Logitech Revue
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We have collected 7 reviews of the Logitech Revue. Experts rate Logitech Revue 5.5/10. Reviewsor.com helps you find reviews, best prices, user reviews of the Logitech Revue and Logitech Media streamer.
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Logitech Revue Reviews
Logitech Revue Review
You can't accuse Google of being unambitious. Not content with having their Android OS take great bites out of the smartphone market, the search giant has also put it to work as the core of Google TV, a new play for the home entertainment segment. Most early-adopters will dip their tow with the Logitech Revue, a compact set-top box with a not-so-compact $300 price tag. The promise is that Google TV harnesses the power of search and online media to the breadth of broadcast television, but does the Revue deliver? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. As STBs go, the Revue is relatively inoffensive in its design. A reasonably compact 247 x 171 x 36 mm box, it's finished in matte and gloss black plastic with a couple of indicator LEDs up front but no display or channel indicator, as you might find on a cable or satellite tuner. On the back there's an HDMI input and an HDMI output, two IR blaster ports for using the optional IR wand Logitech includes, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, ethernet and S/PDIF, together with a power port. The Revue's PSU is an external, laptop-style block. Inside, meanwhile, is Intel's CE4100 SoC, a combination of the company's 1.2GHz Atom CPU and an HD-capable GPU.
Logitech Revue
Hat’s off to Logitech: They really know how to design a keyboard. Our opinion of the rest of the Revue—Logitch’s first Google TV product—isn’t nearly as lofty. The Revue’s utility in no way justifies its $300 price tag. And while Dish Network customers can buy the device at the subsidized price of $180, they’ll forever pay a $4 per month “DVR integration fee” to get full use of it. The Revue is based on Google’s Google TV concept and is designed to let you search for and enjoy all types of media, be it on a pay TV service, the Internet, a USB hard drive, somewhere on your local network, or on your DVR (although it fully integrates only with Dish Network DVRs right now). The Revue doesn’t have a TV tuner or a hard drive, depending instead on an outboard tuner or a set-top box equipped with an HDMI output for those capabilities. We tested the Revue with a Dish Network ViP 622 high-definition DVR, with the Revue acting as a wireless Ethernet bridge connecting the DVR to our network and broadband connection (i.e., we connected the Revue to our wireless network and then hard-wired the Revue to our DVR). Don't get fingerprints on the Revue's glossy black top, because you'll scratch it when you try to wipe them off.
Logitech Revue with Google TV Review
Logitech's Revue brings the Web to your TV as the first set-top box with the Google TV operating system. “Internet on your television” is probably right up there with jetpacks, flying cars and the white iPhone 4 in terms of consumer disappointment; many companies have claimed to pull it off, none have actually delivered. Logitech wants to change that with the Revue, the first set-top box powered by Google TV.The Revue brings elements of the Web to your screen, from YouTube, Flickr and Twitter to everyday browsing, plus local music, video and photos from your home network, and even content from an attached cable box. Unless you want to cobble together a home theater PC from scratch and deal with the many issues of dragging a box meant for a desk into your living room, the Revue promises to be the next best thing - in theory, anyway. But is it easy enough for casual users to adopt? Will home theater diehards be satisfied enough to give up their omnipotent computers? Google and Logitech may have a ways to go in satisfying both ends of the consumer spectrum.The biggest feature distinguishing the Revue from the myriad of other set-top streamers out there, from Apple TV to the WD TV Live Plus HD, is its integration with your existing home theater.
Logitech Revue with Google TV
Companies have been trying to figure out how to bring the web to your TV for over a decade, but most efforts have fallen flat. Now that online video is mainstream, and more and more people are using their laptops while they channel surf, Logitech and Google think they may have the answer. The Logitech Revue ($299) is the first device available to run Google TV, a platform powered by Android that's designed to complement but not replace your current cable or satellite TV setup. You can search for programs to watch, get the full web on your TV (including YouTube), and access a small but growing number of apps, including Netflix, Pandora, and Twitter. You can even watch TV in one window while surfing the web in the other. And, if you're a DISH subscriber, you can easily search for DVR recordings.Yet with even all of these perks, the Revue has a fair number of drawbacks. Given that simpler set-top boxes such as the Apple TV ($99) and Roku XDS ($99) cost considerably less, is this Google TV box worth the splurge?Connecting and setting up the Logitech Revue with our home entertainment system was simple enough. In the box users will find the keyboard controller, Revue box, and three cords: HDMI, AC adapter, and an IR Blaster.
Logitech Revue
When we first saw the Logitech Revue demos, we were sold on the idea of a single set-top box that could search all our content sources--online or offline--and control our home theater components. Now that we've had our hands on a unit for nearly a week, we still love the concept, and the Revue has an undeniable amount of potential, but it's hard to give it an unqualified recommendation with all of its current issues and caveats. As of press time, major content providers such as Hulu, CBS, and ABC are all blocking Google TV devices from streaming-video content. Google TV's omnipresent search bar is an excellent way to find content across so many different online video sources, but it currently doesn't search titles available through Netflix, arguably the most important. There aren't many apps, and the existing Netflix app is about two generations behind those for competitors such as Roku and Sony's PS3. Google's vision for complete unfettered access to the Web in the living room is powerful, and Logitech's Revue impressively well-thought-out for a debut product, but ultimately the software needs more polish and more content deals to compete with increasingly mature competitors like Apple TV, Roku XDS, and even the PS3 Slim.
Logitech Revue
The Logitech Revue with Google TV is nothing if not ambitious. Accompanied by a keyboard that incorporates a universal remote as well as mouse functions, this Android-based set-top box brings to your TV search capabilities and an honest-to-goodness Web browser along with solid media-playback and streaming services. With the addition of an optional USB video camera, the Revue also turns your set into a video-chat monitor. It's not perfect, however. Key TV-network sites are blocking the Revue's Chrome browser from playing their content, its Amazon on-demand application doesn't yet support HD video streaming (an on-screen message says this is coming), and--strangest of all for a Google-based box--its searches are sometimes confusing. The Revue's Atom processor makes for somewhat sluggish Web browsing, and the box's $300 price tag (as of October 25, 2010) seems excessive for a device that has no storage or DVR capability (although it can at least control the built-in DVR of my Comcast/Motorola cable box, as well as search recorded content on a Dish DVR). You might also quibble with the lack of full universal-remote features--the keyboard can control a home theater receiver, but not a Blu-ray or DVD player.
Logitech Revue with Google TV
Apple TV, you have company. The Logitech Revue with Google TV is finally here, and while, at $299.99 direct, it's three times as expensive as Apple TV ($99 direct, 4 stars), it offers more features. Apple TV streams video, music, and photos, and both systems offer integrated Netflix and YouTube, but that's where the similarities end. The Revue's Google TV interface controls your DVR, surfs the Web (via the Chrome browser), streams content from your computer and the Internet, and can even video chat. (You'll need the $150 Logitech TV Cam for the latter.) Despite some operational flaws (more on those later), the Revue is a worthy competitor to the Apple TV. Which of the two, if either, is best for you depends on the hardware and services you already have in your home-entertainment arsenal. The Logitech Revue box measures 9.7 by 6.7 by 1.4 inches and weighs 1.3 pounds. There's not much to look at - it's a black, glossy, flat plastic box meant to blend into, not stand out from, your entertainment system set-up. As a logo on the top panel attests, it's powered by Intel's Atom processor.
Prices
| Retailer | Information | Prices | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Logitech Revue with Google TV (Refurbished) | $86.98 | See it |
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Logitech Revue Companion Box with Google TV and Keyboard Controller | $125 | See it |
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Logitech Revue Companion Box with Google TV and Keyboard Controller | $154.95 | See it |
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Logitech Revue w/ Google TV & Keyboard Controller | $159.95 | See it |
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Logitech 970-000665 TV WebCam Bundle | $269.99 | See it |
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Logitech Revue : (5.5/10)
7 expert reviews
0 user reviews
