ZINNET debuts brite-View media players, streamers

ZINNET, a company we've mostly seen hocking digital converter boxes to old-school broadcast TV owners, has just announced the brite-View line of media devices for digital download fans. The CinemaCube ($89.99) plays media from either an attached USB hard drive or over your home network, supports RM, RMVB, MP2, AVI, H.264, VOB, MOV, MKV, DivX, Xvid, and WMV video files up to 1280X720 HD (720p), and sports its own bittorrent client. Air HD ($399.99) is a wireless HD transmitter and receiver kit that supports up to 1080i@60Hz, 1080p@24Hz HD picture quality / 30Hz HD quality with less than 1ms latency, up to 70 feet. We'll be interested in seeing how these guys stack up against some of the other players out there -- in the meantime, peep the gallery below.

Gallery: ZINNET debuts brite-View line of multimedia devices

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[Via I4U News]

[Sporkinum @ Jun 26th 2009 10:54AM]

I bet PJ Soles looks like 20 miles of bad road now.

[3Djesus @ Jun 26th 2009 5:18PM]

Riff Randal, Rock-n-Roller.

[Rob @ Jun 26th 2009 10:57AM]

Rock rock rock rock rock 'n' roll high schoooooool....

[OneLove @ Jun 26th 2009 11:09AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNatqCzF_Ns

[Phil F @ Jun 26th 2009 11:02AM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_'n'_Roll_High_School

I totally had to google that reference. Man, I feel young.

[__smooth__ @ Jun 27th 2009 1:42PM]

how old are you? But I have to admit, although I'm a fan of the Ramones, that movie is a bad excuse to put them in a movie.

[Jon @ Jun 26th 2009 11:03AM]

video files up to 1280X720 HD (720p) ? Wow. Not impressed

[The Avatar @ Jun 26th 2009 11:06AM]

These things need to be judged on interface. I have a Popcorn Hour A110 and the interface is horrible although the hardware is kick ass. We need something with an Apple TV interface with Popcorn Hour flexibility -> then you'd have a killer appliance.

[Derrick @ Jun 26th 2009 11:09AM]

Hmmm... interesting. All my movies/dramas are in rmvb format.

[Neeko @ Jun 26th 2009 11:10AM]

How does tis compare to the WDTV. im looking to buy another for myself. And the WDTV is $99.

And the GUI is now the only feature that makes a winner.

[Wobbly_ears @ Jun 26th 2009 11:31AM]

WDTV beats this hands down. Remember, this unit can do only 720p while WDTV does full 1080p. And, besides, nobody has see this work, so there's no guarantee that this would play nicely all the formats like MKV etc. Who knows how the interface on this thing is?

Go to slickdeals & find out how you can score WDTV for around 80 from Staples. I just got mine & am very impressed. Has played every kind of media file I have thrown at it. But I wish WDTV would support DTS downmuxing though. (Rumors are that it is going to be fixed in the next firmware update.

[SHopkins @ Jun 26th 2009 11:23AM]

I'd accept 720p output if it would at least decode 1080p files... otherwise about 1/3 of my MKV collection would be orphaned. That said, the MVIX is looking more promising. I'm hoping to replace my WDTV with something networked in the not-to-distant future, but I'll live with the hassle of playing musical-usb-drive until the networked players are pricing around $100 or the WDTV network hacks get a little more robust.

[John Crane @ Jun 26th 2009 11:33AM]

Hocking? I think you mean hawking.

[sunsiren @ Jun 26th 2009 1:51PM]

There is a $5 coupon going on as the launch special: BVCINEMA; which makes it $84.99 shipped.

[sunsiren @ Jun 26th 2009 2:00PM]

Also, this unit comes with a built-in torrent engine so you can download torrents computer free. I wonder why this was left out - too sensitive? :)

[Jon @ Jun 26th 2009 2:58PM]

I know the GUI isn't the prettiest thing but so far nothing can touch PCH in terms of playback .. I cant wait to see the Final specs on the C-200 .. If it has Blu Ray .ISO support like is expected .. Hands down heavyweight Champion of the world @ $299

[Justin @ Jun 26th 2009 5:35PM]

media player with torrents downloader ...an interesting combination! I actually love this idea, download it and watch it.

[Geoff @ Jun 26th 2009 5:43PM]

Just checked its website, a bit confusing in the beginning ... said nothing about this in zinnetusa.com, you have to find them at www.brite-view.com instead ... anyway, the product looks great with its "price vs features", definitely can give it a try with another $ 5 off coupon

[ptiger @ Jun 26th 2009 7:42PM]

shouldn't that be "hawking"?

[slspaulding @ Jun 26th 2009 9:53PM]

It's "hawk", not "hock"; I love Engadget, but that's a little scary.

[terry @ Jun 28th 2009 11:20PM]

Total piece of crap system. The only networking support is to windows... and then ONLY to the ALL USERS Public folders. No support for any other shares. No way to insert a userid & password. If you think the Popcorn interface is bad... this one will kill you. I had about 100 movies and 10,000 mp3s on a 1TB drive. This thing had to scan EVERYTHING before it would let go to load one file. then backing up a menu level started the scan all over. Absolutely totally useless.

Mine is being returned to Amazon tomorrow.

The WDTV with 3rd party firmware to support a USB network card blows this thing away. Look for the WDTV wiki. Easy updates to boot off a USB thumb drive or hard drive. Not a Popcorn Hour. But not $250 either.