First Look: Networked DVD Player Gets Better

First Look: Networked DVD Player Gets Better

GoVideo's device wirelessly receives music, photos, and video, but
it's not always easy going

Sean Captain, special to PC World
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

At long last, GoVideo has released a new version of its networkable
DVD player, the D2740 Wireless Media Receiver + DVD Player. While this
unit deserves praise for worthy improvements over its predecessor, the
D2730, it may not deserve $180 from your bank account.

The biggest change in this new version is the inclusion of an
integrated ethernet jack and 802.11g wireless networking (with support
for WEP but not the more-secure WPA encryption standard). The previous
player required an add-in card for any connectivity, and could support
only 802.11b wireless. After I fiddled a bit in the setup menus, the
D2740 connected solidly to an 11g router across 50 feet and through
three walls. Music and video played smoothly, without any hiccups.

Once networked, it found the PC on which I had installed the included
server software, which enables the D2740 to retrieve a slew of media
files from the hard drive, including MP3 and WMA audio, AVI and MPEG-4
video, and photos in the JPEG, TIFF, BMP, and PNG formats. According
to GoVideo, the D2740 also reads the Photoshop PSD file format, but I
was unable to open several PSD files in my tests. A spokesperson for
GoVideo acknowledged that the player occasionally fails to read some
supported file types.

While connected to the server PC, the D2740 can also access Rhapsody,
a $10-per-month streaming music service; the service appears as a
separate server on the D2740's menu screen. Accessing Rhapsody went
smoothly.

Not Good Enough

Unfortunately, the improvements stop there. The D2740 fails to correct
many of the failings of the 2730. For one, it still relies on Digital
5's barely usable streaming media server software. The PC-side
component remains a barebones app that inelegantly indexes media files
on a system. Music listings, for example, fail to show the bit rate or
even the file type (other than calling it "audio"). And when showing
photos and videos, the interface pointlessly retains information boxes
labeled "Albums," "Artists," and "Genres."

The player component of the Digital 5 interface is even worse. Using
video out to a TV, the D2740 displays two blue windows with text menus
reminiscent of WordPerfect for DOS. The left window lists media
folders matching the collections on the PC. The right is
context-sensitive, displaying song or video titles, or thumbnails of
photos, depending on what mode you're in. Scrolling through the
listings is poky, and made more difficult by GoVideo's chintzy remote
that fails as often as it succeeds to transmit an infrared signal. I
found the overall interface far slicker on the competing D-Link
MediaLounge, which sells for $180 as an A/V streamer or for $270 with
the addition of a DVD player and memory card reader.

As a DVD player, the D2740 offers acceptable image quality, with good
color and grayscale performance. However, the de-interlacing for
progressive-scan output is a bit rough. I noticed "crawling" in video
featuring sets of parallel lines--such as the railings and siding on
houses in the opening scene of Mystic River. These glitches aren't
serious, but you can get as good or better performance in some players
costing half as much.

Given the 2740's middling performance--with regard to both streaming
media and DVD playback--you'd be better off keeping your DVD player
separate from your media streaming device. If you already have a DVD
player, and have room for another A/V component, consider instead an
audio and video streamer such as the D-Link MediaLounge. And if you
are interested only in music, check out a networked audio bridge such
as Apple's $129 AirPort Express, or Roku's $200 SoundBridge M500.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/...042605X,00.asp


===
"Until last October, Christ had a very limited involvement in my life. I believed in God; I just never had to prove I believed. Belief is an absence of proof."
-- Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling

Ablang

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 21:22:06 -0700, Ablang
<> wrote:
Try the old fashion way... and Phillips of course.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....MESE%3AIT&rd=1

>First Look: Networked DVD Player Gets Better
>
>GoVideo's device wirelessly receives music, photos, and video, but
>it's not always easy going
>
>Sean Captain, special to PC World
>Tuesday, April 26, 2005
>
>At long last, GoVideo has released a new version of its networkable
>DVD player, the D2740 Wireless Media Receiver + DVD Player. While this
>unit deserves praise for worthy improvements over its predecessor, the
>D2730, it may not deserve $180 from your bank account.
>
>The biggest change in this new version is the inclusion of an
>integrated ethernet jack and 802.11g wireless networking (with support
>for WEP but not the more-secure WPA encryption standard). The previous
>player required an add-in card for any connectivity, and could support
>only 802.11b wireless. After I fiddled a bit in the setup menus, the
>D2740 connected solidly to an 11g router across 50 feet and through
>three walls. Music and video played smoothly, without any hiccups.
>
>Once networked, it found the PC on which I had installed the included
>server software, which enables the D2740 to retrieve a slew of media
>files from the hard drive, including MP3 and WMA audio, AVI and MPEG-4
>video, and photos in the JPEG, TIFF, BMP, and PNG formats. According
>to GoVideo, the D2740 also reads the Photoshop PSD file format, but I
>was unable to open several PSD files in my tests. A spokesperson for
>GoVideo acknowledged that the player occasionally fails to read some
>supported file types.
>
>While connected to the server PC, the D2740 can also access Rhapsody,
>a $10-per-month streaming music service; the service appears as a
>separate server on the D2740's menu screen. Accessing Rhapsody went
>smoothly.
>
>Not Good Enough
>
>Unfortunately, the improvements stop there. The D2740 fails to correct
>many of the failings of the 2730. For one, it still relies on Digital
>5's barely usable streaming media server software. The PC-side
>component remains a barebones app that inelegantly indexes media files
>on a system. Music listings, for example, fail to show the bit rate or
>even the file type (other than calling it "audio"). And when showing
>photos and videos, the interface pointlessly retains information boxes
>labeled "Albums," "Artists," and "Genres."
>
>The player component of the Digital 5 interface is even worse. Using
>video out to a TV, the D2740 displays two blue windows with text menus
>reminiscent of WordPerfect for DOS. The left window lists media
>folders matching the collections on the PC. The right is
>context-sensitive, displaying song or video titles, or thumbnails of
>photos, depending on what mode you're in. Scrolling through the
>listings is poky, and made more difficult by GoVideo's chintzy remote
>that fails as often as it succeeds to transmit an infrared signal. I
>found the overall interface far slicker on the competing D-Link
>MediaLounge, which sells for $180 as an A/V streamer or for $270 with
>the addition of a DVD player and memory card reader.
>
>As a DVD player, the D2740 offers acceptable image quality, with good
>color and grayscale performance. However, the de-interlacing for
>progressive-scan output is a bit rough. I noticed "crawling" in video
>featuring sets of parallel lines--such as the railings and siding on
>houses in the opening scene of Mystic River. These glitches aren't
>serious, but you can get as good or better performance in some players
>costing half as much.
>
>Given the 2740's middling performance--with regard to both streaming
>media and DVD playback--you'd be better off keeping your DVD player
>separate from your media streaming device. If you already have a DVD
>player, and have room for another A/V component, consider instead an
>audio and video streamer such as the D-Link MediaLounge. And if you
>are interested only in music, check out a networked audio bridge such
>as Apple's $129 AirPort Express, or Roku's $200 SoundBridge M500.
>
>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/...042605X,00.asp
>
>
>===
> "Until last October, Christ had a very limited involvement in my life. I believed in God; I just never had to prove I believed. Belief is an absence of proof."
> -- Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling

Juanito