1st couple days w/ Sony blu-ray GTV

[thejtl]

I bought the Sony GTV box on a whim because my cheapo Insignia BR player died and couldn't be fixed. Yes, $400 is a lot of $$ to spend on a peripheral, but I figured it was worth a shot (at least for the 30 days before I have to take it back to BB).

I have to say, overall I'm impressed. I have Dish Network, so I'm getting full integration with my cable stuff, so maybe that's why I'm so pleased, but pleased I am. I didn't take more than an evening to get up to speed with the box and now I don't know if i could watch TV without it.

Yesterday the wife and I were home and wanted to catch up on Fringe, which we hadn't seen yet this season. I had the first three episodes on the DVR and they popped right up when I searched Fringe. The last episode got skipped when I had to tape something else, so I had to get it off the web. It came right up and I bought it from Amazon VOD. I tried to watch from the Fox site, but something got funky and the commercials played over the content on the first commercial break. Maybe a one-time bug, maybe not, but I had another option right there so I went with it. A drag that Amazon doesn't do HD VOD for GTV yet, but it's early days.

The web experience has been great. Once I figured out how to zoom, I was reading away while watching TV. The best way I've found to nav the different open apps is to press and hold the home button and go through the overlay screen. That's been a big time saver.

One pleasant surprise: Napster. I hadn't tried this service but had heard good things about their reboot, so I thought I'd give it a try. Thus far, very cool to have 10 million tunes at my fingertips.

Of course, I wouldn't have needed to try Napster if I could have accessed my music server, but I can't. The box sees the drive on the network, but won't let me access it. Drag. But I'm all about the new and Napster's worth a try for a month or so.

Another head scratcher: There's no way to mute the TV and listen to music that I've found. Everything's going through my AV receiver and I just haven't figured it out. I like to watch sports with the sound off and music on. As it is, the TV sound stays under the tunes, but the tunes are louder. Not exactly an audiophile experience.

My biggest question now is whether I should keep the Sony or return it and get the Revue through Dish. They're selling it for $179. For that I could get the box and a pretty pretty decent blu-ray player and still come in under the Sony price. I looked at the Logitech and the keyboard felt pretty cheap to me. Not to mention that a full keyboard is not couch friendly in my place.

Hmmmm..

Anyway, I wanted to drop off a few thoughts for you. Like I say, I'm pretty impressed and the future will only bring better, cooler stuff. More later as I get into it.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

I haven't had a good experience with logitech remotes in the past. They work awesome to start but don't stand the test of time durability-wise, imo. Like you, if I was to get the revue, I would have to have the smaller remote and by the time you get that its so close in price that I'll just keep my sony box. If you need the smaller remote, a bd player, and the revue you are well over the Sony's price too.

 

[scorpiodsu]

Since you need/want a blu ray player, stay with the Sony if the logitech keyboard isn't to your liking. I've had both of them in the past 2 week. Mostly because of the harmony technology. Personally, I like the Revue better than the Sony. The full keyboard is inconvenient in some cases but I got the mini controller and this kicks Sony's controller's arse. Way better control of all my components in a nice compact design. But getting the mini controller would add an additional 129 to your cost which would be greater (if you include buying another blu ray) than just staying with the Sony. I don't care too much for blu ray since I'm happy with my HD DVD player so I got the Revue from Dish for 179 and mini controller for 129. Altogether costing me 308 which saves me some dough and have the convenience of logitech harmony. But again, since you want a blu ray and not too fond of the standard keyboard, I'd suggest sticking with the Sony if you want to minimize your cost. In my opinion Revue + blu ray + mini controller > the Sony GTV. You would come a little over the total price of the Sony if you bought these separate but I think you would be satisfied. just my thoughts.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

In my opinion Revue + blu ray + mini controller > the Sony GTV.

Just curious but what makes it better? I have the Sony and I already had a decent BD player. Is it worth returning to BB and buying the Revue from Dish? The sony controller controls all of my devices. Is the Logitech build quality better than all of their previous remotes? Does it feel fragile and plastic-y? Thanks for the info; sorry for being OT.

 

[StrifeJester]

I like the review keyboard so far. I the cost savings was nice from Dish as well. With the touchpad on corner and button for clicking on the other it is intuitive to hold. I am also thinking that just like the phones there will be some blocked content from Sony or possibly some other exclusives. I think the Revue is going to have the more "open" experience since it is not owned by a company that also makes and distributes content. Just my 2 cents.