Belkin @TV plus
Media player
We deviate a little bit from media players
here: the Belkin @TV plus is not actually a media player.
In fact, nowhere on the box does it even
explicitly state what it is, but what it does is simple: it streams live TV
from your set top box (e.g. Freeview or Sky decoder) to mobile devices on your
home network or over the internet.
So if you have ever thought to yourself
“Gee, I wish I could watch TV without the inconvenience of actually having to
sit in front of the TV”, then this is the gadget for you.
To enable this, you start by connecting the
@TV plus to your decoder via either a component or composite video and analog
audio connection. You can’t connect it via HDMI – the digital content
protection in the video signal would prevent the device from re-sending it over
the network.
Mobilize:
Become a couch potato on the go
If necessary you can then daisy-chain the
component or composite connection back to your TV, although most set-top boxes
allow you to use HDMI and component or composite outputs at the same time, in
which case you wouldn’t need this final step.
Next you connect the @TV plus to your home
network via either a LAN cable to your router, or the @TV plus’s built-in Wi-Fi
adaptor. From there you install the supplied software onto a PC, which
automatically connects to the device on your network and allows you to select
what kind of set-top box it is connected to this will give you access to the
decoder’s remote control, which will be displayed on screen.
This onscreen remote will control your
decoder just like a real remote, by placing the supplied IR transmitters in
front of the decoder itself.
While that may sound complex, I did all
this at home with the Belkin @TV plus and had it up and running smoothly in
about ten minutes. The streamed TV signal appeared on my PC with a few seconds
delay and slightly lower quality, but perfectly watchable. Up to 8 devices can
view the stream via Wi-Fi. However, the quality drops with more connections,
because they all watch the same channel.
If the other end of your house isn’t far
enough away from your TV, you can also watch the stream over the internet
anywhere in the world on a 3G device using the @TV plus app for Android and iOS
devices.
The app gives you full remote control
access plus the ability to record the stream onto your device for later viewing
good for storing content for a long flight, for example, as long as your phone
has enough storage space.
Inexplicably, the app for tablets is free
but the smartphone version costs $16.99 NZD. It seems a bit rough to charge
this on top of the purchase price and we’d prefer that Belkin just adjust the
RRP on the unit to over its software development costs instead.
Regardless, the @TV plus works as
advertised and I’m sure the concept of watching live TV anywhere appeals to
some people. If this functionality were integrated with a bona fide media
player I for one would find the whole concept more appealing.
As it was, the greatest pleasure I got out
of it was ghost-pausing the TV using my smartphone from the other end of the
house while my partner was watching Shortland Street, but your mileage may
vary.
At a glance
·
Stream live TV to your PC or mobile device
·
Wired and wireless network adaptors built-in
·
Supports component and composite video
connections
·
Works great but possibly of limited appeal
Belkin @TV Plus (G1V1000AU)
Price: $270
Contact: www.belkin.com
The unique ability to stream live TV via Wi-Fi
or 3G works a treat, but that is also the only feature
Value: 7/10
Panasonic TH-L55WT50Z
55-inch LED-backlit LCD TV
Panasonic was one of the first
manufacturers to bring flat-panel TVs to the consumer market in New Zealand,
about ten years ago. It doesn’t seem to have lost any gusto in that time, with
many lines of smarts TVs currently available on our fair shores.
The TH-L55WT50Z is the largest of the WT50
series of Full HD LED TVs from Panasonic, boasting a mammoth 55 inch/139cm
screen. The headline features other than the whopping size are active shutter
3D technology and, of course, smart TV functionality.
Elegant:
At a price
Before getting down to the nuts and bolts,
it’s worth pointing out this TV is a thing of beauty. The tiny bezel is just
over a centimeter wide and the viewable portion of the screen fills virtually
all of the front face. The whole unit is only 4cm deep and sits on an elegant
crescent-shaped steel foot.
Home network and internet connectivity are
provided via either LAN or Wi-Fi. It’s nice to see a built-in Wi-Fi adapter
instead of having to buy it as an optional accessory, even though I’d recommend
a wired LAN connection for optimal network performance.
The hub of most of the smart functionality
is what Panasonic calls Viera Connect. Here I found the usual suspects, such as
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, pre-installed. There’s also access to a
multitude of other apps through the marketplace.
To be blatantly honest I can’t find many
uses for TV apps. There is no way I’d sign in to a social network site on the
TV that every resident and visitor to my house uses, and most of the other apps
are either better suited to my smartphone or are just plain gimmicky. Streaming
internet radio via Shoutcast is quite cool however, and if Quickflix improves
and increases its range of content, it would almost make this functionality
worthwhile to me.
The web browser works quite well thanks to
a powerful dual-core processor in the TV, and it’s convenient to access using
the secondary touchpad remote control.
A Viera TV smartphone app for Android and
iPhone lets you stream media to the TH-L55WT50Z from your smartphone and
provides a full onscreen remote control.
In term of picture quality, the TH-L55WT50Z
is not perfect but it is close. The edge-lit LED backlight with local dimming
provides an amazingly crisp, bright and colorful image with wide viewing
angles, but is let down by being unable to reproduce deep, cinema-like black
levels. The motion-smoothing technology is also pretty good with minimal
artefacts if you’re not averse to the “soap opera” effect (the feel that
everything was shot on video instead of film).
3D quality is about the best I’ve ever seen
– pity the set only comes with one pair of 3D glasses. Overall I believe active
shutter 3D is the superior technology compared to passive 3D implementations,
it just needs to get past a few shortcomings such as crosstalk, which Panasonic
seems to have almost nailed.
Sound quality is clear but lacks punch
probably due to the lack of space in such a thin TV to fit decent-sized
speakers.
Overall I really like the TH-L55WT50Z.
Avatar in 3D has never looked so good. In my short time with the TV I barely
scratched the surface of its smart functionality, but nothing really justified
its large price tag in my books.
At a glance
·
55-inch, Full HD 1080p, edge-lit LED-LCD
·
200Hz panel (1,600Hz phased backlight scanning)
·
“Viera Connect” Smart TV Hub
·
Built-in Wi-Fi
Panasonic TH-L55WT50Z
Price: $5,499
Contact: www.panasonic.com
A big, awesome 3D smart TV, but a little on
the pricey side
Value: 8/10
