Kodak's Theatre HD Player with gyro-based Pointer Remote unboxed and reviewed
By Paul Miller 
posted January 22nd 2009 11:18AM
posted January 22nd 2009 11:18AM
Hardware
There's Ethernet and WiFi, and we went with the latter, which hooked up without a problem, though Kodak recommends you go the wired route for serious usage -- we're rebels like that.
Software
Set-up is a breeze, with desktop side Kodak EasyShare digital display software (also used to manage Kodak wireless picture frames) that automagically seeks out media. Unfortunately it's rather indiscriminate. For instance, it was happy to tell the Theatre HD box all about our iTunes Movie Store purchases, which the box failed miserably at playing -- after taking ages to load, buffer and then actually play a black screen with occasional "glitchy" noises. Also, it builds previews for certain file types, but not for others -- it's a bit of a crap shoot. Overall we'd say we're very pleased with how easy it is to track down our computer's media, but at the end of the day the software and / or the set-top box need to do a better job of making sense of all that data.
(Codec support is super extensive, other than the aforementioned lack of iTunes Movies and a failure to track down our Zune tracks. Most everything else on our hard drive played without a hitch, including full HD 1080p 30fps video).
There's also what we would call "non-native" support for a myriad of services like Facebook, RSS feeds and Weather through Kodak's FrameChannel partnership. FrameChannel works with lazy photoframe manufacturers to package RSS feeds and the like as images that can then be streamed to the device, complete with oversized and incredibly annoying advertisements. Given the fact that coding an RSS app is practically a "Hello World" exercise these days, it's extremely disappointing that Kodak didn't do that itself.
Actually using all this stuff in the living room, Pointer Remote in hand, is a combination of incredible intuitiveness and occasional frustration. Kodak has a fairly simple menu structure, with a lot of sub categories underneath, and persistent shortcuts to music, help, settings and home. The animations to drill through the menus are smooth, but every action seems to bring with it a slightly annoying delay -- you can't blaze through anything. The good news is that you never feel like you're thumbing through an unending list of options, thanks to the quick, precise pointer movements and the familiar scroll wheel. The back button on the Remote quickly gets us out of our rabbit trails, but we still found the deep folder structures a bit overwhelming at times. The player also had a nasty habit of not showing a picture on the first try. We'd click a pic, get a buffering icon, and then get blackness. We had to back out and click again before we actually saw the image -- this happened both online and on locally-stored images.
The most basic functionality of the box -- popping in a memory card, skimming through the pictures, and building slideshows out of it -- works as effortlessly as you would think, but unfortunately the only online upload option the entire device offers is Kodak Gallery. Newsflash: we don't use Kodak Gallery, and we don't know anyone that does. We're sure that these strange creatures exist, but until they represent a majority of the population, we'd really appreciate being able to upload content to Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and so forth.
Wrap-up
We'd say the main problem here is that Kodak hasn't quite managed to make a product easy enough to use that we could recommend to the people who would actually get the most use out of it: our parents. There were enough breaks in the usability and layers of complication to make it too frustrating to the basic user -- for instance, the box found our PC automatically, but once that PC feel asleep and was reawoken, Theatre HD couldn't find the PC's content until we manually re-added it in the settings menu. On the flip side, there's not enough power or capability here to appeal to the power user -- especially with devices like media extenders and the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii offering most of these features (or more) for less cost. Add in some Netflix, Flickr and YouTube uploads and patch up some of these usability problems and then maybe we'll talk.
The good news is that Kodak has a wonderful box and a wonderful input mechanism on its hands, and if it's willing to put in the work and capital to build a truly great piece of 2.0 software for it, we might have something here that's worth the $299 asking price. Oh, and let use the Pointer Remote with our computers... pretty please?
Don't like Kodak too much, but pretty cool. Made me think of a PS2.
Hillcrest Labs in Rockville, MD is responsible for the gyroscope pointing device. It's great technology and works better than I expected.
I love YouTube just as much as the next person, but seeing as how its being integrated as a selling point of every new electronic ever... It's going to soon become very stressful to decide on which platform to watch your 320x240 video's. Is it really that rough to fire up the ol' PC? And on a side note YouTube/Google Inc. is clearly trying to take over the world =P
MKV with chapter support?
Player looks kind of flimsy.
If this unit can't store and play 1080p .mkv files encoded with H.264 compression with soft subtitle support then it pretty much is a piece of crap. So far the only unit that I have found is the TivX M6500 box. It isn't as polished, but it plays a wide variety of media files well. A true HD media player should support resolutions up to 1080p, full 1080p component output, 1.3x HDMI, support AVC-HD, .mkv, .avi, .wmv, .mpg, .iso .vob, .ifo, .mp4, .asf, .tp, .trp, .ts, .m2ts, .mov(H.264) video formats; MPEG 1 / 2 / 4, AVI, XVID, WMV9(MP@HL), H.264(BP@L3, MP@4.0 and HP@4.0) , AVC(HD) , VC-1(MP@HL, AP@L3) video codecs; smi,sub,srt,lrc,txt and sub (with idx) subtitle support; MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, PCM, M4A, AC3, FLAC, WAV audio formats.
I agree that support for h264 files in mkv containers is a must nowadays - especially considering there are more and more devices that support it and can do everything else this does. That being said, I am happy to see more competition in this area. That will hopefully drive down prices and maybe someday I'll be able to pick a 2nd, cheap media streaming device so I don't have to keep moving mine.
satow, I'm surprised you're not aware of the Popcorn Hour. It's not easy to come by, but it's usually thought of as the leader in the field. Yes, it plays everything. I have the A-100 and love it, but they also have a newer version - the A-110, I believe.
How can I express my complete lack of enthusiasm for this device?
NOT commenting on the article might have done the trick?
The Kodak Theatre HD Player actually uses Hillcrest Labs technology. Kodak uses both Hillcrest Labs UI software (HoME) and motion-control remote technology (Freespace). Here is the original press release about Kodak and Hillcrest Labs:
http://www.hillcrestlabs.com/downloads/pr/Hillcrest_HRK_Kodak_9_18_08.pdf
Also, in Egadget's Switchies post by Ross Rubin, it gives the correct reference to Hillcrest Labs: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/switched-on-the-2008-switchies/
This "HD Streamer" only has HDMI 1.2. Which eliminates the possibility of HD Audio. Instant FAIL, Useless, worthless.
I saw this thing at PhotoKina back in October and was reasonably impressed. At least, it's far better than any of the other boxes that were being promoted at that show for viewing your digital photo collection on your TV. My fundamental question, though, is whether more than a handful of people want to buy a separate box for this; wouldn't they prefer to use their existing STB, games console, or whatever? (One factor is the extent to which these other boxes are locked down, preventing third-party software from supplying new features, and forcing consumers to buy new hardware to add what should be just software functionality.)
The gyro remote is good. I have a Gyration mouse which I have used to drive a similar user-interface. Once you've used it, you'll wonder why we've all been using traditional remotes and their UIs for so long without complaining. One problem with the Gyration device is the battery life; I find I need to store it on its charging base all the time when I'm not using it. It looks like the Kodak thing uses AA alkaline cells. Engadget, let us know how long they work for you.
I also use the Gyration RF media keyboard and mouse with my HTPC, and must say that it is a great little device, when it works. I'll second the point about the battery life. If left off the charger overnight it will lose its charge. On the other hard, it charges up pretty quick too. And for some reason, the keyboard works a lot better on Ubuntu than it does under windows. At least that is my experience. All of this has nothing to do with the article though. Except this: I found that a Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote is a better input device for xbmc and boxee since it will also control my receiver and TV at the same time. I've been using the combo of the 880 and the gyration for about a month now, and what I really REALLY **REALLY!!!** want is to have the 880's functionality and the gyro mouse combined into one unit. Whoever does that first will get some of my hard earned cash. (The gyration universal remote doesn't cut it. The remote half of that device is lacking).
Gyroscopic controls aren't exactly new for consumer electronics. Back in the 90's, I had a Sony STR-G1 Receiver that came with an egg-shaped one button remote with a gyro sensor to control it's on-screen display, which allowed control of the entire receiver with the flick of a wrist. Not something you wanted to drop, however, as they were rather expensive to replace.
I have one, and I love it. The thing is ridiculously small, and the Pointer Remote (as mentioned) works amazingly well. What has to be remembered with this thing is that its primary function is to bring your photos and your other digital content to your television. It isn't a portal to some online store where you can spend more money obtaining new content. It brings the photos, music, and movies you have stored on your computer on to your television with little effort. I use it to stream my entire DVD collection that I have ripped and have stored on my computer. It's a fast, easy way to have all of my media content in one place.
As for the YouTube experience, it's a lot better than I would have imagined. Apparently Kodak uses a new method to process the signal to make it look better on an HDTV. Whatever they do, it works because it gives a lot of the videos a clarity that they just don't have on my computer.
I should add that I'm also one of the people who do have a kodak gallery account and use it regularly. And I think it's only natural that Kodak would want to push the service that they own. I'm sure that if Google came out with a device like this, then you'd be able to upload to Picasa and YouTube.
Is it just me or does the remote looks like a sexy toy?
Kodak :you are so dead, just admit it.
I FEEL ASLEEP!
Seemingly the overstock of unused '97 Thinkpad casings found a new owner