Buffalo's LT-V100 Link Theater streams every format under the sun at 1080p

If for some reason none of the media streamers on the market at the moment have suited your particular tastes, perhaps Buffalo's new LT-V100 Link Theater is just right. It's a little box offering HDMI and composite video plus optical and good 'ol 3.5mm audio outputs, able to manage 1080pwhen streaming content either over Ethernet or pulling it right from USB-based storage. Naturally these little darlings live or die by their format compatibility, and in that regard Buffalo's is quite a fighter, able to play anything from RealVideo to Matroska, naturally with various flavors of MPEG, WMV, and Xvid along the way. It'll also do images and plenty of audio formats as well. All this can be yours later this month for ¥11,500 -- about $130 -- if you live in Japan.

Buffalo LT-V100 Link Theater

[TheAmazingWJV Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:14AM]

Cool gadget, fair price, far away country.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. It's a correct sentence!

[themadman Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:34AM]

@TheAmazingWJV

I will stick with my Argosy HV335T it plays everything.

I wonder what the GUI looks like.

[TheAmazingWJV Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:38AM]

@themadman I've got an old Argosy as well, but lately I've just been using an external usb harddrive with my Samsung TV. The TV plays most of it perfectly.

[Robhimself Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:46AM]

I'm from buffalo and that sentence comes up often still hurts my brain... this set top box however seems pretty nice and won't hurt my wallet.

[WayneS Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:48AM]

@TheAmazingWJV

If I can put Boxee on this, I will order one.

[Robhimself Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:05AM]

Why not just get the boxee box? Other than it has a stupid shape.

[WayneS Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:27AM]

@Robhimself

No price or release date for the Boxee box yet.

[rollocla Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:20AM]

I wish the makers of these boxes and the writers of these reviews would include one crucial piece of data with their information: At what maximum bitrate? AppleTV has a max bitrate of 2.5Mbps. I'm looking for a device that can cope with 3.5Mbps.

[CodyTech Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:21AM]

When I see these reviews, it would help to put it in context of some of the other players.

I have a WDTV Live and love it. I'm wondering how this might be better/worse/different

Cody

[DantesInferno Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:36AM]

@CodyTech

I just got a WD Live (haven't unboxed it yet as it is a gift), and I was wondering the same thing.

Should I return it and wait for the Buffalo or just stick with the WD Live.

[aubreyq Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:26AM]

@DantesInferno
Well, at least you can feel good that the WD Live has "been around the block", bugs identified and/or hashed out. With this Buffalo, you'd be an early adopter. Are you willing to be a "tester"?

[Tes Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:35AM]

@CodyTech

Excellent point on wanting a review. It seems Engadget does very few of them. Just a quick look at the "Review" section and you notice they seem to review primarily smart phones and laptops...and every minor spec bump to an Apple line.

It seems having a review and score for say a Harmony remote is pretty useless if the score is not put in context of similar products. The same with the SINGLE review of a set of Nox headphones.

We need to know how these things stack up against competition.

[wossy Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:02PM]

@CodyTech

http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.uk/content/id/72788/network-media-streamer-face-off.html

[tumadre Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:22AM]

I Want One

[admlshake Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:23AM]

Cool, but I'll hold off a bit. I want to see what people say about them after they've been on the market for a year or so. Buffalo doesn't exactly have the best reputation for building quality stuff.

[aubreyq Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:27AM]

@admlshake
^^THIS^^

[clubside Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:23AM]

Playing a lot of formats is great but there are two essential features that are rarely mentioned (and keep me from using my PS3 as my primary playback device): force aspect ratio to 4:3 (while in 16:9 since the PS3 can force full-screen you can say it can do that if you're on a 4:3 device) and playlists. When you tout format support you're implying the ability to pay as many files from as many sources as possible, but playing them in the right aspect ratio is equally as important. Forcing PAL VCDs into NTSC aspect ratios is just one example, scour your own files to catch weird size dimensions and as with other scenarios, you don't want to re-encode, you just want the files to play back correctly. The ability to alter the playback aspect ratio is needed.

[dbone1026 Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:28AM]

No info on the UI? Can it handle HD Audio (DTS-MA and TrueHD)? What type of subtitle support? This market is getting very crowded, so hopefully these companies realize they need to stand their player apart from the rest

[fnkngrv Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:52PM]

@dbone1026

This is a very good point. Those audio codecs require a paid license so the 130 price point even though some think that is reasonable most likely does not provide true HD audio capabilities.

[FDokinawa Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:39AM]

looks pretty good.. might have to pick one of these up(I live in Japan).

If your web browser can translate and you want the specs, here is the link.
http://buffalo.jp/product/multimedia/media-player/lt-v100/#feature-3

[Gavin M Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:45AM]

WOW, that's a low price!
(in my staples voice)

[mahmut Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:53AM]

buy a samsung tv with .mkv (and whatever illegal formats you like) support so you dont need thousand gadgets around your tv. connect your hdd or stick via usb 2.0 and watch 1080p movies.

[CodyTech Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:16AM]

@mahmut I have that super slim 55" Samsung. I still use my WDTV Live as it's connected to my network and seems to work better. I don't have "gadgets all over the place", I have my WDTV Live which is about the size of two decks of playing cards and connects to my receiver via HDMI so I don't even increase the cables running to my TV (still stands at 1)

[Klil Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:15PM]

@mahmut Those Samsung TVs read 1080p 14GB .mkv files with 5.1 surround? really?

[fnkngrv Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:59PM]

@mahmut

Here's the thing though, you are still having to plug something in all the time. The WDTV is a convenient box, but its processing power is shameful. It is very laggy. The Xtreamer Pro that I picked up is a small box, has a great processor, can hold 4TB internally and supports every codec under the sun....and oh yeah, the latest firmware being released next week supports HD audio formats and an awesome media jukebox. Plus they have a very active dev community. The thing also talks to their eTrayz NAS and other NAS solutions via ethernet or wireless which means that your storage size is only limited by you. I have for example 3 eTrayz connected and my total library capacity right now is 16TB with no latency or buffering.

[mahmut Posted Jul 19th 2010 3:54AM]

@Klil those samsung tvs even show 20GB .mkv files with 5.1 via a normal usb stick. if you connect it to your home network via ethernet, it will even stream those 20 gb .mkv files with 5.1 from your pc. it doesnt only support .mkv but also many other formats. only minus is that there is no support for dts format but there are programs which convert to ac3 in 5 minutes. also the firmware is linux based and if you google samyGO, you will be even more amazed. definetely the best 700€ i've spent.

[Funke Tobias Dr Posted Jul 15th 2010 8:57AM]

The device itself looks great, but the remote looks like a cheap remote you'd get with an HDTV from the grocery store. What a pity.

[amdhunter Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:35AM]

Ugh, when will these manufacturers realize that no one wants a damned Ethernet cable running to their TV? They need to start sticking Wireless N on these things. (For cheap.)

[CRA1G Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:00AM]

@amdhunter What? You don't have Gigabit Ethernet running into all your home theater setups? That's 3 geek demerits, I'm afraid.

[fnkngrv Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:03PM]

@amdhunter

Wireless N has plenty of issues when it comes to buffering unless you are 10 to 12 feet from the router. It doesn't come close to what the specification says it can theoretically. Also having all this wireless signal being bounced all over the place may be health concerns for many people. Wired over wireless any day of the week my friend.

[CRA1G Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:55AM]

Hey, Engadget, when are you going to do a shootout of all these little streamer boxen? I'm in the market for one and need the scoop on non-spec things like how enjoyable (easy to use, responsive) the UI is, how stable/dependable it is, etc. After all, this is something my family is going to use, and they don't have the patience for "oh, wait, let me update the firmware before we watch Dora, kids."

[derspiess Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:56AM]

@CRA1G

I second that. There are so many boxes like this that do essentially the same thing, but I'm sure there are still big differences in interface & performance. Would be nice to have a comparison.

[CRA1G Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:00AM]

@Indefinite Implosion DEFINITELY! I just said this further down. *sigh*

[petebob796 Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:19AM]

Looks like it can even play DVD ISO's from the spec sheet which is usually what is missing from my want list.

http://www.buffalo-asia.com/cgi-bin/products/detail.cgi?country=th&code=12&id=431

[yejun Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:01AM]

@petebob796 But no navigation support. WD live support dvd iso as well.

[grub Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:18AM]

@petebob796 check out the PopcornHour boxes. We own two of them and they've been great.

ISO and VOB file support, MKV, xvid, divx, mp3, mp4 et al. ad nauseum.

Also supports a lot of internet services.

[Tes Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:23AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhfvf4DIHqo

Video if the user interface for anyone who's looking.

[Tes Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:23AM]

@Tes

Oh, my bad, this seems to be a very old version of this.

[TechBlogger Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:19PM]

@Tes I just posted the question on a video and scroll up and here it is. Props Tes.

[TechBlogger Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:21PM]

@Tes Yes, it is old. But I still want to see a vid of this model.

[VAVA Mk 2 Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:08PM]

But will it blend? That is the question.

[TechBlogger Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:19PM]

Can we get a video review on this one Engadget?

[Dardas Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:45PM]

Popcorn Hour is still the best...
DVD ISOs, MKV, TS, AVI, WMV...
FLAC, MP3, DTS, WAV...
JPG, PNG, BMP... (though somewhat slow in the older models)

1080p @ 4.1 proflle , virtually unlimited bitrate.
only limit is 1080p @ 5.1 - no more than 5 ref frames (which is way above bluray spec).
DTS MA/ DD TrueHD support.

plus countless of internet streaming radio stations, and lots of net apps.

oh, and full bittorrent and file server support if you install a perfectly ordinary 3.5" HDD in it.

[fnkngrv Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:00PM]

@Dardas

The Popcorn DOES NOT support Blu-ray ISO, the Xtreamer Pro does.


Just sayin'

[Dardas Posted Jul 15th 2010 2:30PM]

@fnkngrv
while the original A versions do not support Bluray ISO (thus i only mentioned DVD ISO), the newer slightly pricier ones do, actually!

if you go for the As, you can still simply remux the bluray iso to a .ts file, that will only take a few minutes and preserve the original video (no shitty transcoding, just remuxing the container).

[Elchupacabra Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:09PM]

"Naturally these little darlings live or die by their format compatibility" I'd say the UI is equally important. It has to be beautiful, intuitive and work seamlessly.

[Bozster Posted Jul 15th 2010 2:00PM]

I dont' understand these companies releasing all the same crap and 99% of them doesn't have DTS-HD/MA, TrueHD or LPCM support or new Matroska HD container and so forth.

The key is to allow software part to be open on these boxes so we can tailor it and create our own if we want. I'd like to have one of these boxes integrate open source solutions for UI and just use/sell their hardware..

This is why Apple does so many things right.. these companies are for the most part in complete disconnect with what people need or what is cool. They just keep repeating stuff someone else makes.

I will not buy this crap when I can make for $300 an HTPC that will do whatever the hell I want and install whatever UI i want and play Blu-rays. Sure it's twice the price but the functionality and freedom to do whatever I want with it is well worth it.

[jd123 Posted Jul 15th 2010 2:05PM]

@Indefinite Implosion For more details spec comparison between a lot of different players, try: http://www.iboum.com/sort/media-player-comparison-table.php

[pbusardo Posted Jul 19th 2010 1:08PM]

UI? Boxart? Fanart? IMDB scraping? Web browser?

Anyone have any additional info?

Thanks!

[genghiskhan Posted Jul 21st 2010 9:41PM]

24p? Does this or any other box output 24p?