- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 22 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"Promising and unstable... so far"
Pros: Fast server software, multiple file-type support
Cons: No playlists, freeze/crash, no MOV luck
Summary: Setup was more difficult than I expected. I'm pretty good at networking but was puzzled by the setup and all the required rebooting to the LinkTheater.
The first test was running a plain, out-of-the-box Spiderman 2 DVD. It crashed inexplicably at chapter 35. Dunno why.
Once I started the Wireless MP3 streaming (50% of why I purchased it), I found that lovely screeching sound that another reviewer described. Forwarding through to another song sometimes works, other times it crashes. My biggest complaint however is for the lack of playlist support. You cannot create your own, nor can you use those created from WinMediaPlayer or musicMatch. Therefore you can only "play all" by a folder selection which may be a Genre, an Album, or an Artist. Good luck figuring out how to randomize these, once you choose it (you hit the undocumented "Repeat" which will work only between songs, not while they're playing).
Photo support seems excellent. However, I keep my photos in folders according to major events (Beach_2003, Spain_2004, etc) and was disappointed to find that you can only choose one folder to run as a slideshow during any music playback. And you have to do this from the server software, so there's no spontaneous choosing of some photos while the music plays or before your playli.., er... wad of music starts.
Video support of MPEG and AVI seems good. My one WMV that I used for testing is apparently WMV8, which isn't supported. However, my home videos are quicktime which was probably about 40% of why I bought this, and they don't work. The specs sheet and the packaging say it works with MOV, but looking at their site, it's not listed. The screen goes black for probably the amount of time the video is supposed to run, then returns to the selection menu.
I read some bad reviews last year of the d-link device, the Roku, the GoVideo dvd thingie, and others. I waited purposefully for the second generation of devices to fix the codec and software issues, and am pretty disappointed if this is top entry.
I'm going to try to increase my network's wireless strength before sending this back. I may be expecting too much from my 11.G network, but it's not looking promising.
Where to buy
Buffalo LinkTheater PC-P3LWG/DVD:
$500.00
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$500.00 | Yes |
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