Logitech Revue with GoogleTV – A Diamond in the Rough
Review by Scott Greczkowski
Review by Scott Greczkowski
A few years ago while writing for MultiChannel News I said the Internet is the future of television, and boy did I get a lot of flak from people for saying that.
It has been a few years since I wrote that and now the first real merging of the Internet and television is beginning to happen. GoogleTV is the platform that is the first to merge your main television service (whether it's cable or satellite) together with the Internet and do it all using only one input on your TV.
The first consumer GoogleTV appliance is just hitting the markets from Logitech and it is called the Revue. Thanks to the folks at DISH Network I was sent a Revue to review.
When I received my Logitech Revue I was surprised how small it was, I found it hard to believe that there was a keyboard and the Revue unit in the small box. But in the neatly packed box there it was the wireless keyboard, a HDMI cable, power adapter, power cord, IR blaster, envelope with setup instructions and the Revue unit itself.
Hookup of the Revue was simple. I unplugged the HDMI from the back of my TV and plugged it into the HDMI in port on the Revue, then took the included HDMI cable and hooked it to the HDMI out port on the Revue and connected it to the back of my television. I then hooked up an Ethernet cable from my hub to the Revue for its internet connection. (I could have used WIFI as well, but I chose to hardwire it to the net since I had the connection available.) I plugged in the power adapter and flipped the power switch on, on the back of the wireless keyboard. Within a few seconds I saw the Logitech Revue logo on my screen, a smile came across my face in delight.
Shortly after seeing the Revue logo I saw a GoogleTV logo and then was welcomed and taken to setup. The setup was a 12 step process that took about 15 minutes to complete, but was simple enough that anyone could do it.
Part of the process was setting up my DISH Network DVR to work with the REVUE. In the setup it saw all my DISH Network DVR's on my network then asked me which one I was using with the Revue. A few seconds later I saw a picture from my DVR on the screen with a code that I was asked to type into the box on the Revue. Once the code was entered my DVR was now paired with the Revue.
The Revue's wireless keyboard can control your satellite or cable receiver, your television and your AV receiver. For this review I did not use an AV Receiver as I had the Revue hooked directly to my television.
After a brief software download I was welcomed and shown a video welcoming me. After the welcome video displayed I was then taken to the main menu and given a few tips. After I went through all 5 tips I was left at the main menu on my own. I must admit when I got here I was nervous and unsure what to do next. Then, like a kid in a candy store, I then clicked on a bunch of stuff trying everything out. There was so much to do it was almost overwhelming for me.
The first stop was checking the DISH Network integration with GoogleTV. I hit the button to put the Revue in live TV mode and was taken to live video from my DISH Network 722k. My wife commented to me that the picture looked a little fuzzier than normal. I unplugged the HDMI from the Revue and plugged it into my TV directly and noticed the picture was sharper coming direct from my 722k. Then I plugged it back into the GoogleTV and again noticed it was not as clear. Then I looked at my TV screen and hit the info button on my TV remote and noticed that the GoogleTV was up-converting all the 1080i video to 1080p. I went into the settings and turned the resolution down to 1080i and my picture was once again crisp and sharp.
Once we had the picture cleared up we then tried the integration with the 722k. First thing we did was hit the search button and searched for more information about the show we were watching, which at the time was Mythbusters. All kinds of information came back on the show plus links for watching other episodes of the show including direct links to purchase old episodes from Amazon.com. We played with this feature for awhile looking up different shows, the stars of the shows, and enjoyed reading a number of WIKI articles about the show we were interested in. It was a fun feature.
The next thing we did was hit the home button and scrolled down to the QUEUE option, here we could see all recordings on the 722k and even all the recordings on the external hard drive! We could select any show from the list and it would start playing instantly.
Another DISH integration feature was seeing what's on, it gave you listings for all the channels, plus you could see what was on by category. Additionally you could set timers on your DVR from the Revue. DISH Network is charging $4 a month extra to have this functionality.
The Logitech Revue comes with a number of built in Applications, such as CNBC Real Time, the Google Chrome Web Browser, Logitech Media Player, Netflix and Pandora. The number of application is limited at the moment but this will change next year when you can install apps from the Google Apps store. The best app of the lot is the CNBC Real-Time which shows the power of having an internet connected television is about. The CNBC Real-Time app lets you check your stocks in an easy to use interface plus if your stock is talked about on CNBC next to the quote you can click on it and watch video of them talking about your stock choice.
I was highly disappointed with the Netflix application. I have used Netflix on a lot of devices and the version of Netflix on the Revue is the worst I have used. First, it only lets you view shows or movies which you have selected to watch in your instant view queue. You cannot add movies or shows from within the Netflix application. If you want to add shows or movies you need to exit the app and go into Google Chrome and add to your queue via the Netflix website. Secondly, the picture quality from the Netflix app is the worst quality I have experienced from any Netflix enabled appliance. Just to make sure there was nothing wrong with my internet connection I tried Netflix on my PS3, my ROKU and my WDTV Live Plus boxes, and all of them blew away the Netflix quality on the Revue. The good news is that this is a software issue and I have a feeling we will see the Netflix app updated to match the other Netflix enabled clients in short order.
The most disappointing application for me was the Logitech Media Player. The Logitech Media Player allows you to play multimedia files from your network or attached USB storage. In my tests the Revue was unable to play most of the video files I threw at it. To be fair it was stated on the video playback screen that "Video playback is now in beta. Some video formats are not supported." Most of my audio files played fine however, but I found no way to create a playlist or do a shuffle play of songs. With a few thousand songs in my collection I don't want to hear them played one after another in alphabetical order. Because most of my music is from iTunes the Revue did not display the album artwork for any of my songs. Again like the Netflix app, this is a software issue so I expect it to get updated and be more usable in the near future.
There is also a basic Twitter application built in and while basic it gets the job done. You are supposed to be able to press the star button on the keyboard and tweet what you´re watching however every time I tried in the tweet box it would just display the 4 letter abbreviation of the channels I was watching (i.e. DISC for Discovery channel) or it wouldn't work at all.
There are two separate on demand services available currently through the Revue, from Amazon.COM and from DISH Network. The Amazon VOD was very well laid out and friendly on the eyes, while the DISH Network was highly blank with very limited selection. The DISH Cinema listings just showed the title of the movie and under the title said "FVOD." Selecting a movie from DISH Cinema showed you a very brief description and clicking on it again asked you to confirm your order and showed you the price. There was no preview of the movie nor was there an expanded description of the movie. I don't get how DISH Network keeps managing to put out such a terrible VOD product, it is my feeling this is something the company should excel at... and this is not just a problem on the GoogleTV platform it is like this on all of their VOD enable devices.
An interesting section on the Revue is a selection called Spotlight. Spotlight is a menu of websites which have been customized for GoogleTV enabled devices. The best one is a site called TuneIn Radio. TuneIn Radio lets you listen to live audio streams from many radio stations from around the world! TuneIn Radio is quick to connect and makes it easy to find the station you want to listen to. The interface is designed for the GoogleTV and works extremely well! This is one of my favorite sites on the Revue box. Another very good GoogleTV optimized site is CNET. CNET offers lots of technology news and reviews. The interface is clean and easy to use and the content is very good!
In the center of the Spotlight menu is an icon for HBO GO. When you click on it, it tells you that you can Sign Up for HBO Go and it's FREE with your HBO subscription. I was like COOL so I clicked the sign up button and was then asked to select my TV provider. The only selections were Comcast Cable and Verizon Fios. I selected other since I have DISH Network and got a message that HBO Go was not available from my television provider. I was kind of upset about that.
In my trials of the Logitech Revue I also used the new Harmony Remote App for the Android platform on my Sprint Evo. This app let me control all of the functions of my Logitech Revue on my phone. Many times I found myself using my phone more than the keyboard. It also has some cool features as well, for example if I am on my phone watching a YouTube video I can press a button and send the video to be shown on my TV screen. In addition it also gave me full control of all functions on my television.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I said it before I will say it again, Internet television is the future of television, and I truly believe that Logitech Revue is a diamond in the rough.
I do feel that the GoogleTV platform was rushed to the market in order to be available for the holiday season. The software feels unfinished and this is very noticeable as you try applications such as Netflix and the Media player. But the Revue is usable in this state and will continue getting better as time goes on.
The hardware itself however works and works well. The keyboard was well thought out and is comfortable to use, however for TV watching I found it easier and more convenient to using my phone as a remote to control things. The only time I used the keyboard is when I was doing a lot of searching or browsing the Internet. The keyboard can also control your TV and AV receiver which is a plus. I found myself grabbing the keyboard a few times when the volume on the TV was too loud.
The DISH Network integration is neat, however I don't find myself using them that often. If I want to look at the guide, set a timer or see what´s on my DVR it´s much easier to use the DISH Network remote then use the Google TV interface. I feel that the $4 a month charge for this integration is too high. I would consider paying for it if it was 99 cents, but I feel $4 is way too high for what it does. Without paying the fee you can still search and control your DISH receiver but you don't get the TV listings, the list of what´s on your DVR or set timers. For me I am ok with that.
I know that certain networks are blocking GoogleTV appliances at the moment and that didn't affect me at all, although I would love to see them add Hulu support in the future.
My wish list for future features are as follows:
- GMAIL application with on screen notifications of new mail
- Email support application for external email with on screen notification of new mail
- On screen notification of new tweets from Twitter
- Support for more video types including ISO files.
I feel even with the software flaws at the moment if you get the $179 deal from DISH Network it is still worth it. Do not think of the Logitech Revue as the next generation of WebTV as it is so much more than that. It does a lot today and will do so much more tomorrow. Even with its flaws the device is extremely usable and will get better over time.
I believe that the Logitech Revue is a diamond in the rough and over time you will watch it get polished right in front of your eyes. The Logitech Revue with GoogleTV is the future of television.
