When I first heard about BeoMedia (way back when.......)  I was excited about the potential of the product,  Then when it was released in the UK I was disapointed by its interface, potential lack of upgradeability, and basically paying over £1500 for the abililty to look at a few websites on and display my photos on my TV.  I obviously didn't purchase it.  However with more of my music now being stored as MP3s (for better or worse) I'm finding navigating using BeoPort to be near impossible. 

I have an old PC sat in my loft running various things, one of which is MS MediaCenter and connected to my BV7 is an xbox, so for a few weeks now I have been using the xbox as an extender along with a lintronic's unit to convert the IR commands,  but I have found this very slow and not all that intuative and still not all that friendly in link rooms.

So I back at the "should Iook at buying BeoMedia 1" again.  Should I look at frontrow?  Should I wait 12 months and see if there is a BeoMedia 2 (I'm always nervous when B&O number their products starting 1).  I'm I missing something obvious with my current setup?  Am I missing something with BeoMedia 1?  Should I upgrade my BeoSound S3000 to a BeoSound 4 or BeoCenter 2 so I get the display?  Should I wait for the new BeoCenter 2 'audio only'?

I basically want to be able to sit in my living room and when I hit N.Music on the Beo4 for the speakers to come on in the correct setting, the BV7 to switch on and for my to be able to easily navigate my Music collection.  I then hope with the release of the Beo5, this will become an easier option for my link rooms.  I guess the key is seemless integration!

I'd be interested in comments from current owners of BeoMedia 1 and if anyone has insight to where the product is heading.  Along with the views of people running Frontrow / Media Center or Apple TV.

Thanks, Greg.

 

GSHaigh:

I'd be interested in comments from current owners of BeoMedia 1 and if anyone has insight to where the product is heading.  Along with the views of people running Frontrow / Media Center or Apple TV.

Thanks, Greg.

I can only comment on the setting I do have.

BS3200 + BV7 + Beoport ( + link eye soon ) + Mac Mini ( non-Intel ) + BM-link vs. 1.5 + Frontrow

This setup makes it possible to use FrontRow on screen at the BV7.

Or use N.Radio/N.Music without the BV7, but made possible through the BS3200.

In this setup N.Radio/N.Music is integrated for listening throughout the house, via ML.

FrontRow is only for the mainroom where in our situation the Beoport is placed.

There is a forum thread discussing the BM-Link 1.5 version in the Beo-Mac section. Or did you read this already?

Thanks for the reply.  I have seen the discussion around BM-Link 1.5 and find this interesting.  I just wonder how integrated this really is?  How will it integrate with the new Beo 5? 

As I see it here are my choices:

1. Go with BeoMedia 1
2. Go Mac Mini
3. Upgrade BS3000 to BeoCentre 2
4. Wait a further 12 months and see what happens

 Option 4 seems a little defeative to me,  option 3 is probably the least expensive (does anyone know how much the non-DVD version will cost and when it is due for release), to be honest option 2 scares me a little as B&O don't really support this and option 1 seems expensive from the outset given the only real benefit is titles on the screen (unless anyone can tell me different?)

Greg

I have the exact same questions and concerns as you. Our PC and Beoport are located elsewhere in the house. I think the inability to navigate causes us to use it less than we would otherwise. Upgradeing from the Beosound 3000 to a BC2 or BS4 is one possibility but still would yield only a small display, not usable without getting up close. Beomedia would allow the full functionality we want, but it just seems like it should do even more than it does. It seems like just an expensive version of Beoport with no added functionality other than the image on the television screen, which is greatly needed and desired, but the cost for it is a bit much.

Why not try AppleTV. The price is low. Using Lintronic you have complete control!

 If you use iTunes it will sync to the AppleTV local hard disk. You will not need to have your PC on.

 If you want Link Room control you will need more than one Lintronic.

 
With AppleTV + Lintronic you will still pay less than BeoMedia.
 

peria:

Why not try AppleTV. The price is low. Using Lintronic you have complete control!

 If you use iTunes it will sync to the AppleTV local hard disk. You will not need to have your PC on.

 If you want Link Room control you will need more than one Lintronic.

With AppleTV + Lintronic you will still pay less than BeoMedia.
 

Granted the price is low,  but I have over 40GB of music so that sort of rules it out.  I don't believe the fast scroll options has be fixed on the Lintronics box either.  And how integrated is it?  Another issue I have recently thought about with this is how do I connect it to my BV7?  I have Sky HD on DVI and my xbox on component HD.

 Greg

 

More than 40gb of music is a lot! But a 40gb hard disk really is very small by today's standards.

 Don't know how many digital inputs you have on BV7 vs the number of digital A/V sources.

 
Lintronic has not quite solved the fast scroll, you are right. However, they have made it possible to more easily and quickly scroll through 1 or multiple screens at once. Not as good as Fast Scroll, but better than one line at a time.

Let us know how things go.
 

I have been very pleased with my beomedia1, I have had it since January. It has 90gb (5000 tracks) of lossless music files on it and 6gb (3000 pics) of photos, and still has loads of space left. It was set up in about 10 minutes no problem and it works just great on my main system and my link rooms.

I agree it is lacking some features, but it really does the basic job very simply and very well. I am sure as most of the features are software based these will be enhanced over time. I agree it seems a bit pricey compared to commodity PC items but there isn't a single B&O product that this couldn't be said about.

I hope this helps

Cheers

Peter

I have been a long time user of the BeoMedia 1. I was not a fan at first (BeoLink Media two-box), but must admit that the usability of the box is addictive. The user interface on a BeoVision 7 is good but not great, very B&O: simple and classy. If you have too many albums you have to learn a few Beo4-tricks to navigate (<< and >> acts as page up/down etc). When you activate it using the "PC" command you will get the wrong speaker configuration (speaker 3 or 5, depending on your default setup of the BeoVision) but this is easily corrected with the Beo4. When you press N.MUSIC or N.RADIO you will get speaker 2 (or 4 if this is your default setting on the BeoVision).

The not-so-good part is the operation via my BeoCenter 2 or in a link room via Beo4 only. Sure, the lady that tells me I have selected "album" is nice enough - but finding a special album or song is a bothersome process.

The Beo5 has the potential to correct this, but you may find that the current version (which is about to be released in the EU) may be missing the functionality some of you may have seen on pre-production versions. This will hopefully be corrected/updated/fixed very soon.

So, yes, the BeoMedia 1 is a clever box that does a tricky job in a very simple fashion. Kids, husband etc can all sort it out in no time. The BeoMedia 2 could be a very different product with a price tag to match, but this is still far from being ready for launch.

Is the BeoMedia 1 worth £1.500? That will depend on you bank account, but I do feel that most of us would have been happy to pay 50-75% of that price for what you actually get. But you do get at least 5 years of free software upgrades. But as I said initially: I found it to lack features and to be too expensive when launched - then I got one, and now I would rather ditch the rear speakers in my main room than letting go of the heavily used BeoMedia 1.

Roger

You mention lossless music files. Is the quality of music stored on Beomedia the same or better than music stored on a pc with Beoport?

Regarding lossless I guess but dont know that beoport could do the same. To get lossless files onto beomedia 1, I rip the cd on my pc using Windows Media Player 10, with the library directory set to my beomedia 1, and the quality set to lossless. I do this because beoplayer dosnt seem to support ripping at lossless quality. The ripped tracks are quite big though a cd = about 400mb, a track = about 30mb. Hence the nice big 250gb disk in the beomedia 1 is helpful.

Cheers

Peter

I have the Imac with Frontrow and IRTRANS/IRED so I can control it from Beo 4. It's not perfect and I am considering switching to Beoport now that BMLINK 1.5 is out.

For link rooms I don't think there is a good solution yet, unless you have a TV there as well. I would take a look at the 2 way remote that keyspan is bringing out to control Itunes, I would also take a very close look on getting multiple Ipods and the Ridax Ipod Dock. You just sync em up every once in a while with your Itunes Library, get Beo 4 control and get around the navigition problem that most other solutions have.

 If I would have to built my setup from scratch I would probably do Imac or Mac Mini for main room, Beoport and then Ipods and Ridax Docks for the link rooms.

 

Cheers

JK

 

Roger, will the beoMedia 2 cost more or less then the BM1 ? Just hoping to get an idea of its position in the B&O product range. nlb.

It will depend on the route they select. Some of you may be aware of the BeoCenter "5" (aka AV1), a product that could be developed on a MultiMedia-PC platform with more focus on the on-screen interface than on mechanical marvel. This concept was originally planned to be a high-end product (to go along with the BeoLab 5, BeoVision 9 etc) with a price tag in the neighbourhood of the BL5's.

 Roger

Roger, interesting. I think B&O should go "high-end" with BM2 and focus on the interface rather than machanical (old fashioned) magic. What we all want these days in the digital age is "interface magic" and it would be great to see B&O lead in this field (to overtake Apple for usability). But as we now live in a throw away age, especially with techno products and Hi Fi, I think B&O should consider the "low-end" position very carefully as well! nlb.

I think one of the biggest areas B&O could make a hit would be with dedicated music recorders/servers - lıke the Olive Opus.

Combining a high-quality CD ripper, lossless and B&O's know-how in interfaces and multi-room, they can recaputure a lot of lost ground. Considering the very high price of the Olive and linn systems, I doubt a BL5 class price would be much of a head-turner afterall.

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