Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player gains Netflix streaming
By Darren Murph 
posted April 19th 2010 9:19AM
posted April 19th 2010 9:19AM
posted April 19th 2010 9:19AM
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Wow, Netflix really IS putting themselves everywhere. Good for them!
Good good good good.
@aubreyq
I'm waiting for Boxee to do the same thing...
Makes those WD TV streamers look like dogmeat. For robotic dogs, at least.
There are so many media players to choose from these days...
So, aside from price, what sets this Seagate unit apart from other players like Roku, Popcorn Hour and others?
that's nice. but can it torrent? play .mkv?
@tricheboars Thats my question too.
@tricheboars
I have one, and it plays mkv's without any problem. It will also play ISO's, so I've just put my DVD ISO's on there and it plays with no problem at all. I've been really happy with mine. Now to get the update and add one more feature!
@tricheboars Yes it does MKV, its a Realtek 1073DD player of which their are many many versions of the same hardware.
http://www.iboum.com/net-media-players.php?sort=sortdate&chip=realtek&pfilt=&hdd=&net=&fan=&lcd=&dts=&dtsp=&dolbt=&dolbtp=&dtsma=&dtsmap=&year=&ppp=40&bd=&dvd=&pg=1&rp=crealtek
The Netflix support though is unique.
Well God damn.
*Looks angrily at my Roku & WDTV Live boxes*
Can I browse Netflix from it? That's one function I love about my 360. Wish the PS3 version could do it.
@admlshake
I am able to browse Netflix on my PS3, am I missing something??
@admlshake
You can browse the whole library? Guess I need to pop my disk back in and take a look.
@admlshake
Actually, I'm not sure if it's the whole library since the PS3 is the only device I use to access Instant Streaming, but there sure seems to be a lot of titles to browse through. I've only seen the 360 interface a couple of times, but IIRC the PS3 offers similar browsing capabilities.
Guess I should check out Instant Streaming on my Mac to see if I'm getting the whole experience or not on the PS3.
@admlshake naw, you can't browse the whole library- just the 100 (or less) they they show per category.
I don't know that it's gonna change for now since it runs of disc - maybe when it gets a proper place in the XMB later this year...
@VICinCLT
Finally got he disc for my Wii, and I can browse a bunch of titles, by genre, but it is definitely not the whole library. If I want something not showing on the Wii, then I need to go to a PC, and add it to my queue. This isn't too much of a hassle, but there is absolutely no reason why the console should not have the ability to search the entire library. I have not seen the PS3 or 360 interfaces, so I can't comment on those. But this is why a full HTPC is still my preferred device.
Yeah, I'm quite disappointed with the lack of ambition on Roku's part. I got their first Netflix box as soon as it came out, with the promise that all these cool new features would be added. While they did eventually add a bunch more "channels", most are so blah and to be useless. The most obvious ones, Netflix, Youtube and DLNA, are still sorely missing.
I wish the industry would standardize on a streamer "module" of some type, perhaps running Android with a somewhat standardized GUI and set of apps, that hardware manufacturers could simply build into their TVs or BR players and be done with it. Currently it's hard to impossible to find all the features you want in one single box. My Samsung BD-P1590 is fairly close, but doesn't do DLNA or ISOs from a network share. If it did that, it would be all I need at every TV.
I wonder if blockbuster will exist in 10 years? hmmmm
@dimithra
I doubt it'll exist in 10 months.
@sharkync
They'll be lucky to last 10 WEEKS! Google BlockBuster+Bankrupt and see all their woes.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/24/news/companies/blockbuster/
More importantly, what monitor is that? Loving the trim bezel and HUGE screen!
@NoOneSpecific Was thinking the same thing. Wish there was a real model similar to that.
Wow, 18 months ago I was a pretty big fanboy of the WD TV HD product. Now the firmware updates are buggy, no internet connection, no Netflix, etc...
Sure there is the WD TV Live, but the jury's still out on that one. I think I'll wait for the Boxee Box, and donate the WD TV & the Roku Box (which is great) to family members.
" So, Roku -- you just going to sit there and take this, or what?"
lol@Darren Murph
I own a WDTV HD and it is the best money I've spend on a device in a while. I planned to get the Live version but this ain't half bad either.
Some correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to be the only device to stream from both netflix hd and local network shares (except for the ps3 and the LG 390, both much more expensive)
I used to think that the HD slot in the Seagate box was a waste because I have all my movies on a server, so I bought a WD TV Live. That works OK, but then we went on a ski trip so I grabbed the WD box and an external USB drive with a selection of movies to take to the cabin. I now see that this would have been more convenient.
I bought one of these from a BB solely to see if it was worth keeping as a backup to my WDTV Live. The picture quality of its Realtek chip looked almost as good as the Sigma inside the Live, but it didn't seem powerful enough to handle streaming of MKVs as small as 1 GB. This could've been a network problem, however.
Another peculiarity is that when I ran it before updating the firmware, it activated x.v. color on my LCD on all settings, resulting in richer colors. After the update, that feature disappeared because I no longer saw "X.V." pop up on my set. Other than that, I'd say it will probably get better with more updates.