Interesting set-top box from Netgear

[gplasky]

With talks of a possible HD300 (or whatever) I noticed this was just announced and it looks very interesting.

Netgear Neo-TV

Yes it's another media playing box but the interesting parts:

NeoTV has full 1080p support and DTS multichannel audio, and codec support includes H.264, Mpeg-2, Mp4, AVI, Windows Media, and DivX/Xvid, among others.

But the most interesting thing about it is the fact that it's equipped with an eSATA port, something not typically found on simple set-top boxes. With this, users can attach a Blu-ray drive to NeoTV, and access all of the menus, navigation, and BD-Live content without leaving the NeoTV menu system.

"Any Blu-ray player that can be plugged into a PC should also work with the NeoTV550," Netgear told Betanews today. "In addition, when NeoTV is connected, it enables BD-Live for the Blu-ray discs that come BD Live content/features."

So first-generation Blu-ray drives or players without an Internet connection can be turned into BD-Live compatible drives with this set top box, a handy feature indeed

Interesting indeed. It's probably the HD300+.

Gerry

[JetreL]

Yeah pretty interesting.. I was reading some of the comments on one of the sites and they were saying it was lame because it only had a 10/100 NIC. I am trying to figure out what video would you need to stream that would need more than a 100 or even the 10 Mb NIC...

[bcjenkins]

10mb is theoretical. You would likely have issues with anything high bw HD.

B

[JetreL]

On a LAN I highly doubt it but you just gave me an interesting test to do on my home network and I certainly know a 100 will be perfectly fine.

[SWKerr]

Except for the BLuRay support (That I apparently have to buy) it does not seem to do anything I can't do with $199 xbox360 Arcade and a DNLA server. Less if I am running WMC and Playon on that same server. I am not seeing any of the value you get with SageTV.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by JetreL

I am trying to figure out what video would you need to stream that would need more than a 100 or even the 10 Mb NIC...

Keep in mind network speed is measured in megabits per second, not megabytes per second. A 10 mbit/sec network really would give you problems, at least with HD video. But you're right, 100 mbit/sec ought to be enough for streaming any video. Blu-ray tops out at 40mbit/sec.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Except for the BLuRay support (That I apparently have to buy) it does not seem to do anything I can't do with $199 xbox360 Arcade and a DNLA server. Less if I am running WMC and Playon on that same server. I am not seeing any of the value you get with SageTV.

Really.....How do you have to buy blu ray support for the extender it is built in all you need is a blu ray drive.

other advantages

1. DTS audio (sad the xbmc can't offer this.)
2. native dvd support (you may no think much of this but how about native subtitle support getting movies with subtitles to work on XBOX 360 is a nightmare).
3. silent low power usage extender (good luck getting lower power use out of the xbox 360 it is a power hungry beast even with the new model and still sounds louder than crap.
4. Built in support for chapters for dvd and blu ray. You have to skip and rr with media center another pia.
5. Lower price take then XBOX 360. (yes you can game on the 360 but that is not what this discussion is about)

I am sorry but I don't see the advantage in WMC at all anymore other than cable card and that is limited at best as well.