tv is in the house -- two of them, actually -- and, well, it's good!
I'm not using it for music much -- my library is much too large for this device, and navigation of large collections, as has been said elsewhere, is quite lacking.
That said, for video material -- movies, tv shows, etc -- it works great. Playback starts quickly, even when streamed, and looks quite good. It's lacking in the audio department (it's really too bad that so much of this material, both movies and TV, encoded with Dolby Digital in full 5.1 or 7.1 surround, are reduced to ancient Dolby Surround playback, with no LFE channel, no split surrounds... much less impact), but visually things look quite reasonable.
It works great with netTunes, too, as you'd expect. As I've said many times, I run with a headless server, and it contains all my music and other content. With netTunes, it's trivial to connect to the server using a laptop while seated on the couch, and "pair" the tv with the server, change the synchronization information, purchase TV shows to be viewed -- all remotely.
I'm happy that the approach I took years ago -- truly remote controlling iTunes with its own interface -- continues to work with new versions of iTunes, and continues to prove it was the right way to go, moving forward with iTunes as iTunes itself changes.
Anyway, great stuff.
One expensive but potentially useful tip: you can use a scan converter to convert from Component input to regular Y/C (S-Video) or Composite, should you not have a component/HDMI capable TV. One example is the TV One AVT-3190 ($389). Expensive, but cheaper than replacing your TV...
23 Mar 2007 at 10:26 am | #
Dave, when you said “are reduced to ancient Dolby Surround playback” do you mean as a result of the iTunes music store restrictions, or a restriction of the device?
Also, if you had a lot of encoded content (XVid, Divx or WMV) would you suggest buying this and hoping for a hack or an open-source replacement OS - or would you recommend a Mac Mini instead?
23 Mar 2007 at 10:37 am | #
Hi, Mark. I doubt very much it’s a restriction of the device, although I haven’t seen any content with a true DD soundtrack.
As far as this-or-a-mini goes, given what you’re trying to do, it’s likely you’re better off with a mini. It’s a lot more open… even if this is hackable (and from what I’ve read elsewhere this morning, it likely is at some level), the time you spend doing it, and maintaining it, is likely worth more than the price differential!
26 Mar 2007 at 03:58 am | #
Thanks Dave
06 May 2007 at 08:45 pm | #
thanks for your feedback, but what’s a “LFE channel” please?
cheers
r
06 May 2007 at 08:56 pm | #
Low Frequency Effects.