Patriot Memory PBO Alpine Media Player Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Patriot Memory PBO Alpine Media Player Review - On the heals of its Box Office success, Patriot Memory has a brand new HD media player coming to market that is powered by an ARM926 processor and running Android 2.2. Could the PBO Alpine the next edition to your HD home entertainment experience? With a tremendous feature set inside a tiny footprint, we think it is worthy.
 
Wonder how this compares to my Popcorn A110. Mostly thinking about the interface. I run YAMJ on my popcorn and stream media from my NAS. Would like to still do the same, but I am not sure this device has UI with something like DVD box covers for family to pick movies from.
 
This seems to be a pretty good deal if it comes out at $89. I might think about picking it up and seeing what all I can do with it, especially with adding a hard drive as suggested. Perhaps some simple mods and a few hacks can be done to even improve the experience more.
 
Its a nice improvement from the previous PBO on almost all fronts. Too bad the internal drive is not supported.

But I'm waiting for the Raspberry Pi myself.
 
I wonder if once the device gets reconized as an offical droid device by google if they will support ICS (Droid 4).
 
One of the great thing about [H] reviews is that they are almost perfectly balanced. Most sites either find a flaw and exploit the hell out of it, or gloss over it completely.

Reviews like this give me confidence in helping me with my purchase decisions, so this device will most likely end up in a lot of my non-techie friends' homes upon my recommendation.

Two thumbs up! (One for Patriot, one for [H]ardOCP!)
 
I would really like to have seen a more powerful processor in this, perhaps with some 3D acceleration (for Android Apps/games) - if I'm reading the specs on the ARM926 it runs at anywhere from 200 to 300mhz (depending on the device) and decoding 1080p video is going to be about all it can do by any stretch of the imagination. Still, they had to do something to keep the price below $100.

I can't wait to get my hands on one of these to play with for myself, I love Android and I've been waiting to see somethng besides a phone or tablet running it.

Maybe they could make a 'PBO Plus' that uses a Tegra 2 or something. :D
 
I find with having a PS3 already, I'd not be interested in a product like this. The PS3 already does most everything this does and I really like the blue ray remote that Sony made. If I didn't have the PS3, I'd be very interested in this product though.
 
Blue Falcon said:
if I'm reading the specs on the ARM926 it runs at anywhere from 200 to 300mhz (depending on the device) D
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On the very first page of the review you see the specs listed (from Fujitsu) the MB86M10 features an ARM926EJ-S running at 400MHz - 500MHz.
 
Blue Falcon said:
I would really like to have seen a more powerful processor in this, perhaps with some 3D acceleration (for Android Apps/games) - if I'm reading the specs on the ARM926 it runs at anywhere from 200 to 300mhz (depending on the device) and decoding 1080p video is going to be about all it can do by any stretch of the imagination. Still, they had to do something to keep the price below $100.

I can't wait to get my hands on one of these to play with for myself, I love Android and I've been waiting to see somethng besides a phone or tablet running it.

Maybe they could make a 'PBO Plus' that uses a Tegra 2 or something. :D
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Tegra 2 is not well suited for 1080p. that's why the boxee box dropped it.
 
NOt too impressed here... Take a look at the newish "WD TV Live Steaming Media Player" long name for a much better product.

I'm not sure how to take this review. "Stroke of genius" to include Android 2.2? Yet no market, APK apps are "hit or miss"? So cool... It offers the ability to use a keyboard. I don't know if I'd go the "genius" route on that alone.

No media scraping? Huh? Why not. So the netflix app worked or not? That's a REALLY big deal to most people looking at a device like this. Did you even go over the available ports on the device? From the pics I guess there's a USB and SD on the front, power, USB, HDMI, Analog? on the back?

Reading through the review I have NO IDEA how it could possibly get "Editor's Choice Gold Award". Well, maybe one idea how...
 
I'm not sure what you are implying with your remarks about our Editor's Choice awards..please, feel free to elaborate.

...and, I am sorry you feel the WD TV Live is a better product.

I own a Roku, AIOS, WD TV Live Plus, Asus O'Play and the PBO Alpine, so please, share with us what you think makes it a "better product" than any on the list above.

Also, name the other Android powered HD media players on the market right now.

TwiceOver said:
NOt too impressed here... Take a look at the newish "WD TV Live Steaming Media Player" long name for a much better product.

I'm not sure how to take this review. "Stroke of genius" to include Android 2.2? Yet no market, APK apps are "hit or miss"? So cool... It offers the ability to use a keyboard. I don't know if I'd go the "genius" route on that alone.

No media scraping? Huh? Why not. So the netflix app worked or not? That's a REALLY big deal to most people looking at a device like this. Did you even go over the available ports on the device? From the pics I guess there's a USB and SD on the front, power, USB, HDMI, Analog? on the back?

Reading through the review I have NO IDEA how it could possibly get "Editor's Choice Gold Award". Well, maybe one idea how...
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
I'm not sure what you are implying with your remarks about our Editor's Choice awards..please, feel free to elaborate.

...and, I am sorry you feel the WD TV Live is a better product.

I own a Roku, AIOS, WD TV Live Plus, Asus O'Play and the PBO Alpine, so please, share with us what you think makes it a "better product" than any on the list above.

Also, name the other Android powered HD media players on the market right now.
Click to expand...

Thanks for "squishing" me Steve...

Seriously though. Reading through that review, you don't feel it was a little "phoned in"? I mean c'mon the basics weren't even covered. I know, this is a hardware site, so look at the pretty PCB with a few chips on it, ooh ahh. Netflix, working or not? Pandora? Any way to scrape data to display more than an image from file and the file name? Connections?

As for the better product, I already mentioned what is better than this.

My opinion I guess. No chance in hell anyone is going to stand up and back me here so...
 
TwiceOver said:
My opinion I guess. No chance in hell anyone is going to stand up and back me here so...
Click to expand...

I agree with most everything you said right up until your hinting about the origins of the [H] Gold award - if you really have been here over nine years then you would know that's simply never going to happen.

IMO this would have been better done as an article and not a 'review' since it appears that this is a pre-release product - very much like the [H] article on the original Box Office was on pre-release hardware. But I respect Steve's opinion having never been steered wrong before... (OK, well there was that one time he told me Iguanas like the taste of FCPGA Pentiums... but I digress) I can't wait to get one and see what interesting things can be done with it. :D
 
Blue Falcon said:
(OK, well there was that one time he told me Iguanas like the taste of FCPGA Pentiums... but I digress)
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That is because they do in very small select segments that were tested... But did he say they would survive the tasting?

As for the product, I think it got a Gold Award for the potential for the product. Just having Android and App ability gives a number of future options that quite frankly other products don't have. Can you download google games and apps on your WD Live? It is a relatively cheap product, that is trying to innovate parts of the media player market, with a lot of up side to it. I don't see why it shouldn't get the gold award.
 
We welcome your input but there is simply no way to address your claims without any information as to why the WD TV Live is a "better product."

I am not sure what you mean by "squishing" you, I think I am being rather nice considering your remarks about our Gold Awards and overall disdain for us. It is apparent you have an axe to grind, but, If you would like to make personal attacks on us, the review process and our character and integrity, you can take that up with Kyle and I personally.

Netflix and connections are in the article. If you must, please re-read the article.

Thanks for your input. Please feel free to contact Kyle or I with your concerns over our Editor's Choice Gold Awards.


TwiceOver said:
Thanks for "squishing" me Steve...

Seriously though. Reading through that review, you don't feel it was a little "phoned in"? I mean c'mon the basics weren't even covered. I know, this is a hardware site, so look at the pretty PCB with a few chips on it, ooh ahh. Netflix, working or not? Pandora? Any way to scrape data to display more than an image from file and the file name? Connections?

As for the better product, I already mentioned what is better than this.

My opinion I guess. No chance in hell anyone is going to stand up and back me here so...
Click to expand...
 
How did you guys like the built-in browser? I typically go to websites to watch online content and I absolutely hate the ps3 type browsers.
 
Blue Falcon said:
I agree with most everything you said right up until your hinting about the origins of the [H] Gold award - if you really have been here over nine years then you would know that's simply never going to happen.
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This. Kind of, anyway. I don't agree with you (TwiceOver), but I was willing to consider your arguments until your insinuations about the Gold award. Then everything you had to say became meaningless. As Blue Falcon said, if you've really been here for a long time then you should know that the H is one of the few places on the web where you really can get honest opinions and reviews. It's that (sometimes brutal) honesty that has kept this site on my daily read list (multiple times a day even) when so many others have fallen by the wayside.

If you disagree with a review or article then that's your perogative, but if you're going to disagree publicly then, as Steve has said, tell us exactly why you disagree. Tell us exactly what you think makes product B better than product A. To come here and make accusations and just state "this other one is better" leaves you zero credibility. Honestly, do you work for WD? Cause you come across like a butthurt marketer.

Back to the review... thanks for that Steve... I've been looking at getting a media player like this for quite some time, and this one is now on my short list... or at least it will be when it comes out :)
 
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techie81 said:
How did you guys like the built-in browser? I typically go to websites to watch online content and I absolutely hate the ps3 type browsers.
Click to expand...

Amen to that. I have been using my PS3 currently and have been looking at just getting something relatively cheap and small that provides a number of things I don't really get through my PS3, without having to build a whole new media center PC. Especially since they stopped allowing ppl to hack the PS3 and install linux on it...
 
techie81 said:
How did you guys like the built-in browser? I typically go to websites to watch online content and I absolutely hate the ps3 type browsers.
Click to expand...

The browser worked well but many places detect it as a mobile device and only offer you the mobile version of their site. It was rather speedy and rendered pages well though.
 
Hey Steve, thanks for the review. Do you know if this will play Blu-Ray backups from Cinavia protected disks without any audio issues? Take Shelter, Moneyball, and Drive all have them on it, and the rips wont play on my PS3, so looking for a cheap alternative.

Thanks again.
 
I'm getting excited for this device. I didn't want to get an original PBO for home because my GF is technology-retarded and I don't feel like explaining how to do everything, all the time. This version sounds much more "polished" and user-friendly. Yay!
 
jarhead said:
Hey Steve, thanks for the review. Do you know if this will play Blu-Ray backups from Cinavia protected disks without any audio issues? Take Shelter, Moneyball, and Drive all have them on it, and the rips wont play on my PS3, so looking for a cheap alternative.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Dear [H] forum member,

I have no opinion on the circumvention of copy protection, even if it is to make a legal back-up of a product you legally own.

This message will self-destruct in 3...2...1

- Steve
 
Steve said:
The browser worked well but many places detect it as a mobile device and only offer you the mobile version of their site. It was rather speedy and rendered pages well though.
Click to expand...

With the ability to run custom apps I'd check out Dolphin HD (awesome third party web browser) and see how it runs, it will allow you to customize the user agent the browser reports so that you don't get redirected to mobile sites.
 
Great preview/review!

Would you mind testing if the PBO Alpine can decode DTS into analog? I don't have a receiver with digital input, so I'm relegated to using an audio converter to add an AC3 track for my WDTV.

Thanks!
 
Great review. Remote looks like crap.

A few people are a bit too harsh on the product. If you owned the Patriot Box Office then you should know the extent that people have gone to modding the firmware. For those of you who don't take a look here). It shouldn't be too long until the Alpine picks up where they left off.

Obviously all the android apps aren't going to work right away for this, especially since developers probably don't even know what the PBO Alpine is....
 
The Sid said:
Great preview/review!

Would you mind testing if the PBO Alpine can decode DTS into analog? I don't have a receiver with digital input, so I'm relegated to using an audio converter to add an AC3 track for my WDTV.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm curious about this as well.
 
Blue Falcon said:
With the ability to run custom apps I'd check out Dolphin HD (awesome third party web browser) and see how it runs, it will allow you to customize the user agent the browser reports so that you don't get redirected to mobile sites.
Click to expand...

I'll check on that.

The Sid said:
Would you mind testing if the PBO Alpine can decode DTS into analog? I don't have a receiver with digital input, so I'm relegated to using an audio converter to add an AC3 track for my WDTV.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Elf_Boy said:
I'm curious about this as well.
Click to expand...

Will check tonight and let you guys know. :)
 
So this doesn't support Netflix at the moment?

If it supported Netflix & Flingo, I would purchase this device.
 
GuruX said:
So this doesn't support Netflix at the moment?

If it supported Netflix & Flingo, I would purchase this device.
Click to expand...

You can't download the official app because the Netflix doesn't recognize the PBO Alpine as a supported device (phone / tablet)

BUT...we tried out a half dozen Netflix apps (various versions) in .apk form, half of them work, half don't.

You can navigate to the Netflix site directly, login and do everything there except watch movies.

Patriot still has time before launch and, can easily add Netflix to the apps dashboard before then.

As always, we'll keep you updated. ;)
 
Thanks for the review Steve. Right now our family uses the Apple TV gizmo for Netflix mainly as we don't do other services, but that device might go beside the apple tv under the flatscreen. The price of the thing means its hard to screw up :)
 
New question: How well does it support composite or S-Video? Old stuff, I know, however that is what my 32" CRT based TV will accept for input.
 
If you don't need the internet streaming junk, the Netgear NeoTV 550 will run circles around most media players for straight media streaming for $117 on Amazon. It plays BD ISO with full menus. It has full lossless audio bitstreaming support as well. Menu systems kind of sucks, but it is usable.
 
Obviously Steve is working hard to test these requested features on a device that hasn't yet been released, and quite assuredly Patriot is listening to Hard, otherwise they wouldn't have given them the device to review and critique.

Bear in mind...this is an $89 device (and probably less with discounts and markdown), so for those of you out there that want this to do everything under the sun, you're eventually going to ask too much of it. (Quality gaming on a $89 retail video streaming box?? Are you kidding me?)

Since the device is virtually unbrickable, and a snap to navigate, I don't think that the techies are the target consumer...we build HTPCs. (And any of you who have EVER received countless calls from friends and relatives regarding PC problems they themselves induced should really appreciate this.) Personally, I'd like to be able to give the gift of technology to someone without opening myself up to countless hours of free tech support.

Given that it should only take Android apps a short time to catch up, I am sure we'll be seeing a lot more for this device pretty quickly. Other proprietary operating systems are a relative dead end.

As far as hardware upgrades go, I wouldn't be shocked if in a short amount of time, given the space in the box, we would see a model with a blu-ray drive in it...at a greater cost due to parts and licensing.

What I would like to see, however, is a grid comparison of this device's current features against that of other leading media devices, along with notes concerning possible uprades and expandibility. Again...some devices are complete dead ends with respect to this, due to hardware, software, and physical space. At this time, PBO doesn't appear to be one of them.
 
Have any of you guys seen/tried the Micca EP950 1080p 3D Digital Media Player? This thing looks pretty awesome. I was going to build myself a new HTPC next week but now I'm not sure if I should just grab this instead and save myself $550.
 
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