Alternatives To The Apple TV
In their typical "Greatest show On Earth" routine, "Chief Snake Oil Salesmen" Steve Jobs have captured the spotlight with their latest Apple TV product. However, as soon as I saw the $300 price tag and the functionality restricted to the iTunes content, I decided it wasn't for me. Seriously, I really don't have that much interest in watching Quicktime movie trailers. Some have put their efforts into remaking the Apple product with a larger hard drive, and a hacked OS is not far behind that is more open to non-Apple formats. That got me searching for some possible non-Apple media boxes that could get the content off my desktop's hard drive to my TV. Analogous to the iPod segment, digital media on TV is starting to stack up as an Apple vs. "everything else" contest.
First up is the Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000. The $399 price premium is a little too close to the down payment for a home theater PC, but it still is an intriguing set top solution. my buddy Jeremy over at Live Digitally logged in some serious hours with the device, and posted twenty minutes on video including hooking it up, and tons of screen shots. While the
EVA8000 has no hard drive of its own, it relies on a wireless network to stream data both from your desktop hard drive, and also directly from the internet. While the interface isn't quite Apple smooth, in the videos, he is able to stream from his hard drive still images, music files, and video quite nicely with only a few color and frame size issues that may improve as he fine tunes the settings. I am also impressed that the device can get internet content directly, even RSS feeds and YouTube videos (a glaring omission from Apple TV I might add), which could make TV commercial time far more entertaining. Notably, Amazon already dropped the price to $349 so they may also realize that the price needs to be closer to the Apple TV product to be competitive.
The other product that I encountered is from Hauppaugue, makers of those quite reliable TV tuner cards. It is called the Wireless Media MVP. There has been a wired version available for a while now, but most folks probably don't have a wired ethernet connection by their television set, so the wireless model is a lot easier to get connected. The idea is to load some software onto the desktop which turns it into a media server that the Wireless Media MVP can grab the content from. It is a little less ambitious in the types of files supported, but it has the essential audio and image formats supported. It does support the DivX format for videos (Apple TV doesn't) which is popular on BitTorrent downloads, and also mpeg 1 and 2. While it doesn't appear to support streaming videos like YouTube, it is compatible with internet radio. While the Wireless Media MVP is not the most robust solution, I think the best part is the price. It retails for $149, and includes a remote control. At half the price of the Apple TV, and support for more open formats, in my mind, this product could potentially beat the Apple TV by a mile, although without the media attention, they may not get their 15 minutes in the spotlight like Apple always commands.
So, before making a plan to hack the Apple TV, I think it is important to take an objective look at what else is out there. I also think that we need to realize that as we're approaching the $500 mark for a set top box, we're getting into home theater PC territory, and perhaps the money would be better spent the ultimate open and upgradeable device. I think one of the keys with these dedicated set top boxes is that they need to keep their pricing around $200 and below to gain significant market acceptance and share.
--Jonas
First up is the Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000. The $399 price premium is a little too close to the down payment for a home theater PC, but it still is an intriguing set top solution. my buddy Jeremy over at Live Digitally logged in some serious hours with the device, and posted twenty minutes on video including hooking it up, and tons of screen shots. While the
EVA8000 has no hard drive of its own, it relies on a wireless network to stream data both from your desktop hard drive, and also directly from the internet. While the interface isn't quite Apple smooth, in the videos, he is able to stream from his hard drive still images, music files, and video quite nicely with only a few color and frame size issues that may improve as he fine tunes the settings. I am also impressed that the device can get internet content directly, even RSS feeds and YouTube videos (a glaring omission from Apple TV I might add), which could make TV commercial time far more entertaining. Notably, Amazon already dropped the price to $349 so they may also realize that the price needs to be closer to the Apple TV product to be competitive.
The other product that I encountered is from Hauppaugue, makers of those quite reliable TV tuner cards. It is called the Wireless Media MVP. There has been a wired version available for a while now, but most folks probably don't have a wired ethernet connection by their television set, so the wireless model is a lot easier to get connected. The idea is to load some software onto the desktop which turns it into a media server that the Wireless Media MVP can grab the content from. It is a little less ambitious in the types of files supported, but it has the essential audio and image formats supported. It does support the DivX format for videos (Apple TV doesn't) which is popular on BitTorrent downloads, and also mpeg 1 and 2. While it doesn't appear to support streaming videos like YouTube, it is compatible with internet radio. While the Wireless Media MVP is not the most robust solution, I think the best part is the price. It retails for $149, and includes a remote control. At half the price of the Apple TV, and support for more open formats, in my mind, this product could potentially beat the Apple TV by a mile, although without the media attention, they may not get their 15 minutes in the spotlight like Apple always commands.
So, before making a plan to hack the Apple TV, I think it is important to take an objective look at what else is out there. I also think that we need to realize that as we're approaching the $500 mark for a set top box, we're getting into home theater PC territory, and perhaps the money would be better spent the ultimate open and upgradeable device. I think one of the keys with these dedicated set top boxes is that they need to keep their pricing around $200 and below to gain significant market acceptance and share.
--Jonas
Labels: Apple, Digital Television, set top boxes
posted by digitaldoc at 6:33 AM
2 Comments:
Posted on behalf of Media Mover Maven Steve:
I got the wired version of the Hauppauge just a couple of weeks ago for $95 (including shipping). It is a great product, especially if you pair it with GB-PVR (a free piece of software -- donations accepted if you wish). GB-PVR, installed on your remote computer, updates the TV guide information so that you can schedule recordings of your favorite shows right from the TV set. It also allows you to pause live TV with the PVR, whose native software does not permit that (at least in the wired version that was the case).
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On a side note, if you haven't tried the MediaMVP, you might want to check it out. The GB-PVR works like a charm. Of course, if you have something else working, you might have a much broader opinion than I do.
Thanks for your time and continued efforts on your blog. As was the case last year, I will be nudging the tip jar sometime this summer.
Steve
Thanks for your comment. I'm working on getting a wireless version of the MVP into our lab. It looks like an affordable purpose built device that would significantly lessen my need for a dedicated HTPC at a fraction of the cost. If I get it, I'll be sure to look at GB-PVR as well.
--Jonas
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