Vizio Co-Star

[dottierae]

Vizio announced their new Co-Star streamer today. Can anyone verify that it will be compatible with HBOGO?

Thanks....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It should. All other GoogleTV units support it.

Even though I am not a fan of GoogleTV (I have the Logitech Review) I have seen what Vizio has done with it and customized it so much so that I preordered on this morning.

 

[dottierae]

Thank you Scott!

 

[ShadowEKU]

It should. All other GoogleTV units support it.

Even though I am not a fan of GoogleTV (I have the Logitech Review) I have seen what Vizio has done with it and customized it so much so that I preordered on this morning.

well I was on the notify list but didnt get a notification... grump grump...

pre-ordering now

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I didn't get the notification either.

I just saw a post that it was available for Pre Order on Engadget.

 

[ShadowEKU]

I didn't get the notification either.

I just saw a post that it was available for Pre Order on Engadget.

This one I am excited for, as I have onlive, enjoy it, as well as I currently have a Logitech Revue (actually I have 2 of them) and that keyboard is huge and have you ever tried to browse on that thing, its remarkably slow. Wow what a run-on.

 

[mike123abc]

The main flaw of Google TV is lack of 5.1 sound from Amazon VOD and HBOGO

 

[DustoMan]

My new Sony box arrives tomorrow.

 

[ohioankev]

I'm not in love with my GoogleTV (revue owner) but I do like it. It has it's uses connected to my Hopper receiver. With that in mind I will probably pick up the Co-Star because it's an upgrade from the Revue and will more than likely support Android 4.0 when it's released for the systems. My entry into the World Wide Web was a WebTV plus unit in 1998. When comparing the GoogleTV system to that and even MSNTV2 it is a rock solid machine and no monthly fee required on top of your internet service. If you're a power user the best bet is some kind of HTPC connected to your TV that will always be to be upgraded manually. No set top box will ever have the full power of a PC.

A couple of things that have me interested in the Co-Star ... it's $99, will support OnLive game play ... even though not supporting the new Gigabyte Ethernet standard is a let down. I also like the remote side of the remote, not sure how the Qwerty keyboard side would work for me as I have fat fingers.

Do the Sony Bluray Players of Google TV have HDMI in ? It would be nice to have that and combine Bluray, Google TV, DLNA and my Dish Network system all from one input.

 

[DustoMan]

Was pretty surprised when the Revue was updated to 3.2 not sure if it was still Logitech that did it or Google. And OnLive did put up a blog post that the Co-Star is getting OnLive support first but the rest of the GoogleTV boxes will be supported afterwards.

Got the Sony box setup yesterday, there are a couple differences between it and the Revue that I've noticed.

There's an Eco menu and lets you decide between a long or short startup. Short doesn't shut down the box completely and resumes in a few seconds (7-10 sec) while long means you have to wait 30-45 seconds before starting. In the same menu, you can tell the box to shut down when the TV is turned off also.

There is an Audio Pass-though menu option I'm guessing to allow Dolby 5.1 though to your AV box.

It is running version 3.2 in case you were wondering. I've heard from people who have had review units already that there have been at least two updates pushed to it in the last couple weeks. I think the software I flashed yesterday was dated the end of June and all the notes said about it was that it was for stability fixes.

I noticed that some apps were missing that were there for the Revue. Probably because apps need to be updated for the new processor architecture. Oddly, there are also some Google apps that are missing like the Music app. Integration with VIP receivers is still there, but since I've got a Hopper you can only do the basic integration.

The box does seem snappier than the Revue and I specially like that quick startup option. Though I think there are still some bugs that need to be worked out. The session after flashing the update, my remote lost it's connection to the GoogleTV. I could only control it with my phone remote until the next time I restarted.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

The one thing I like about the Logitech Revue is that it up-converts the resolution of my 722k to 1080p. Do the new Sony & Vizio set top boxes also do the same?

 

[col-whk]

Vizio's web site is being blocked as "This site may harm your computer." I checked in last night to see if I could order a Co-Star and found that they are not yet in stock. This morning I checked and found the site blocked. Is any one else experiencing the site blockage?

 

[col-whk]

Amazing! As soon as I post the comments on Vizio being blocked, the site is back on line - first time since 6:00 am . They still do not have Co-Stars in stock.

 

[shaun-ohio]

yeah it looks like they only made so many for preorder, and they were supposed to be available on the 14th, something must of happened to the product to not release it to the public

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Mine was shipped yesterday via FedEx Ground from California... its going to take awhile until it gets here to Connecticut.

 

[digiblur]

Mine was shipped yesterday via FedEx Ground from California... its going to take awhile until it gets here to Connecticut.

I hate FedEx for many reasons. One time a ground package took over 20 days to get from CA to LA. No holidays in that month either.

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Arggg....

One of the big reasons I ordered to Co-Star was because it is the first affordable OnLive player!

I just heard via TheVerge that OnLive is going out of business today.

One of my friends Brian works / worked there, so I am really sad to hear the news.

OnLive reportedly hit with mass layoffs, company denies it's closing (update) | The Verge

Now I am not sure if I should accept delivery of the Co-Star or not. Hopefully some people get theirs and post reviews before mine comes in, as I just dont want another GoogleTV box.

 

[DustoMan]

Arggg....

One of the big reasons I ordered to Co-Star was because it is the first affordable OnLive player!

If all you wanted was an Onlive player, they were giving Microconsoles away like candy if you purchased specific games. You just had to pay for shipping. That's how I got mine. They haven't done that in quite a few months though and probably won't now after the ABC process because they are trying to get cash positive.

I don't think the Co-star is going to really offer you anything you haven't already seen on the Revue. If anything, I'm still seeing apps that were on the Revue that aren't on my new Sony unit yet because of the hardware platform change.

 

[ohioankev]

Arggg....

One of the big reasons I ordered to Co-Star was because it is the first affordable OnLive player!

I just heard via TheVerge that OnLive is going out of business today.

One of my friends Brian works / worked there, so I am really sad to hear the news.

OnLive reportedly hit with mass layoffs, company denies it's closing (update) | The Verge

Now I am not sure if I should accept delivery of the Co-Star or not. Hopefully some people get theirs and post reviews before mine comes in, as I just dont want another GoogleTV box.

This is why I would never do cloud gaming unless the company was a super mega conglomerate like Apple, Sony, or Microsoft. So what happens to your game collection when OnLive goes out of business? Well you never really owned the game, just a license so if you really enjoyed that game you would have to purchase it again on another console or service. This OnLive mess just confirms how I felt from the beginning.

From what i read a couple days after you posted Scott about OnLive going out of business that OnLive did go out of business, then all assets were transferred to OnLive owned by someone else. They are being hushed about who the buyer is though even though they are saying it's an individual who was impressed on how it worked. *L* They are saying even though that they let most of their workforce go that the OnLive service would continue to run uninterrupted. That story seems odd to me but you never know. A couple months ago Sony purchased a cloud gaming company, maybe Microsoft picked up OnLive. Steve Perlman has sold another company to Microsoft in the past... WebTV.

Back to the topic though in the end I decided not to pick up the Co-Star yet. Other than a web browser and netflix application GoogleTV serves no other purpose to me. It sounded cool but over the last five or so months I have truly become dissatisfied with GoogleTV. I have Netflix and a half dozen other applications on my game consoles and I can easily connect my PC to my TV via HDMI.

 

[DustoMan]

That single investor in Onlive is Lauder Partners:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...artners-affiliate-faq-issued-to-quell-rumors/

Ifixit did a teardown of the Co-Star today:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Vizio-Co-Star-Teardown/10187/1

Confirms that it has the same processor as the Sony unit.