2011 Media Streamer Roundup : Netgear NTV550, A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Boxee Box
by Ganesh T S on November 20, 2011 10:32 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- NetGear
- Boxee Box
After the initial unboxing, the consumer encounters the setup and user interface of the media streamer. It is essential that the setup process be simple and straighforward. Both the A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Netgear NTV550 are quite painless to setup. The Boxee Box requires an Internet connection as well as a Boxee account to complete the setup process. The general feel of the user interface and the various available options in each of the streamers are given in the three galleries below.
It is also necessary for the streamers to support jukebox capabilities for the user's media collection. Most streamers go for the local scraping option in which some PC-based scrapers (like YAMJ or Media Center Master or ID3 TAG tools) generate the metadata for the media files. The streamer accesses this metadata either during normal browsing or in a special jukebox mode. The Boxee Box handles scraping on its own. Therefore, no media library setup was necessary. The automatic scraping tool wasn't always correct in determining the correct title. However, we also have support for local NFO files. Using Ember Media Manager, it is possible to ensure that the correct titles and metadata are picked up. Unless the user specifically browses to the 'Files' section, the default browsing mode is the Cover Art mode. Some screenshots of the jukebox in action are provided along with the user interface screenshots above.
The A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Netgear NTV550 adopt the PC scraping strategy. A.C.Ryan relies on YAMJ for its jukebox capabilities. They carry an official user guide (PDF) for this purpose. Omertron's site also has PlayOn!HD specific directions. Unfortunately, my experience after creating a YAMJ database for a sample media library on a NAS was not as expected. Using the Jukebox option in the main menu, I navigated to the index.html, only to be presented with a blank jukebox despite all the necessary metadata files being present. This is apparently a documented bug in the official forums. However, resetting the filters to browse titles alphabetically did work. I am sure many users might have got the jukebox to work for all the titles in one screen, but, in my limited testing, it has not lived upto its promise.
The Netgear NTV 550 has a couple of jukebox solutions. One of them involves the Tag Tool supplied in the bundled software CD. There are other tag tools listed in the support site. For the purpose of this review, I used Ron Chernich's TAG Maker and Editor for the EVA and NTV devices. There is no dedicated jukebox mode in the NTV550, but, the Cover Art browsing mode works well as a replacement. Users need to press the Info button to get the full details about the video in question. This is not the greatest of jukeboxes in existence, but it actually works seamlessly with the existing user interface.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
43 Comments
View All Comments
Rainman200 - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
I'm not too surprised to see Boxee come out on top, much of the media streamer industry is very behind the times.That said I would have liked to have seen a HDI Dune player included given their reputation for stability and image quality to see if they live up to the claims which Boxee comes away with the top spot in this article.
Memphist - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
I have used the Xtreamer Products and have found them to be the best for playing all formats. I have yet to find a format it can not play. It appear to be compatible with every format conceivable. I have a Sidewinder an Xtreamer Pro.I read these review for a laugh at how much they cost and how many CODECs they can't play.
My TV is a Panasonic and Blu ray player a Sony, neither can play half the the CODEC mix that the Xtreamer's can play.
If you're new to Media Streamers do your self a favor and look at the Xtreamer Products first and compare the rest.
pseudo7 - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
I've never liked xtreamer products, of which I have only owned the original xtreamer but it was enough to shove me to building my own HTPC and installing XBMC (neither of which I had done before.My biggest niggle is that they have a great website with great text, pics and videos put there products seems lacking.
The xtreamer ultra can ship with openelec which runs XBMC... I can see it heading to XBMC a lot more.
Destiny - Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - link
If you're new to Media Streamers it is best to AVOID Xtreamer brand - there are many alternatives out there from other brands. My experience with them is not good and maybe others may have better experience.Comparing prices for Xtreamer Products to what is available here in the USA - the costs are the same after VAT, International Shipping, and Customs fees if ordered from Over Seas Shop... plus the Xtreamers that are available here in the USA is not really lower cost that what is exactly available that is using RealTek chipsets... plus the codec is the same for all RealTek chipsets because they share the same RealTek SDK - no need to review a twin...
Plus a quick google search for Xtreamer would show customer service is horrible combined with marketing gimmicks... You'll fair better with AC Ryan and even better with Med8er using the same RealTek chipsets...
SlyNine - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
How it organizes the library, and how easy someone who never touched it before can get to the movie (on my network) that they want to watch.juhatus - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
How about testing oppo-93, something more of a "top-end" streamer/blu-ray.. pretty please :)plonk420 - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
do these output 24/48 or 16/48?ganeshts - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - link
Please look at the Sampling Frequency entries in the Audio Codec section. The POHD2 and NTV550 are faithful, but Boxee Box is not.MadMan007 - Monday, November 21, 2011 - link
The quest doesn't continue - the answer is an HTPC, and software has finally become decent enough that it's not a huge hassle like it was in the past. Although more expensive than these boxes the near-unlimited flexibility of something like a Zacate-based HTPC cannot be beat.Deanodxb - Monday, November 21, 2011 - link
...of the problems users face with these players.I have purchased two Boxee Boxes, one for playback of material by USB and one for playback of material through a wider network of NAS boxes.
Boxee updates firmware automatically, without any user intervention. The last update lost all SMB shares, prevented me from adding the shares again and lost all scrapped media. Multiple users have complained to Boxee about this and their customer service has got worse and worse. They have done nothing to respond to customer tickets raised on this issue and are more concerned with pushing new products such as dongles and live TV.
Check out this link and read the comments to see what I am referring to: http://boxee.zendesk.com/entries/20342452-new-firm...
I ended up re-flashing to old working firmware and blocking the auto update address in my router. Boxee works great but all manufacturers should know that customers aren't their beta or alpha testers.