Get an HD-PVR. This is a big swing and a miss. They dumbed it down for the masses but failed to realize that the masses don't care about this...at least not with these specs. The masses want something that ready to go in 10 minutes. Those that are willing to sit through real time transferring are likely to be people that prefer to have the power of everything in thier hands not some stupid $150 box full of restrictions.
Nomad First Look
- Thread starter jcrandall
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I think the simple answer is convience and "dumbing it down". 99%+ of users have no idea what transcoding is.
I own a Hauppauge HDPVR that captures component and can be transcoded for mobile viewing. I don't use it often, when I do it is just for making a bluray. Simply because it takes my time.
If the Directv solution can do it automatically (it can setup auto series downloads), so all I have to do is tell the computer to download to the iphone or ipad when I sync, that may be worth it to me - even though I have another solution. Time is my importance factor.
$149 with no monthly fee I would think about. $99 with no monthly fee I would probably buy.
I use my slingbox pretty regularly for sports, but I can only get 768k upload max from the providers where I live, so the picture isn't that great. Also, my phone has 4GB of data a month then cost $10/GB. I haven't gone over yet, but have come close. Using the bandwith for only live programming, sports, and watching traditional shows via the Nomad capabilities would cut my bandwith use by half.
I have found that the video quality from apps like HBO-GO, Sunday Ticket to-go and MLB look much better than my slingbox due to my upload bandwith at home. I have been thinking about dropping my Directv sports packages (MLB) and using the online version. Between NFL, MLB, NHL, HBO, NBC, TBS/TNT, and hopefully a few more soon, I think I would have plenty of streaming content to chose from. So for me the real question is how do I use my bandwith, and switching to Sprint is not an option for me (coverage). I have an AT&T 4GB Teathering phone plan that I share with my ipad through bluetooth teathering.
Dumbed Down is the key, the Nomad makes it simple, and I think most users will use the automatic download feature for series. Personally I see most transcoding happening overnight. The copy process only takes 10 minutes or so for a couple hours of content.
Restrictions sounds to be no things like PPV, OTA channels (probably since they are MPEG2), and On Demand content.
Specs, the Nomad holds 20 hours of content ready to copy to portable device / computer. You can double it with a 16GB flash drive. I don't think that is bad. I wouldn't want to put more than 16GB of stuff on my iphone or ipad anyway.
Regarding the monthly cost, it is Free. I believe DirecTV may have made that decision toward the end, as their web pages had free, and the terms/conditions had $5/mo. Anyhow, here is the response from DirecTV we received:
I found this regarding the 5 portable device limit:
You can change the devices at will, but can't add one that was previously removed for 30 days if you have 5 already.
You can change the devices at will, but can't add one that was previously removed for 30 days if you have 5 already.
Thats to keep you from sharing videos with friends who might have missed their favorite show last night...
The OTA part still doesn't make sense; what about ALL the MPEG2 SD satellite channels??? Those CAN be x-ferred, correct???
I read this is not available on Jailbroken devices. That would be the first app I've come across that isn't supported. Bummer.
Actually makes sense. They wrote this around their highest compression format (MPEG4 and simplified it by only supporting one. More effort and complication to support more than one.
No it doesn't work on Jailbroken devices.
Maybe one day there will be a .deb patch to fix that issue, just like they came up with a patch for the Time Warner Cable iOS app.
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Interesting... although I have not jailbroken my iphone/ipad in about a year now.
I am sure we will see a patch for it.
I am sure we will see a patch for it.
I only jailbreak for an emergency tether. I need to balance my need for one vs the other. For now, I'm going to use it on my wife's phone and see how it works with the TV system in the van. Only need it for my son as there is more than enough content on my phone to keep me occupied.
I also use it for a quick tether in a jam. Plus other optimizations on my ipad and iphone.
iphone & ipad - Speed Intensifier (speeds up animations to make device operate MUCH faster)
iphone - sbsettings (quick toggle on/off for certain settings)
MyVolume - tweaks to volume controls based on gestures or even triggered by certain apps ie) make sure that silent means silent!
DeepEnd - uses accelerometer to slightly shift wallpaper behind icons. Great 3D desktop effect.
iBlacklist - Call and SMS filtering since the cell phone companies cant do it for you.
iPad
Retinapad - iOS apps based on retina display resolutions (iphone4 /ipod touch 4G) fill the screen 1:1 pixel mapping. Much better looking legacy apps (960 x 640 vs. pixel doubled 480 x 320)
Barrel - adds a bunch of optional compiz fusion style screen transitions when paging through app icons
Theres others too, but those are the biggies.
iphone & ipad - Speed Intensifier (speeds up animations to make device operate MUCH faster)
iphone - sbsettings (quick toggle on/off for certain settings)
MyVolume - tweaks to volume controls based on gestures or even triggered by certain apps ie) make sure that silent means silent!
DeepEnd - uses accelerometer to slightly shift wallpaper behind icons. Great 3D desktop effect.
iBlacklist - Call and SMS filtering since the cell phone companies cant do it for you.
iPad
Retinapad - iOS apps based on retina display resolutions (iphone4 /ipod touch 4G) fill the screen 1:1 pixel mapping. Much better looking legacy apps (960 x 640 vs. pixel doubled 480 x 320)
Barrel - adds a bunch of optional compiz fusion style screen transitions when paging through app icons
Theres others too, but those are the biggies.
Transcoding at this level is not done in software. It is done in hardware and any hardware than can handle MPEG4 can also handle MPEG2.
A couple of points... With all the apps that stream from the network and premium channels (NBC, HBO2Go, etc...) it seems silly to get the Nomad when these apps stream from anywhere. Also, at $150 for the device, I could just buy all the shows I watch from iTunes.
It's been in beta for a while. They don't launch products like this and hope for the best.
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