Neuros intros web video-playing Neuros LINK
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 19th 2008 12:01PM
posted Nov 19th 2008 12:01PM
It's just been a few short months since Neuros started shipping its OSD 2.0 set-top box, but it looks like the company is now already moving on to other devices that are equally boxy and open source-y. It's latest is the Neuros LINK, which promises to let you watch videos from Hulu, YouTube and other sites on your TV without a subscription courtesy of Neuros' own Neuros.TV service. Unlike the OSD, however, it doesn't look like the LINK has any internal storage of its own (at least beyond the bare necessity), but it does have a generous six USB ports to let you hook up some drives filled with music, photos or videos. Otherwise, you can expect both HDMI and optical S/PDIF outputs, as well as gigabit ethernet, 802.11b/g WiFi, and an included wireless "keymote" complete with a trackball. According to Neuros, while the device is available now for $300, it's still in a "gamma release," which means is primarily aimed at early adopters wiling to accept a few hiccups along the way.
[Thanks, Charles V, Zatz]
[Thanks, Charles V, Zatz]
I freaking *swear* if anyone asks if it'll play Crysis, I'll reach through the computer and pimp-slap you!
But, can it play Crysis? (No, seriously though I don't even know what crysis is.)
I don't suppose you've actually *played* Crysis, have you?
Computers don't play Crysis, people do ;)
or... you could use a Wii, PS3 or a $50 PC-TV video card and use your computer on your TV without spending that $300.
You must have Wii mixed up with the 360, the only media streaming the Wii does is via Orb and Opera (craptacular flash transcoding).
Because a PC is usually noisy and bulky and your girlfriend will try to kill you if you only think about putting one near the TV ?
Wii and PS3 are completely different type of devices, not really focused on making it easier to access internet TV, not to mention the Link is a completely open device, can't say the same of these consoles.
@nero: don't get too hung up it being 'open'.
As an early adopter of the original Neuros and Neuros II audio players, we got left high and dry for the next big thing.
Don't get me wrong, the Neuros was the coolest when I bought it and it still gets use as 80gb portable USB drive these days..
But I expected ALOT more from it being touted as 'open-source' and community driven. We did get a tetris clone though.
For $100 dollars more you can get a 80gb PS3 that does Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, as well as serve your saved media via your network.
And it can play Crysis and a few other games..
For $300, I doubt this thing meets Crysis' minimum specs.
Plus it runs Linux, so it's even more unlikely
OT: I read in an interview somewhere that the Crysis II reference system for development was purchased for $700.
@Coolty
...still working out the bugs on this whole "reaching through the computer" thing, but...YOUR TIME WILL COME!
Will it play Far Cry 2?
That key board is a great HTPC keyboard. Currently surviving a 2 children whom destroy everything.
Yeah, I have an X-gene too... thing is great. Very happy I got one.
I think this thing isnt a bad deal. $300 for an open sourceHTPC box isnt bad at all. Especially considering it's packing Wifi.
I used to own one of those keyboards, paid like $20 for it, was sweet.
I have owned that keyboard before and it is a giant POS. The first one arrived broken. The replacement didn't last more than a few weeks. :-(
It's still in a "gamma release," which means is primarily aimed at early adopters wiling to accept a few hiccups along the way
*willing
Where is editorial director Joshy Fruhlinger when you need him?!?!?
To all those "can it play xyz":
STFU
So, why would we buy this instead of a B202?
http://mangocats.com/b202
One reason may be since the link has HDMI out, the EEBox doesn't. It has more USB ports too. I'm sure there are other hardware specs that be compared in a similar manner that some would prefer.
Plus it has a keyboard that you can already use in a place that's not your desk.
And finally it comes already setup to make it easier for you to access the Internet TV content, you don't have to mess with installing anything, configuring anything, it's already good (of course you can customize as much as you want).
Now if you're a DYI kind of person that might not be extremely important you you, but for most people it definitely is.
The B202's DVI+ audio is functionally the same as HDMI, but yeah, HDMI is more elegant if you're just connecting a TV and not using a separate audio amp.
I agree to an extent about the software setup- I bought a QNAP TS-109 NAS box because it was ready to plug and play and also small and also much more power efficient than using an old PC for a server. But, really, how hard is it to configure Windows to auto-login and start a browser with the home page set to hulu.com?
I guess what really got me was the idea that the LINK will give you access to whatever internet TV they decide to support, whereas a general purpose PC is going to be able to access pretty much the entire content universe, with a little effort in configuration. I've been living with the PS3's idea of multimedia support for a year now - it's cool as far as it goes, but not really as useful as a real PC.
@Joe
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But, really, how hard is it to configure Windows to auto-login and start a browser with the home page set to hulu.com?
I guess what really got me was the idea that the LINK will give you access to whatever internet TV they decide to support , whereas a general purpose PC is going to be able to access pretty much the entire content universe, with a little effort in configuration.
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Well, the Link is not just able to access Hulu and that's it. One of the main advantages is that it can pretty much access _any_ internet video content source that's out there (at least the flash based ones).
It's not tied to any one of them in particular, like other devices that enable "hulu support" or "youtube support". It strive to give you access to as much content as humanly possible.
Plus, one of the major advantages (at least for the average user) is that it has built-in integration with the neuros.tv service. This service makes it easy to search for episodes of your favorite shows across the majority of video providers out there and play them. It also allow you to keep track of your favorite shows and get notified when there are new episodes out and give you access to them as internet video as soon as they get published (regardless of where they are published).
All of this out of the box and you can access it from your couch with the wireless keyboard/mouse combo, at basically the same price as the EEE B202 unless i am mistaken.
Though I have to admit i like the design of the B202 cases, it's pretty neat. I was actually looking to get one of them, but not for media, just as desktop thin client.
(disclaimer, I am one of the Neuros guys, in case it wasn't clear yet. Just wanted to clarify that)
Ah ha! TV guide for internet TV - I know a few potential customers.
The wireless keyboard is also kinda sweet, again with the convenience factor, not having to shop for one. We got our B202 from amazon for $282 (i think) with free shipping, prices fluctuate daily, but I'm sure they'll go lower before they're discontinued.
OT: I just don't know why we haven't seen more Atom 330 (dual core) products, the Little-Falls motherboard sucks for my purposes - big fan on the hot northbridge. I was waiting to see if a dual core version of the B202 would drop, but got impatient. I don't regret it - the single core Atom is fine for 99% of what we do, including video. Will wait for dual core (or better) before we hook it up to the 1080p display ;-)
Hey, you rarely see a real developer on here, cool! So basically, it consolidates a bunch of different video sites into a simple interface, is the interface simple enough that I could program my logitech remote to handle? Getting rid of the keyboard would be nice. Otherwise, it seems like a good idea.
@Corey
Yes, you got the overall idea I think
However the user interface is simple, but not yet that simple, unfortunately. But we're working on that.
More details: right now the UI can be navigated only with a mouse-like device (the trackball on the built-in keyboard for example, and we're experimenting also with cool stuff like Wii remotes or other gyro mice). Plus you need a keyboard to input search keywords.
However the plan is to streamline it all so that a simple D-pad remote (up-down-left-right-enter) can be used to interact with most of the UI functions -- likely with an on-screen soft keyboard to input text, it's not optimal but if you don't want a real keyboard i don't see any other way (well, actually i do see a few other software ways, but hey are all inferior to an actual keyboard).
When the above will happen is still not 100% sure, it depend on what other features get priority, but it's planned, so it will happen somewhere down the road. At which point we also may (or may not) also sell a version of the device that has just the (maybe gyro) remote in place of the keyboard. Stay tuned to find out :)
@ nero
Will this have recording capabilities like the OSD?
Or is it only for viewing?
@Wified
The Link is just for playback (of pretty much any non-DRM content you can throw at it, streaming or not).
There may be a device based on a similar platform in the future that can do also recording, but it's not part of the near-future plans right now, sorry.
I'm curious, as I don't see it listed anywhere, what are the outputs of the link? You mentioned that it has HDMI out, but in my scenario, HDMI is the less attractive option as it tends to look a lot worse on my TV than VGA when connected to a computer.
@R3vXX
It has vga, dmi, d-port, and hdmi outputs in the current version.
p.s.
how the hell do i reply to a specific thread ? if i click on the date and then enter my comment there it doesn't tell me it was accepted but doesn't even give me and error. It just goes back to the submission form again.