Engadget Announces the HD Theater 300

[skyeclad]

This is the announcement. Unfortunately, their announcement has some odd statements such as:

Last month, a $149.95 price tag on a no-name streamer may have looked attractive, but with the revised Apple TV and price-adjusted Roku line, we get the feeling this one will be a hard sell.

Um, I thought they mis-understood the point of this device but then they say:

The outfit suggests that you turn this critter into a whole home DVR solution by running SageTV Media Center software alongside of it, but you should probably know that you'll have some trouble if trying to shove DRM'd content through it.

It seems that some of the commenters are Sage users like myself trying to set the record straight.

[Brent]

That post was originally posted as a "hack job" to get attention for its snarkiness. Darren Murphy works fast & getting the facts straight isn't his main job fwiw. They did edit the title and a tiny bit of the content though which made the post Terrible instead of Worthless

It's sad to see this sort of treatment from a blog that's supposed to be technology-savvy, but it's par for the course. I hope SageTV is able to pull off a Netflix and/or Amazon thing - that would help the HD300 in the media player market. In the end the only thing I hate about blog posts like that Engadget one is that its a lost opportunity to show off something SageTV has that's really really good. And many MediaCenter & XBMC folks who would LOVE to have this device for their HTPC might not even glance at it because they don't understand or know about it.

[derelicte1]

Ben should have done the review. he would at least "get" it.

it seems that engadget has become another marketing outlet for apple.

[skyeclad]

I actually enjoy some of Engadget's articles but sometimes they take snarkiness to a new level but even that wouldn't bother me so much if they didn't make false comparisons and just not get the purpose of the device.

I mean, ultimately, they crux of the article is about how cheaper Internet Streaming devices from bigger names than Sage are now here making this a dinosaur upon announcement. Does it even matter that this device is NOT currently an Internet Streaming device AT ALL(without the awesome playon plugin that is). Does it even matter that the primary purpose of the device is to play high quality local content on a server and extend PVR functionality?

I guess it doesn't matter but I guess we'll see if they ever review the unit and rehabilitate themselves.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by skyeclad

I guess it doesn't matter but I guess we'll see if they ever review the unit and rehabilitate themselves.

I wouldn't let them review it (they don't typically purchase things they review - they have to be given to them) if it were me. Ben might be the most fair and actually seems to understand such devices. Beyond that......

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by derelicte1

it seems that engadget has become another marketing outlet for apple.

Bingo. Engadget has no credibility, @bjdraw notwithstanding.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Bingo. Engadget has no credibility, @bjdraw notwithstanding.

Yeah Ben is a wmc fanboy and he did the hd200 review which also showed he didn't even really give it a shot and try things so him doing it wouldn't have been any better.

[stanger89]

On the up side, Bob Sorel (one of the mods on AVSForum) posted that he just ordered one, so maybe it will get some good publicity over there.

Oddly there seems to be more interest in the HD300 over there than the UI-revamped V7.

I don't know, I still like engadget, but mainly for their "snarky" wording of the "news". I don't read them for their opinions, if I want a review of something I go somewhere that actually does reviews.

[skyeclad]

I've been reading them more often lately, mostly because I'm in the market for a new smartphone and I'm waiting to hear more about the Verizon Fascinate. Chris Ziegler seems ok although he's got some odd Nokia Fanboism going on.

Besides Geek Tonic, who do you guys trust for tech reviews?

Edit: change read to trust because it occurs to me that there are an awful lot of seemingly compromised blogs in the tech space.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by skyeclad

Besides Geek Tonic, who do you guys trust for tech reviews?

Edit: change read to trust because it occurs to me that there are an awful lot of seemingly compromised blogs in the tech space.

Thanks for the GeekTonic mention. I work hard to make it worth the read and I do it mostly because I enjoy sharing - not to be the next Engadget.

My favs:
1. MissingRemote
2. ZatzNotFunny!
3. anandtech

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I don't know, I still like engadget, but mainly for their "snarky" wording of the "news". I don't read them for their opinions, if I want a review of something I go somewhere that actually does reviews.

Maybe I should have worded the subject of this post just as snarky as their titles:

Engadget announces the HD Theater 300, screws it up in the process.

[stanger89]

I think you could write for them.

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I think you could write for them.

Thanks, I think I found that common snarky tone that all their articles have.

[stanger89]

You know, actually it's stuff like this, more than anything that I think I read engadget for:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/i...isters-too-vi/

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You know, actually it's stuff like this, more than anything that I think I read engadget for:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/i...isters-too-vi/

That was awesome. I could use it for the home office..

B

[stanger89]

Home office, I was thinking at work. Wonder if it supports facial recognition

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Home office, I was thinking at work. Wonder if it supports facial recognition

try working from home with my wife

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Brent

Thanks for the GeekTonic mention. I work hard to make it worth the read and I do it mostly because I enjoy sharing - not to be the next Engadget.

My favs:
1. MissingRemote
2. ZatzNotFunny!
3. anandtech

Mine are

Missing remote, mediasmartserver, geektonic and cnet. I don't trust any one source and usually look to forums if available to see what users are actually saying...hey that is how I got started here

[autoboy]

I trust anandtech. Anandtech has started to do HTPC reviews and I'm sure they'll give it a fair review if they got one. I've been pushing them to review one.

[valnar]

I don't trust any reviews on HTPC stuff because most of them just don't "get it". Its the users and forums where you get the flavor of a product.