http://www.rokulabs.com
I got mine today - including the wifi adapter card (which is now included with purchase, instead of the previously advertised $49 additional price)
Setup was an absolute snap. Plug in the PCMCIA-sized card into the side of the tube, plug the provided RCA cables into the other end of the tube in the obvious connector openings, and supply power to the same end as the RCA cables. Then I tried to plug in the other end of the RCA line to my receiver, but alas the provided cable goes from full-size RCA plugs down to a 1/8" minijack for smaller stereos. Luckily, I had an extra set of RCA-RCA patch cords laying around and replaced with that, and voilà - it worked. Immediately after turning it on, it found my wireless network, and asked for the password to join. After passing it in, it flawlessly found my G5 and my powerbook on the wireless LAN and found the shared iTunes playlists.
The screen is easy to read, with variable brightness and font sizes, both adjustable from the remote. In fact, everything is accessible from the remote, as the tube/box itself has no controls on it at all. It's totally clean.
I was suprised to see the mount it came with is simply a block of hardened rubber hollowed out on one side to accept the curved surface of the SoundBridge, and allow it to pivot in the block to whatever position works best for the viewer.
The only drawback is that it currently won't play songs purchased from the iTMS, but apparently they're working on a software update that will allow that functionality in the future. The sound quality is excellent, the remote feels sturdy in your hand and is layed out ergonomically, and since plugging it in it hasn't had a problem yet.
I'd give the Roku SoundBridge M1000 4 out of 5 stars, simply for the lack of interoperability with iTMS files, but if that gets fixed, the last star will be added from me.
Hope someone finds this helpful -
Mudbug
I got mine today - including the wifi adapter card (which is now included with purchase, instead of the previously advertised $49 additional price)
Setup was an absolute snap. Plug in the PCMCIA-sized card into the side of the tube, plug the provided RCA cables into the other end of the tube in the obvious connector openings, and supply power to the same end as the RCA cables. Then I tried to plug in the other end of the RCA line to my receiver, but alas the provided cable goes from full-size RCA plugs down to a 1/8" minijack for smaller stereos. Luckily, I had an extra set of RCA-RCA patch cords laying around and replaced with that, and voilà - it worked. Immediately after turning it on, it found my wireless network, and asked for the password to join. After passing it in, it flawlessly found my G5 and my powerbook on the wireless LAN and found the shared iTunes playlists.
The screen is easy to read, with variable brightness and font sizes, both adjustable from the remote. In fact, everything is accessible from the remote, as the tube/box itself has no controls on it at all. It's totally clean.
I was suprised to see the mount it came with is simply a block of hardened rubber hollowed out on one side to accept the curved surface of the SoundBridge, and allow it to pivot in the block to whatever position works best for the viewer.
The only drawback is that it currently won't play songs purchased from the iTMS, but apparently they're working on a software update that will allow that functionality in the future. The sound quality is excellent, the remote feels sturdy in your hand and is layed out ergonomically, and since plugging it in it hasn't had a problem yet.
I'd give the Roku SoundBridge M1000 4 out of 5 stars, simply for the lack of interoperability with iTMS files, but if that gets fixed, the last star will be added from me.
Hope someone finds this helpful -
Mudbug
