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"IMHO, the best offering of an immature market..." on by thuber
Pros: Broad CODEC support; 802.11g; ongoing firmware upgrades; supports playback from LinkStation NAS
Cons: It's still an immature market... and this player demonstrates it
Summary: I've been looking into this market for some time and finally ordered the LinkTheater when I discovered active peer support on the web and firmware upgrades that have addressed many of its initial shortcomings. I think it's clear from comments that I've read that one's satisfaction with this player depends on what one expectations are.
Based on my few days of experience with it here's what it does well:
* Broad video and audio codec support. It handles more codecs than any other networked DVD player that I've seen. This is particularly true of the video formats where it handles WMV9 in addition to MPEG-1/2 and DIVX. It also handles WMV-HD and DIVX-HD, including downsampling to SD for playback on a non-HD set with amazing clarity.
* Wireless-G support: While it only supports WEP right now I can easily stream HD-quality files wirelessly with excellent playback. I already have my TIVO wired and didn't want to have to run another cable to my media player.
* Playback from LinkStation: I'm particularly impressed with this capability, as it will playback media direct from a LinkStation without requiring a PC client in the background. Technically, one actually upgrades the LinkStation to include a "PCAST" capabilities so I suppose there is a client running, but I don't have to have my Windows box running.
Here's what it doesn't do so well:
* User interface: It really doesn't have a great interface. There's one interface for dealing with the LinkTheater PC client, another for Windows Media Connect, and another for LinkStation NAS playback. And overall they are not particularly intutive. For example, when playing a media file the only way to get back to the menus is to press "Stop." There are several other buttons, including "Return" and "Menu" on the remote that one would expect to work but don't. The quirks of the interface are workable, but as my wife said "it's not up to the level of a TIVO."
* WEP only: It doesn't support WPA or any other advanced wireless security.
Overall I'm very pleased with its capabilities. I had it up and running in about a half an hour. What it does its doing well. -
"Not Quite there yet." on by geff99
Pros: Does what advertised. Great image and sound.
Cons: Tricky Setup, Has many unfulfilled needs.
Summary: I bought a Linktheater 2 weeks ago. The setup is a bit tricky and is even redundant at times. Once setup and running, it seems to do all of the things it is advertised to do. It plays mp3s, photos, and movies very well over my 802.11g network.
There are a couple of issues that need to be addressed. I receive my internet through starband sattelite service. This may be the reason that the linktheater does not seem to pick up or find any internet radio stations.
The server software seems limitted. Also the fact that certain things can only be done on the unit or only through the server software is arcaic.
I found myself rebooting the unit several timses because the unit kept crashing.
My last complaint is that the unit software only picks up my favorites from internet explorer and not from Firefox. Now, I find myself adding those favorite sites to explorer so I can try to browse. But the web browsing is slow and annoying.
The upconverting of video to 1080i is superb, once the unit is setup. VOB files transfer from my computer flawlessly even with 5.1 digital sound over my wireless connection.
THere are a few things I wish. I wish it had an hdmi out to make things easier on me. I also wish that a wireless keyboard were available for the unit. THis way it would be easier to use the unit and its networking abilities, very much like the prismiq.
Overall, I love the unit. But there are shortcomings that need to be addressed.
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