Slim Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 For too long I've been enviously eyeing devices like the Slim Squeezebox, desparate to set my mp3 collection free of my pc and mp3 player, but the 180 quid price tag was simply little too high for me to justify. But I recently spotted the Pinnacle Soundbridge Homemusic on Amazon for 40 quid, and stone me if it doesn't look like the audiophile fave Roku Soundbridge device. A bit of googling, and it turns out this is indeed a Roku Soundbridge with the big screen replaced with a two line diddy thing and a cheaper remote. Big screens rock and all, but this thing is 140 quid cheaper, and ticks all the boxes. So now I have one, working, and it's bloody lovely. Needs a firmware update first off to get you on wifi wpa security, but it's got a little SD card slot that make that pretty painless. WPA key entered, it's found my upnp server (twonky), and suddenly all my tunes are available via the soundbridge. Can it really be that easy? Seems so. No addional client software installed or required if you're already doing some upnp, so I've now got the same libary shared out to me xbox 360 in the living room and me soundbridge in the dining room. It's also diddy, fits nice on the shelf and I've got it lashed into some active speakers, so no bulky amps or anything. What's more, as this is actually a roku device, all the online roku shit works a treat. You go to Rokuradio, it finds your device on your lan, and shows you what it's playing. Want to preset some radio stations to buttons on the remote? Do it via the web, now the device is truly wife freindly; "turn it on dar, and press 1", that's it. Here's how my presets are set up: 1 - Radio 1 2 - North Pole Radio (it is xmas!) 3 - Radio 7 (for the kids) 4 - xfm Manchester 5 - Manx Radio 6 - Radio Paradise The last ones a bit of a new find for me, but after tuning in, they played Radiohead, Jose Gonzalez, Coldplay and the Stone Roses, so it's a keeper! Problems? Well the screen is small, so navigating huge collections is a drag. It does have a nice search facility though, and you can skip forward one alphabetical letter at a time through any list, so it's all well thought out. Playlist support is also a bit wonky, tho that might be twonky rather than the Soundbridge. It's also fully reliant on tags rather than file names, so I really need to spend some time sorting that stuff out in my collection. Dead chuffed tho, a total bargain for 40 notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutley Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 I have a squeeze box. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shill Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Thanks for the tip Slim, i've been looking at the Rokulabs stuff but this is cheaper and looks to do the same kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbx Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 If you've got a tv to hook up to, have a look at this I've just got me one and I can stream AVI's, DVDs, Jpgs, MP3s etc wirelessly around the house. Video quality is excellent with no jerk-o-vision to be found. Oh, and it's a bargain £150 from pcworld.co.uk (no postage charged either), when rrp should be about £220 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutley Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 If you've got a tv to hook up to, have a look at this I've just got me one and I can stream AVI's, DVDs, Jpgs, MP3s etc wirelessly around the house. Video quality is excellent with no jerk-o-vision to be found. Oh, and it's a bargain £150 from pcworld.co.uk (no postage charged either), when rrp should be about £220 I was looking at getting this but the poor reviews on Amazon put me off. I'd be interested in hearing how you get on with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 Thanks for the tip Slim, i've been looking at the Rokulabs stuff but this is cheaper and looks to do the same kind of thing. It doesn't just do the same thing, it is the same thing. It's a roku soundbridge, just with a different screen. When you run the roku radio software, it recognises it as a roku device, and the roku firmwares go on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 If you've got a tv to hook up to, have a look at this I've just got me one and I can stream AVI's, DVDs, Jpgs, MP3s etc wirelessly around the house. Video quality is excellent with no jerk-o-vision to be found. Oh, and it's a bargain £150 from pcworld.co.uk (no postage charged either), when rrp should be about £220 I think that's a bit daft to be honest, sorry. For a couple of quid more you could buy a 360 core, and it'll do all that and play nifty games too. What's the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(oxy)moron Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 If you've got a tv to hook up to, have a look at this I've just got me one and I can stream AVI's, DVDs, Jpgs, MP3s etc wirelessly around the house. Video quality is excellent with no jerk-o-vision to be found. Oh, and it's a bargain £150 from pcworld.co.uk (no postage charged either), when rrp should be about £220 I think that's a bit daft to be honest, sorry. For a couple of quid more you could buy a 360 core, and it'll do all that and play nifty games too. What's the point? the 360 vacumm cleaner sound effect wont spoil his films ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 the 360 vacumm cleaner sound effect wont spoil his films ? It's not noisy on the dash, only when playing games dvd's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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