The Vimeo video sharing service is now enabled on the Apple TV and the quality of the high definition streams is fantastically good!
Add to that the privacy features within Vimeo, and this is a great solution for families who want to share home video with one another without making their videos public on YouTube.
Logitech’s new ” GoogleTV Revue” controller advertises “it is the easiest of such devices to set up….”
Let us check that out….
Out of the box you have the unit – sleek and stylish with a very low profile especially compared to the Roku and Boxee units. The remote is an actual computer keyboard about the size you would find on a standard laptop and even has a built in “mouse” touchpad on the upper right side. Because this unit comes from a company known for its full line of universal type AV remote controls the keyboard is a limited AV remote with AV “ON / OFF + Volume Controllers + Mute button + Channel Change” etc….and an included Infra Red “blaster” unit that should control everything that is IR addressable in your AV equipment rack.
Now to the set up…this box goes BETWEEN your set top box (or AVR output) and your TV display. Like most new units it is all HDMI with the Optical Digital Audio output lead that you plug into your AV Receiver. Every audio feed played through this box will show as up converted audio and display as “Dolby Digital” – by far my favorite NetFlix enhancement on this device.
Once powered up as directed from the one page instruction poster it will aggressively find your network and the internet through an ethernet Cat5 connection. Did not try a wireless connection (extra cost) as this unit needs all the bandwidth it can muster to manage its many apps.
On first power up you need to wait for a “system update refresh” – about 10 minutes then once “on” you can register each individual app such as your NetFlix account – VERY easy to do with the full keyboard.
I activated ReVue on the first day it was released and just 4 apps showed up as available….but within a few days it found more and more and now has 28 various media streaming applications awaiting your trial. One of these “HBO to Go” is only for ComCast FIOS Cable users….that would currently apply to about a dozen people on the planet unless their service tells them about this available app.
Back to NetFlix….audio comes in “DOLBY DIGITAL” – a conversion but does sound way better on my system. And NetFlix suggests a ” 1080P ” on the display – the HD feed NetFlix and Vimeo movies do look great on my 1080P HD display.
Other high def streams like the “VIMEO” also 1080P and look and sound wonderful from this device.
Did end up having to hard reboot the unit (unplug power) at the beginning….left an “artifact” on all function screens ( caused by that HBO app not available ) but the reset corrected the issue. Now in the first 3 weeks of use I have had that artifact come up once per week…so THREE hard resets so far….but the unit cycles quickly and you are back in Google TV applications in no time.
Greatest feature next to NetFlix viewing and listening experience improvements is the Browser either “floating” over the TV show or as a Picture In Picture….going back to full screen TV mode is a one button push away.
Like so many of these Set Top Box enhancements devices the MEDIA PLAYER functions come up very short of potential. Will not handle large numbers of music files and will NOT even see or play FLAC or APPLE Lossless type formats. Very selective and limited on various VIDEO formats that it will work with as well.
Just tried the “CRACKLE” movie app…movie played well and the service is free with 6 30″ commercial breaks…the ReVue has a great interface with this and VuDu sites.
The NETFLIX app will only show you your actual Instant Viewing Queue…none of the “other movie and genre suggestions” that the new Apple TV or the new Samsung APPs are able to do; but again this device is the best so far at playing back NetFlix.
Navigation from APP to APP is very quick…the full keyboard offers different key stroke options to work through the many offerings on the menu – once you get figure out keyboard navigation. The “Arrow” and keyboard touch screen mouse are invaluable in pointing and getting to the app you need to do.
The BROWSER functions themselves are a little “different” and short of full computer functions – no easy way to bookmark sites or print from a web page for example. But the Google landing page lives up to the currently running Kevin Bacon adds….type in a name and see video or audio selections that you can watch INSTANTLY – best part of the ReVue – it has FLASH so you are good to go with just about any web Audio Video content.
In Summary:
Cons: This is NOT the universal media AV player I was hoping for…and Logitech needs to address the artifact / reboot issue.
Pros: Everything the hype says it will do it delivers – best in class for: ( 1 ) Full size keyboard ( 2 ) Flash based Browser ( 3 ) up conversion of video and audio and as promised ( 4 ) easy initial set – up.
Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5
Ahhh….the holiday season. I sure thought I would have all of our set top box reviews done by now. But my lack of recent posts to “The Cutting Edge” is for good reason…..we’ve been busy!!!
I spent a bit more time with the Roku XD over the last few days, and I’m glad I did. A few days ago I would have discounted the Roku as a “has been” set top box due to the recent introduction of so many competitive products. But its charming simplicity, vast content availability, and customization capabilities have won back my affection.
At $79, the Roku XD provides a lot of value. “Channels” are that value. Roku channels are comparable to “apps” on a smart phone, but each with different types of media content for your television. Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, Major League Baseball, and Hulu Plus are the big name channels, but there are MANY different types of video, audio, photography, social, and information based channels also available. One of the things I like about the Roku interface is the ability to subscribe to only those channels you want. There are vast amounts of channels available, but only those you want to use regularly will show up on your main dashboard. This amount of content is what sets the Roku apart from the other internet based set top boxes that are now available. I was so pleased to experience the benefits of this vast depth of channels in my testing this morning. My sister is a photographer who took a lot of great family pictures of our Thanksgiving holiday in San Francisco. She uploaded these to her portfolio on SmugMug.com. SmugMug just happens to have a Roku channel available, so I subscribed to that channel, and I now have her entire portfolio viewable on our family room display. To give you an idea….Roku also has Flickr, Picasa, and Facebook Photo channels available for photography…..very cool…..very flexible….
While Roku promotes a list of officially supported Channels, keep in mind there are many third party channels which can also be added. Additionally, Roku is the only set top box with Hulu Plus’ major broadcast network content. So…..for those people who are trying to cut the cord on Cable TV, the Roku is the box to have. Note that there are many rumors that Hulu Plus will be coming to Google TV and Boxee Box products soon.
While the Roku shines with respect to having the most internet content available, it is tarnished when it comes to acting as a media extender for playing music, videos, and photos locally from your home PC. The Roku doesn’t stream media from your iTunes or Media Player libraries out of the box. In order to do this, you need to add a third party “Channel” to do it, and in most cases pay for them. As of this writing, it is not worth it…the UI for these types of channels is clunky at best. Despite having 1080p playback capabilities, the Roku is just the wrong box for playing local content. iTunes users will be far better off with an Apple TV, and Windows Media Player users will be better off with an X-Box if you are looking for a media extender set top box.
In summary, the Roku is like a Swiss Army Knife for your television and internet. The upside of the Roku is that it has a lot of features (channels) from many different content providers. A negative to this is they each have their own unique look and feel, thus making the user interface experience pretty inconsistent. The Roku isn’t as elegant as the Apple TV, and it isn’t in the same league when it comes to playing your own local media…..but it is superior when it comes to pure internet streamed content.
I’m keeping one in my home. Primarily because of the incredible change the internet is now bringing to the broadcast / cable network industries. These changes are quite fascinating to me and the Roku is on the battlefield representing “new media.” Ohhh….. and it’s $79!!!
Have a GREAT day!!!
Mike
OK, so the HD video quality on some of the more recent movies is definitely improving on the Netflix streams. Each time they send me an email with the title “How was the Picture Quality of……?” I habitually click on “the quality was unacceptable” without even thinking. Well, now I need to change that….I need to think about my response, because I have seen some good HD streams. Apparently Netflix listens….and I love that.
As for Apple including Netflix on the new Apple TV…..it is a REALLY good interface. TiVo, for example, limits us to only playing Netflix movies that we have previously added to our “Instant Queue.” This is not the case with the Apple TV. The entire streaming library is available directly from the Apple TV interface…in fact, your “Instant Queue” is now a convenience rather than a necessity. As I mentioned, this interface is really classy (great movie artwork, descriptions, etc…). You can search by Title, Browse by Genre, and there are all kinds of recommendations for you, including New Arrivals.
Finding something interesting to watch via Netflix on the Apple TV is easy, it is intuitive, it looks good, and it it fun.
On another topic…we received our ROKU XD set top box yesterday and played with it briefly. I’ll write up my impressions of it soon. Have a great day!!! M
I’m one of those people who loved Apple’s original “hobby” the first Apple TV. So much so that each of the TV’s in my home have one, and I’ve upgraded the hard drives in all of them to handle our massive digital media library. Now the next version is out and I have some mixed feelings. The way it interacts with home sharing, no local storage, and no purchasing directly from the unit is different. It will change my process flow a bit, but I think I will live. Despite being a seasoned computer geek, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that Apple knows better than me how I should be doing things…so I’ll give this some time and I am confident it will all end up exactly how it should be.
The problems the new one solved: Heat, Speed, Price, Netflix Streaming
The problems the new one creates: No Local Storage, no analog audio out.
Setup was really simple. So simple, any Amanda can do it (seriously)…and no offense Amanda…you did great. We were up and running in just a few minutes. However, we were already set up for media sharing and have a nice robust bandwidth network in place. It’s all in the prep work, and we do have a very “Progressive Home.” This new Apple TV can work over a wireless network, but as with any network device having to cope with enormous digital video, audio and photo files, having a solid high speed wired connection is highly recommended. It eliminates the timers on the screen when loading content, and navigating through the menus is much more snappy.
Here is what I love:
1) iTunes Video Quality - I.M.H.O. Apple is second to none in terms of the quality of the video and audio they stream. Streaming video is not Blu ray / reference quality, and won’t be for probably a decade due to network speeds, but it is really, really good. Better than Amazon video on demand, and light years ahead of Netflix. Apple clearly has some great technicians using their “Compressor” product for this content.
2) Home Sharing – A few versions of iTunes ago, we got Home Sharing which allowed multiple computers at home with iTunes to share their libraries with each other. Now that feature comes to Apple TV as well. You can pull iTunes content from any number of computers on your network. Pretty cool…..I get home from work, open up my laptop, and the media on it shows up as available on the Apple TV in the family room.
3) Photos – Having photos properly organized on your computer and viewable in the family room is incredibly rewarding. This is probably the single most important factor in why I love the original Apple TV. I was pleased to see a few new effects in this Apple TV for slideshows. As usual, Apple is second to none when it comes to an intuitive and beautiful interface for showcasing your photography. Origami, Reflections, and Snapshots slideshow effects have been added to this version of Apple TV. Another addition is the ability to have multiple computers on your network feed photos to the Apple TV for viewing….using the Home Sharing mentioned above. For you Mac Computer users, iPhoto and Aperture work seamlessly with the Apple TV.
4) “Remote” – The “Remote” app (free on the App Store for iPad and iPhone/iTouch) has just been re-done and is brilliant. There are many more set top boxes coming from other manufacturers this month to compete with the Apple TV, but this feature will be unique to Apple. It provides you thumbnail artwork of your media, full multitouch gestures to navigate through your library, all of the controls to start, pause, fast forward, etc… and a keyboard to enter data. In addition to operating your Apple TV, it can also control iTunes on any of the PC’s on your Home Share with the exact same interface. This app is how the Apple TV was meant to be controlled.
5) Another thing to look forward to is “AirPlay” which will be coming with the release of iOS 4.2 in November. This will allow us to stream video from an iPad or iPhone/iTouch directly to the Apple TV. So if you are watching a video on your iPad and want to “beam” it to the family room Apple TV…no problem. I understand programs like Pandora and Rhapsody will work too, but I’m anxious to see if YouTube will work over “Airplay.”
In summary, if you have an iPhone / iPad and enjoy the interface and experience, you will be happy with this device. At $99 you pretty much can’t complain about anything in this device. It is well worth the money and is one of those devices that will improve your family room television experience.
You are welcome to come to our showroom and play with one if you like. This has to be one of the first in Las Vegas operating since we received it early. Hope this helps……and have a GREAT day.
We have been waiting a long time for this. Running the Sonos iPhone app in 2X mode on our ipad and waiting patiently. I installed it last night with I think a little to much anticipation. The app works just fine, but the design isn’t quite as polished as I had hoped. It seems a little cluttered.
On the plus side, and related to being cluttered…..every feature available on the Sonos is there. Since we have two Sonos Zoneplayers running as different sources on a traditional multiroom audio system, having all of these features is nice. This app really does work well if you want to control Sonos throughout the home vs just in one room.
