Receiver with best Ethernet interface?

[BMXTRIX]

Just curious as to those who have used USB & Ethernet interfaces on their receivers to help others understand what they have really liked/hated about the experience.

It seems like Ethernet is standard on many new receivers, but from what I've seen, the products fall incredibly short of what a WDTV or AppleTV can deliver... yet they do offer some semblance of quality.

I see a point when you can network or directly attach hard drives and the A/V receiver (or television!) becomes the networked media center, but at this point, what do we have that's decent, and why?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Just curious as to those who have used USB & Ethernet interfaces on their receivers to help others understand what they have really liked/hated about the experience.

It seems like Ethernet is standard on many new receivers, but from what I've seen, the products fall incredibly short of what a WDTV or AppleTV can deliver... yet they do offer some semblance of quality.

I see a point when you can network or directly attach hard drives and the A/V receiver (or television!) becomes the networked media center, but at this point, what do we have that's decent, and why?

Imo they only way to make this a reality is for new risky company like Emotiva, is to make pre-pro/receiver with capability of being re-reprogrammed (at least the media client part) with some standard software platform, like regular linux or android. Something with ready SDK already available. Make it open source for a while and then build on top of it and commercialize than.

 

[highfigh]

Just curious as to those who have used USB & Ethernet interfaces on their receivers to help others understand what they have really liked/hated about the experience.

It seems like Ethernet is standard on many new receivers, but from what I've seen, the products fall incredibly short of what a WDTV or AppleTV can deliver... yet they do offer some semblance of quality.

I see a point when you can network or directly attach hard drives and the A/V receiver (or television!) becomes the networked media center, but at this point, what do we have that's decent, and why?

By 'interface', you're referring to the operation of the unit, right? I'm sure licensing agreements are needed for some things, like AirPlay on Denon receivers, which has to be paid for. These don't use an OS or browser, in the sense of a computer and that keeps them from using applications the way a computer, iPod/iPad, cell phone, etc would.

Denon receivers have a Net/USB source that can be used for accessing Pandora, Rhapsody and other services, or it can be used with a USB drive when you would want to play music files. It's not a perfect interface for thumb drives or hard drives, but they're working on it.

BTW- playing Pandora works well, although people who aren't familiar with "techy' equipment will have problems. Personally, I like the Panasonic BD player's VieraCast method of accessing online content but i haven't used any others.

 

[BMXTRIX]

By 'interface', you're referring to the operation of the unit, right? I'm sure licensing agreements are needed for some things, like AirPlay on Denon receivers, which has to be paid for. These don't use an OS or browser, in the sense of a computer and that keeps them from using applications the way a computer, iPod/iPad, cell phone, etc would.

I'm referring to the GUI - the user interface.

You said you like the Panasonic BD player, as do I, but these receivers are now building in features, as are televisions. The problem is that BD players have interfaces which are worlds better than the receivers, so why do receivers even bother if they can't even keep up with $100 Blu-ray players?

Seems like they should remove the option if they aren't going to use it, or actually do it right.

Already, just like BD players and TVs, the firmware of Ethernet equipped receivers gets firmware updates and upgrades.

If you've used a AppleTV, or WDTV, or something like a Popcorn Hour or Dune, you start to understand what a powerful tool that ethernet port could be if it was properly implemented. But, while BD players and TVs are starting to do pretty well, the receiver, the heart of the system, seems to be poor, at best, and go down from there.

 

[Warpdrv]

After being an original modder of xbox's and running XBMC, then moving on to a popcorn hour (to stream blurays) - and now a dual computer build starting with the latest XBMC is on order - there is nothing like a good powerful EXTERNAL device that can take care of all your needs...

I honestly would never buy a receiver for a network GUI as IMO they are all just crap...

I stream all my movies & music through my PCH's right now(which will be sold soon), as nice as they are, I will do the same with my new HTPC's... After seeing what krzywica had running with his XBMC computer rigs - I new a change would be in order - so freakin incredible.

Seriously check out some of these skins to use as GUI's http://xbmc.org/skins/
Full network control with an android app on a tablet or phone...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

After being an original modder of xbox's and running XBMC, then moving on to a popcorn hour (to stream blurays) - and now a dual computer build starting with the latest XBMC is on order - there is nothing like a good powerful EXTERNAL device that can take care of all your needs...

I honestly would never buy a receiver for a network GUI as IMO they are all just crap...

I stream all my movies & music through my PCH's right now(which will be sold soon), as nice as they are, I will do the same with my new HTPC's... After seeing what krzywica had running with his XBMC computer rigs - I new a change would be in order - so freakin incredible.

Seriously check out some of these skins to use as GUI's http://xbmc.org/skins/
Full network control with an android app on a tablet or phone...

XMBC and Boxee are both awesome apps and Panasonic VeiraCast is a very poor relative next to them, but technically nothing stops from appliance makers to improve their Media GUI, which is currently severely lagging behind the curve.... What I proposed above could be potential solution to this problem

The real next step is to integrate your cablebox, dvr and xbmc like media client into a single box.

 

[Bismarck]

I have personally used the internet GUI on both the new Pioneer and Denon receivers. I also have experience with the Yamaha Aventage receivers. The GUI on all of them is sub-par. It is not quick and easy to use. I would describe them as beta, clunky, and ugly. However, the airplay feature on the Denon and Pioneers worked flawlessly for me. If you are looking for something to work well with USB and web content, follow the advice of the other forum members and get some type of external device.

A HTPC is a good idea, but if you aren't into the more "custom" route of doing things, a Roku box or something similar is a great idea for basic web content. SoundandVision mag just did a comparison of a number of devices, including AppleTV, Roku and Boxee.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I'm not looking for a player, I'm looking for personal experiences.

I have a Dune media player with 10TB of local storage. Over 1,000 TV episodes, 500+ DVDs, and over 100BDs on it right now.

But, I see a time when the media player comes as a system on a chip and am wondering if receiver manufacturers are just messing around with something that they have no business putting their fingers in, or what.

My feeling is that all these media interfaces are terrible.

But, when it comes to the direct iPod interface, I'm not sure if there is a BD player which is acceptable either.

 

[Warpdrv]

Well there is the rub and it seems that everything receiver GUI falls short, and I mean - I have no idea why they even put those types of lame @$$ interfaces together and basically they just never get used IMO. Even the dune or PCH aren't really all the greatest implementation of what a player could or should be...

I was truly blown away with what krzywica showed me how XBMC is truly at the top of the heap in terms of flexibility and has the sexiest user interface I have always started out loving on my original xboxes modded.

After seeing what he has, and with the 2 way communication on his phones or nook color I am already starting my build. Got the nook color and twin pc parts will be here next week... I can surf music on the nook, stack stuff in que while not even being in the room. Great for parties....

I understand your not looking but hey, just thought I throw in my 2 cents

 

[ashergill]

Then there are those of us who have a strictly music setup, with no TV. The interface of the receiver becomes an even bigger issue. I'm setting up my system, and want to stream FLAC files to the receiver from my media server. Don't think I could achieve this with the receiver alone, even if it can play FLAC files directly when served up by the server. I've bought a SqueezeBox Touch, and hope that will get the job done painlessly.