- Automatically searches and scans your networked and local devices, and organizes your movies, music, and photos
- Live Browsing provides an easy and fast access to your media collection
- Built-in media card slot for convenient access to personal photos and videos (AVCHD compatible)
- Compatible with a wide range of SD file formats including
- Blu-ray with menu, navigation and BD-Live support1
The Netgear NeoTV 550 is a complex product to review. Your success with the device is highly dependent upon situational factors such as usage, media source, network speeds, and user technical ability. While the device is easy to use, it requires a home theater geek to properly and optimally set up the device. When first received, I recommend going through the device's Settings menu, drilling down through all the submenus, to properly understand and configure the device. Take the time to go through the several dozen settings and try to make them match your home theater equipment. There are settings for DVD region, video resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, language, audio output (pass-through (bitstreaming)) and so on.
The remote is IR based, non-universal, non-learning, and not backlit. Ports include one HDMI port, two USB ports (front and rear), one SD port and one eSATA port. Some Blu-Ray menus require 1GB of storage. This can be a USB stick, SD cartridge or other attached storage device. The unit has no fan and is dead silent.
My media consumption is largely local content so this review reflects that bias. Alternatively, other people will use this device for consuming online media. I selected this device because of its rare ability to play Blu-Ray content with full menu support, bitstream audio and WAF. A plus will be when and if it plays Netflix, Vudu or other streaming services. I have hundreds of movies stored on a Windows Home Server (WHS). DVDs are ripped to folders and Blu-Rays are ripped as an ISO file. I tested several dozen DVD and Blu-Ray titles. Blu-Rays and DVDs play fine, audio bitstreams and menus work. The device has a good user interface. Video quality seems quite good too. Movie files are shown as cover art. My girlfriend has given the NeoTV's usability an eager thumbs up whereas the HTPC was impossible for her to use and difficult for me to maintain. I do not use any reencoded media/containers so I can't speak about MKV, FLAC, etc.
Initially, I had problems with stuttering on Blu-Ray. This is a common problem on networks that are not optimal. In my case, I had to turn of WHS's Drive Extender on my movie server. There's a host of technical problems that can prevent media, especially Blu-Rays, from playing properly. The device has a network speed test which can help identify some issues. However, my issue was the server's inability to sustain adequate disk read rates. The device offers no diagnostic for this situation. This must all be a nightmare for Netgear tech support -customers too.
Tip: The power button will stop a playing movie and bring up the Home menu.
Update 3-Dec-2010: Updated firmware to 3.0.268 EU. It fixes a few annoyances, adds a couple nice touches, leaves a couple bugs not fixed. No sign of Netflix. Perhaps an annoucement next month at CES?
Update 4-Dec-2010: Raised the rating to five stars because of resolution to my Blu-Ray networking problems (my bad) and bug fixes in 3.0.268 EU firmware. All's good now.
Update 4-Feb-2011: NeoTV 550 is stuttering on some Blu-Ray ISOs when played across a network. Importantly, it does not stutter when playing directly from a file or folder across a network. I believe the NeoTV has some optimization issues on Blu-Ray network playback. I'm hoping the NeoTV developers fix the stutter issue with a firmware update. Otherwise I'll be spending hours converting ISOs to folders. Because of the stuttering issue, I've lowered the rating from five stars to three.
Update 7-Feb-2011: I've confirmed that Blu-Ray stuttering is caused by NeoTV's SMB (network protocol) implementation. There's no stuttering when using NFS. This is a major problem as SMB is used by Windows networks. If you are planning on playing Blu-Rays ISOs across a network, hold off buying until the issue is resolved.
Update 9-Feb-2011: Community has confirmed Blu-Ray stuttering over SMB. Waiting for firmware update. Workarounds are to use file/folders or NFS. Hold off buying until the issue is resolved.
Update 3-Mar-2011: Beta firmware has resolved Blu-Ray stuttering issues. I hope to raise the rating to 5 stars when I can test and confirm on a release version.
Update 6-Apr-2011: I can confirm that firmware 325 has been pushed through. It does indeed fix the major issue of Blu-Ray ISO stuttering. With this release, finally, the device fulfills the initial major claims.
Update 28-Apr-2011: A person knowledgeable with Netgear 550 development has stated that Netgear has failed to negotiate an agreement for Netflix on the 550. Thus there will be no Netflix for the 550. If you want a similar media player but with Netflix, have a look at Boxee Box by D-Link. Be aware that all devices in the media player space are flawed in that none perform according to their specifications. Kudos to Netgear for continuously improving their firmware. Alas, they have been trumped by the improvements of Boxee. I've lowered my rating to four star because this device will not be fulfilling it's promise but ranks high amongst the alternatives.
Update 22-Aug-2011: Frustrated by the inabilities of any single media player, I've reached a new conclusion. I recommend buying two players to cover all bases. I recommend the Netgear NeoTV 550 for local content and the Roku 2 XS for online content.About 3 months ago I decided to re-do my basement into a media room. New TV (Samsung 58 inch 8000 series plasma) new reciever (Yamaha Aventage 2000 reciever), new speakers (Magnapan 1.6 speakers for surround), new couch, etc etc..you get the idea. One thing that bothered me about my old media / movie room was the shelves upon shelves of DVD's (I have almost 2000 if you include TV series)...in my new media room I didn't want to see them so I went through tons of ideas of hiding them...until it dawned on me...get RID OF THE DVD's!
I set about ripping them all to ISO using Anydvd in the thoughts that I would get a good player and just do without the DVDs entirely...but which player to get? I spent a lot of time reading reviews of every player that is currently out there and it turns out that there are VERY few players that will play an ISO with full menuing (so that it looks like you just inserted the DVD into a DVDplayer). There are lots that play ISO video, but very few with menuing....and even fewer that support Blu-ray menuing...actually I only found two that do. This one, and a DUNE player. Well, the DUNE is nearly 2x the cost of this which lead me to my purchase of this NEOTV.
WOW! Every day I am reading and trying new things with this little box. I have almost 500 DVD's ripped to ISO including several dozen blu-rays all sitting on a NAS that I have in my basement. After folling some very useful instructions I found on the internet for setting this up I can view every DVD in my collection as a cover view and select a DVD which then brings up all of the information on that DVD including actors / year made / directors / genre / etc all with a beautiful backdrop of a scene from the movie. I can even play a trailer before launching the actual ISO. And once I launch the ISO it is just like I had thrown a DVD into my old DVD player. It comes up with the full menu including all special features and etc. I can sort and search by actor / by title / by director / by genre and when I do I see the beautiful poster art for each dvd before I select them. And honestly it was SO easy to set up!
Even with my internet search and following the instructions on the internet (and downloading some free software) within 3 days I had 500 DVDs set up (the maximum my NAS holds right now) in this way. It is simply incredible and really impressive to show friends when they come over...you want to watch a movie...here let me bring up my collection here on my TV so you can choose...oh you never heard of that one? Let's bring up the synopsis...want a trailer? Here you go! Okay, now lets watch the movie!
My new Media room is the future with this little NEOTV...when my kids are older they won't even know what a DVD disk is anymore...thats a movie on dad's neotv right?
Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR NTV550 Here
Last year, I purchased a Samsung LED HDTV and was pleasantly surprised that it could play both streaming video (like Netflix streaming) as well as AVI and MKV files from my PC and my NAS. Although the Samsung HDTV plays a lot of formats, there was a subset of files it just didn't like, particularly certain hi-def or high bitrate files. DVD ISOs and Blu-ray ISOs didn't work either.So the search was on for the "One box to Rule them All!"
I did a ton of reading and even tried a few boxes like the WD HDTV Live Plus, but all of them had various failings. (Too expensive, difficult menus, stuttering and audio drop outs, no ISO support, etc. etc.) The Netgear NTV 550 is the first box I have found so far that has not disappointed me.
Here are the things that made the top of my list:
Plays *everything* that I've thrown at it: AVI, MKV, MP4, DVD ISO, Blu-ray ISO (with Full Menu support, too! Awesome!)
Visually pleasing menus that are snappy, responsive, and easy to navigate
HDMI, Component, two USB 2.0 ports, SDHC card slot, eSATA, Optical audio out.
DLNA, SMB, and NFS network support
No stuttering or audio drop-outs on high bit-rate video (fixed via firmware released on Feb 28th, 2011)
Jump forward / backward in video file to specific time (hh:mm:ss)
Good remote control with nice smooth buttons and faux-rubberized case. (It feels really nice in the hand.)
Price has dropped $60 since I purchased it. Very affordable now.
Stupidly easy to setup.
Things to be aware of:
The firmware is still being actively developed by Netgear. This is both good and bad. It's bad because right now, this player is missing one or two minor features. But on the plus side, it is pretty much bug-free and is pretty well polished.
This player was supposed to have Netflix streaming support, but the company has since announced that they will NOT be including support for Netflix (due to some technical difficulty with the video chipset.) That said, Netgear has shown over the past year that they are committed to improving this player over time. The next firmware update is slated to appear February 2012!
Cinavia (DRM) was talked about early on. Some other Amazon reviewer has written about this and tried to stoke much Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about this. Apparently the movie studios were pushing hard to get media box makers (like Netgear) to include this DRM into their firmware. As of this moment, Netgear has NOT included this DRM and as of late, there has been no further mention of it. Whether they follow through on it remains to be seen.
I give it a 5 because it currently meets all my needs perfectly and it keeps getting even better with each firmware release.The first problem I encountered was with RGB cable connection. Looked like overscanning but Tech support could not determine why. By accident I decided to connect with HDMI cable and that fixed the problem.
The second problem is that this player is not compatible with many formats.
The problem was that I could not play standard AVI files which I played for years on Linksys Media Extender and Sony PS3 without any problems.
Linksys broke so I bought NTV550. The same files would not play anymore.
1. I called tech support many times about the same problem. Every single time the voice quality was good initially until I was transferred to Level 2. I simply could not hear much on the other side. No matter how many times I told them that, I was ignored.
Also, many times I was told that I am going to be transferred to Level 2 directly yet I had to go through the menu and press 4 and 4 again.
Finally one of the "tech" told be that I will be called back within 3 hours but I did not receive a call and after few more calls I finally received a call back a week later. Surprisingly the voice quality was good if tech calls me. There is a something wrong with their phone system.
2. After finally I got to talk to technician from Level 2 I was redirected to forum where one of the techs suggested to download and use software to convert my files to another format. Whoopee!!!!!! I knew that from very beginning. Why did I need to talk to anyone.
Netgear making incompatible Media player is the problem.
Anyway, even though suggestion was posted recently all download links were broken.
I managed to find this software but it was impossible to use so I dug up my old software and successfully converted my files to another format, still AVI but different codec.
Needless to say it will be my last Netgear product I bought especially because support is in India and most techs don't speak good English.
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As a former owner of the first generation media player appliance that practically started it all (affordable, powerful, simple), the Western Digital WD TV HD 1080P Media Player, I have been holding out for a very long time in getting a replacement. I've tinkered with XBMC software on the PC, played around with different TV and Bluray player content streaming capabilities, and sometimes used the Sony PS3 for displaying some of my music, movies and photos. I have also been reading up on the standalone media players such as the Roku XS, WDTV Live, Iomega Screenplay, AIOS HDMC, UEBO, etc. There are so many standalone media players coming from China or Taiwan now that is difficult to keep track.The problem I found with those solutions is that they each have their own limitations. For example, in order to use XBMC, you need to build your own mini-PC for use as an HTPC which means that there is the overhead associated with the operating system that the software runs on. After that, you still need to worry about the hardware and device drivers to allow for digital audio output. With TV and Bluray players, they are great in providing a lot of streaming content as a bonus to playing BD movies, however, their support for being able to play all the different types of media formats on an attached local drive or external NAS storage is very limited or non-existent. With other standalone media players, they have tons of online content to play from but they are not able to handle local content properly. My main goal in getting a media player is to be able to play DVD or BD ISO files properly complete with menu display, chapter support, and digital audio surround. Most media players just don't do this very well.
Enter the NETGEAR NeoTV 550 NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player. After scouring through different reviews, I discovered that this player has been able to support BD ISO files and menus for quite some time now. I heard it was buggy at first but later firmware updates had resolved it. I understand it doesn't have WiFi built-in but, to be honest, I don't think streaming HD content wirelessly is a good idea in the first place. For best performance, I believe that an HTPC-compatible media server should always be wired. Media clients can be wireless if chosen. I initially purchased the AIOS HDMC player but after many exhausting hours of trial and error, I discovered that it was just not ready for my specific needs. That is why I purchased the NeoTV at the same time for comparison (see my review of the AIOS at AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2).
In addition to my review between AIOS and NeoTV, I found some very useful features of the NeoTV that I didn't find with AIOS. One key feature is being able to cache movie thumbnails on a hard drive, USB flash or SD card. This is great in that it allows for extremely fast browsing after the media metadata has been cached. Another key feature is being able to secure specific CIFS shares with a password on the NeoTV itself. Instead of having to type a username/password to connect to a private CIFS share everytime, the NeoTV maintains a constant connection to the share but authorized users will need to enter a 4-digit PIN to access it. Those with a need to lock down their sensitive media collection will find this very valuable.
One thing that is starting to get annoying is that the NeoTV randomly hangs from time to time. It happens most right after I play the online media content. A quick hard reboot puts everything back to normal. Another strange phenomenon is when I set the Auto FPS to enabled. After stopping a movie that has been playing at 1080P at 24FPS/Hz, my Samsung LCDTV goes blank indicating the mode is not supported. Changing the Auto FPS to disabled fixes the problem but now all my movies are displayed at 1080P 60Hz which I noticed doesn't look as smooth as when the 24 frames per second matches the 24 refresh hertz. I understand that there will always be a quirk within all media players and can probably live with this (until the next firmware update at least). Even though the NeoTV doesn't provide all the online content like other players, the fact that the NeoTV properly plays all my movie ISO files from the local hard drive or from a remote CIFS share has me sold. I finally found something that allows me to play my movie collection with minimal cost, complexity and effort.
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