From PC to Rec Room
We try out the first units in a new class of devices that wed your entertainment system and PC. but the union isn't always idyllic.Anush Yegyazarian
Your CD collection, photographs, and home videos are all neatly digitized and organized--on your hard drive. But what if you'd like to look at pictures or listen to music in a cozier setting?
An increasing number of PC and consumer electronics vendors are betting that you'll spring for a new category of products designed to move your music and memories from your computer to your existing TV and stereo gear over a wired--or wireless--network. Judging from what we've seen so far, however, these first-generation devices may not be tempting enough. They're too expensive, and too limited in what they can do.
We looked at four pioneering products--the CD3O C300 Extended-Range Wireless Network MP3 Player with Digital Output, the HP Digital Media Receiver EW5000, the Prismiq MediaPlayer, and the Sony RoomLink--that move digital media from your PC to your home entertainment center, wherever it may be.
All support ethernet connections for wired networks (which generally provide the best performance); all but the Sony also support 802.11b Wi-Fi (though Sony promises to offer an 802.11a adapter soon) for wireless communications with your computer. Except for the Prismiq, these were preproduction units.
The products attach to TVs and stereos via standard A/V cables and ports (see First Digital Living Room Devices: How They Stack Up); prices for the devices ranged from $199 to $299. To find out how these units performed in real-world settings, we took them home and tried them out in our own living rooms.
Installing these systems is supposed to be no
harder (and in many cases far easier) than setting up a network. All use
software to set up a computer as your primary media server and search your hard
drive for supported file types (in some cases you designate the directories to
be searched). You can then create either special folders or playlists to
organize your files for playback. Navigation then shifts from the computer to
the living room, using a supplied remote control, your TV, or both. All four of
the devices support music files; all but CD3O's C300 also support still images,
video, or both. The Prismiq MediaPlayer adds Internet features as well.
The menus of these products are fairly straightforward. Where applicable, you choose a media category (pictures, music, or video), select content from the available folders or individual files, then sit back and enjoy the show. At least, that's the theory.
In practice, however, setting up and using these devices isn't always simple, and each one has limitations.
Reality Check
None support all major file formats for music, video, and still images. And all of them work best if you do some additional prep work at the PC: For example, only the CD3O lets you set playlists in your living room; none let you shift the order of pictures for a slide show from there. Moreover, if you haven't organized your files into multiple small folders and granular categories, you may not be able to easily access a specific file--say, that new Dave Matthews track--from the living room without hitting the arrow keys a lot.
All of these products have software restrictions, as well. The HP Digital Media Receiver, for example, requires you to use Musicmatch Jukebox music organizer software to set up your playlists.
The HP device works over either a wired or an 802.11b wireless network. But because 802.11b's 11-mbps top speed is considered inadequate for streaming full-screen, full-motion video (and also to keep costs down), this version of the Digital Media Receiver forgoes video to focus on music and photos.
In our trials with a preproduction HP box plugged into the video and audio jacks of a 10-year-old TV and connected to a PC over an 802.11b Wi-Fi network, setup took only a few minutes. Photos looked terrific on screen, and music quality was good, within the normal limitations of the TV's speakers and the MP3 file format. At the PC, we could organize our pictures into slide shows and pair them with music--nice touch. Two minor caveats: We couldn't figure out how to change the music without interrupting the slide show, and we couldn't adjust slide display times. It's still a nice product--but at $299, pricey.
Sony's RoomLink lets you stream video along with music and photos, but you'll need a Sony VAIO desktop PC with current Giga Pocket software to act as a server--a major show-stopper--and you must import video into Giga Pocket, which supports only MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files. (Videos in other formats must be converted using Sony's MovieShaker.) Sony supports most popular still-image formats, but you must store all still photos in one particular master folder. And though you can rip your music into most formats and store it wherever you wish, you need to use the SonicStage for VAIO software to create playlists that RoomLink will recognize.
That said, a preproduction RoomLink's video and audio quality were very good. From your TV, you can set the length of the pause between photos in a slide show, or choose whether to repeat the slide show. You can also pair music with a particular slide show. If you have a cable TV feed near your VAIO PC, you can use the whole setup as a digital video recorder--complete with electronic program guide--and use RoomLink to stream recorded shows from the computer to the TV set. At the TV, you can also set the computer to record by using standard VCR-like commands.
While the RoomLink now lacks wireless support, Sony says it plans to offer a $200 module to add 802.11a wireless capability; the standard's 54-mbps speed is, in theory, fast enough to stream full-motion, full-screen video.
The Prismiq MediaPlayer streamed music with no appreciable
sound degradation, and it's the only unit in this group that offers Internet
functions such as basic Web browsing and AOL instant messaging. You'll want to
get the optional keyboard ($50) if you do much surfing or chatting--entering
text using the remote's phone-like keypad is too awkward for any but the most
basic tasks. And while the device's interface isn't pretty, you get used to it.
The still-photo viewing feature was not ready on our shipping unit, but Prismiq says it will be added via a free, downloadable software upgrade that should be available by the time you read this.
The MediaPlayer was the only product we reviewed to support low-resolution video over 802.11b wireless. Playback was adequate, with few perceptible dropped frames. The device lacks support for video formats other than MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and unencrypted.vob (DVD) files. We did have difficulty seeing some supported video files, which the company blamed on problems with the way those files were encoded.
Say the Word?
The CD30 C300 streams only music, and its remote control bypasses the TV by using text-to-speech technology. You press a button to choose how you wish to browse--by artist, genre, album, or track--and then hit arrow keys to hear a robotic-sounding rendition of your choices in alphabetical order (alternatively, you can spell out a selection on the phone-like keypad). But text-to-speech isn't really ready for prime time: Many song titles and artist names sounded strange (the B-52s, for example, became the "Bee-hyphen-five-two-ess"), and some were almost unrecognizable.
The music quality in our early preproduction model was acceptable, although we had to turn the stereo volume way up to get just moderately loud sound. CD3O's remote also has buttons for not-yet-implemented Internet radio features due by summer.
A coming wave of products that weren't ready for testing aim to supplant or even bypass the PC--for a price.
Pioneer's DigitaLibrary, due in May, will have its own 80GB hard drive and a CD-ROM drive. It will let you enjoy media files from your networked PC and stream Internet music and video content from partners such as Launch.com (broadband is required). However, the DigitaLibrary will go for $1200, plus another $900 for "branches" that connect to stereos or TVs in other rooms. Yamaha's MusicCast, for music only, has such high-end audio features as a built-in digital amplifier, a library of CD album information, and almost any stereo connector you could want--for $2800 (including a server and a client station).
Competition will also come from PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition, which provides an easy-to-use interface, lots of integrated features, and DVR functions. But these PCs--from Alienware, Gateway, HP, and others--carry high-end desktop price tags.
The Lowdown
Will the products we tried out find buyers? Probably not many, at first. Prices need to come down and the kinks must be worked out before we can wholeheartedly recommend these devices.
If you must buy now, and video support isn't a priority, consider HP's Digital Media Receiver--or if you already have a VAIO desktop with current Giga Pocket technology, Sony's RoomLink.
But again, we recommend waiting. If nothing else, you will likely have more choices: Linksys, Motorola, and Sonicblue expect to ship similar products later this year.
Extras for Your Digital Domain
The line between traditional home or even car entertainment and
computing will get blurrier as a slew of new products hit store shelves. Here
are some of the more intriguing efforts:
- Pacific Digital's MemoryFrame MF570: Essentially an LCD with memory and enough intelligence to show a digital slide show, this 5-by-7-inch display (viewable area: 3 by 5 inches) costs $329; an 8-by-10-inch version is due by midsummer. The idea isn't new, but the latest displays can bypass your PC entirely by downloading snapshots directly from any USB-equipped camera.
- Rockford Fosgate's Omnifi car stereo: This $599 unit, with assistance from a $99 Wi-Fi upgrade, can wirelessly transfer tunes or spoken audio from a PC to its own 20GB hard drive and play them back in your car.
- Philips Streamium MC-i250: The latest in Philips's Streamium line of audio microsystems not only lets you play Internet audio, standard CDs, and MP3 CDs, it also lets you pipe content wirelessly from your PC to a Streamium stereo.
- Philips IPronto TSi6400 universal remote: Designed for well-heeled gadget freaks, the $1699 IPronto features a high-resolution 6.4-inch LCD touch screen and can control lighting and security cameras as well as standard home-entertainment gear. It can also connect to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network and serve up program guides, MP3s, and e-mail.
- D-Link DVC-1000 I2eye VideoPhone: This $299 video camera-equipped device connects to a standard phone, a TV, and an ethernet network to let you add video to your phone calls. You don't need a PC, but you do need a broadband connection.
First Digital Living Room Devices: How They Stack Up (chart)
Products that link your computer to your home entertainment system focus on different media. Think about what kind of files--and what kind of network--you have before you buy. (Note that all four of the devices we looked at can work over standard ethernet.)