Okay, we get it. With all the new electronics that stretch from smartphones, handheld consoles, and ebook readers to laptops, desktops and tablets, we’re all guilty of ignoring the good ‘ol boob tube these days. We know we have. (Although when the flatscreen’s showing actual boobs, we do tend to drop our iPhones.) Anyway, Logitech is looking to change all that with the Revue, their Google TV-based set top box, and they’ve been putting out a series of teaser ads to drum up the hype before the stated fall release. All par for the marketing course, and the ads do give out a clear message. Despite the supposed-to-be-cute theme, the TV with the big eye and mouth that keeps popping out of nowhere is a bit freaky though. We haven’t been this freaked out by a TV since Poltergeist.

Check out the ads after the break.

To some people that’s a good thing though; not everyone needs a media player that plays YouTube videos on their home entertainment systems, and even less people have a Netflix subscription after all. So what’s left? Pretty much what’s important: a built-in 1TB or 2TB drive to store multimedia content, and support for the most popular digital media formats.

And that’s pretty much it: load your media into the drive, plug it into a TV, grab the remote and sit back. The WD Elements Play supports AAC and MP3 audio, as well as a wide range of video format s, including RMVB, H.264 and MKV, among others.

No price or availability yet so we can’t know for sure exactly how “budget-friendly” this kit is going to be, but if it falls around what you’d pay for if you pick up the $150 WD TV Live, then it’s all good. We expect it to be a bit more expensive though, since this kit does come with its own drive.

Logitech’s Google TV-running set-top box will now be known as the Revue. News of Google putting out a TV box has already been out there for a while, but the name makes it officially official. Named after the entertainment revues of the early 20th century that combined music, dance and sketches (or what we know today as variety shows, or “America’s Got Talent” if you add a few judges), the Revue is pretty multi-talented as well, acting as a DVR as well as a means of giving you access to online entertainment through your HDTV.

The system will be powered by an Android-based OS, 1.2GHz Intel Atom CPU, and 4GBs of memory, and will feature HDMI, USB and Wi-fi n connectivity to get you online. The black box will support Dolby Digital 5.1 and HD video resolutions, and will feature Google’s Chrome browser to let you net-surf on your couch. The Revue comes with its own remote for moving through the interface, although it’s also listed to work with Logitech’s Harmony universal remotes, as well as with iPhones and Android smartphones with an installed app. Awesome kit if you just want to add net connectivity to an existing HDTV or home entertainment setup.

Pricing and availability isn’t available yet, but it’s expected to launch this fall. Another Google TV partner, Sony, is also expected to announce new Google TV sets and Blu-ray players around the same time.

Here’s a video demo from Google:

Western Digital just announced an update to their WD TV line of media players that extends your options from a hard drive to the net. The WD TV Live Plus is basically an updated version of the WD TV Live media player, which will feature everything the original WD TV Live originally offered (Full HD 1080p video playback, network support and streaming, composite and HDMI video connections) but adds full DVD-like navigation and access to Netflix.

Good news for you if you have an unlimited Netflix membership, since this box will let you queue movies through the built-in interface, but for those who don’t (as well as everyone living outside the US), the TV Live Plus can still be used to access the internet for playing online content from YouTube, Pandora, Flickr, and Live365.com.

The WD TV Live Plus can play just about any multimedia file (photos, videos, and audio) you can store onto an external USB drive, including the most common AVI, MPG, MP4/MOV and WMV videos at full HD 1080p, and MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, and OGG audio with Dolby Digital and DTS support.

It’s still priced at $150—similar to what you’d originally pay for the first WD TV Live player—so not having a Netflix account shouldn’t stop you from picking one up if you’re looking for an all-around media player. It’s available now through WD’s online store.

Asus has just unveiled the latest network media player to fall under their O!Play line, the HD2, during the CeBIT show in Germany. It’s basically a relatively flexible media player that will let you play multimedia files straight off a storage source—that’s either connected via any of its ports and slots or through the network—straight to a TV.

Official specs haven’t been released yet, although it does come with a number of connections for plugging in just about any storage source (including eSATA, USB 3.0, memory cards, as well as other devices connected to the network via Ethernet and Wi-fi). A USB 3.0 port has been spotted, so it should be ready to take in any of the newer, faster storage devices that should be coming out throughout the year.

Same as on Asus’ older O!Play devices, HD 1080p video playback should be supported via an HDMI connection, but it will still be able to connect to older displays and TVs via composite audio and video connections.

No word on pricing on release dates yet, but that’s okay. As long as USB 3.0 isn’t considered “mainstream” yet, we can all really afford to wait.

The player comes with LG’s NetCast Entertainment Access feature that allows users to buy movies straight from Vudu (it also gives it access to sites such as Netflix, Roxio’s CinemaNow, YouTube, Pandora Internet Radio, plus widget-based info from Yahoo!), which makes the integrated storage all the more integral to the whole scheme of things. The CD-ripping feature also lets users archive their CD collections and store them into the player, which also features auto-tagging (thanks to Gracenote’s MusicID service) for easy track-sorting and searching. (It can’t rip movies though; blame Hollywood.)

Aside from the integrated storage, the BD590 also comes with 802.11n wireless with DLNA support, allowing it to pull content from other devices across the home network before splashing them onto an HDTV. Everything else—7.1-channel surround sound, USB ports, digital outputs—is just gravy.

Pricing hasn’t been announced, but it’s set to be released in February.

Networking company D-Link is all set to show off a couple of new networked media hubs at CES. The main draw should be the Boxee Box, a rather interestingly-designed (a cube that looks like it’s sinking? That’s interesting, right? We’re definitely interested.) kit that ports Boxee’s media streaming-slash-social network interface straight into your home entertainment system.

The Boxee Box comes with a network connection, and USB, audio, and HDMI ports at the back that allow it to act as a bridge between your HDTV, your home network, and the Internet. This “Sunken Cube of Infinite Entertainment” comes with Boxee’s open source software that lets you pull in content from a number of sources such as the net, a connected drive, or the home network—including Twitter and Facebook feeds, stored media files, free online videos (YouTube, Hulu, Netflix), internet radio services (Pandora, last.fm, Shoutcast), and online photo sites (such as flickr and Picasa).

Simply put, this little interestingly-designed sinking cube here gives you more reasons to spaz out in front of your HDTV (instead of just spazzing out in front of your PC). Comfortably. On a couch. With a remote. Maybe a beer or two. Ooh, and a big bag of Cheetos. And a long list of those stupid (but strangely popular) YouTube videos you’ve always wanted to check out but never had the time to do so. (Trust us, YouTube videos—even the dumbest, most random ones—can get pretty entertaining on an HDTV when you’re on a couch after a few drinks.)

The Pebble is also a media streamer, but without the Boxee interface. It’s pretty straightforward: it’s a compact, pebble-shaped kit with a Wi-fi (via an optional wireless dongle) and Ethernet connection, USB ports, and card reader that allows you to plug in multiple sources such as hard drives, thumb drives, memory cards, and networked drives for playback. HDMI and analog outputs allow it to be connected to HDTVs and standard home entertainment systems.

The Boxee Box is expected to sell for around $200, while the Pebble is priced at $120.

Cisco has just introduced the FlipShare TV, a set top kit that that streams HD home movies stored in a computer wirelessly to a TV.

The kit includes a USB dongle that connects to a computer, a remote, and the set top box receiver that connects to the TV via an HDMI or RCA connection. Designed to work with the Flip mini camcorder, the FlipShare TV works with FlipShare 5.0 software that lets users organize, edit, and share video online—either through automated YouTube uploads or via the FlipChannel service that lets users set up a channel for selected friends and family to access.

The kit connects to the USB dongle via a peer-to-peer 802.11n connection for a range of up to 200 feet.

The FlipShare TV kit is priced at $150 and should start shipping within the month.

LaCie has just announced ther LaCinema Classic HD, a media server/player that can store photos, music and videos into its 1TB drive, and play them back to an HDTV via an HDMI connection.

The LaCinema Classic HD is capable of full HD 1080p playback and upscaling, as well as surround sound with DTS multichannel decoding via Optical SPDIF and HDMI outputs. It’s capable of playing various digital audio, video and photo formats, including DivX, XviD and H.264-encoded videos, as well as iTunes-encoded AAC audio. The box comes with only a 1TB internal drive option, but it also features a USB port for plugging in external drives.

The smooth black all-in-one box also connects to the home network via an Ethernet connection for media streaming and file transfers, and is compatible with other DLNA appliances, Windows, Mac, and Linux-based computers.

It’s now available for $250.

The XV-BP11 comes with an HDMI 1.3 port for connecting to HD displays, along with RCA and coaxial connections for connecting to analog sets. It can also play back WMV videos, JPEG photos, and MP3/WMA audio files. Surround sound is also featured, with support for Dolby Digital and DTS.

The XV-BP11 is now available for $200.