Once video playback began, however, the quality was quite good on the shows I watched on a notebook PC and on my iPad over hotel Wi-Fi. With my iPhone, quality varied widely depending on the quality of my data connection. It was generally good with Wi-Fi, but over AT&T's 3G network, I sometimes got messages saying there wasn't enough bandwidth for video (in which case the player simply provided audio without images until it was able to add the video). The players show you what sort of speed they're getting, and when the video can play at roughly 400 kpbs or faster, it was at least watchable if not surprisingly good.
The player app now allows recording directly to a mobile device. This is available first on the iPhone and iPad, and is coming soon for Android. The app adds full DVR capabilities, so you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward through video you've recorded. On iOS, it records as an H.264+AAC MP4 file, at either 640 by 480 or 352 by 240 resolution. If you get record-happy, don't worry--you'll get a warning that you have insufficient memory.
What I really like about the Vulkano system is that it lets you watch pretty much anything you could see sitting in front of your TV. Using the virtual remote, you can not only change channels but access shows recorded on the integrated DVR, or even Comcast's on-demand content. I was able, for example, to watch the first episode of HBO's Game of Thrones in a Seattle hotel room with no real problem. The quality certainly fell short of the digital version on my 42-inch 1080p plasma (resolution tops out at 720 by 480, and Monsoon recommends using lower resolutions when outside your home network), but I encountered practically no skips or stutters.
The experience was best on my notebook PC because the player includes an actual visual replica of the Comcast remote I use at home, complete with some (but not all) clickable buttons. On the iPad and iPhone players, you get generic remote menus that don't provide all the controls available on the PC player's remote. On the mobile devices, for example, I wasn't able to figure out how to pause and restart or rewind a recorded or on-demand program.
The players give you some context-sensitive settings options, including screen resolution and aspect ratio. Although the Flow lacks built-in storage (which was included in the earlier model I tested), the players can still record programs while you're watching them and save them to the hard drive or flash memory of the device running the player. However you cannot schedule recordings using the electronic programming guide, so the DVR capability is more like a backup for when you have to walk away from a show in progress.