Content:

With the introduction of the hard drive into the mix, this allows Western Digital to open up the player to the rental market.  With Blockbuster on Demand support, you can rent newly released films and watch them with 24 hours of starting them.  Unfortunately, the dinosaur that is Blockbuster has covered all purchases in more DRM than I thought possible.  Want to watch your recently purchased legal copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on another TV in the house?  Sorry!  You can't stream it to another television or computer in the house.  Thanks for not trying, Blockbuster.  It's no wonder that company is slipping into obscurity.

Similar to the last rendition of the Live player, we also have Netflix at our disposal.  The interface is similar, but it's not as sleek as the Apple TV interface for browsing Netflix.  It's also tough to find an Internet connected device that doesn't utilize Netflix these days, so interface is key in bringing people back for more.  Opposite from Apple TV, this device requires you to authorize the player as one of your Netflix devices over on the Netflix website.  Streaming performance has been improved from the previous player, possibly to caching the streaming content on the new hard drive.  It also seemed faster to get to the content I wanted in the interface, although still not beating out Apple TV.

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GLEN LESLIE  - OWNER/DESIGNER/INSTALLER/PROGRAMMER   |2010-11-12 06:26:38 FINALLY, A PIECE THAT HAS COMPONENT AND COMPOSITE AND DIGITAL AND GIVES YOU WRETCHED HDMI WITHOUT IMPUNING COMPONENT. THE ISSUE I HAVE WITH YOU IS THAT YOU ARE LIKE ALL GEN "Y" PEOPLE. YOU WANT MULTIPLE EVERYTHING FROM A CHEAP BOX AND FORGET WHAT A WHOLEHOUSE SYSTEM IS FOR AND WHY WE INSTALL THEM. YOU WORRY ABOUT IT HAVING A HARD DRIVE IN IT [THAT WILL BREAK IN TIME] AND NOT ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE, STREAMING FROM YOUR HOME NAS. BUT THAT WOULD BE BECAUSE YOU ARE CHEAP AND DON'T HAVE A NAS AND WANT TO SHARE WITH EVERY COMPUTER IN THE HOUSE. THERE'S A RIGHT WAY TO DO IT AND THERE'S THE BAND AID WAY TO DO IT. YOU MAKE NO MENTION OF RUNNING THIS VIA EITHERNET BROWSER. IS THERE ONE? CAN WE USE IP TO RUN THIS FROM TOUCHSCREENS OR IPADS OR CELL PHONES WITH APPS? NO MENTION OF OVERALL CONTENT COMPARED TO SAY, ROKU. DO THEY HAVE 45 OR 50 APPS THAT YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM AND IS THERE FREE CONTENT ON ANY OF THESE APPS? THEY UPGRADE THEIR SOFTWARE ALL THE TIME, THIS LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT THEY EITHER JUST FIGURED OUT WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND WOE BE THOSE THAT HAVE SUFFERED TRYING TO USE THIS SINCE IT CAME OUT OR ELSE; THEY ARE TRYING TO BE INNOVATORS AND LEAD THE PACK WITH DESIGN, BUT YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO CATCH UP INSTEAD. BASED ON YOUR REVIEW, I WOULD PICK ROKU OVER THIS AS YOU SUPPLY TOO MANY NEGATIVES AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. ROKU IS ROCK SOLID, EVEN IF THEY MADE A MISTAKE TRYING TO BE LIKE APPLE BY BUILDING A MINISCULE SIZED BOX AND MAKING COMPONENT AN ALSO RAN. THERE ARE A TON OF PEOPLE THAT OWN FLATSCREENS WITHOUT HDMI AND A BUNCH FURTHER THAT OWN TV SETS WITH HDMI 1.0 OR 1.1 THAT WOULD HAVE ISSUES IF THEY TRIED TO USE HDMI THRU A THEATER RECEIVER; SO YOU DON'T ADDRESS WHAT YOU USED FOR PICTURE OTHER THAN THE PICTURE WAS GREAT. TRY USING A FIVE YEAR OLD TV SET LIKE MOST OF AMERICA HAS AND SEE HOW IT RUNS. TRY THE COMPONET VIDEO ON 720P AND TELL ME IF IT'S BETTER OR DIFFERENT FROM HDMI. THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT DON'T LIKE HOW 1080P LOOKS COMPARED TO 720P FROM COMPONENT. YOU COULD LIKEN IT TO TUBES VERSUS SOLID STATE; THEY BOTH MAKE MUSIC, BUT DON'T SOUND THE SAME. SO IT IS WITH HDMI FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, ONCE A REAL INSTALLER LET'S THEM COMPARE THE TWO. DO YOU SEE ANYONE COMPARING HDMI TO COMPONENT AT BEST BUY? THIS IS A LEGITIMATE QUESTION BECAUSE OF HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE A NEW HDMI VERSION 1.3 OR 1.4 TV SET AND USE ONLY HDMI. THEN TAKE AWAY FROM THAT NUMBER, HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE A SET THAT IS CONNECTED USING HDMI AND IT DOES 1.4 AND THEY ARE CONNECTED TO A CABLE BOX WITH VERSION [I DON'T KNOW] AND THE PICTURE IS ONLY 1080i. DON'T BE CONFUSED BY THE NUMBERS THAT LIE. THEY CLAIM WHAT PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVE HDTV AND ARE CORRECT BASED ON SALES; BUT LOOK FURTHER INTO THIS: HOW MANY HOMES 0   6

Bob Smoot   |2010-11-30 20:23:10 @Glen Leslie: Stop yelling. No one wants to read all caps. 2   0

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