Watch what you want, where you want.
Written: Aug 26 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Streams TV to a Playstation Portable, Streams TV over Internet, Macintosh OS X client available
Cons: Configuration takes some thought, home firewall changes may be required
The Bottom Line: If you have a Playstation Portable and want to watch your personal video content on it, this is the device for you.
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| pa28pilot's Full Review: Sony LF-PK1 |
I had a serious problem...one which began to occupy more and more of my attention over the course of a day.
The problem?....How do I watch TV while sitting outside in the hot tub?
There are a number of little portable TV things, but I haven't watched television off of an antenna in the better part of a decade. It's either satellite, cable, DVDs or (a couple of) UMDs. So any solution needed to be able to work from the video sources I already wanted to watch. I would be stoked if there were also a way to watch my video sources while on the road...from a laptop or PDA.
I was already using my PSP to listen to both music RSS feeds and MP3's while out there, so it seemed logical that I might want to also use it to watch TV.
The field narrowed pretty quickly to two contenders:
1) Sony's LocationFree TV (the newer version - be careful, as they're not all interoperable)
2) The Slingbox
The thing that made my decision for me was the recent news that Io-Data/Taxan/Kaga were now selling a Locationfree software player that ran under Mac OS X. No one has a Palm OS client yet, though Sling has one for Windows Mobile, and I believe Sony will soon.
I immediately put in an order in for the Mac client, charged up the PSP, and called the SonyStyle store up the street to see if they had the LocationFree Player Pak in stock. They did, and I ran over to get one. I will note that you may be able to find a much better deal than I did if you check Amazon.
I am still looking for a good waterproof PSP case with an earphone jack extension like some folks are doing for MP3 players. I found a heavy gauge plastic ziploc bag, poked my earphone plug through it, and sealed the entry point with clear packing tape. Now I had a more-or-less waterproof case. I can't be the only person who thinks that a good waterproof gear bag with a headphone extension is a good idea, though. Someone needs to make one.
The LocationFree base station is a device that has to accomodate some fairly complex network configurations, and Sony has tried to make it easier to manage. I give them a lot of credit for including a Dynamic DNS service that will give you an Internet-accessible static host name for your base station, even if your ISP changes your address assignment constantly.
I still think the set up is not particularly friendly to either the novice or the expert. The manual is a little too weak for a basic appliance user with no network savvy, and at the same time the device is missing some configuration features that an expert would want. Sony has included a DVD that helps with installation information, and has apparently set up a toll-free hotline just to help people install their base station. That may help a lot.
The LocationFree base station transmits on both 802.11a (5 GHZ) and 802.11b/g (2.4 GHz). I'm presuming the PSP only includes WiFi/802.11b but the performance is serviceable, as long as you have a solid link. It is. as you might suspect, sensitive to radio propagation, so a 4 inch shift in how you hold your PSP can make a difference if you're at the outer edge of the radios' range.
I have watched 2 hour movies and experienced a break in the link around every 30 minutes. That's not all that bad for a handheld device with an internal antenna and a brick wall between the base and the PSP at about a 50' distance.
The LocationFree includes an IR blaster to control your video sources. I set mine up with a satellite box and a DVD player. The satellite box sits on top of the DVD player and the IR blaster points down from the top edge of the satellite tuner. I think Sony had a good idea for a blaster that could shoot down along the face of multiple boxes, but there's something to be said for the classic IR blasters that stick right to the face of whatever you're controlling. This was a good way to try to control multiple devices, but serious videophiles will probably want to try an IR breakout box and individual emitters for each component being controlled.
The software on the PSP includes a remote control that will tune/control your video devices. This takes some getting used to. There's a tab for a page with the numeric buttons and channel up/down, and a different page for menu/guide and transport (fast fwd/rewind/stop/play) controls. You'll probably find yourself switching constantly back and forth if you're a channel surfer, and it takes patience. There's a slight lag in the buttons, for obvious reasons, so you have to watch your timing with key presses.
For some reason the player on the PSP absolutely refuses to send a "3" to my satellite box, though everything else works. I'll have to call the hotline about that. When you set up the player on the PSP, it will download remote control library information from a website, so it looks like Sony has an easy way to update the remote control data. It would be great if the format were open so that sites like remotecentral.com could provide tools/info for controlling everyone's random devices on the PSP/LocationFree.
DVD play works pretty darn well, but there's a lag. If you're navigating scene selection menus, you have to wait a few seconds for the screen to match what you did. Again, this is manageable, and surprisingly enough, the lag isn't completely prohibitive of doing fast forward and rewind, though you'll have to learn to compensate.
I have not yet tested streaming to the Mac client or MS Windows client over the Internet, but on the home LAN they both seem to operate pretty well. The picture quality isn't stellar, and depends somewhat on the content. At times, it is possible to see artifacts/blocks. Other times it's smooth enough that I notice how good it looks. I tend to leave my encoding settings on "automatic" which is supposed to adjust for link problems. At times I can see the PSP player clearly adjusting for a link problem, and sometimes after moving the unit and doing some remote control operation, I can hear what sounds like the audio slowing down just a bit. Within seconds, though it's unnoticeable. I think it may just be buffering to catch up.
I probably would not have sprung for the $1400 for the 12" Locationfree TV and base station. The PSP, however, has a very nice screen for personal video viewing, and is comparatively affordable. It's useful enough that I am beginning to warm to the idea of a totally portable TV with a bigger screen, but not at that other price point.
If you already have a PSP, the LocationFree Player Pak LF-PK1 is a pretty neat addition to the video watching arsenal. You will probably have to think about positioning of your base station and video equipment, and may need to experiment to get the best results, but when it's set up properly, it's a lot of fun.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pa28pilot
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Location: Northern Virginia, USA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I will try the first version of anything, but I won't depend on it.
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