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Netgear NeoTV NTV550: Strong Media Streamer

20.04.2011
The Netgear NeoTV NTV550 ($170 as of March 28, 2011) can track down and play most media anywhere on your home network, and stream it to your HDTV in any resolution from standard definition to 1080p high definition. It supports numerous media formats, including some copy-protected schemes that other streamers can't play, and it streams music, video, and photos from a handful of Websites, most notably YouTube.

Unfortunately, the absence of integrated Wi-Fi and the unit's inability to handle major commercial movie and TV services such as Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Vudu are major drawbacks. Cheaper boxes such as the support Netflix; and the $199 Boxee Box offers Wi-Fi plus Hulu, Netflix, and many, other Web video services.

In size, the NeoTV falls somewhere between the petite and streamers and the larger and Boxee Box. Though you need to connect it with an HDMI or component cable to enjoy high-def content, Netgear doesn't provide either; instead you get a composite video cable and an ethernet cable to connect the unit's 10/100 ethernet port to your home network. (The NeoTV does support Netgear's optional USB Wi-Fi adapter if wireless is a must, but you may run into interference and other problems that make wireless problematic for streaming media.)

Though stingy with cables, Netgear lavished lots of care on the full-size remote, which has a complete set of video and audio playback controls, a numeric keypad, a navigation wheel, quick access to settings such as video mode or media type, and lots of extras such as a time-seek button (to identify the length of a media file and how far you are into it).

Once I hooked up an HDMI cable, made the ethernet connection to my network (through a HomePlug AV powerline switch), and plugged in the AC adapter, the NeoTV's home screen appeared. It presents your media by type (video, photo, music), and provides additional navigation options such as a file browser; links to YouTube and the dozen or so other video services; and settings. (There's also a 'Streaming TV and Movies' menu item on the home screen, but--at this point--clicking it produces a message saying that the associated features will be coming in the future.)

During setup, you can specify where the NeoTV should look for media; and the media it finds will appear under the appropriate home-screen category (photos, videos, music)--an organizational feature that can be useful if you leave media files scattered on various computers and storage devices. The NeoTV also surveys any media connected to its two USB ports (one on the front, one on the back), SD Card slot, or eSATA port. One of the NeoTV's best features is its support for playback of copy-protected formats, including iTunes music. On the other hand, though the NeoTV saw videos I had purchased on iTunes, it could not play them back.