Video: Seagate introduces Free Agent Theater HD, designs it like a Betamax player

We're going to give you just a moment to sit back and peer at the image above, and we'll politely remind you that this object was likely designed in the year 2008. For whatever reason, Seagate has chosen just about the ugliest design imaginable and applied it to its Free Agent Theater HD, though word on the street is that the user interface is actually a horse of a different color. The drive is simply a multimedia HDD that enables users to pop drives in that are full of digital media for easy viewing on the TV. It's expected to drop in March for $229.99 (250GB) / $299.99 (500GB), or those on a tight budget (or Free Agent Go HDD owners, actually) can opt for a $129.99 media player / remote control-only version. A very strange demo video is hosted just after the break.

[Via Notebooks]

[superhobo @ Jan 8th 2009 1:03AM]

Thats not ugly, its retro!

[Fernando @ Jan 8th 2009 1:03AM]

Seconded. (had the exact same words in my head, seriously :P)

[Mike @ Jan 8th 2009 1:11AM]

Uhh, no... No, that's ugly.

[Hao @ Jan 8th 2009 1:29AM]

I think this is meant to compete with the WD TV HD Media Player.

Retro or not, I prefer WD's design aesthetics. WD's external drives look cooler too.

[Darwin @ Jan 8th 2009 2:50AM]

Who knew that Texas Instruments' TI-99 would have such a long-standing impact.

[joe23521 @ Jan 8th 2009 1:06AM]

I don't know what's uglier, the player or the remote...

[good grief @ Jan 8th 2009 1:14AM]

Looks like my old answering machine, but several times cooler.

[allislost @ Jan 8th 2009 1:16AM]

i'd rather have a banana...

[Shinigami @ Jan 8th 2009 1:29AM]

This comment has nothing to do with seagate or betamax, but please bear with it.

I want to say a big fat THANK YOU ENGADGET!!! for doing a massive amount of job reporting it all from CES 09.
Thanks guys.

[Brian James @ Jan 8th 2009 1:37AM]

FREE ASIAN THEATER!

(that's what she said)

[egloskerry @ Jan 8th 2009 2:53AM]

I heard that, too.

[Mark @ Jan 8th 2009 1:39AM]

This would be mountains better if they could stream from a PC using the router.

No sale, as far as I'm concerned.

[Twitchy @ Jan 8th 2009 5:28AM]

Who cares? She's cute. If she were wearing a low cut top then I would have bought one.

[jstfinkaboutit @ Jan 8th 2009 1:45AM]

holy "home video demo" batman! this screams for the use of some kind of microphone besides the on camera one.

[LocalToast @ Jan 8th 2009 1:49AM]

I think it looks awesome, as a matter of fact.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 8th 2009 2:05AM]

I like it how you can always spot a DVD rip when they show the movie directories in these products.

I kind of liked that girl. Odd.

The player is fine but the remote is fugly.

[FTY @ Jan 8th 2009 2:06AM]

What's with the TVs that got a RJ45 jack in the back. Can I just hook those up to a router and access a PC and stream anything from SD to HD movies, pictures and stuff or am I just living in a fantasy right now, as this would be ten times better for me as such devices as my whole house is wired with ethernet cables. Anyone knows?

If it does I just need to buy a TV with a RJ45 and DLNA jack then and I'm set I suppose.

[lawyer bird @ Jan 8th 2009 2:16AM]

If she wasn't hot, that video would have exponentially more strange.

[jareduarunorudu @ Jan 8th 2009 2:17AM]

Cool! I actually just picked up a 320GB freeagentGo not long ago for my school stuff, so this may be worth checking out!

[skulldriveshaft @ Jan 8th 2009 2:30AM]

don't mind the hush pc htpc sitting on the shelf on the right.

and is that the girl from the ring in the reflection of the tv?!?!?

[egloskerry @ Jan 8th 2009 2:52AM]

I already have a WDTV and this thing looks larger and uglier than it, and it probably can't play mkv.

[Michael Scrip @ Jan 8th 2009 2:54AM]

Safely remove hardware?

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jan 8th 2009 3:28AM]

Looks more like an RCA Selectavision (non-laser videodisc) player to me.

http://www.mindspring.com/~laserguru/popsci.htm

[FrankLo @ Jan 8th 2009 9:43AM]

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WHOLE PRESENTATION WAS WEIRD AND UGLY!!
(yes IN CAPS!!!)

But man that girl is hot.....
Kisses to her.

[Christopher Coulter @ Jan 8th 2009 6:25PM]

My money plunked down on the Popcorn Hour A-110 with WN-100, I mean what a killer featureset, tad costly tho. But this El Mucho Sucko.

Here's why it will fail...

1. No HDMI - for a HD product? What on earth? Are they literally CRAZY?
2. Ugly design, looks like a phone answering machine of the Rockford Files era.
2. Locked into FreeAgent Go with that dock, get lost Passporters seems the message, shameless promoing their own hard drives. But that strategy will backfire, as I've never actually seen a FreeAgent Go in the wild, whereas Passports are like sand, everywhere.
4. No 1080p, surely you jest?
5. Costs more and not yet available.

WDTV wins hands down, and with the new firmware update even more so. WD should just skip Fujitsu, and buy up Scotts Valley, put them outta their misery. :)

[Nicnac @ Jan 8th 2009 6:26PM]

or they could've stuck an ethernet port on it. Who in their right mind would want to shuffle a hard drive to and from a computer to 'load' movies on this thing. It SHOULD look retro because Seagate apparently thinks we want to cartridge load new media like a damn Super Nintendo.

Oh, and as to the look, it's obviously supposed to resemble the PS3 (for whatever that's worth).

[Christopher Coulter @ Jan 8th 2009 6:39PM]

Well, WDTV doesn't do network either, all about pricepoints, Popcorn Hour is all about networking however, including Wireless N, torrenting, but the $99 goes up to $250 on that front. As far as the shuffling, fill a TB and fire away, even a simple 160 gig portable is not so much of a leap, but true, Ethernet would have been a nice touch. Now maybe if could get XBMC on it (or the WDTV), maybe, just maybe then, assuming I could actually stand to look at the thing. Heh.

[Bhavesh Patel @ Jan 8th 2009 10:10PM]

2 things....

1) At $229, why not just get an AppleTV? Seems like it does all the same stuff in a much better way.

2) She's hot

[John Barbowski @ Jan 10th 2009 2:50PM]

How does it compare to: Mediagate MG-800HD SATA Full HD Wi-Fi 11n Network Media Player

See it at: http://www.pccyber.com/?v=product&i=MULTI-MS-MG-800HD

$399 Cdn