best home theater internet device (xbox, appletv, etc)

[xxBURT0Nxx]

http://promos.asus.com/US/eblast/EeeBox/index.html

I think that a net top would do you well. Will stream everything that you want to stream, and you can use Media Center to make the interface easier for your girlfriend/non techy people.

cheaper here, and then you could buy 2gb of ram and upgrade it and still be within your 3-400 budget.

Or you could try the Acer Aspire Revo which also seems to be a popular nettop, but I don't have experience with either to tell you which would be better.

 

[dmm219]

I checked Playon's website and I couldn't readily find some answers to a few questions... Hoping you or others could lend some knowledge.

My biggest hurdle from going cableless is live sports. Do you get ESPN's live coverage? Is it free? Same for the NFL, CBS and other sporting event content providers?

Any experience with it on the PS2?

Any talk of a port to AppleTV?

Really, any reveiw you could share would be excellent. Thanks!

No, ESPN is not live sports, mostly shows (sportscenter....etc). Basically, what is available for free at these services websites, is what is available through playon. There isn't much you can do right now for live sports except MLB.tv on the ATV (via Boxee) or Roku. Hopefully, we'll see MLB.tv in a lot more places soon (like Netflix). I would also hope that someone builds a plugin for Playon (or an app for boxee) for ESPN360 (live sports). The problem here is it would only work over supported ESPN360 networks..so not everybody could use it.

Honestly, for live sports, I use OTA. If you are a heavy sports junky and live for ESPN, there is really no solution other than cable out there for you right now.

I have only used Playon on the 360 and the Wii. Quality on the 360 is the best. However, the quality on the Wii was better than boxee quality on the ATV in my opinion.

No word on an ATV or Mac port. I figure it would work better than Boxee on the ATV, as it does all the processing on the PC and just streams to the set top box, I imagine this would remove the tons of limitations the ATV poses for boxee...

 

[Michael CM1]

I agree that the space is certainly ripe for an Apple TV update. the ATV is so ridiculously limited compared to other solutions out there that there HAS to be an update in the works for it. It's just hard to wait when there are other exciting solutions out there.

The only problem I see with Apple developing what we actually want out of the ATV is that our preferred solution requires openness (we want all the good services such as netflix, Hulu, etc) but Apple often does not open its platform up enough to allow all solutions in. Case in point, flash on the iPhone. If Apple does not think consumers need it, then Apple will not only not help to make it happen . . it will actively block that solution. So I am not sure if Apple will come out with something that is actually valuable in comparison to more open devices (and it's ironic that Microsoft's xbox is actually more open in this case).

Put a Blu-ray Disc drive in it, add Netflix support and allow add-ons. Charge $349ish for it and you've got a hit. Maybe charge $249 for a DVD model. Until Apple adds an optical drive, it'll be relegated to the "hobby" world because it's just another box. I went with my Samsung BD player because it plays BDs and does Netflix streaming.

 

[Tilpots]

If you are a heavy sports junky and live for ESPN, there is really no solution other than cable out there for you right now.

Damn, that's what I thought, though. Thanks for the info. I wish ESPN360 was available to everyone. For me to get it, I'd have to cut my connection speed in half. Not willing to do it...

The way MLB.TV is spreading, I'm hoping other leagues catch on and offer ways to see games over the internet. Hopefully an AppleTV update (dreaming I know) will entice the NFL and others to offer viewers other ways to see games, especially out of market ones...