Beyonwiz DP-S1 makes Apple TV look like a lemon

Friday May 18th, 2007

I only unpacked the Beyonwiz DP-S1 high def PVR an hour ago, but I'm already making plans to fake my own death and move to South America so I don't have to give it back.

Forget Apple TV, the Beyonwiz DP-S1 delivers the goods.

Apple-worshippers can rave all they want about the hamstrung Apple TV, but the Beyonwiz DP-S1 leaves it for dead. Elegant, Sophisticated, Sexy. The Topfield promise finally delivered - even if not by Topfield.

Thanks to some creative Apple TV hacking, Cupertino's media player is gradually becoming more useful - but it will never attain the functionality the Beyonwiz DP-S1 offers out of the box. Sure it's three times the price of the Apple TV, but it offers at least three times the features. It's a dual-tuner HD PVR, DivX DVD player, network media player and soon to be Video on Demand box thanks to IceTV's upcoming VoD service. In short, entertainment Nerdvana.

The Beyonwiz will play a myriad of file formats from any network attached computer or storage device, as well as CD/DVD, USB device or memory card. No special formats. No special software. It's designed to do what people want to do, rather than what vendors want them to do.

In the other corner is the Apple TV, dependent on iTunes and the content-less iTunes store. Apple demands you have a TV with high def inputs, yet there's nothing worth watching if you live outside the US. Sure it's easy to use, but that because it hardly does anything. The Beyonwiz DP-S1 is proving to be just as user friendly, while letting me do so much more.

Sure you can argue "of course the Beyonwiz is better, just look at the price tag" - but as a media player alone the Beyonwiz still outclasses the Apple TV. It's got nothing to do with money, it's got to do with the fact the Apple TV is deliberately designed to do so little. Apple's insistence on limiting its products means it couldn't match the Beyonwiz at any price.

My bag is packed, my ticket to Rio de Janeiro booked and I've called a cab to take me to the airport. If Beyonwiz calls, tell them I'm dead.

UPDATE: Now the honeymoon is over, read my full review of the Beyonwiz DP-S1

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16 comments

Comment from: brotherStefan [Visitor]

Gee... imagine that;

... and at only about 5 times the price of the Apple TV.

No wonder you're considering leaving the country so you don't have to pay for it.

18/05/07 @ 07:26

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

I think you miss my point, the Apple TV isn't limited because it's cheaper - it's limited because of Apple's insistence on iTunes. You could strip the Beyonwiz back to just a media player and it would still run rings around the Apple TV.

18/05/07 @ 10:58

Comment from: McDave [Visitor]

Another Journo that's missed the point of AppleTV! Another PVR still pulling on the same tired TV concept that everyoneâ€™s been trying to change for decades whilst promising compatibility with one that hasnâ€™t been launched yet. Tell me, how does it control my Sky decoder or will I need two of them? And managing my 8000+ songs, music videos, movies (for iPod & TV), podcasts & photos? (none of which actually need to be on the cache-drive) That must be one hell of a remote control!

Conceptually very last-century, nice box though!

McD
(AppleTV fanboy - because it works!)

18/05/07 @ 12:21

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

McDave, sure the AppleTV works - that's because it does stuff all. The Beyonwiz works just as well as the Apple TV as a media player but it does a hell of a lot more (before you even get into the other features). I don't want to be locked into iTunes - I want to play what I want from where I want. The Beyonwiz doesn't need files to be on the drive - just like the AppleTV it will play them from any network computer (plus it will play directly from network attached storage).

If next century means suffering the AppleTV's limitations, then you can keep it. I haven't missed the point of AppleTV, I just refuse to buy an inferior product just because it has Steve Jobs' blessing.

18/05/07 @ 12:42

Comment from: MikeP [Visitor]

The Beyonwiz is an amazing device. Much more flexible than AppleTV. If you have two of them, you just hit pause on one screen and then resume on the other and it continues playing in the next room. It finds stuff on any network shares you have, and it will play stuff from the net in High Definition, which the AppleTV won't do because it is limited. That's Adam's point.

However, having said all that, I am also very attracted to the latest LinuxMCE - it can turn on my TV, control my lighting, remote control my VCR and DVD player, is integrated with Asterisk PABX software so I can make calls through my TV (and they follow me through the house), will send a java remote applet to bluetooth phones and more. It will also net-boot other computers in my house as a LinuxMCE station without installing anything on that computer. This thing is incredible - see http://www.linuxmce.com and watch the demo video. It makes Beyonwiz look like it's missing a thing or two.

18/05/07 @ 23:56

Comment from: Dream [Visitor]

What's so good about this box? at $1600 is a very expensive proposition.

I can do everything it does and lots more with a HTPC and with less money.

My HTPC cost me $1300 and I got four tuners, including satellite TV (Select TV) bigger HDD, full internet access, video editing, etc etc.
I think the concept is rather dated and the future is going to be either fully fledged HTPC/Media centers or PC based Media servers with small inexpensive Network Media Players attached to each TV in the home and using the server as the gateway to everything.

21/05/07 @ 11:14

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

That's $1600 Australian, you'd struggle to build a decent media center for $1600 Australian. I'm building one at the moment and it's tough to stay under $2000. I think you're right, the central server and media player is probably the way of the future. Still, many people don't want the hassle of getting a HTPC to work and then maintaining it.

21/05/07 @ 12:32

Comment from: McDave [Visitor]

Ahhh, I see, so you're just rebelling against Apple then. Strange, you look older! iTunes is just a media client like any other and will happily interrogate your media library without interfering (as long as youâ€™re using industry-standard MPEG4 files not rip-offs). If it had fewer media management features and just exposed AppleTV to a load of files on your network/internet, which may or may not play because the â€˜standardsâ€™ arenâ€™t, would that make it better?

I used to have a nightmare vision of TV in the future replacing the click-one-button simplicity, that makes it so popular, with loads of quirky, mis-designed â€˜channelsâ€™ that I now know as websites. Opening these devices up to the net is actually making that nightmare happen!

Still, youâ€™re just doing what youâ€™ve been socially conditioned to do and respond to â€˜choiceâ€™ even if collectively those choices arenâ€™t useful, which they arenâ€™t, and thatâ€™s why Beyonwiz wonâ€™t sell. Even youâ€™re not buying one.

McD

21/05/07 @ 12:49

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

McDave, I'm rebelling against being locked into iTunes. It would be better if I could browse all of my files and choose which formats I want to play. Yes, with this comes the risk of files not working - but that's a risk I'm prepared to take. Such choices are very useful, because in Australia the iTunes store is completely useless. Why should I lock myself into Apple/iTunes when there's nothing to watch?

21/05/07 @ 13:25

Comment from: Dream [Visitor]

It is very easy to build within that price, you might even get it already built for you.
Example: http://www.pioneercomputers.com.au/products/configure.asp?c1=4&c2=26&id=521
add the tuners and you have a machine that goes very well beyond the beyonwiz:)

21/05/07 @ 14:53

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

That's ex-demo. Once you look at their current model and spec it up properly (like adding a tuner card, bigger HDD and more RAM) it comes to $1998.

http://www.pioneercomputers.com.au/products/configure.asp?c1=4&c2=26&id=1659

21/05/07 @ 15:56

Comment from: McDave [Visitor]

Adam, I'm just winding. The Beyonwiz looks like a cracking gadget, I haven't used it so I don't know HOW it works (which is more important to me than features). The whole open system thing will keep it very much in the geek domain - consumers do need more handholding or they get dissappointed. I'm even finding my AppleTV a bit manual & with no HiDef from iTS & drag'n'drop DVD import from iTunes it's half-a-job but even so the Beyonwiz is still no competition.

Cheers, McD

22/05/07 @ 05:40

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

Yeah, they're aimed at different markets. The Beyonwiz is certainly more flexible than the Apple TV but, now I've had a closer look at it, it still needs a bit more polish than I originally thought. Apple TV is driving this gear into the mainstream - it will be interesting to see what happens next.

22/05/07 @ 10:01

Comment from: Karl [Visitor]

A slightly different question Adam to what people have been asking -

Now you have had to play with it how do you rate the UI? Comfortable and easy to use? Or confusing and hellish?

I'd be interested in a comparison with say the TiVo (not available in the AU market) and using EyeTV on a computer. This is what I am currently using (just returned to Aus from the US) and I must say it leaves something to be desired compared to the Tivo.

22/05/07 @ 16:47

Comment from: Adam TURNER [Member]

The UI isn't as idiot-proof as the Apple TV, but it is trying to cram a lot of features into one box. It's certainly not hellish but you will find yourself turning to the manual for a few days because a few things are hidden in less than obvious places. The media player can be a little confusing at first because you can accidentally switch views (say from video to audio) and wonder why there are no files showing up when you look at your video folder. Unless you're an absolute newbie you should be able to find/use most features out of the box and I'd say within a week you'd have mastered it - which I don't think is unreasonable. Sorry I haven't played with a TiVo, but I suspect I'd own one if I lived in the US.

22/05/07 @ 16:58

Comment from: rob [Visitor]

Recently noticed Bing Lee stores were selling these for around $1399 reduced on special to about $1099, which I reckon is pretty good value.
cheers
rob

06/06/08 @ 12:54

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