-
"A poor compromise between a Smart TV and a HTPC."
2.0 starson by asgilbertPros: The keyboard/remote
Good for online video
Small and stylishCons: Very limited range of apps available
Limited online content in Australia
"Live TV" feature needs another stand alone set top box
Struggles to play some local HD content
Local playback sometimes goes out of audio/video sync
Browser is slowSummary: I got this as part of an offer with my Sony TV and honestly, I would not recommend paying for it.
First of all, there is not a whole lot you can do on it that I can't do on a Smart TV. You can access online content, but I could do that on my TV. You can browse the internet, but I can do that on my TV (it's generally too slow to seriously use on either). You can play local video files, but I can do that on my TV. You need to download a seperate program (Plex) to be able to stream videos from a server, like I can do out of the box with my TV. Btw, Plex has a terrible, complicated interface that somehow has less features than my TV's player. The only thing this has going for it is that it can play some files that the TV cannot without transcoding. Yet, it struggles to play much of my HD files anyway. And the SD files that didn't play on my TV all loose audio/video sync at 50m on this thing for some bizarre reason (they play fine on my PC).
Maybe in the US Google TV is great and gives you access to heaps of content you otherwise wouldn't see, but here in Australia this is simply not the case.
In the end this thing sits awkwardly between a Smart TV and a HTPC, not as simple and user friendly as a Smart TV, yet not as feature rich, fast, or customizable as a HTPC. Ultimately, the worst of both worlds.


