Perhaps we'll start seeing more initialized names in the future as the stand out and probably are more likely to be remembered these days because of that - afterall, the past 75 years companies have really used the one word approach. I'd like to see the marketing research behind it.
Its an asian thing, they like esoteric logos which may not make sense to the western brain. We prefer violent logos like arrows, flames, explosions, and we name our systems "Extreme", "Ultra", "Mega". Thats why video card manufacturers put werewolves with metal armor carrying battleaxes on the front of the box. The asian market may just have some japanese dude with long blonde hair and big blue eyes on the front.
The Realtek logo works, when I see the crab on a chip I know where it came from immediately.
While I agree with your interpretation of Western logo choices (arrows mean moving forward, flames/explosions mean powerful, etc) opposed to Eastern culture usually revolving around the ocean (Daewoo logo is a Seashell, Realtek is a crab, many designs of products, specifically vehicles and motorcycles are inspired by sea creatures...)
I have to completely disagree with the terminology aspect of your comment.
Mega/Ultra/Turbo/Extreme/Super are synonymous with marketing and branding of almost all Eastern (and to some degree, European) products. American's specifically are NOT kean with these terms as they are inferior to our 'Premium' brandings, usually directly translated into numbers or abbreviations. Classification is paramount to product success in the United States, and identifying something as Super, Turbo, Mega, Extreme, etc, doesn't differentiate a product enough as 1, 2x, 3G, or XLS, XLT, Limited, or S, SE, SES, etc.
You'll find most, if not practically all products in the United States that have the words Mega/Ultra/Turbo/Extreme/Super are actually non-American products, and are marketed here similarely because of a lack of understanding between the culture shift of differentiating markets.
Many recent examples:
Ford "Ecoboost" instead of "Turbo" (obvious exception is Intel Turbo mode) although turbo in the American market has a bad standing with vehicles because of poor quality turbo-charged vehicles in the 80's.
i-Product generations (iPhone 3, 3G, 3GS, 4, etc)
Windows XP, Vista, 7, editions: Home, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate.
Gasoline: No longer referred to as Super Unleaded, rather "Premium" "V-Power" "Ultimate" and specifically based on numbers/octane. Most countries around the world have one choice for unleaded fuel, and it's usually 95 octane and marketted as just petrol.
GHz. Higher is always better, right? Think of the Pentium 4...
Hard disks: 5400/5900/7200 RPM. Marketed as Green, Blue, Black editions by WD, XT (high performance editions) by Seagate.
I know what you're thinking. Ultimate is a type of "Ultra" and XT is a type of "Extreme" but the words don't trigger the same power as the acronyms. XE, XT, etc market better than "Extreme" just like windows XP marketted better than "Experience".
These days, when most people hear Super, Mega, Extreme, they're likely to come up with some homophobic stereotype in response.
Whilst I have no issue with a crab as a logo, what I do hate about the RealTek logo is that in this day and age you will have a lovely row of 32bit hi-graphic icons and then the crappy 8bit Win 3.1 style Realtek sticks out like a sore thumb.
Looks like you have 15 year old software installed.
The real tragedy is that these media players, and my HTPC, would both benefit greatly by having access to my HD cable service. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to make it work, on the pc or otherwise.
If I could get a media streaming device with a built in cable box (true two way), that I could use with a CableCard and record HD content, I'd be happy. I'd feel a lot better about my ridiculous cable bill. The fact that AC Ryan doesn't think a media streamer/DVR would be of interest to the market irritates me, as I know many people who would dig such capabilities. The only real option (for PC anyway) looks to be the Ceton 4 tuner card (I believe that's the name. It's a heathy chunk of change, and may not even be a real product yet (or ever, not real sure). They sure as hell don't sell this kind of stuff on the Egg.
I think the HTPC market and premium media streamer market could be huge in America with just one or two key advancements or capabilities. Just OTA won't cut it. The Cable companies need to keep making a case for their services with so much digital content. I think there is a compromise that could make everyone happy.
this is exactly the same here in Europa (the netherlands) Also there a very good multi tuner HTPC that works perfectly with the Cable provider would be a very good thing to have
I am currently using things like that with FireDTV cable tuners, but those are all hacks and the company even stopped selling the tuners.
Problem is that all those dedicated tuner boxes are just horrible to use. All of them that i know of that work for my cable company still work with time based recording.. Come ON!!!! thats so last century, i don't do that since i started to use Windows XP mediacenter now i guess 6 years ago... "Series recording" is all i want from a cable box.
The extra nice thing about a HTPC is that i plays also all my other stuff.. The Windows 7 Media center really has a quite perfect UI and feature set.. I still don't get why Microsoft is unable to push this through, its one of there best products!!
My next HTPC build will include the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner/recorder. 2 CableCARDs, 4 simultaneous streams.
I've been asking Anand to review it for some time, but he's like "no, i'm going to pretend you didn't ask." Why the hell do I want an HTPC that can't record? The purpose is to replace the set top provided by the cable company, with unlimited amount of space.
If all these HTPCs can only "stream", then why do I care?
Well I got 3 Dual HD Homerun Tuner so I can record 6 shows OTA at the same time, I use comskip to skip commercials and anything not OTA I get with Hulu or Boxee/Zinc. It works pretty well...
The Ceton exists, but is only available through a couple distributors, its $400, and the backorder is something like 3 months. I've been waiting for mine since i ordered on 11/20.
I agree that having more 3rd party STB's or HTPC's with cablecard acess should be easier. People see my HTPC (with the ATI cableCARD tuner which is no longer sold new) and are amazed. Going back to the standard Comcast STB my parents have is absolute torture. But until more people start yelling for it , the cablecos will fight against it tooth-and-nail, because that 15/mo or whatever they charge for a DVR is a healthy profit for them. People aren't willing to vote with their wallets because right now there are no true alternatives besides TiVo and they just settle for the garbage UI's and sub-par features of their cableco DVRs.
Unfortunately, your point that cable companies need to make a case for their services is something that will not turn out to be true. They'll just lock their content down even harder and digital services won't have anything to play. Youtube on my TV is cool and all.. but its not exactly a cable replacement. What I'd love to see is a move to more of an open system where you can pick and choose channels rather than bundles where you only watch 5 of the 120 channels you pay for.
What if... the cable companies made the device? I know they never would, but I think the capabilities of an HTPC that could record your HD cable content wouldn't be an obscure product. If mainstream users knew it was possible, and there was a price competitive option, I think it would do well here. The market just needs one product acting as the tip of the spear. I feel like I'm only a year or two away from ditching cable entirely. The amount of free or low cost HD content I have at my disposal is already considerable. Bolstered with an OTA antenna and tuner, I'd have the ability to watch the local networks in my area as well. I already have Netflix and Hulu. With over the air HD content in the mix, I am to the point where I am seriously considering ditching my super expensive cable. I know some of the cable companies are trying to get in the middle of content prodution, but right now service providers need to make a more compelling case for their not inexpensive product. They know some people are starting to consider cutting them out. They will have to protect the market they have, and I don't know if they're going to do it by providing a better service. I believe that the cable companies providing internet services are going to try to screw Netflix and their customers.
I read the headline and was very happy. Then I read this:
"In addition to the above models, A.C.Ryan has also lined up a media streamer / DVR combo with support for dual DVB-T digital tuners (simultaneous watching and recording). This is based on the Realtek 1283C+ chipset. The DVR model will not be sold in the US due to lack of market interest."
Crap. What will it take for a third party to enter and be successful in the tuner+DVR space? I really don't want a PC acting as a DVR nor do I want to be handcuffed to Comcast/TiVo/etc...
Thats because DVB-T is not a standard used in the US. They would have to design one with ATSC for OTA tuning, and ClearQAM and/or CableCARD for cable channels. This is a lot of redesign work, not just a mater of not bringing it to the US
How will this handle my media library, will I be able to make playlists, Will it remember my password to my media shares so my not so swavy roommates can watch movies.
How it builds and links to the library is one of the most important aspects of a media streamer thats made to site in the living room and be usable by grandma, or a 5 yo.
reminds me of one of the aliens from an early take on Space Invaders (Galaxian?) which I remember from my dim and distant school days
Like many I really wish cable companies would get off their high horse and provide plug in cards to allow us to use an HTPC in place of the cable set top box.
Come on AMD fusion looks perfect for a low power HTPC
They're afraid that techies like us will steal their programming and upload it everywhere, which is why you will never see a plug in cable card tuned to their programming.
At $250, why wouldn't you buy a Playstation? Some of its streaming is hack-y, but because of the huge installed base new premium services will continue to target the platform. Plus it plays Blu-Ray and games...
ive got a newer toshiba LED that is supposed to support streaming video through wifi, but even if i could play my media that i see, it doesn't support mk2v. Then i have the older WD media player that plays files when it feels like it, its weird, and only works with a certain hard drive, and only 720p. Then ive got a wii which i can connect to TVversity through but only on smaller lower res files. Then ive got a comcast box, i mean come on. Its getting ridiculous. I just want to have media on a pc or nas box that i can access through wireless to my TV and have the correct sound and video processed.
With all these devices i still can't get what i want, its driving me nuts. True a playstation does consume more power, but i mean how much does a PS3 really consume, does it play mk2v? If it does, i can sell my blu ray (oh yeah forgot to mention) another internet enabled device that i have and get that.
Makes a lot of sense. How about a cable box, with a blu ray, hard drive, and obviously a cable card, and maybe a wii mod of sorts. That would make it so i could sell 4 devices. i'll take that if its reliable, but unfortunately that is called a PC, and i can't rely on a PC to do all of that, suggestions?
That's pretty much my opinion as well for my case. I just got a 1080p and see a PS3 in my future in the next year and while slightly more expensive (both cost and consumption) it does pretty much everything I need with games to boot.
As an unfortunate victim of one of AC Ryan's other media players (PlayonHD) I advise readers to take a look at the AC Ryan forums before they buy any device from them.
Just take a look at the long list of complaints from users. It seems the company's policy is to shovel the hardware out and worry about the firmware/software later.
Of course, when the unit comes in for review, we will give feedback to AC Ryan (already sent them some samples from our test suite for them to fix before releasing the product). After that, it is just a matter of how responsive AC Ryan is and that is going to be reflected in the review :)
It looks nice, but I dont see it really taking off, not to mention that i never really looked at realtek as bleeding edge ( just how i see realtek. bad experiance).
With the capability for nearly all modern day computers to plug into any descent TV, they really have to come out swinging, for me to even consider it I would want cablecard (or dish) support with the ability to navigate easily to what i want, and since these boxes are touting premium services i would need a way to find what im looking for across the board regardless of the service provider (netflix, Blockbuster Etc.) or location (local hard drive, cloud storage, phone... family dog ).
If the access to premium and local content isint seamless, if the system lacks cable card support, and if the codecs suck (although they have a complete list dosent mean there any good) then this wount make any shopping list. It just dosent have a place to fit in... in short im not impresed, tivo alrady did the content provider thing, I have to see a more hands on and thorough review before i even consider this device.
In my oppinion, this is the world best media network player right now, I have yet to see a file format this cannot play plus it support DTS 5.1 and mkv, moreover you can play online media like hulu or bbc iplayer. http://www.sum-vision.co.uk/productinfo/cycloneliv...
A,C.Ryan used to have youtube in their media players, then youtube/google sent them a mail to remove it, since that time they did not manage to get youtube back it seems. So if they fail at even convincing youtube I don't see them having much future with the others who are generally regarded more protective I think google doesn't allow youtube in products from foreign countries or something? I'm not sure what they are doing in that area.
This story also shows where google is going these days incidentally with their change to being like all the others with their hiding of torrentresults and this kind of thing. Actually I have the impression that being in the telecom business a while will make anybody an asshole, so maybe that's it.
Hey guys, i had a compiled list of questions from different users and -"to be"-users.
Yesterday at Cebis i got the answers for y'all:
Fluxx
• hdmi 1.4? No, 1.3 • adjustable GUI? (skins) Yes, background, themes, and settings • web availability? How/what Yes, including streams and full browser • MSRP? Euro and USD for different markets. 249 both in euro and dollar • Release date? Aiming for June • Subtitle shift? If YES, follow up which formats, imbedded and/or external? Yes, most and both • Size? Not defined yet, approximate size of the DVR, but rounded of • Backlit remote? Yes and probably with full keyboard • HDMI-In to be usable as?? Passthrough • 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94, 60? Yes, all • Display to show info/navigation? No lcd display for this • Variable settings for fan (turn off if no HDD inside?)? Yes • Can we get an xbmc interface No • TV-Series Jukebox with automtic information retrieval? Yes, as well as movies and music • Price for barebones Fluxx in US will be $249 • Euro 242? 249 • ATSC tuner built-in as well? No • Will these do full hd pass through? Yes • Fluxx does have USB 3.0? (usb slave??) No, 2.1 (yes) • LPCM 5.1 or 7.1? Both • remote ctrl via symbian? Apple and Android already, working on Symbian and all others • drm bypass? No, moviemakers wouldn't be too happy with that..
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warisz00r - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Has to be one of the silliest company logo ever.vol7ron - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
It's like the A.C.Milan football club, but not.Perhaps we'll start seeing more initialized names in the future as the stand out and probably are more likely to be remembered these days because of that - afterall, the past 75 years companies have really used the one word approach. I'd like to see the marketing research behind it.
joebrooks - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Please read the title of the post you replied to.rickcain2320 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Its an asian thing, they like esoteric logos which may not make sense to the western brain. We prefer violent logos like arrows, flames, explosions, and we name our systems "Extreme", "Ultra", "Mega".Thats why video card manufacturers put werewolves with metal armor carrying battleaxes on the front of the box. The asian market may just have some japanese dude with long blonde hair and big blue eyes on the front.
The Realtek logo works, when I see the crab on a chip I know where it came from immediately.
Samus - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
While I agree with your interpretation of Western logo choices (arrows mean moving forward, flames/explosions mean powerful, etc) opposed to Eastern culture usually revolving around the ocean (Daewoo logo is a Seashell, Realtek is a crab, many designs of products, specifically vehicles and motorcycles are inspired by sea creatures...)I have to completely disagree with the terminology aspect of your comment.
Mega/Ultra/Turbo/Extreme/Super are synonymous with marketing and branding of almost all Eastern (and to some degree, European) products. American's specifically are NOT kean with these terms as they are inferior to our 'Premium' brandings, usually directly translated into numbers or abbreviations. Classification is paramount to product success in the United States, and identifying something as Super, Turbo, Mega, Extreme, etc, doesn't differentiate a product enough as 1, 2x, 3G, or XLS, XLT, Limited, or S, SE, SES, etc.
You'll find most, if not practically all products in the United States that have the words Mega/Ultra/Turbo/Extreme/Super are actually non-American products, and are marketed here similarely because of a lack of understanding between the culture shift of differentiating markets.
Many recent examples:
Ford "Ecoboost" instead of "Turbo" (obvious exception is Intel Turbo mode) although turbo in the American market has a bad standing with vehicles because of poor quality turbo-charged vehicles in the 80's.
i-Product generations (iPhone 3, 3G, 3GS, 4, etc)
Windows XP, Vista, 7, editions: Home, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate.
Gasoline: No longer referred to as Super Unleaded, rather "Premium" "V-Power" "Ultimate" and specifically based on numbers/octane. Most countries around the world have one choice for unleaded fuel, and it's usually 95 octane and marketted as just petrol.
GHz. Higher is always better, right? Think of the Pentium 4...
Hard disks: 5400/5900/7200 RPM. Marketed as Green, Blue, Black editions by WD, XT (high performance editions) by Seagate.
I know what you're thinking. Ultimate is a type of "Ultra" and XT is a type of "Extreme" but the words don't trigger the same power as the acronyms. XE, XT, etc market better than "Extreme" just like windows XP marketted better than "Experience".
These days, when most people hear Super, Mega, Extreme, they're likely to come up with some homophobic stereotype in response.
jabber - Thursday, January 20, 2011 - link
Whilst I have no issue with a crab as a logo, what I do hate about the RealTek logo is that in this day and age you will have a lovely row of 32bit hi-graphic icons and then the crappy 8bit Win 3.1 style Realtek sticks out like a sore thumb.Looks like you have 15 year old software installed.
Its the little things.
ckryan - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
The real tragedy is that these media players, and my HTPC, would both benefit greatly by having access to my HD cable service. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to make it work, on the pc or otherwise.If I could get a media streaming device with a built in cable box (true two way), that I could use with a CableCard and record HD content, I'd be happy. I'd feel a lot better about my ridiculous cable bill. The fact that AC Ryan doesn't think a media streamer/DVR would be of interest to the market irritates me, as I know many people who would dig such capabilities. The only real option (for PC anyway) looks to be the Ceton 4 tuner card (I believe that's the name. It's a heathy chunk of change, and may not even be a real product yet (or ever, not real sure). They sure as hell don't sell this kind of stuff on the Egg.
I think the HTPC market and premium media streamer market could be huge in America with just one or two key advancements or capabilities. Just OTA won't cut it. The Cable companies need to keep making a case for their services with so much digital content. I think there is a compromise that could make everyone happy.
jcompagner - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
this is exactly the same here in Europa (the netherlands)Also there a very good multi tuner HTPC that works perfectly with the Cable provider would be a very good thing to have
I am currently using things like that with FireDTV cable tuners, but those are all hacks and the company even stopped selling the tuners.
Problem is that all those dedicated tuner boxes are just horrible to use. All of them that i know of that work for my cable company still work with time based recording.. Come ON!!!! thats so last century, i don't do that since i started to use Windows XP mediacenter now i guess 6 years ago... "Series recording" is all i want from a cable box.
The extra nice thing about a HTPC is that i plays also all my other stuff.. The Windows 7 Media center really has a quite perfect UI and feature set.. I still don't get why Microsoft is unable to push this through, its one of there best products!!
vol7ron - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
My next HTPC build will include the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner/recorder. 2 CableCARDs, 4 simultaneous streams.I've been asking Anand to review it for some time, but he's like "no, i'm going to pretend you didn't ask." Why the hell do I want an HTPC that can't record? The purpose is to replace the set top provided by the cable company, with unlimited amount of space.
If all these HTPCs can only "stream", then why do I care?
ganeshts - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
It is difficult for even reviewers to get hands on the CableCard tuners.Alan has had a pre-order up for ages, but yet to receive it.
We are making all efforts to review all systems of interest to readers.
adiposity - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Well, I got a ceton 4 channel card about 3 months ago. What's your problem?ap90033 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Well I got 3 Dual HD Homerun Tuner so I can record 6 shows OTA at the same time, I use comskip to skip commercials and anything not OTA I get with Hulu or Boxee/Zinc. It works pretty well...Activate: AMD - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
The Ceton exists, but is only available through a couple distributors, its $400, and the backorder is something like 3 months. I've been waiting for mine since i ordered on 11/20.I agree that having more 3rd party STB's or HTPC's with cablecard acess should be easier. People see my HTPC (with the ATI cableCARD tuner which is no longer sold new) and are amazed. Going back to the standard Comcast STB my parents have is absolute torture. But until more people start yelling for it , the cablecos will fight against it tooth-and-nail, because that 15/mo or whatever they charge for a DVR is a healthy profit for them. People aren't willing to vote with their wallets because right now there are no true alternatives besides TiVo and they just settle for the garbage UI's and sub-par features of their cableco DVRs.
Unfortunately, your point that cable companies need to make a case for their services is something that will not turn out to be true. They'll just lock their content down even harder and digital services won't have anything to play. Youtube on my TV is cool and all.. but its not exactly a cable replacement. What I'd love to see is a move to more of an open system where you can pick and choose channels rather than bundles where you only watch 5 of the 120 channels you pay for.
ckryan - Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - link
What if... the cable companies made the device? I know they never would, but I think the capabilities of an HTPC that could record your HD cable content wouldn't be an obscure product. If mainstream users knew it was possible, and there was a price competitive option, I think it would do well here. The market just needs one product acting as the tip of the spear. I feel like I'm only a year or two away from ditching cable entirely. The amount of free or low cost HD content I have at my disposal is already considerable. Bolstered with an OTA antenna and tuner, I'd have the ability to watch the local networks in my area as well. I already have Netflix and Hulu. With over the air HD content in the mix, I am to the point where I am seriously considering ditching my super expensive cable. I know some of the cable companies are trying to get in the middle of content prodution, but right now service providers need to make a more compelling case for their not inexpensive product. They know some people are starting to consider cutting them out. They will have to protect the market they have, and I don't know if they're going to do it by providing a better service. I believe that the cable companies providing internet services are going to try to screw Netflix and their customers.casteve - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
I read the headline and was very happy. Then I read this:"In addition to the above models, A.C.Ryan has also lined up a media streamer / DVR combo with support for dual DVB-T digital tuners (simultaneous watching and recording). This is based on the Realtek 1283C+ chipset. The DVR model will not be sold in the US due to lack of market interest."
Crap. What will it take for a third party to enter and be successful in the tuner+DVR space? I really don't want a PC acting as a DVR nor do I want to be handcuffed to Comcast/TiVo/etc...
Activate: AMD - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Thats because DVB-T is not a standard used in the US. They would have to design one with ATSC for OTA tuning, and ClearQAM and/or CableCARD for cable channels. This is a lot of redesign work, not just a mater of not bringing it to the USSlyNine - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
How will this handle my media library, will I be able to make playlists, Will it remember my password to my media shares so my not so swavy roommates can watch movies.How it builds and links to the library is one of the most important aspects of a media streamer thats made to site in the living room and be usable by grandma, or a 5 yo.
cjs150 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
reminds me of one of the aliens from an early take on Space Invaders (Galaxian?) which I remember from my dim and distant school daysLike many I really wish cable companies would get off their high horse and provide plug in cards to allow us to use an HTPC in place of the cable set top box.
Come on AMD fusion looks perfect for a low power HTPC
rickcain2320 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
They're afraid that techies like us will steal their programming and upload it everywhere, which is why you will never see a plug in cable card tuned to their programming.s44 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
At $250, why wouldn't you buy a Playstation? Some of its streaming is hack-y, but because of the huge installed base new premium services will continue to target the platform. Plus it plays Blu-Ray and games...ganeshts - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
Much lower power consumption, for one...rigamortis1594 - Thursday, January 20, 2011 - link
ive got a newer toshiba LED that is supposed to support streaming video through wifi, but even if i could play my media that i see, it doesn't support mk2v. Then i have the older WD media player that plays files when it feels like it, its weird, and only works with a certain hard drive, and only 720p. Then ive got a wii which i can connect to TVversity through but only on smaller lower res files. Then ive got a comcast box, i mean come on. Its getting ridiculous. I just want to have media on a pc or nas box that i can access through wireless to my TV and have the correct sound and video processed.With all these devices i still can't get what i want, its driving me nuts. True a playstation does consume more power, but i mean how much does a PS3 really consume, does it play mk2v? If it does, i can sell my blu ray (oh yeah forgot to mention) another internet enabled device that i have and get that.
Makes a lot of sense. How about a cable box, with a blu ray, hard drive, and obviously a cable card, and maybe a wii mod of sorts. That would make it so i could sell 4 devices. i'll take that if its reliable, but unfortunately that is called a PC, and i can't rely on a PC to do all of that, suggestions?
7Enigma - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
That's pretty much my opinion as well for my case. I just got a 1080p and see a PS3 in my future in the next year and while slightly more expensive (both cost and consumption) it does pretty much everything I need with games to boot.7Enigma - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
40" G25 Panasonic Plasma*Etern205 - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - link
RLUXX sounds a lot like Rolex.notanakin - Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - link
As an unfortunate victim of one of AC Ryan's other media players (PlayonHD) I advise readers to take a look at the AC Ryan forums before they buy any device from them.Just take a look at the long list of complaints from users. It seems the company's policy is to shovel the hardware out and worry about the firmware/software later.
ganeshts - Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - link
To be frank, no media player is perfect.Of course, when the unit comes in for review, we will give feedback to AC Ryan (already sent them some samples from our test suite for them to fix before releasing the product). After that, it is just a matter of how responsive AC Ryan is and that is going to be reflected in the review :)
khimera2000 - Thursday, January 20, 2011 - link
It looks nice, but I dont see it really taking off, not to mention that i never really looked at realtek as bleeding edge ( just how i see realtek. bad experiance).With the capability for nearly all modern day computers to plug into any descent TV, they really have to come out swinging, for me to even consider it I would want cablecard (or dish) support with the ability to navigate easily to what i want, and since these boxes are touting premium services i would need a way to find what im looking for across the board regardless of the service provider (netflix, Blockbuster Etc.) or location (local hard drive, cloud storage, phone... family dog ).
If the access to premium and local content isint seamless, if the system lacks cable card support, and if the codecs suck (although they have a complete list dosent mean there any good) then this wount make any shopping list. It just dosent have a place to fit in... in short im not impresed, tivo alrady did the content provider thing, I have to see a more hands on and thorough review before i even consider this device.
AunyBravo - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link
In my oppinion, this is the world best media network player right now, I have yet to see a file format this cannot play plus it support DTS 5.1 and mkv, moreover you can play online media like hulu or bbc iplayer.http://www.sum-vision.co.uk/productinfo/cycloneliv...
Wwhat - Sunday, February 6, 2011 - link
A,C.Ryan used to have youtube in their media players, then youtube/google sent them a mail to remove it, since that time they did not manage to get youtube back it seems.So if they fail at even convincing youtube I don't see them having much future with the others who are generally regarded more protective
I think google doesn't allow youtube in products from foreign countries or something? I'm not sure what they are doing in that area.
This story also shows where google is going these days incidentally with their change to being like all the others with their hiding of torrentresults and this kind of thing.
Actually I have the impression that being in the telecom business a while will make anybody an asshole, so maybe that's it.
Koets - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Hey guys, i had a compiled list of questions from different users and -"to be"-users.Yesterday at Cebis i got the answers for y'all:
Fluxx
• hdmi 1.4? No, 1.3
• adjustable GUI? (skins) Yes, background, themes, and settings
• web availability? How/what Yes, including streams and full browser
• MSRP? Euro and USD for different markets. 249 both in euro and dollar
• Release date? Aiming for June
• Subtitle shift? If YES, follow up which formats, imbedded and/or external? Yes, most and both
• Size? Not defined yet, approximate size of the DVR, but rounded of
• Backlit remote? Yes and probably with full keyboard
• HDMI-In to be usable as?? Passthrough
• 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94, 60? Yes, all
• Display to show info/navigation? No lcd display for this
• Variable settings for fan (turn off if no HDD inside?)? Yes
• Can we get an xbmc interface No
• TV-Series Jukebox with automtic information retrieval? Yes, as well as movies and music
• Price for barebones Fluxx in US will be $249
• Euro 242? 249
• ATSC tuner built-in as well? No
• Will these do full hd pass through? Yes
• Fluxx does have USB 3.0? (usb slave??) No, 2.1 (yes)
• LPCM 5.1 or 7.1? Both
• remote ctrl via symbian? Apple and Android already, working on Symbian and all others
• drm bypass? No, moviemakers wouldn't be too happy with that..