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Netgear NeoTV550 Review


thecodeman

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The UStream review is planned for Thursday, December 23rd. Time is scheduled for 3PM CST. The channel is here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/c4-chat

I have a Control4 media player for comparison, and have used Netgear 9150/9100 Express models, as well as Niveus and Sony Disc Changers. I may also have XBMC ready by then.

Review text coming tonight.

Quick notes:

Yes, the existing IP driver works.

Yes, DVD menus are supported. (video_TS folder structure)

Chapter skips (next and previous) on mpg files do not work - this is because the files dont contain that information.

Blu-ray .iso files do not work for me, yet.

Subtitles are supported (however if they are forced in the rip, you can't turn them off)

Resume playback after stop is supported.

A 1080p MKV clip of the "HD DVD demo trailer" (VC1 video @ 14.2 mbps) plays fine. FF, RW, and play all happened promptly with minimal (<5 seconds) buffering. The size of the file is 278mb.

Straight BD rip to .m2ts stream plays great, though no chapter skip this way. 31.1mbps vc1 video. Be aware that when streaming BD, you WILL need a beefy network, especially for more than one simultaneous HD stream.

I'm also reading that it supports parental controls via MPAA rating. This could be big for households with kids. While C4 would still show the movie, I would assume that the media player would simply refuse to play it back without entering the proper pin.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=19665322#post19665322

Re-ripped a bd to .iso using anydvd, still receive "unable to play this media error".

Youtube is present in the latest stable firmware available today - clips show previews and info but dont actually play. I hear this is fixed in the latest beta firmware. I hear this is because of recent changes to Youtube and it was/is affecting all Netgear media streamers.

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The UStream review is planned for Thursday, December 23rd. Time TBA. The channel is here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/c4-chat

I have a Control4 media player for comparison, and have used Netgear 9150/9100 Express models, as well as Niveus and Sony Disc Changers. I may also have XBMC ready by then.

Review text coming tonight.

Quick notes:

Yes, the existing IP driver works.

Yes, DVD menus are supported. (video_TS folder structure)

Chapter skips (next and previous) on mpg files do not work - this is because the files dont contain that information.

Blu-ray .iso files do not work.

Subtitles are supported (however if they are forced in the rip, you can't turn them off)

Resume playback after stop is supported.

A 1080p MKV clip of the "HD DVD demo trailer" (VC1 video @ 14.2 mbps) plays fine. FF, RW, and play all happened promptly with minimal (<5 seconds) buffering. The size of the file is 278mb.

BR ISO's don't work? That's interesting because I've read things that say they work fine. There was a question of encrypted vs unencrypted though.

Now I'm curious. If I remember correctly, the 9150 would play BR ISO's (the Dune certainly does).

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The 9150 I had didn't play .iso files. It did, however, play .m2ts streams to a certain point (up to it's 40 mb/s video/audio bitrate ceiling).

I tried some existing .iso files I had, that were unencrypted - Casino Royale (BD) for example. The Netgear gave an error that said the file type was unsupported or the location was unavailable. I know it was in the same folder as all the other files I was testing, so it wasn't a problem there.

I re-ripped some discs last night for additional testing, both as .iso files and folder contents. I'll update tonight once I get some additional time testing. So far, it's at least better than the 8000/9100/9150 units.

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I'm pretty much a hack at this sort of stuff, but I setup the NeoTV, scanned my WHS, and it plays .iso files (DVD and BR) just fine, complete with menus. I've tested a bunch of movies and only Avatar has caused a problem.

Glad to hear existing drivers work. This looks like a keeper.

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Thanks for doing this, thecodeman. I'm not sure if you are planning to focus primarily on the C4 aspects of the NeoTV in this session, but if you plan to discuss the interface, I have these questions:

1. How does the NeoTV handle DVD .iso files that contain multiple TV episodes? For example, if an .iso contains 6 episodes, will the NeoTV show each episode individually and just point to the same .iso? That is how YAMJ handles things on the Popcorn Hour boxes.

2. If I have multiple related .m2ts files, such as the main movie from a Blu-ray rip along with a "making of" documentary, can I associate those files so that there is only one instance of the movie on the movie wall with all of the extras linked via the movie splash screen? For some Blu-rays, I have several related extras that are in separate .m2ts files, so I would like to avoid cluttering the movie wall with individual images for each of them. Again, this is how YAMJ handles things.

Some people have asked these questions on the AVS Forums but I have not seen a definitive answer to either of them. I generally like YAMJ and the Popcorn Hour A-200, but it sounds like the NeoTV is more stable in the areas that I care about. If I can get YAMJ-like features from the NeoTV, I will definitely pick at least one up. Again, thanks for doing this, and for considering questions from a first-time poster to this forum.

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Yes, thank you dgbrown. This appears to indicate that I can group my .m2ts files in a folder, place a single folder.jpg file in the folder, and have only that one image appear on the movie wall. Then I could select that image in the NeoTV interface and the NeoTV would drill down to show separate images for each of my related .m2ts files in that folder. I could then select and play the appropriate one. That is very encouraging and is exactly the type of operation I am looking for. I did not see the article address the first of my two questions, but I am glad to receive an answer to the second one.

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  • 1 month later...
Before I push the "Buy It" button' date=' does the Neo handle external USB Bluray drives? Since what I've read some bluray .iso can cause problems.[/quote']

See attached patch file. This should get you going.

Thanks, I had just found the same file. I should get my NeoTV by Thur.

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I currently use the 550 for my movie player, and it works fairly well, with the limitation of no navigation within BD/DVD menus.

I don't have anything ripped as full ISOs, so this isn't a limitation to my usage.

RyanE

Ryan, do you know how difficult it would be to make the navigation of BD menus work? That would be my reason for moving from my EVA9150's to the 550....

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