4 ms·

For $299 I can get a PS3 with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime with 250GB of space. Or for $299 I can get an XBOX with lots of apps, Netflix, Hulu, and 250GB of

For $299 I can get a PS3 with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime with 250GB of space. Or for $299 I can get an XBOX with lots of apps, Netflix, Hulu, and 250GB of space. Or for $99 dollars I can get an Apple TV with Netflix and iTunes rentals. Or for $79 I can get a Roku with USB, and buy an external drive with 250GB at $100 ($179 total) and get Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Or for $299, I can get Google Nexus Q with 16GB of space and no apps yet.

rbn 14y ago
You can also get a $99 Xbox with a 2 year Xbox Live contract.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
b3b0p 14y ago
Work just bought me to experiment with one of those Android 4.0 Mini PC's with HDMI, USB, and MicroSD on them the size of a thumb drive. Just got it a few hours ago and was only around $75. I know it has Netflix, not sure what else at the moment since this is my first Android device of any sorts.
- jonursenbach 14y ago
  Link?
  - b3b0p 14y ago
    There a quite a few companies you can get one from, I believe this is the one we got: http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246 http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246
ajross 14y ago
To be fair: the "TV thing" market is a huge mess, and none of those devices are making much real progress replacing the cable and satellite boxes users already have. We're still waiting on the proper innovation here. It seems like the Q (despite the pretty blatant mispricing -- I agree that they'll move essentially zero of these at $300) has at least a new mix of features to try. The built-in amp makes it an attractive audio box at least. The idea of driving content from the handsets in the room seems better to me than the (IMHO ridiculous) idea the TV vendors have of making handsets into "remote". The lack of storage isn't really a problem if everything is sourced from the cloud (which it is already for most of those gadgets anyway). And the "no apps" is silly -- it's an android box. Though I didn't see much about a UI metaphor. Obviously the HDMI display isn't going to be a touchscreen, but you can always plug in a keyboard and mouse (this works today on your GNex if you have the right cable).
- keypusher 14y ago
  I disagree. Most of my peers own an Xbox360 or PS3, and those that don't have some kind of Roku / NAS / whatever setup. I think fewer and fewer young people have cable boxes, they are fine with just a solid internet connection. There is, of course, a huge existing install base that is not going anywhere soon.
  - ajross 14y ago
    I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your peers are early 20's tech people living in shared urban apartments. That's not representative. Outside the geeks in the cities, people have satellite dishes and cable boxes. Just check revenue numbers for Comcast or Dish. Obviously these devices "could" replace the legacy content delivery systems. But they aren't yet, and frankly their grown numbers aren't going to get them there any time this decade. It needs something more.
    - cookiecaper 14y ago
      Yes, it needs the legal privilege to decode the cable stream. This is likely not legal under the DMCA; I would guess it constitutes the distribution of a tool intended to circumvent "copy protection", and I would further guess users of such a device could also be held legally liable for actually using a tool to circumvent copy protection. Besides that, I think that almost all of the set-top boxes blow away the boxes of the carriers on practically every front.
VikingCoder 14y ago
It's an Android device. Presumably, it will have the same apps other Android devices have - including Netflix.
sohn4 14y ago
You can look at iPad prices too... and people still get it.
sohn5 14y ago
You can look at iPad prices too... and people still get it.
bane 14y ago
Don't forget you can also get a cheapo laptop/netbook for $299 that does all of the above as well, and is easy to find other software for (fun little emulation machines paired with a 360 controller), that you can easily toss in a bunch of usb external drives and get terrabytes of storage.
- idleloops 14y ago
  That's true. An old net book or second hand laptop could be re-purposed as a NAS. I've found though that getting smooth HD out of older hardware, isn't that good. And the desktop OSs are pretty crappy on a TV. There's certainly a gap in the market here. Currently this is a very confusing landscape. It's bad enough trying to find a machine that will handle multiple codecs.
  - bane 14y ago
    The good news is that there are decent media center software stacks that do an ok job if you don't like mousing around a desktop OS. http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/ http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/

rbn 14y ago

You can also get a $99 Xbox with a 2 year Xbox Live contract.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

b3b0p 14y ago

Work just bought me to experiment with one of those Android 4.0 Mini PC's with HDMI, USB, and MicroSD on them the size of a thumb drive. Just got it a few hours ago and was only around $75. I know it has Netflix, not sure what else at the moment since this is my first Android device of any sorts.

jonursenbach 14y ago
Link?
- b3b0p 14y ago
  There a quite a few companies you can get one from, I believe this is the one we got: http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246 http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246

ajross 14y ago

To be fair: the "TV thing" market is a huge mess, and none of those devices are making much real progress replacing the cable and satellite boxes users already have. We're still waiting on the proper innovation here. It seems like the Q (despite the pretty blatant mispricing -- I agree that they'll move essentially zero of these at $300) has at least a new mix of features to try. The built-in amp makes it an attractive audio box at least. The idea of driving content from the handsets in the room seems better to me than the (IMHO ridiculous) idea the TV vendors have of making handsets into "remote". The lack of storage isn't really a problem if everything is sourced from the cloud (which it is already for most of those gadgets anyway). And the "no apps" is silly -- it's an android box. Though I didn't see much about a UI metaphor. Obviously the HDMI display isn't going to be a touchscreen, but you can always plug in a keyboard and mouse (this works today on your GNex if you have the right cable).

keypusher 14y ago
I disagree. Most of my peers own an Xbox360 or PS3, and those that don't have some kind of Roku / NAS / whatever setup. I think fewer and fewer young people have cable boxes, they are fine with just a solid internet connection. There is, of course, a huge existing install base that is not going anywhere soon.
- ajross 14y ago
  I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your peers are early 20's tech people living in shared urban apartments. That's not representative. Outside the geeks in the cities, people have satellite dishes and cable boxes. Just check revenue numbers for Comcast or Dish. Obviously these devices "could" replace the legacy content delivery systems. But they aren't yet, and frankly their grown numbers aren't going to get them there any time this decade. It needs something more.
  - cookiecaper 14y ago
    Yes, it needs the legal privilege to decode the cable stream. This is likely not legal under the DMCA; I would guess it constitutes the distribution of a tool intended to circumvent "copy protection", and I would further guess users of such a device could also be held legally liable for actually using a tool to circumvent copy protection. Besides that, I think that almost all of the set-top boxes blow away the boxes of the carriers on practically every front.

VikingCoder 14y ago

It's an Android device. Presumably, it will have the same apps other Android devices have - including Netflix.

sohn4 14y ago

You can look at iPad prices too... and people still get it.

sohn5 14y ago

You can look at iPad prices too... and people still get it.

bane 14y ago

Don't forget you can also get a cheapo laptop/netbook for $299 that does all of the above as well, and is easy to find other software for (fun little emulation machines paired with a 360 controller), that you can easily toss in a bunch of usb external drives and get terrabytes of storage.

idleloops 14y ago
That's true. An old net book or second hand laptop could be re-purposed as a NAS. I've found though that getting smooth HD out of older hardware, isn't that good. And the desktop OSs are pretty crappy on a TV. There's certainly a gap in the market here. Currently this is a very confusing landscape. It's bad enough trying to find a machine that will handle multiple codecs.
- bane 14y ago
  The good news is that there are decent media center software stacks that do an ok job if you don't like mousing around a desktop OS. http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/ http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/