Apple TV vs. Boxee Box...Home Theatre At It's Best

Digital Media players are in more and more living rooms everyday.  They have a lot of great features, including everything from streaming HD content from the Internet to playing your favorite music, movies and pictures!

To me, owning a media player is kind of like having a great car stereo. There is the initial cost of the equipment, but listening to the radio is free.  Sure, I have to put up with the commercials, but the music is available free of charge.  If I choose not to listen to commercials anymore, then I have the option to subscribe to a service like SIRIUS satellite radio.  I like choices!!

Most media players have a compact design and the pricing is pretty reasonable. There are over ten different media players available on the market right now, but my focus is going to be on two:  Apple TV, and the Boxee Box by D-Link.

This isn't going to be your standard spec for spec review. I am going to kinda shoot from the hip and give my honest opinion of what I like about each model, as well as what failed to impress me.  So here we go!

Apple TV
Apple TV has been very successful since it's original launch in 2007, selling over 2 million units!  It has a sleek, compact, sexy design, that easily blends into your current home theatre setup.

It has some things going for it.

• The Apple TV is reasonably priced, coming in at $99.
• It streams wireless HD content from the Internet from places like Netflix, Vimeo, and YouTube.
• It allows you to stream content to your iPhone or iPod through AirPlay, and lets you to subscribe to a number of live sports channels.
• The user interface is great!! The menus are clear and everything is super easy to navigate. Very quick...on par for anything made by Apple.
• Podcasts are available for free streaming, if it's on iTunes, then it's available to you..love this option!
• A good choice of free streaming music.

There are also some things that suck about it!

• First off, almost everything is subscription based. Pretty well anything you want to stream will cost you money except for YouTube videos, music and some Vimeo content. 
• The resolution maxes out at 720p.  Sure it looks good, but it would be nice to get the full 1080p treatment! 
• The Apple TV doesn't allow you to connect a removable hard drive. This is the worst part for me.  Personally, I don't like the idea of always having my computer connected to my media player in any form.
• The number of formats that this player recognises is lacking. Apple takes care of the basics, but goes no further.
• There aren't many television channels offered, and they all are pay for play.

In my opinion, the Apple TV is a good product for those who love Apple.  There are too many restrictions in place to make it a worthwhile experience for me.  The low price is what reels you in, but it will cost you more in the long run based on all of the ways that they get you to pay.

Boxee-Box

D-Link offers the Boxee Box. It has an interesting design that makes it look like it has morphed with the surface you place it on!  I'm not sure what the sales figures are like, but I don't think it's doing as well as the Apple TV.

Let's see what it does!

• The remote has a full Qwerty keyboard on one side, which allows you to search the Internet with ease.
• The Boxee supports Flash content.  This is a big deal when it comes down to browsing the Internet happily!  You can load up the Car and Driver website and see all of the content that you can on your personal computer.
• It supports 1080p playback. This is pure awesomeness in a cup!
• Boxee gives you access to about 20 television channels, which you can stream for free via your Internet connection!  There are commercials for some shows, but not near as many as you would have to watch on cable. Did I mention that it was free?
• Has 'one-button-access' to Netflix.  Over 200 different apps and channels are available for use.
• Portable hard drives are accepted! You can load all of your pictures, music and movies onto your drive, and play away...without having to connect to iTunes!  The number of codecs and file formats  that the Boxee supports is nothing less than spectacular!! It can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it!

And of course, the things that I'm not fond of!

• The sports channels and some of the music channels are by subscription only. There is a lot of content available for free, but this is still a sticky issue for me.
• There is no option for music playback on the main menu.  In order to play your music, you have to navigate through the Files section.  Not difficult, but annoying!
• There are a few channels that are listed, but aren't accessible from all areas.  For instance, the Top Gear channel only allows you to view its contents if you reside in Europe.  That sucks...I love Top Gear! I have to buy the seasons and rip the discs to my hard drive in order to watch them on the Boxee.
• It's price is a little steep. The Boxee sells for $200 at most stores, but you can get it for a discount at places like Amazon.

Media players have definitely changed the way people deal with home entertainment.  High definition video, 5.1 channel sound,  the ability to quickly and smoothly switch between movies, TV, music, and the Internet, are all accessible from one remote control!! Yay!  Good looks, speedy processors, and a great user interface make for a superb home theatre experience!  

For a full list of features and options for these two players, visit the Apple TV and Boxee Box websites!

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iPad 3, Will It Finally Deliver the Goods?

So you're pissed that the iPad 2 wasn't all it was cracked up to be?  I know the feeling!  Saw the iPad, thought it was ok, but figured maybe I'd wait til the second version came out.  In my experience, waiting for the second version of whatever new product is out there is the best way to avoid being disappointed with my purchase.  Unfortunately this fancy method of mine didn't work this time!

The iPad 2 is a good product...no arguments there...but as far as improvements over the original go, it kinda sucked.  The most important improvement for me was speed.  Can't deal with slow processors.  It's like standing in a lineup two blocks long for a roll of toilet paper...not a chance!  I gotta go NOW!

The only other improvement was the camera, but it's still horrible.  The sensor is smaller than any "point-and-shoot" on the market. It doesn't matter how many pixels you squeeze together, it's still poor quality.

Hopefully Apple won't disappoint this time around. It is rumoured that the iPad 3 is due out in spring 2012, so I'll be waiting patiently.  I was surfing the Internet and found an interesting article on the 3, talking about some of the new features. Here is the link to that article from iPhoneStuffs4You, but don't forget to come back here and let me know what you think of the new toy in my comments section!


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Funny iPhone Case!

It blows me away at the number of iPhone accessories that are popping up every week!  People won't be happy til their phone vacuums the floors for them!!  

Click the link below for the full article!

This Is One Ridiculously Over-The-Top iPhone Camera Case: Article from Gizmodo 

Review: Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS

People love their camera phones. Alot.

 There is a war going on between the manufacturers of each, and at this point it looks like the cell phones have the advantage.  The cell cam is always with you, perfectly convenient, has the ability to upload images to the internet, and the picture quality is fairly good in well lit situations.

They have disadvantages as well. Glaring ones.  Cell cameras usually produce low resolution images, are poor performers in low light situations, have horrible auto white balance settings, and have annoying amounts of grain and noise.

Major camera manufacturers like Canon know this.  And their response to this is the PowerShot Elph 300 HS.  It's fast, and has great low light performance. I don't think there is a cell phone camera that can come close.

The 300 HS is a compact beauty.  It sports a 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, and the ability to shoot up to 1080p video at 24 frames per second.  On the back there is a 2.7 inch display, with a decent resolution of approximately 230,000 dots. Connectivity is great with both mini USB and  mini HDMI ports.

Performance for the Elph is stellar.  It has a maximum aperture of f/2.7, so low light photos aren't an issue, and can shoot a machine gun fast 8.2 frames per second in High Speed Burst Mode! A 5x optical zoom lens is better than average, (35mm equivalent of 24 - 120mm) that proves to be more than adequate for most shooting situations.

Picture quality from the Canon is fantastic as always...very low noise, good auto white balance and great resolution.  The perfect combination for great photos!

The controls on the Elph are very familiar to those who have owned other Canon PowerShot models.  Everything is well laid out, and the menus are easy to navigate. It's fast, compact, and a solid performer.

In my opinion, this particular camera has all the features needed to get you the best photos possible in a compact body.  It's priced competitively, fits in your pocket, and you don't have to worry about having the perfect picture being interrupted by an incoming call!