Kodak Theatre HD Player: at last, a reason to sit on your ass and stare at the TV

Many have tried to be that other box that sits under your TV. You know, the DVD player, the cable box, the TiVo, the consoles are all well and good, but somebody somehow needs to solve they mystery of getting web and PC content onto your TV, and Kodak might be on the cusp of cracking it. Kodak's new Kodak Theatre HD Player is a simple, slick little box with multiple flash card slots, a USB port, and all the requisite home theater outputs like HDMI, component and all that. The unit can naturally shuffle through photos like there's no tomorrow, and includes wireless access to pull stuff off of Flickr feeds or your PC's hard drive, but there's also 720p video playback, online radio and what have you. The real clincher is that you won't be interacting with all this via a clunky d-pad remote, but instead there's an amazingly great gyroscopic mouse that makes the whole thing a joy to use. The $300 price tag might turn some people off when this lands in September, especially with no built-in storage, but we still think Kodak might have a winner on its hands.

Gallery: Kodak Theatre HD Player

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[Nick Catalano @ Jul 10th 2008 1:09AM]

Hmm... my Popcorn Hour can do all of that (literally) along with having internal storage and being able to process 1080P content

No funky remote though

[Danny @ Jul 10th 2008 1:20AM]

No disrespect to the Popcorn Hour, as it's definitely in a niche of their own with the low price point and feature set, but it's seriously lacking in presentation in their user interface among other issues. Even the build quality on the thing screams of cheap "Made in China" plastics, as the remote looks like some generic remote mold from some odd-end factory. That being said, it is very affordable and does the job admirably, but the presentation is lacking enough for me to just stick with XBMC.

What I'm hoping that Kodak can figure out though, is to not just stream media but also how they present it. Will it be able to scrape film or television information? Can I add playlists? It supports HD, but does the menu do its best to exemplify this?

That's my gripe with many of the players I have seen so far. What would make me want to spend $150+ or way more than that while a refurbished Microsoft Xbox w/ Xbox Media Center might be able to offer a better experience? I'm not suggesting that Xbox Media Center doesn't have its fair share of problems - because it does.. But I feel many of the commercial products need to take some of the things that have made it a success and up the ante and make something better for a overall better product.

[Jonyah @ Jul 10th 2008 9:02AM]

I agree, popcornhour all the way. And for your argument Danny, check out their forums, there are tons of skins to make the interface very slick even looking like xbmc. You can do all kinds of mods to the popcorn hour to make it work just like you want. I doubt this machine will give you any type of control like that.

[OneLove @ Jul 11th 2008 11:32AM]

just make one with a cheap desktop. damn.

[Oskin @ Jul 10th 2008 1:11AM]

My question is... does it play divx files? If it does, it could probrably sit under my tv in no time!

[kludge @ Jul 10th 2008 1:12AM]

I dont think this device can play *.MKV ... so NO, it is no use.

Better to buy PopCorn Hour or TViX.

[Justen @ Jul 10th 2008 2:41AM]

Is that sarcasm I'm detecting?

[Colin Potter @ Jul 10th 2008 4:33AM]

at that price why not just buy a PS3 (not even for games if you dont want) and have a blu-ray player, hard drive, card slots, usb ports, wireless (or wired) internet access, and pair that all up with your pre-existing HD Satellite?

[Colin Potter @ Jul 10th 2008 4:36AM]

oh and also run a media server program on your mac or PC if you dont want to move all your files to an external drive or the ps3

[Surge @ Jul 1st 2009 3:49PM]

I own PS3 and love it, it could have been a perfect device, if only it supported more video codecs and could figure out somewhat imperfect file headers in those downloaded avis. Otherwise, I agree there is already PS3 and it is the best media entertainment system I can imagine. On the video note, for some reason, 2.41 firmware is skipping frames when playing 1080p MP3 H264 files... hopefully will be fixed with later updates, prior to that update all worked like a dream.

[ds @ Jul 10th 2008 8:38AM]

$300 and the writer thinks it may be a winner?? This article was stupid, and this device is a joke.. I wouldnt put this under my tv it is was free.. and honestly based on the description it seems like about a $100 device maybe. Card readers, a usb slot, wireless, and video output.. yeah amazingly functional device there...

[Galley @ Jul 10th 2008 9:45AM]

In case you hadn't heard, you can now control Apple TV with the iPhone or iPod Touch with a new remote application released today.

[neofolklore @ Jul 10th 2008 9:59AM]

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS
capsflameevade

[Unplugged @ Jul 10th 2008 2:28PM]

Wow! Another "HD" device revealed in just a few days that goes for $300 and can't play 1080p. Let me rush out and buy one to prop the door open to my 1080p home theatre.

Come on OEM's!! Get with the program. 1080p is the defacto standard as we move forward, not 720p. Useless devices if you can't use it for full HD.

[coffee @ Jul 10th 2008 5:01PM]

agreed - 1080p and hard drive storage, then we'll talk. otherwise there are too many other options.

[Chris @ Jul 10th 2008 11:08PM]

Actually, I would prefer a device not have a hard drive. Save me the $5 in components that aren't required. I want to stream the content from my media server to several of these things sitting around the house. I want giga ethernet or wireless n.

[Iridium @ Jul 10th 2008 12:43PM]

So, what does this run on? Problem is trying to surf the net on your TV with a device that you can't install new codecs or Flash on. Forget about internet video if you can't put a new version of Flash on the machine.

[ATM @ Jul 10th 2008 1:32PM]

Apple hasn't been able to find success in its Apple TV. Why should I be convinced to buy this bigger and uglier device that's $70 more expensive than Apple TV?

[Mark @ Jul 10th 2008 1:44PM]

No 1080P? fail..instant fail.

[Fanfoot @ Jul 11th 2008 2:28AM]

Umm... more details maybe?

Remote sounds cool, but how about what video or audio formats it supports, or some pictures of the UI, or whether it supports YouTube or hulu, whether it loads software on your PC (does it supports Macs or Linux or Sage TV or ...)

[tomokazu.osada @ Jul 15th 2008 3:00AM]

fuck the 3G iPhone, a $300 KODAK HD player, this i'll wait in line for.

idea-bot 9000

[Digital Mom @ Jul 18th 2008 1:41AM]

Not everybody wants a video game system in their living room. If you think about the success of digital picture frames, some which go for a couple hundred bucks, $299 isn’t so bad for all that you get with this device. Don’t give Mom a digital picture frame this holiday season. Give her one of these things so she can share the photos and videos of the family with the people she wants right in the living room.

[Son-in-law @ Jul 27th 2008 6:25PM]

This looks very interesting. I just finished sitting through my in-laws vacation pictures -- displayed on their 8" portable DVD player. I'll be looking into buying this for their Christmas gift. That way 6 adults aren't crouched on the floor, straining to see the portable DVD player. And it won't take my in-laws 15 minutes to set up each time they want to show people their pics. I can really see my in-laws using and enjoying this. I'd certainly enjoy seeing their pictures on the big screen from the comfort of their couch.