hi all,
an update on the netgem soundbox hd that i asked about last week.
i went ahead and ordered one which arrived last thursday and we set it
up, you do need someone with some sight to get it up and running
the first time.
the setup was straight forward just a couple of presses on the ok
button and then it checks for available updated firmware via the
connected ethernet cable which you want for the initial setup.
you can tell it you want to use wi-fi but it seemed to want the cable
for the setup and once it updated the firmware then i could choose my
wi-fi network and enter the password and then it used the wi-fi
connection from then on.
it then wanted to scan for tv channels and i've never seen anything scan
so quickly it literally took around 10 seconds to find everything.
at this point the basic setup is complete and you can use the soundbox.
the sound quality is extremely good, so i then went to activate the
voice control and turn on the audio description.
this is where things became strange as we did what the instruction
leaflet said but the buttons on the remote control were doing something
different from what we were expecting.
i decided to call netgem the next morning but before i got to that point
i received an email from netgem thanking me for purchasing the soundbox
and telling me that the updated firmware requires a different remote
control and that they had already put one in the post to me.
that was a relief as i was convinced i had been pressing the correct
buttons on the original remote control and couldn't understand why it
didn't work.
the new remote control arrived on friday and we had another go with it
on saturday.
this time everything went smoothly, after installing the netgem.tv skill
in the Alexa app all we had to do was press the voice control button on
the remote control and a 6 character code came up on the screen
and once that was entered into an edit box in the skill the soundbox was
paired with alexa.
we then went into the settings and turned on audio description doing it
this way turnsit on permanently.
now it was time to try and control the soundbox with your voice.
some of it was very simple but other things it was just getting used to using
the correct terminology, but once you worked that out everything worked
smoothly and very quickly, infact swapping channels was instantanious.
so to swap channels there were several ways of telling it depending on
wether you knew the name of the channel, the channel number, or just the
name of the program that is on.
so for example if it was just after eastenders had started and you wanted to
watch it you could ask the soundbox to either turn to bbc1, turn to
channel one, or just turn to eastenders and the result would be the same.
i presume when you say the name of the program it must look it up in the
tv guide to find out which channel it is on.
you can tell the soundbox to increase or decrease the volume, to set the
volume at a certain percentage, to mute or unmute, to turn bluetooth on
or off, to pause and resume live television to fast forward when
catching up on the previously paused live television, to change to
various audio modes like clear voice, movies and such like, and
although i forgot to try it i think you can tell it to turn on and off.
we then tried playing something on catch up/on demand.
my wife normally watches eastendrs and i thought she had missed fridays
episode which she confirmed so although it was saturday afternoon i
asked the soundbox to play eastenders and it automatically played the
last broadcast episode which was of corse fridays episode.
i must say it didn't play with audio description and i haven't found out
yet if it is possible to make it play the audio described version.
i then tried to play a catch up program from itv and then something
from amazon prime, and although it found the things i asked for straight
away it turns
out that before you can use itv hub, all 4, my5, and amazon prime you
need to enter your log in details for each of them the first time you
access them.
at that moment i couldn't remember the log in details for all of them as
most of them i rarely use, so i've now checked all those details and
will get around to setting them all up when i have the time.
but now it is set up it's a very capable tv and sound receiver with
very good sound quality, audio description on live programs and voice
controlled which is ideal for what i wanted it for as i wanted to put it
in the conservatory to listen to but didn't need a screen.
of corse if someone sighted is also going to use it then it has the HDMI
out put for watching as well plus it has a 3.5 audio input and a USB
socket for connecting to a computer along with bluetooth for connecting
anything with that capability.
so although it doesn't speak to you and you do need someone with sight
to help set it up initially once it is setup it is a very capable soundbar
with a tv tuner built in, simple to control has audio description is
ideal for people who can't see a screen but want to listen to the
programs and is still fine for someone who can see and wants to use it
connected to a television and isn't to expensive at £179.
and netgem say they are going to continue adding more functionality to
the soundbox.
pete.
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