The NeoTV might have blended in with other media streamers had it not been for its unique ability to mirror your laptop to your TV. But Netgear made a big mistake with its navigation control. Instead of the typical separate buttons for Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow remote functions, the corners of the four-sided navigation rocker are color-coded. Media streamers will regularly use these buttons to bring up options or menus or to close an app. It took me six times to enter a login for Hulu Plus because I would accidentally hit a color key that sent me back to start.
WiDi is available on laptops with Intel processors Ultrabooks. Its menus are loaded with an ever-growing list of special-interest online streaming videos that are powered by the Flingo video service.
Out of the box, the default audio setting is stereo and must be changed to bitstream HD in order to get 5. Surprisingly, although the video was streaming in p, the movie was acceptable when played in full-screen mode on the TV. That is, there were no artifacts or other compression noise.
Poor quality streaming to the laptop resulted in poor quality through the NeoTV. Playback was immediate and smooth, and the picture quality was fine. It can play h. While the direct-play buttons make it easy to use, menus crowded with channel options can become visually confusing to a novice. The overall presentation is really sharp my testing was done in p mode and the video stream does an excellent job of switching feed qualities during playback.
Videos start very quick and almost always improve in quality after about 20 to 30 seconds in. The included remote is reasonably sized and felt nice in my hand. The buttons have a solid weight to them and, as I mentioned, perform well. Everything is laid out logically enough, with no big complaints on the controller front.
Overall picture quality is very good. I was impressed with how great Netflix movies looked and the speed of cycling through the various channels offered on the NeoTV. Of course I'd definitely recommend connecting the unit to the Internet via its Ethernet port, but utilizing a Wi-Fi connection is not a deal breaker by any stretch. Aside from the generous amount of content channels offered, that's pretty much where the NeoTV's functionality ends.
I had a lot success making use of the optional smartphone app Android or iOS that let me control the unit via my Android phone. I really wish the NeoTV allowed me to provide my own channel information or at least some sort of bring-your-own feed option. Plugging in a video RSS feed should be easy enough to pull off, but it's not possible here.
Also, there's a serious dearth of extra ports on the NeoTV. Some of the apps are only half-baked at this point; for example, there is a search bar in TuneIn, but no QWERTY keyboard appears to enable text input, and the new Slingbox is practically unusable. There are no onscreen controls and you need to use the Options button to access the controls. However, the lag from commands is almost intolerable with 15 seconds between press and action, while by comparison the lag on the desktop app is a much friendlier 2 seconds.
With that in mind, we'd recommend that everyone in this price range get the Roku. Ty Pendlebury. In video quality it's mostly on par with other units of its type.
Some key video apps are missing. The unit is prone to sluggishness either in the interface or on occasion during playback. The remote control is overly squishy and the D-pad makes navigation harder due to some poor design decisions.
The UI is a little crowded in comparison with those of competing products. Connectivity is limited to HDMI-out only. The Netgear Neo TV NTV is one of the cheapest streaming boxes on the market, but it doesn't offer any compelling distinguishing features compared with the Roku. Score Breakdown Design 6 Features 6 Performance 6.
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