HD300 Review (GeekTonic)

[voidpt]

Brent has posted his complete GeekTonic Review of the HD300 (+ wrap-up of SageTV news).

Of course he hides the fact on page 4 of another review thread. Deserves its own I think

[mayamaniac]

Hey Brent, how about posting a video of the UI performance of the HD300. My HD100 is showing its age trying to keep up with new v7 UI, especially with some of the add-ons like SMM.

[infocus13]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Hey Brent, how about posting a video of the UI performance of the HD300. My HD100 is showing its age trying to keep up with new v7 UI, especially with some of the add-ons like SMM.

+1

As soon as I saw the announcement I bought one... I figured I had a hd100 and held out on buying a hd200 but I simply couldn't hold out on the hd300!!!

So... to justify my purchasing decision, can anyone pls post the UI speed of the HD300 in extender mode using the v7 stock UI.

Thanks!!!!

[fac13]

Is it able to send a wake-on-lan packet to the last server it connected to?

[civerson4]

Great review...Thanks

I have a couple HD 100's now (connected to the Sage Server through a Cat-6 gigabit network) that struggle with uncompressed Blu Ray rips--jerky, stuttering, etc. It appeared from your review that the HD-300 handled them fine, but just wanted to confirm....Also, since you have an HD-100 (in the picture), do you have the same problems playing Blu-Rays with the HD-100?

Thanks again.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by civerson4

Great review...Thanks

I have a couple HD 100's now (connected to the Sage Server through a Cat-6 gigabit network) that struggle with uncompressed Blu Ray rips--jerky, stuttering, etc. It appeared from your review that the HD-300 handled them fine, but just wanted to confirm....Also, since you have an HD-100 (in the picture), do you have the same problems playing Blu-Rays with the HD-100?

Thanks again.

My HD100 couldn't handle Blu-rays really. So I sold it
My HD200 handled Blu-rays well with chapters (SageTV7) but didn't have the bitstreaming capability
My HD300 handles Blu-rays very very well.

Hope that helps.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by fac13

Is it able to send a wake-on-lan packet to the last server it connected to?

I haven't tried, but I know the hardware the HD300 is built on can do Wake on LAN. I'll have to try it myself to be sure it works.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Hey Brent, how about posting a video of the UI performance of the HD300. My HD100 is showing its age trying to keep up with new v7 UI, especially with some of the add-ons like SMM.

I'll do my best to get a good quality video showing the UI navigation using the HD300. I'll link back to it here when I get to it.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by voidpt

Deserves its own I think

Thanks! Appreciate it

[mayamaniac]

Hey Brent, can you test the HD300 standalone mode also, if it can access your pogoplug NAS/thermaltake external drive?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Hey Brent, can you test the HD300 standalone mode also, if it can access your pogoplug NAS/thermaltake external drive?

I'm 99.9% sure I did that and it worked well but let me check tonight just to be sure the lack of sleep isn't affecting my memory

[civerson4]

Originally Posted by Brent

My HD100 couldn't handle Blu-rays really. So I sold it
My HD200 handled Blu-rays well with chapters (SageTV7) but didn't have the bitstreaming capability
My HD300 handles Blu-rays very very well.

Hope that helps.

Perfect. Thank you....

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by Brent

I haven't tried, but I know the hardware the HD300 is built on can do Wake on LAN. I'll have to try it myself to be sure it works.

So this morning I applied an update to the plugin which required a restart of the server software.. While waiting for a restart of the server software the HD300 had a message saying it couldn't find my server and was attempting to usel WOL to awaken it. I thought that was pretty cool.

B

[PLUCKYHD]

I posted a couple of short videos of SMM running on hd300 if interested.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...247#post446247

[voidpt]

@Brent: Could you check that the power brick for HD300 has 100-240V on input ? As the HD200 had. Living on the outside, would be good to know

[nick_l]

Minor question: in your review you stated that the unit only has vent holes on the bottom but in the pic you posted of the back connections it appears that there is ventilation there as well. Just wondering which is correct.

Great review, btw.

Nick

[Brent]

Originally Posted by voidpt

@Brent: Could you check that the power brick for HD300 has 100-240V on input ? As the HD200 had. Living on the outside, would be good to know

The HD300 AC adapter has 100-240V input looks like this:

[Brent]

Originally Posted by nick_l

Minor question: in your review you stated that the unit only has vent holes on the bottom but in the pic you posted of the back connections it appears that there is ventilation there as well. Just wondering which is correct.

Great review, btw.

Nick

Ha! That's not a question Nick - that's a correction
Sorry, In my haste I didn't even notice the vent holes in the back. I still would be sure it was able to get a bit of air to the bottom though.

[voidpt]

Originally Posted by Brent

The HD300 AC adapter has 100-240V input...

Thanks. Very much like the HD200 one. Means I can still use my custom US/EU plug/socket adapter.

[mayamaniac]

It's funny how the Engadget people still don't get SageTV.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/s...reaks-down-th/

Whoa, welcome to the new decade SageTV! Nearly two full years after introducing the HD Theater HD200, the aforesaid company is hitting back with the HD Theater 300 -- and frankly, the timing couldn't possibly be worse. Last month, a $149.95 price tag on a no-name streamer may have looked attractive, but with the revised Apple TV and price-adjusted Roku line, we get the feeling this one will be a hard sell. At any rate, this new networked set-top box boasts a non-stackable design, a Toslink optical audio jack, HDMI 1.3 socket, a pair of USB jacks and an Ethernet connector. It also supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA (which means you're cleared to bitstream to your HDMI 1.3 receiver), but you'll need to pony up an extra $29.95 for a WiFi dongle. Yeah, bummer. The outfit suggests that you turn this critter into a whole home DVR solution by running SageTV Media Center software alongside of it, but you should probably know that you'll have some trouble if trying to shove DRM'd content through it. It's available for pre-order down in the source link if you're interested. [Thanks, Tom]