Geektonic review of HD200

[pjpjpjpj]

Surprised this has not been mentioned (figured I missed it but a search of this site gave me nothing).
http://www.geektonic.com/2008/11/sag...placement.html

[Brent]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Surprised this has not been mentioned (figured I missed it but a search of this site gave me nothing).
http://www.geektonic.com/2008/11/sag...placement.html

That's not really a review - just an informed announcement.

My review will be up probably by Tuesday or Wednesday a.m. if all goes well. The good part is I'll be giving the review HD200 box away to one lucky reader complements of GeekTonic and SageTV!

While you're waiting for the GeekTonic Review and giveaway, check out the unboxing mayamaniac did for us here

[pjpjpjpj]

Not a review of performance, but you "reviewed" what it can do. And we Sage people always like to see mentions of it "out there".

I figured someone ought to give your page a little pub, since you are one of the (seemingly) few places that is a proponent of Sage. A co-worker apparently reads your page because he sent this to me, completely out of the blue, without me having mentioned the new extender or anything (he sent me an email with the "have you seen this?" subject line). Uh, yeah. I've seen it.

[Brent]

I appreciate the mention. The site is growing and gets the occasional link by Engadget & EngadgetHD, ZatzNotFunny!, Lifehacker, MissingRemote and a few other random ones.

I try to cover as many of the HTPC software programs as I can with a current focus on SageTV, BeyondTV, Vista Media Center and now branching out to GBPVR, XBMC, Boxee, Plex, Media Portal and Meedios among others. But SageTV is the one that wins in my home so I obviously know a lot about it and the goings on here.

Glad to help out the community - again, thanks for the link and check back for the review and giveaway.

[Brent]

Guys, I'm working on the HD200 review and need you to let me know what file types you want me to test - bonus if you have a test clip or location for me to download a test clip to use.

Here's the types I already have for testing:
regular Mpeg
xvid aac
divx
x.264 standard audio
x.264 AVCHD
avi divx6
rv9 aac
mp4 h264

Anything else I need to test with the HD200

[voidpt]

Are you thinking about mentioning and testing containers vs video/audio formats? One cool fact for me is that I usually can download 1080p QuickTime trailers from Apple and have the HD100 play them without problems. And sometimes the container can be the problem (MKV, M2TS, TS, MP4, ...), not the video/audio format in itself.

One video format for the list: VC-1 (working very good for the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD I have tried, without recode)

[sandor]

i would add h.264 with ac3 (and dts) in a mkv container. specifically to test passthrough of the audio (if possible)

also both 1080i and 720p ATSC feeds (.ts or .ps whatever sage saves them as)

i can provide files if need be.

[Ryokurin]

mkv with subtitles would be a good test.

[emveepee]

Here are some tough samples for audio http://www.geekzone.co.nz/Fossie/4877

It appears that the HD200 uses new Sigma libraries (possibly 2.8.4.1) which might have LATM audio support that older libraries used on the NMT for example don't support.

Martin

[Brent]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and especially any test files. If anyone has any specific test files they want me to test with either put a link in this thread (as done above) or PM me and I'll give you my email to send it to.

Thanks!

[Brent]

Finally got the review of the HD Theater (HD200) posted on GeekTonic. It's fairly long but hopefully detailed enough to help those who don't have one yet.

I'll be giving the review unit away (complements of the SageTV folks) next week - post will be up tomorrow on details of the giveaway.

[gplasky]

Nice job and a good read. Whether you have one or not.

Gerry

[Clift]

Brent,

You listed price twice under positives:
- Price - at $200, you're getting a smaller, faster device with more functionality than the HD100 extender at the same price point. Less would always be better, but $200 is pretty reasonable compared to building your own "client" computer.

- Price - $199 for a powerful media extender is very reasonable and will be difficult for competing Microsoft extenders (when they do arrive) to beat

Also, you made mention of the HD PVR review article but forgot to embed a hyperlink:

- Support for the Hauppauge HD-PVR - since SageTV supports the Hauppauge HD-PVR component recorder, you can with both devices tune and watch all digital channels from your Satellite and Cable box. (read this article for more information.


But besides those two nitpicks, it was an excellent article.

Now where can I sign up to win the review unit????

[vexhold]

Hate to add more nit picky problems...

THIS REVIEW UNIT WILL BE GIVEN AWAY TO A LUCK(Y) GEEKTONIC READER SO STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFO.

Missing the Y

The front view shows the USB2 port at the left, the Infrared Receiver in the middle, Active and Net LED indicator lights and the SageTV HD Theater logo at the top-right. On the underside you can see two of the four

Two of the four what?

One issue I ran into is the size limit of the database due to a limited amount of physical memory on the HD200. So if you have roughly 15,000 media - 25,000 files (will vary based on the actual metadata associated with the you will get an error and can't add any addition media files to the database. You can still access any of files that aren't indexed by going into the Filesystem interface where you browse by folder, but it isn't ideal. Obviously this will only affect those with very large music or video libraries, but it should be pointed out since many enthusiasts do have very large media libraries. This limitation is only when using the HD Theater in standalone mode.

Think something got deleted out of the middle of the sentence.

[Brent]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Definitely had some errors - most of which I seem to have created myself at the last moment before posting late last night.

The review is really too long for the front page, but I'm having technical difficulties with creating a page 1, page 2 effect on the blog post.

Anyway I really appreciate the feedback and have made the corrections as you have noted.

I'll have details on how to enter to win the free HD200 unit late tonight (after 8pm Central) so check back at GeekTonic then to enter.

[emveepee]

Were you able to play the AAC LATM samples from NZ I linked too earlier when you asked for samples?

Martin

[Brent]

Originally Posted by emveepee

Were you able to play the AAC LATM samples from NZ I linked too earlier when you asked for samples?

Martin

Martin,
That site keeps redirecting me to their main URL "geekzone.co.nz" and I never could get to the full url you gave me. I tried registering and signing in and that didn't work either. So no, I never did try it. Any other way to get those samples?

[emveepee]

Sorry for me too. I uploaded this small 75M sample http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YIEAAYVM The audio is the issue on the NMT.

Martin

[Fonceur]

Some will miss the HD200's slim-line look

Obviously meant HD100...

Use Without a Computer - Standalone Mode

Use with a SageTV Media Center Computer -Extender Mode

Those headings are HUGE with Firefox...

One would use the HD Theater to connect to the AV Receiver and Television set, then plug in a USB hard drive into the USB2 port and you you have

I've submitted a feature request to have those additional photo files supported as I feel photos should be easy to play in a standalone device like this. The file

What about the file?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by emveepee

Were you able to play the AAC LATM samples from NZ I linked too earlier when you asked for samples?

Martin

Originally Posted by emveepee

Sorry for me too. I uploaded this small 75M sample http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YIEAAYVM The audio is the issue on the NMT.

Martin

Martin,
I just tried that clip you gave me. The HD200 plays the video fine, but no audio. I'm submitting a bug report to SageTV to see if they can make it work - I'll report back.