I have been lurking here for sometime to see if the HD1000 was ready for primetime. My interests are to view photos, ripped DVD's, and recorded dish or cable programs on my HDTV. Any feed back on taking the plunge.

I have also been keenly looking at the I/O Data AVEL Linkplayer2. This one could be interesting.

The Roku guys won't like this..

Quite honestly.. no, now is not the time to buy if those are your requirements.

I've not really looked at what new products of this type are coming to the market but this AVeL Linkplayer2 looks pretty neat. If it does what it says it does, it's certainly more feature-rich than the HD1000, plus it's got a DVD player, so I could rid of my current one to keep clutter down. For flash adapters, you can buy a 4-in-one USB reader.

Some big pros of the Linkplayer: DVD image playback support, many video formats including WMV and DivX, optical digital audio to avoid ground loops issue on HD1000. Maybe it actually powers down when you hit the power off button as well! Sorry, scarcasm is necessary with the HD1000.

Cons: tell me? what are they?

Oh yea, it's also $50 less....

Anybody actually used one yet?

Tim TT


P.S.: wonder if this post will get deleted... no bashing of Roku here, just honest comparison...

A degree of skepticism is also necessary with non-shipping products (Linkplayer 2). As to the original question, if those are your requirements then NO - the HD1000 is not for you. If you really want a nice HD photo viewer or artwork on your walls - then by all means pick up the HD1000. For other features - esp. anything to do with playing video - you should wait to see if/when they come thru with their long-promised software update that finally finishes these features.

I have to agree also that now is not the time to buy. I actually had been hoping to buy HD1000's for my sons as Christmas presents. However, without EASY video playback, especially MPEG-2 Program Stream, and a clearer view of the future, I can't justify it.

bmanner wrote:

My interests are to view photos, ripped DVD's, and recorded dish or cable programs on my HDTV.

I currently use my HD1000 to do all of these, so it's definitely possible with the hardware. But, as others have already stated, if you want to be able to do this straight out of the box or with minimal effort, it'd be best to wait until the next release comes out (in December?), and see if it's any better. If you're technically savvy, and enjoy the whole "getting your hands dirty" experience, then go for it now... :p

Despite the hassle and effort necessary to get it to do what I want it to, and contrary to a lot of people's opinions on this board, I've been very happy with my Roku.

TheEndless