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*Discontinued* Gateway Network Connected DVD Player - $119.99

W

wpenhall

Senior member
Pretty good deal for Gateway's networked DVD Player. I bought one about six months ago for $199.

Player isn't perfect, but is certainly worth the price. However, sporadic firmware updates and server software upgrades make it better over time.

It does come with a PCMCIA 802.11g card, but for some reason it's only 16-bit; the player won't see regular 32-bit cards. I wasn't able to find third-party 16-bit cards, so you pretty much have to get Gateway's.

Anyway, it works well for me for streaming MP3s, MPG (1 & 2), AVI, and stills. Doesn't stream WMA or OGG, but hopefully future software releases will expand the formats. The product still has some second-generation product quirks, but IMHO, is definitly worth the $120. This player completely changed how I watch video - my DVD burner has been gathering dust ever since I bought it 🙂

Review here, and hacks here.
 
There's a 10% code at FW that brings this down to $107.xx (assuming it still works). Search for Gateway there and you'll find it. 🙂
 
I have one of these and it is pretty cool. Like all media servers, it is not perfect. I paid $179 sans card about a year ago. These were going for a YMMV $60 when the BM's closed. Decent deal for $107.

The GoVideo unit is virtually identical. I was looking at that one, but Gateway was much cheaper. Ecost had this unit for $120 several months ago.
 
Well, looks like it. I couldn't find it on Gateway's website anymore.

I guess that's why they got so cheap.

Oh well. I guess no more firmware updates :frown:
 
Originally posted by: sat4fun
I have one of these and it is pretty cool. Like all media servers, it is not perfect. I paid $179 sans card about a year ago. These were going for a YMMV $60 when the BM's closed. Decent deal for $107.
Click to expand...

I also got this for ~$50 sans card when the BM's closed. It's progressive scan, and it's not bad considering it's not much more $ than a regular DVD player.

You *do* need a fast machine to stream DivX movies. And the machine only accepts 16-bit network cards. I'm using a wired 16-bit Linksys PC card connected to a Wireless-G bridge (WGE101). Kinda sorta a wireless hack.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 firewall causes some server compatibility issues.

I have yet to get the WinXP SP2 firewall to work with it. After poking holes in it as the Gateway website suggests, it lets my DVD player "see" the computer and "play" JPG's, but not any movies (they play for a few seconds and stop). If I disable the firewall temporarily, the player works fine.

-Matt
 
Anyone recommend any alternatives now that GW is not selling them ? Anything under $150 I could get the wife to agree to, and the specs should be comparable to the Gateway (ie: wireless/wired and DVD/RW support).
 
Originally posted by: WT
Anyone recommend any alternatives now that GW is not selling them ? Anything under $150 I could get the wife to agree to, and the specs should be comparable to the Gateway (ie: wireless/wired and DVD/RW support).
Click to expand...

I don't have time to look right now, but is the GoVideo player still available? That and the Gateway are supposed to be nearly identical.

In the PVRblog comments, someone also mentioned that some other retailers are still have the Gateway in stock.

Note - the Gateway is not wired/wireless. There are two models - either wired, OR wireless. Stupid that it doesn't have a simple ethernet jack in addition to the wireless card slot, but here we are.
 
I don't know if they've improved it since I researched these, but I seem to recall that the Dlink got terrible reviews. Apparently it had numerous connection/compatibility/setup issues. I was initially considering it, but I got scared off pretty quickly.

That was back in May, so they may have since released new firmware that fixed its problems. I haven't looked at it since then.
 
Originally posted by: wpenhall
Originally posted by: WT
Anyone recommend any alternatives now that GW is not selling them ? Anything under $150 I could get the wife to agree to, and the specs should be comparable to the Gateway (ie: wireless/wired and DVD/RW support).
Click to expand...

Note - the Gateway is not wired/wireless. There are two models - either wired, OR wireless. Stupid that it doesn't have a simple ethernet jack in addition to the wireless card slot, but here we are.
Click to expand...

The 'Wired' unit was bundled with a wired ethernet card. The 'Wireless' one was bundleded with a wireless ethernet card. The units are identical. Neither have an ethernet jack.
 
Originally posted by: sat4fun
Originally posted by: wpenhall
Originally posted by: WT
Anyone recommend any alternatives now that GW is not selling them ? Anything under $150 I could get the wife to agree to, and the specs should be comparable to the Gateway (ie: wireless/wired and DVD/RW support).
Click to expand...

Note - the Gateway is not wired/wireless. There are two models - either wired, OR wireless. Stupid that it doesn't have a simple ethernet jack in addition to the wireless card slot, but here we are.
Click to expand...

The 'Wired' unit was bundled with a wired ethernet card. The 'Wireless' one was bundleded with a wireless ethernet card. The units are identical. Neither have an ethernet jack.
Click to expand...

Oh - oops. The Gateway rep I talked to when I bought mine told me the wired unit had an ethernet jack, but no slot for a card. I guess he didn't know what he was talking about - shocker!
 
Yea, I was just about ready to grab a Gateway unit on Ebay when I noticed the lack of an RJ45 on the back. Doing my research, I determined that I would prefer to hold out for the wired option as I am SURE I can stream DVD content via 100base, and the wireless option was just a nice extra 'just in case'. The D-Link unit I saw did not include a DVD player, or maybe that was the Lite-On unit I saw, but I do remember reading enough complaints about it to think twice. So far, the GoVideo unit is my top choice, but I will have to be REALLY good for Santa to have that under my tree, considering the price of $225. I do think that and a Snapstream combo of a hardware mpeg card and BeyondTV for $170 would be the ideal solution for my needs.
Thanks for the replies guys ... I got more info here than any other place so far ... the forums always have plenty of technogeeks that can answer any question !
 
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