Do you think we ought to run a BS5 poll to judge whether we think we're going to buy, ignore or wait now we've seen the launch specs and images?

I will definitively not buy BS5. At least at the beginning not as there will be very soon I think a lot of changes which will be shown with first usage and must be corrected.

As I habe BS9000 I will buy a ne iMac with 1 tera of HD space and BeoPort, this is all I need. But when BS5 one day streams also video formats such as avi where I can load folms directly from PC into BeoMaster5 and watch films then on TV then I will buy BS5 for sure. I think 500 GB of HD space will then be upgradable to more space.

Tough one, me personally I would wait and see what happens to BS5 in a year or two and see what developments or rather improvements are made and how the market changes and how relative BS5 is then.

Lab 5s still remain my priority and I would rather save for them over BS5 but having said that.. never say never....

 

What I would like to buy is BV9 one day as replacement for BV7 32", so perhaps then I would buy BS5 if it will have a video streaming possibility.

I'm with mobeyone on this, Lab5s are a priority in my book now, I may not have them for another 10 years, but I know I will one day. Until then, I'll enjoy my BS9K, BV8 combination (and maybe an appleTV in there for good measure). -Sal

I can set up a poll easily but would suggest a little hands on at your dealer before jumping to any immediate decision one way or another!

Let me add my poll contribution now - IGNORE!

KingOfSnake:

Let me add my poll contribution now - IGNORE!

Explain? Ignore BS5? A poll? The forum? Peter?!

Peter :

I can set up a poll easily but would suggest a little hands on at your dealer before jumping to any immediate decision one way or another!

I think it is too soon to have a poll.  A few times, I immediately disliked a B&O product from a web announcement and then found I liked it a lot when I saw it in person. The other problem is we need more time learning and asking questions.  I noticed a lot of misinformation in the Beosound 5 forum.

Lets have some lively discussions but wait at least a few months for a poll. Thanks

linder:

Lets have some lively discussions but wait at least a few months for a poll. Thanks

A very astute view in my opinion. Lets get our hands on it first, have a play, then comment.

Lee 

absolute

I will buy one!! Finally I don`t have to have my pc on and a mouse and keabord in my livingroom when listening to music, and the design is so awesome

 

 

9 LEE:

linder:

Lets have some lively discussions but wait at least a few months for a poll. Thanks

A very astute view in my opinion. Lets get our hands on it first, have a play, then comment.

Lee 

I must admit that I was very sceptical as a lot of people here. Yesterday I had the chance to play with BS5 and I think it`s a great product.

The user interface is so logical and fast. It´s pure fun to play with it. You can control different functions at the same time with one hand (even if you are a left-hander...!). Creating playlists is so fast and easy. And there is so much  Beo-feeling. As Alex mentioned several times before it`s not another mp3 juke-box but a real Beosound. Since I saw, touched, felt the BS5 in flesh I also like the design - much better than on pics- and I will have no problems to place the BS5 next to my BS9000.

BTW: Thanks to Paul, Morten, Erling from B&O Sønderborg and Henning from B&O Struer for a great evening  with a lot of questions, discussion and fun. 

Stefan 

 

Great to know that "in flesh", the BeoSound 5 is pure B&O !

It's always like this with B&O : the pics can give a first impression but when we see the product in real and we can touch it and understand it, it's amazing !

And remember : "No Bang & Olufsen product has ever been created merely to take up space or to be hidden away. They are made to be seen, heard and experienced..."

Why should we not have two polls: one now after the presentation and one after the real launch.

So far my reply would be: Totally disappointed, do not want one with the specs they've published at the price they're asking. (I am struggling vey hard here not to use any xxxx language) 

Don't go by specs - they mean very little. The BeoSound 5 isn't just a computer with a shiny controller...

I think it's too early to judge. How the content gets on that thing plays a huge role. Who would be willing to maintain multiple libraries, i.e. Itunes for Ipod & Beoplayer for this one.

 

Also, big also, if they can show a 2 way in march when it starts shipping I would think that could turn few things aorund.

I think with these huge delays they just had to put something out and deliver the rest a bit later. This is actually fine by me, It is much easier to save for something when you know what it is. And something tells me that it might be worth saving for. For BC2, it took me multiple years until I got myself to push the button.

 

Cheers

JK 

 

I've been re-ripping my entire CD collection and swapping between WMP10 and Beoplayer 4.83.

 

I have found that WMP10 - although not the latest and greatest software I'm sure,  - it is fine for me to ripping, tag-edit and cover-embed. Once I have edited all my albums, I let Beoplayer scan and load-up the data. This is quick and easy and I can do it on any PC/drive in 5 minutes. The tags are perfect, the covers perfect. No issues. If in the future BS5 does load up it's hard drive via an external hard drive and MS explorer and then scans the music up via Beoplayer XX (for BS5) then I don't see any issues. It's going to be easy-peesey!

 

If on the other hand B&O have opted to load the BS5 from a PC via Beoplayer and use the "copy" function like they do on the BS6 and Serenata, then they're going to have real big mess. The transfer of 4Gb of music with cover art on my Serenata takes 2 to 4 hours. If you do this on a 200Gb drive, it's going to take a week to load which will be unacceptable.

 

My suspicion is that B&O are taking the second option because they probably don't want the owner to see anything that reveals itself as windows and looks a pure B&O software invention from "power-on" to standby.

 

With the remote, I don't think were going to see an upgrade of the Beo5 for the Beosound 5 anytime soon. I think the perception at B&O is that the purpose of the head-unit is to get you off the sofa and to interact with it directly. I am sure it is possible after all, look at the Serenata from a technical and user interface perspective; does it not do what a lot of forum members want here? Wheel, intuitive operation, selection of tracks and covers etc?? B&O have chosen (either wisely or unwisely according to your own individual perspectives) not to.

 

Also, I don't think the Beo5 will be able to complement the intuitive control philosophy of the Beosound 5. The wheel is at present for volume (ANALOGUE_1_UP/DW) and not tracks/albums (CSTEP_UP/DW) - although I am going to try this to see how it works on mine. This would require a major sea-change in operation for most customers and be frankly - confusing.

 

Finally, I think the Beo5 also does not have the memory capacity to hold several hundred cover-art images and the associated tag data as part of the control interface even if you could replicate the BS5 controls on the hardware side.

 

 

10%

 

Alex:

Don't go by specs - they mean very little. The BeoSound 5 isn't just a computer with a shiny controller...

You're right - the BS5 is just the shiny controller

I had great expectations in BeoSound 5, and, once again, I'm bitterly disappointed..where is the revolution?

What does it do that my BeoPort doesn't already do??MOTS? I only listen to albums from track 1 to last track, because it is the way the artists made the album..

If it really sells around EUR 5,000, it means you can get 5 BeoPort boxes + 5 laptop PCs and have much more possibilities, not only in terms of PC applications, but also in terms of BeoLink, because at least with BeoPort you can build a network in 5 different rooms and have full control AND view of what is going on.

Does BS5 have  built-in BeoLink Wireless? No

Does it show track/artists name in NRADIO? No

Does it have  playlists in NMUSIC? Yes, these ones are limited to...9 tracks! (read in the user guide).

Does it have a touch-screen? No

Can you connect a mouse or keyboard to BM 5 to navigate through the web on your BeoVision? No (user guide once again says the 2 USB sockets are for service use only)

Can you add an external hard drive? No (all my music is already on a hard-disk, why should I move the whole contents once again??)

At the end of the day, I would pay 5 times more than my current BeoPort box + laptop, just for a wheel and 3 cables?

Why didn't B&O simply release a wi-fi or Bluetooth touch-screen that could have been paired with BeoPort and allowed us to navigate and play music from any room in the house?

Touch screens are overrated. IMO the wheel functionality is much nicer to use than any touch screen, which will just end up grubby and doesn't provide any tactile feedback.

To be honest, built in BeoLink Wireless would just bump the price up further, and most customers won't want the BeoLink Wireless!

The N.Radio display thing was something which bugged me too, but then again the version you have used is a prototype - not the final product! The likelihood is that this will change.

RE connecting a keyboard + mouse to it, I see what you mean, but IMO browsing the 'net with a keyboard/mouse is a 'sitting at a desk' thing, not a 'sitting in the lounge in front of my TV' thing.

A bluetooth touchscreen to be paired with BeoPort would be just like all the other solutions on the market - not very exciting is it!

The other points I could possibly agree with, although this could all change as they bring out new software.

Alex:

To be honest, built in BeoLink Wireless would just bump the price up further, and most customers won't want the BeoLink Wireless!

At £3750, I think they ought to be able to build in a wireless feature. Hell, the cheap 8GB iPod Touch has WiFi. Please don't tell me that they'd have to 'charge more' for basic wireless access. You can pick up a card for your laptop for around £30 - they could have added that to the BM5.

Don't confuse WiFi and BeoLink Wireless - the two are really quite different! In fact the BeoLink Wireless is quite a special little piece of kit. Producing a reliable latency free digital transmission system is no easy feat. The BeoLink Wireless works completely differently to say, iTunes streaming over WiFi.

Alex:

Don't confuse WiFi and BeoLink Wireless - the two are really quite different! In fact the BeoLink Wireless is quite a special little piece of kit. Producing a reliable latency free digital transmission system is no easy feat. The BeoLink Wireless works completely differently to say, iTunes streaming over WiFi.

Alex, I think I know a bit about producing devices that adhere to the 802.11b/g standard, which is what the Beolink Wireless device uses. All it does differently is make sure it negotiates a different channel, to avoid transmission issues!

BTW, I have absolutely no issues with streaming audio across my old apartment using Airport Express.

Although the AirPort Express is not latency free. The BeoLink Wireless accepts an analogue audio input and beams it across your house with zero audible latency. The Apple system has a good few seconds of latency.