The folks behind the Streaming Media East event, that Mari attended, have published their Broadband Device Pavilion device comparison. The matrix provides all sorts of details such as supported formats, max resolution, popular video streaming services, etc on notable platforms including Apple TV, TiVo Premiere, Roku, and Boxee. But don’t take my word for it. Click the fullscreen button above to peruse the document for yourself. And if you have any additions or corrections, let us know and we’ll pass them along.
17 thoughts on “All The Boxes”
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They didn’t include my homebrew Mac Mini HTPC. It ain’t “all the boxes” without the best box.
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If I’m reading that chart correctly, the lack of WiFi “a” on the Roku implies that Roku WiFi doesn’t handle the 5ghz band on “n”. If so, it’s news to me, and it means: bad Roku.
How can you build a serious lean-back stream receiver without 5ghz reception?
The Roku XD ($80) is single band 802.11n, whereas the XDS ($100) is dual band 802.11n including 5ghz.
“The Roku XD ($70) is single band 802.11n, whereas the XDS ($100) is dual band 802.11n including 5ghz.”
I’ll take your word on it, but then perhaps the chart is wrong.
They list the XDS as b/g/n, rather than a/b/g/n, and the presence of “a” tends to be a reliable proxy for 5ghz band capability. But perhaps that proxy isn’t 100% accurate…
The PS3 can use its proprietary port to connect both component and composite video cables. Same port and cables as the PS2 could use (so they are cheap).
The Premiere does not have built in wifi but can use an adapter.
I guess I’d mark all my notations as w/adapter.
PS3 has youtube.
Does the PS3 access YouTube through an app or the browser? I unloaded my latest PS3, as I’m wont to do, and can’t check at the moment.
Isn’t the Tivo Premiere missing MP3 support under ‘Audio Formats’?
Looks very similar to this crowdsourced list, which was started by Veronica Belmont:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tjY1oj6WVMRfdgjpDyPbBSg&authkey=CMWSqM8P&hl=en#gid=28
/Don
802.11a is 5GHz, but the protocol is different from 802.11n. There are 802.11n devices which support 5GHz but do NOT support 802.11a connections. So while a device that does both a & n almost certainly indicates 5GHz n support, the lack of a is *not* a reliable indicator of the lack of 5GHz n support. (a implies 5GHz n, the lack of a does not imply the lack of 5GHz n)
As for the chart – the TiVo format list is all kinds of wrong.
The only audio format the TiVo *officially* supports is MP3, and that’s not listed. Yet it lists AAC & WMA, which are not supported. The HW can do them, but officially you can only send MP3 files to the TiVo.
Similarly, on video, the only officially supported format is MPEG-2 – which isn’t listed. I know .mov container format works, I think some others work too. Unofficially you can also stream MPEG-4/H.264 video to the S3 & later models (see Streambaby, et al). But that’s not listed either. Divx may actually work that way too, since it is close to MPEG-4. But, again, official support is MPEG-2.
What exactly does ‘iTunes’ support mean? While the other devices don’t tie directly into iTunes, you can stream non-DRM protected iTunes audio to them.
I believe WMV and maybe H.264 are utilized by TiVo’s streaming partners. Obviously the stuff coming straight from the cableco is MPEG2.
I think Megazone was referring to things that YOU can send to the device. (Who cares what the cableco and partners use as you never see those files…) However, Tivo Desktop supports sending certain file types.
Yeah, good point. I’m only half tuned in today, sorry. :) Not sure what’s natively supported. Both TiVo (Desktop Plus) and third party solutions (like Streambaby) transcode most stuff on a computer before shipping back to the TiVo.
Dave and Mega Zone you would probably know the answer to this…….but was Sling Media short sighted in this whole area when they dropped the catcher a couple of years ago? Seems that this would have been a great way to sell a lot more catchers. I am guessing they didn’t want the catcher competing with Dish? It’s ashame I love my catcher and still use it today regularly.
Ah, Catcher… one of the reasons I joined Sling, one of the reasons I left. ;) What I and probably MZ would have liked to have seen was a virtual-Catcher – basically a SlingPlayer app for the likes of Roku, TiVo, etc. (Alternately, MZ also thought it’s be cool if the Catcher could natively receive and playback TiVoToGo files if memory serves.) But the thought process was different back then and obviously Sling was acquired by EchoStar which changed the trajectory.
The TiVo hardware itself supports lots of formats – MPEG-2, MPEG-4/H.264, WMV/VC-1, I’m pretty sure Divx/Xvid, etc. And audio in MP3, AAC, WMA, AC-3/Dolby Digital, and maybe others, that’s all I can think of offhand.
But, officially, user content can be copied/streamed to the TiVo as MPEG-2 and MP3, that’s it. Those are the formats TiVo Desktop supports. Any other formats it supports are transcoded to those for transfer to the TiVo.
3rd party products like Streambaby have reverse engineered things so that they can stream MPEG-4/H.264 as well. Other formats get transcoded to MPEG-2 or H.264.
Hopefully someone will be able to reverse engineer the new TiVo streaming implementation so we will be able to at least stream content *to* the TiVo by setting up a compatible server. And *maybe* from the TiVo, but I bet the content is encrypted.
As for the SlingCatcher – yeah, I was pushing for the idea of a ‘soft-Catcher’. The concept was neat – when it was announced, two years before it shipped. By the time it shipped it was way out of day – the HW was the same as when they started, it just sat for two years. The idea of grabbing a part of the desktop and streaming that was cool – but outdated by then as other devices had worked out streaming the files directly without the PC needing to decode anything.
I was arguing that Sling needed to implement the catcher concept in software and get it on game consoles, Roku, Blu-ray players, etc. Basically what Netflix ended up doing later. I even argued that we could do it in BD-Java for Blu-ray and release it on a BD – which is what Netflix did before getting bundled into firmware, and others have done as well.
Before it released I argued that the Catcher should be cancelled, or at least delayed again and reworked as new HW to be current. It *needed* to handle full HD H.264 – and it didn’t. It needed to stream content directly from disc without a PC proxy-playing it. Basically it needed to be a Roku box which talked to Slingboxes as well.
I *still* think Sling/EchoStar is missing out by not doing this. It’d sell more Slingboxes & SlingLoaded gear. Make the clients free/cheap and plentiful and you’ll sell more HW.
Dave, everytime I use my Roku I say “wow I wish there was a Sling app for this thing!” I doubt it would ever happen based on the apps that have been “killed” on Roku already (Tv.com) etc. I think the catcher was just a bit ahead of it’s time, but Echostar didn’t want to see it through. I miss the days you were at Sling Dave!!!!
One funny thing to note from the matrix of course is that Tivo actually beat Boxee to Hulu Plus support! Wow, that has to embarrass the Boxee folks! Slower than the tortoise!
If we’re going to talk about Sling again, one thing I do wish is that Tivo would support the Sling adapter. You know that slim Slingbox that you can use with compatible Dish hardware? The one you just hook up via a single USB cable? That doesn’t require taking over the tuner that the user in front of the TV is watching? And doesn’t overlay its controls on top or anything? That’s what I’d like–a Tivo that supports a cheaper and more flexible Slingbox. Don’t know if Dish is all that interested in cooperating with Tivo on anything at this point, but it sure would be cool…
At the very least, they could do away with the unsightly and slower IR control given TiVo’s network interface… But they won’t. Both TiVo and Echostar prefer television providers as customers, over individual consumers.