will be the name that is displayed on the EVA8000's RSS menu when you go to watch the feed. So, I enter "Tekzilla WMV Large" (without the quotes) as this is the name of the show and format that I want to watch. In the "Enter the RSS URL" text box, I will either enter the address that I wrote down, or paste it from the clipboard if I copied it when I was at the XML feed page.

Now click "OK" to add the feed to the EVA. On the EVA, choose "Refresh List" from the "RSS News and Podcasts" menu to see your newly added feed at the bottom of the list. Press "OK" to view the feed and then press "OK" to start the playback of the video.

Entering Feeds By Editing the "rss.txt" File Directly

The EVA8000 stores its settings for RSS feeds in a text file (called rss.txt) in it's data save location on a PC or share. If on a share, it should be in the "EVADATA\RSS" directory. If on a PC, it will be under the "Shared Documents\EVADATA\RSS" directory.

Open the "rss.txt" file in a text editor such as Notepad. After you open the text file, you will see all of the current feeds that are setup on the EVA8000. The format of the file is as follows:
"Tekzilla WMV Large" "http://revision3.com/tekzilla/feed/wmv-large"

To add a feed, just enter a new line at the bottom of the file following the format shown above. So, in this example I will be adding a feed for John Dvorak's Tech 5 Audio Podcast from "http://tech5.podshow.com/". I go to the Tech 5 website and find the feed page for the show. I copy down the URL or highlight the URL in the address bar, right click, and choose "Copy." Now I add an entry for the feed in the text file.

On the EVA, choose "Refresh List" from the "RSS News and Podcasts" menu to see your newly added feed at the bottom of the list. Press "OK" to view the feed, and then press "OK" to start the playback of the audio podcast.

That's it.... You have now learned how 3 different ways to add RSS feeds and how to access them on the EVA8000.

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