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Sherwood tosses two new receivers into the CEDIA fray
Sherwood's jumping in the game with a couple of new receivers to highlight during this week's CEDIA event, the RD-7505 (pictured) and RD-705i. Similar except for the 705i's addition of WiFi and network (DLNA, UPnP) streaming features they bring all the HDMI 1.4, 3D ready, dual zone control and lossless audio codec support we've come to expect, even with just three HDMI inputs. Both ship in November for $499 and $399, press release is after the break.
Sherwood's internet-streaming R-904N NetBoxx receiver review
Why have two gadgets when you can have one that does two things? The answer, of course, is when that one thing doesn't do either of its two tasks well -- the Jack of All Trades Syndrome. When Sherwood told us last year it was making a receiver that had built-in network playback capabilities, meaning we could ditch our media streamers (tiny though they may be), we were naturally stoked. Many months on we've finally had a chance to put one through its paces and, if you click through, you can read our impressions of this slim and uniquely styled audio/video receiver -- and find out why we'll be reluctantly hooking our dedicated streamers back up. %Gallery-85612%
Sherwood's internet-enabled receivers, tabletop radio hands-on
Sherwood has been running with the network connectivity ball ever since it adopted Verismo's VuNow hardware into its receivers. We dropped by their booth before departing CES to get a quick look at the functionality in action (video embedded after the break), plus put our hands and eyes on the company's R-904 NetBoxx, RD-7505 receiver and iNet 2.0 tabletop radio & internet streamer. %Gallery-82720%
Sherwood's RD-7505 receiver and iNet-2.0 tabletop pull entertainment from the cloud
Consolidation of the boxes littered around our TVs is one trend we're happy to see, and for its part, Sherwood is getting onboard with network connectivity. Following the lead of the company's R-904 NetBoxx, the RD-7505 also got a dose of Verismo's VuNow tech for accessing content from DLNA, Hulu, YouTube, CinemaNow and internet radio. The RD-7505 also gets a trio of HDMI 1.4 inputs in addition to its seven channels of 110-Watt amplification; but you'll have to wait until summer to grab one for $500. Next up from Sherwood is the iNet-2.0 tabletop which pairs up its 8-inch display with an alarm clock, internet audio playback and an iPod dock; all of which just might make it a digital photo frame (yeah, it does that too) we'd consider putting in the house. Full details in the PR after the break.
Sherwood delivers R-972 receiver with Trinnov Optimizer room EQ
All right, traditionalists -- if Sherwood's NetBoxx AVR with all its internet streaming is too radical for you, the R-972 and R-774 might strike a chord with your "the receiver must have a volume knob" sensibilities. The 7x100-Watt R-972 has been awaited mostly for its 3D Trinnov Optimizer room equalization, which has made some pretty big promises -- we'll have to see how it fares when paired up with Silicon Optix REON video processing, three zone support, and compliment of 4xHDMI inputs, which seems like a negative in the current crop of $1,500 AVRs. Rather than just scale things down for the $850 R-774 model, Sherwood keeps the power at 7x100-Watts, but touts Anchor Bay video processing, two zone support, and optional pairing with the BT-R7 Bluetooth receiver so you can send tunes wirelessly to your receiver.
Sherwood BDP-5004 Blu-ray player moves up to Profile 2.0, down to $200
It sounds like Sherwood took critical reviews of its BDP-5003 Blu-ray player to heart when it worked up the plans for the successor. The BDP-5004 is taking a bow at CEDIA in advance of its October release, and the wrongs have been righted -- it's a Profile 2.0 player with onboard decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, it has 5.1-channel analog outputs around back so you can get some more miles out of your old receiver, and it's targeted for just a nickel under $200. If that's still not enough for you, how does DiVX support through a front-panel USB port sound? If you can't bring yourself to consider a deck that doesn't do the online streaming thing, though, keep looking.
Sherwood's 700W R-904N NetBoxx AV receiver dabbles in online media
Not sure if you've noticed, but CEDIA has just kicked off down in the ATL. One of the first to introduce something genuinely fresh is Sherwood (of all companies), with its R-904N NetBoxx pulling double duty as a 7.1-channel AV receiver and an internet media portal. For starters, the compact set-top-box looks nothing like a typical AVR, but you'll still find 700 total watts of amplification, three HDMI 1.3 inputs, one Toslink input, a pair of coaxial audio inputs and support for Dolby Volume, Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD Master high-resolution audio formats. Once you're done hooking up your music makers, feel free to shove an Ethernet cable in there and witness its ability to pull down material from PlayOn (Hulu, Netflix, CBS, CNN, ESPN, Amazon, etc.), CinemaNow, YouTube and SHOUTcast. There's also a USB socket for loading up media locally, and at just 17- x 10- x 2.5-inches, it shouldn't take up too much room underneath your current HDTV. It'll set you back $649.95 when it ships later this month, and you can feel free to dig even deeper in the full release just past the break.
VuNow's internet video-to-TV streamer finds a home in Sherwood receivers
The VuNow platform is sitting a lot prettier, as it has grabbed an OEM deal to be included in Sherwood's upcoming line of receivers. Already making an appearance as the Netgear ITV2000 standalone unit, now high end amps and surround sound systems will have access to a variety of internet video sources without additional hardware. Verismo's said it will be pursuing many different opportunities for its technology, we'll wait and see where the YouTube / CNN / ESPN and more streaming hardware shows up next, though your cable box would appear to be a safe bet.
Sherwood's BDP-5003 Blu-ray player reviewed: perfectly average
If Sherwood's BDP-5003 were a buck fifty or so, this thing may actually be worth buying. After all, critics loved the quick start-up and disc load time, appreciated the "very good" image quality and stellar audio performance and bowed to the easy-to-use onscreen menu system. So, what's the problem, you ask? For starters, there's no internal decoding of high-resolution formats nor a 5.1 analog output, so unless you've got a receiver that'll decode for you over HDMI, we wish you the best of luck squeezing any surround out. Furthermore, it's not upgradeable to Profile 2.0, the remote wasn't backlit, DVD upscaling was just so-so and the reds and blues were "slightly oversaturated." In other words, this here player does a decent job with the basics, but for $299 (list), it's about time we started demanding more from our BD decks.
The Daily Grind: Have you played a Flash MMO?
At GDC way back at the beginning of this year, an MMO was all the rage that a lot of hardcore players probably haven't even heard of. The game was called Sherwood, and it was a hugely successful 3D game made only by two people. This was possible because it was built on the Flash platform.Cheap and quick development means that underdogs like Maid Marian (the company behind Sherwood) can produce something profitable, and in theory it would mean they could try something new -- although they rarely do. Millions of people have played browser-based games, many of them Flash-based, but have you? If so, do they provide the basic gameplay you demand from an massively multiplayer virtual world, or were you left wondering why you even bothered?
Sherwood delivers its BDP-5003 Blu-ray deck
Who knew that the trials and tribulations of Sherwood's BDP-5003 Blu-ray player could mirror the drama of the movies it plays? First shown off at CEDIA, then delayed and most recently threatened with the axe, but now Sherwood has brought its $300, Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player to the market, just in time for the holidays. Sure, it's probably a competent enough player, but we just don't see the value proposition of this next to entry-level models from other brands. Perhaps last-minute shoppers looking to jump on the Blu-ray wagon this holiday will grab one when Netflix-enabled (a little more money), Profile 2.0 (a few more features), or better-known brands (a tad more comfy) disappear from retailer shelves; but if that's the plan, maybe giving this model the axe would have been a better approach.
Sherwood might cancel Blu-ray players due to competitive prices
Whoa, this player didn't last very long -- first there was the delay, and now the Sherwood Blu-ray players announced at CEDIA, may never see the light of day. The reason is a good one for consumers, which is that Blu-ray player prices are dropping so fast that Sherwood doesn't think its player would be competitive. We can't say we blame them, when the big names in the market, like Sony and Samsung, have stand-alone players selling at select retailers for as low as $200. We don't think anyone predicted that player prices would drop this fast, and not only are "value" companies like Sherwood likely to drop the budget players, but the old fashioned DVD players are sure to follow. We mean, who in there right mind would buy a stand-alone DVD player if they could buy a Blu-ray player for the same price?
Sherwood BDP-5003 Blu-ray player delayed until November
All those eagerly awaiting the Sherwood's lower end Blu-ray offering, the BDP-5003, must readjust their October launch expectations by one month. Unfortunately, at $299, a pretty standard Bonus View equipped player doesn't really scream "value" to us -- unless compared to similar high price marques like the Integra DBS-6.9, but with a LG BD300 for only $50 more and the Panasonic DMP-BD35 at the same price, it's hard to justify. The 5.1-analog packing big brother BDP-6003 failed to impress at CEDIA, but if 1080p24, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA output via HDMI have you interested, punch the read link (warning: PDF) and let us know if we missed anything.
AGDC08: Devs on why MMOs have a web-based future
A write-up at Gamasutra of an AGDC panel featuring MMO developers who have begun working on web-based projects gives us an opportunity to explore the new (some would say it's actually the old) frontier of massively multiplayer gaming.There are many MMOs that are experienced via a web interface (such as Sherwood), but traditional gamers have largely shunned the trend. Why, then, did some of the most hardcore MMO developers (including Dan Ogles, Raph Koster, and Scott Hartsman) abandon the traditional MMO in favor of this new frontier? Some of their work, like Ogles' Loudcrowd, is barely recognizable to traditional gamers.They offered some answers on the panel. For example, Koster (originally of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies fame, now working on the creative platform MetaPlace) said that game devs have more to learn from web devs than vice versa. Ogles talked about using Adobe Flash so anyone can embed elements of the game anywhere on the web they like. It's worth a read if you're able to work through some pretty technical development speech.
Sherwood's BDP-6003 Blu-ray player hands-on
Hate to say it, but Sherwood's BDP-6003 was the lousiest looking BD deck on the CEDIA show floor. The entire thing just screamed cheap, and quite honestly, it's not a player we'd be proud to show off. Sure, for $150 or so we wouldn't even give the looks a second thought, but given the $499 price tag, we expect something a bit more attractive than this. What say you? %Gallery-31222%
Sherwood bringing two new Blu-ray players to CEDIA
Sherwood's been known mainly for its audio, but TWICE has the details on two new Blu-ray players on the way at CEDIA. Consisting of the high end $499 MSRP BDP-6003 and the mass market-targeted $299 BDP-5003 are both Bonus View Profile 1.1 players that upscale all content to 1080p and decode all Blu-ray audio formats, with the 6003 including 5.1 analog out, while the 5003 makes do with just stereo. Front mounted USB ports, DivX, JPEG and MP3 playback, HDMI 1.3 and Ethernet ports are consistent across both players, but we'll wait for a hands-on next week to see if analog surround sound is enough to bring this hardware on a level with the competition.
