Hi Pete,
It's not clear from your description if the menus speak, can you set it
up without sight?
My other reservation is will it be able to access the audio described
version of a programe in catch up TV or will Alexa just pull up the
standard version, likewise with Netflix when it comes.
Guess it will come down to someone on the list buying one and trying it out.
Gary
On 04/09/2018 20:02, pete gurney wrote:
hi all,
i stumbled across something today and wonder if any of our group has one
of these and if so what do they think of it.
it's the netgem soundbox.
this is a combination of a soundbar and a digital tv tuner with HDMI
output, bluetooth, wi-fi and USB for connecting to a computer for sound output.
and once set up it is controlable by Alexa.
so although you need to connect it to a screen for the initial setup
once done it is literally
a tv sound receiver that is voice controlled with 30 watt speakers built in.
it has pause and resume buffering for up to an hour of a tv program, but
the thing i like most is that you can play on demand tv just by telling
Alexa what you want to listen to or watch.
they say it has all the catch up services covered including bbc, itv,
all 4 and 5 plus others including prime video and i spoke to netgem this
afternoon and it will have netflicks by christmas.
it also has prime music, live radio and other music services and i found
a demonstration of it on youtube which was done independantly from
netgem and it was pretty impressive.
the volume and sound quality was much better than you would get from most
flat screen tv's and it has clear voice built in to enhance the spoken dialog.
i almost forgot to say it has audio description on board.
and the demos of voice control worked quickly and accurately.
they said things like:
Alexa tell soundbox to turn to bbc1
Alexa tell soundbox to play bbc radio 2
Alexa tell soundbox to play grand tours on prime video
and they all worked instantly.
apparently you can even just name the program you want to watch so for
example when East Enders was about to start they said:
Alexa tell soundbox to turn to East Enders and it would turn to bbc1.
i didn't find a demo of it but it is supposed to work this way to play
something on catch up.
it doesn't have recording capability at the moment but there is a record
button on the remote control so i presume it's a feature they plan on
adding in a firmware update and would probably be made possible by
plugging in either a thumb drive or hard drive into the USB port.
it's not that big either measuring 45 x 13 x 6 cm.
the only place to get it is at amazon and if you already have or don't
want amazon prime you can buy it for £179 or it's available for £249
which includes a one year subscription to amazon prime.
pete.
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