Netgear NeoTV Max Streaming Player NTV300SL

I must thank Netgear & Amazon to provide me with a sample device to do my review, there are no glaring issues to report, the device more or less works perfectly for what it was designed for. I must say Netgear has done a decent job with this tiny shiny little device. Kudos! to the development team for a honest effort.

In terms of size, honestly no bigger than a hockey puck, actually the power adapter that came along with this device is bigger than the streaming device itself. The NeoTV's IR remote which has a full QWERTY keyboard on the bottom-side is a big plus when you plan on using it to input keywords for search. The GUI also has on-screen keyboard for input if you do not care about QWERTY based IR remote keyboard.

There are various other companies that make similar devices. Let me list them first so that viewers can get the feel of other choices we have currently in the market with comparable pricing and feature set.

Western Digital:
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1. Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, Wi-Fi 1080p 
2. Western Digital 1 TB WD TV Live Hub Media Center, Full-HD 1080p No Wi-Fi

SONY:
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1. Sony SMP-N200 Streaming Media Player with Wi-Fi

Roku:
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1. Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player
2. Roku 2 XD Streaming Player 1080p

Where does Netgear NeoTV Max Streaming Player NTV300SL stand up to these competitors?

The current clear winner in this market is Western Digital, There is no doubt in that. I have both WD TV Live Streaming Media Player and WD TV Live Hub Media Center and love it. The plethora of local media file support is by far the best with WD TV line-up of streaming media devices. The WD TV player series also has support for most WebTV based streaming media services just like Netgear's NeoTV player. WD TV also support DTS Audio decoding and has support for DVD menu for ISO DVD files.

I must admit Netgear NeoTV's WEBTV Internet streaming media offerings are more polished and works very well. The Menu system even-though sluggish at times but presentation is good and completely usable. So yes! Netgear's NeoTV does have a edge in streaming WebTV offering.

PROS
[+] Very small form factor
[+] Very good picture quality (1080p)
[+] No fan no noise
[+] Nice looking IR remote with full QWERTY keyboard
[+] Nicely presented GUI - easy to use.
[+] INTEL WIDI support
[+] Built-in WiFi
[+] Built-in MicroSD slot
[+] Supports NTFS USB drives (Tested with 2TB capacities)
[+] Some online games for casual fun!

CONS
[-] Sluggish GUI
[-] Very poor local media file support
[-] No SMB share feature for sharing your local USB to other devices on network
[-] No optical audio out for people with older audio receivers
[-] MKV files with DTS Audio tracks are not decoded (Video plays okay)
[-] No support for ISO DVD files with Menu support (VOB files plays okay)
[-] Some AVI files with DiVX/XVID are not playable
[-] Weak/Poor IR remote implementation - I wished the remote was RF.

Having said, Netgear is known for their hubs and switches, The entry into this extremely competitive market is a very bold step for them. I think as it stands with the current level of software/firmware updates it falls short of my expectations and thereby attaining 3 respectable star review rating.

If you are in the market for streaming media player and do not care about local media files then Netgear NeoTV will suffice for now, but if you want best of both worlds consider Western Digital's Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, your best bet. Even better is Western Digital 1 TB WD TV Live Hub Media Center 

I will keep an eye on this product as I expect Netgear to work hard to beat the competition and add support for ISO DVD with Menu support as well as support DTS Audio decode in order to remain in the competition. If I find future firmware updates fixes these requests I will revise my review rating accordingly.

Thanks for reading my review, If you have any comments please feel free to share with me.

Cheers!