Netgear NeoTV 550 - Page 95

I am in Montreal, Canada and I can't find any store where this product is available. It looks like it is not sale here?

Doeas anyone knows where wwe can purchase it?

If not, what other product in the same quality and price range can i find here?

MKVs, too. Do you output audio via same HDMI or separate routes (audio via optical and video via HDMI)? If I put audio via same HDMI to TV and from there to my amp via via optical lipsync issues are not reproducible. But with my setup multichannel is no go with routing through TV, so I have to use direct optical from NeoTV.

My video goes HDMI directly to the TV. My audio goes optical from the Neo to receiver. The only difference might be that I transcode every video with VID2EVA. Never had the lipsync problem.

My Lipsync issues are with DVD ISO (both full backup and main movie rips) with Dolby 5.1 tracks.

Hi, Sorry to go off topic but if anyone out there has an Onkyo TX-SR608 could you tell me if it decodes AAC tracks from the NEO via HDMI. I'm thinking about getting one and just want to make sure it decodes AAC.

Thanks.

Correct, but that model has not been in question.

I'm thinking about picking this up. I have an HTPC now but I might re-purpose that for a desktop computer as another computer here is dying.

From the specs it sounds like it will play my stuff. Almost everything is in MKV, some with multichannel FLAC, a lot with DD or DTS. Other stuff with DTS-MA HD and TrueHD. Using a Yamaha 663 receiver connected to a projector. Some stuff has subs in a srt format? I can't remember. I know it's not PGS. I only use forced subs when necessary. All my movies have been re-encoded to smaller file sizes. I don't have any straight image rips.

Some AVI's, mp4 etc. Most movies/TV shows have nice cover art already. Some other files are just randomly thrown into folders. Miscellaneous stuff.

Sounds like it will work. I do have 400 or so movies on my server box. House is wired with cat6 and i'm using gigabit switches.

Any potential issues with my setup/needs and this netgear box? Does it offer any sort of online video streaming? That's not a game changer but I am curious. At some point i'd like to replace satellite but as of right now online video just looks to crappy and is mostly 2 channel which isn't acceptable to me.

What's the best way to use this if I have multiple external HD's with movies on them:

1. USB hub connected to the NeoTV?
2. Externals all connected to my desktop? Either via multiple USB inputs or a hub.

Well,other then BD capable what other major differences are there??
what about the UI?? networking options?? mkv playback?? HD audio passthrough??
any comments will be appreciated.

Pch just revised their UI to make it much slicker. I can't comment on it, but reports are that it is nice, but a little slow

The 550 should be getting Netflix soon, the A210 won't (to my knowledge).

You can check out the specs and this thread to see if the 550 supports the exact file types you need. It does bitstream hd audio. It does support mkv.

My setup is like option #2 with various External HD's and I ripped a couple BRs last night and streamed with no stutter or dropout.

Tommy

Thanks Tommy, and the 550 has no problem finding those files, whether they're in drive C, D, F, G, etc.?

A hub is not going to work. You have two usb ports on the Neo. And you can't access those drives from your PC so this would not be a good option.

Nope, no problem although I've noticed you have to rescan when you add new files...it doesn't automatically detect them. The rescan process is pretty quick though.

I'm sharing the root of my BR drive, DVD drive, and 6 External HD's from two remote PCs and it reads all of them just fine.

For clarification, none of my drives are connected via a hub. All are directly connected to a PC.

Hi,

I received the NeoTV550-100PES few days ago from pixmania.fr, and I believe that I owe the new buyers these few lines to be taken in consideration before ordering one.

The good part about NeoTV550 :
1. it plays almost all formats indicated on the box.
2. Setup is straight forward
3. Cheap!

Bad part/ Errors:
1. Random crashing and not always reproducible, sometimes it's related to disconnecting the server while playing a movie,
almost every other day

2. lip-sync problem with certain MKVs mostly > 6GB, different audio settings,
a. Passthrough vs downmix 2.0 stereo doesnt affect the problem
b. HDMI vs S/PDIF [same problem]
c. DAC vs A/V amplifier [same problem]
e. Network "samba" vs local media USB front/back [same problem]
"reported here and on netgear forums, can't post the URL; needs 3 posts "

3. Sluggish control while playing some MKVs, or internet media,
again I can't be objective about this one it's some how random.

4. the "Stable" firmware 3.0.268 has a problem with youtube while the "beta" 3.0.275 -the one you not allowed to complain about since it's beta- has its own share of other problems, e.g colors.
reported on netgear forums too.

5. nevertheless to mention you can't -really- choose HDMI only or S/PDIF restricted output, even when the settings indicate S/PDIF passthrough you still get HDMI output.. tested on both stable and beta firmware.


Right now, I'm contemplating the idea of keeping the unit and wait for the next or firmware, or ebay-it, or check the 'return policy on pixmania website.

Thanks.


p.s Apparently I can't post any link to netgear forums since I just registered, need 3 posts etc.. my apologies.

Is anyone using a USB Hub connected to their PC with various drives connected to the hub?

I think it was posted eariler in this thread that it will not come to Canada, so you're just going to have to cross the border to buy one.

So, I can hook up my 1TB drive to either my network and stream wirlessly with the adaptor or hook up the drive directly to the NEO correct along with full read/write access from my computer?

May give this a try over the Boxee Box

Hmm...my local fry's is showing this in stock. Wondering if I should jump on it and add it to my ever expanding pile of media players that I'm testing!

If the drive is connected directly to the Neo you cannot access it from your PC. However, from the Neo GUI, you can copy files from you PC to the external hard drive.

I was commenting on your "Option 1". Connecting the hub to the Neo won't work.

So does anybody have any clue from where the "bdallow" file that's floating around came from? I guess I'm just curious because it only allows Blu playback from an attached drive, and not DVDs.

I guess I'm curious if it's an official Netgear thing that got leaked, or if it was hacked together by somebody, and if there's any word on them adding DVD playback to it. It would be nice to only need 1 device rather than dedicated disc player (yes, I know it does .isos, I don't want to rip my whole collection).

Starting with a MKV file having lipsync problems when using HDMI for video directly to my TV and audio using optical output from the Neo to my receiver, transcoding (that is, re-encoding) the file using vid2eva did not help. The result was the exact same lipsync problems.

(the audio from my TV, which usually is tuned all the way down, is however in perfect sync ).

Playing this file on my computer or on my old Popcorn Hour A-100 through the very same receiver using Coaxial S/PDIF, the audio is in perfect sync (and it ALWAYS is using the Popcorn Hour A-100 ).

I also did another interesting experiment: I made a BluRay ISO from the MKV file, using popBD, which I then played using the NeoTV-550. But with the same lipsync error.

I then burned the BluRay ISO on a DVDR disc and played it on my Sony PS3, using the same receiver, and in fact the same physical optical cable and the same physical optical input on the receiver.

The result: Perfect lipsync.

To add to the weirdness, I do not have lipsync problems using optical S/PDIF from my NeoTV-550 on all MKV files, but there are quite a few which have problems. And I have not yet been able to determine any "common factors" of the ones which have lipsync problems.

No, NFS share from a Netgear ReadyNAS.

+2 - no lip-sync issues. Denon 3311CI (hdmi 1.4) with all inputs via HDMI and only HDMI out to a Panasonic 58" VT25.

I have a 1GB sd card attached and setup in menus for bluray live.

So far, none of the bd live stuff does anything on the movies I've watched.

Is all the bdlive features supposed to work if we use the sd card and set it
up in the menus?

Also, tried another bd iso and it streamed without stutter.

so question...on vacation...have my box with me and i forgot the remote...no usb keyboard (if that even works) and no way to get it and my computer on the same network to use that (there was a network remote right?)

so my question is: can i connect a laptop directly via ethernet..install whatever i need (don't have the disc with me...is it online?) and use the laptop to control the box?

@ "Am-I-Evil"

It's possible, Laptop<--> Switch <--> NeoTV550, then use the browser with the IP address of the box..

I'll include a screenshot in the next post..