Kodak's answer to Apple TV: The Theatre HD Player

Kodak's new little black media player.

(Credit: Kodak)

I'm not sure whether I should call the new Theatre HD Player Kodak's answer to Apple TV, but that's the best analogy I can come up with on short notice. Whether it is or not, Kodak is doing its best to get into your living room with a little Wi-Fi-enabled black box that connects to your HDTV, displays images and other multimedia content, and links directly to Kodak Gallery, the company's online photo-sharing service, and Flickr. Due to roll out in September, the Theatre HD Player will retail for $299.99 and continue to add features through firmware upgrades after it's launched.

Kodak calls the Theatre HD Player, "An interactive device displaying personal content--pictures, video, podcasts, music--and Web-based content on a HDTV, while wirelessly connecting to a household's private Wi-Fi network." In a nod to the Nintendo Wii's popularity, Kodak includes gyroscopic remote, and you navigate the onscreen menus much like you would with the Wiimote. Like Apple, Kodak has an alliance with YouTube for video content. RadioTime is onboard for streaming audio.

The Theatre HD Player's connectivity options.

(Credit: Kodak)

In its press release, Kodak notes that the "Theatre HD Player lets consumers relive their favorite, and even forgotten, memories in customized slide shows, incorporating their personal music and video collections, Internet Radio, plus online video- and photo-sharing sites. Consumers can also edit and upload images and videos to popular online content sharing sites on their HDTV from the comfort of their living room." It's able to display high-resolution still images in a 16:9 aspect ratio and 720p video through it's HDMI and component video connections.

I got a look at the unit last night at an event for the product's unveiling (along with a few other Kodak products) and thought it had some nice features and an elegant menu system. There's some promise here. However, the Theatre HD Player is going to pose a marketing challenge for Kodak. Company reps seemed to shrug off the fact that the little black box's price tag approaches that of the Playstation 3, which not only has built-in memory card slots (and a hard drive), a good photo viewing application, and the ability to play back music and video files from your computer, but there's that built-in Blu-ray player--and oh, it plays games and has a Web browser. In my humble opinion, this device needs to cost less than $200 and probably closer to $150 to be viable. Of course, I keep telling Apple TV reps the same thing about their device, but that hasn't seemed to have had much of an impact.

Anybody interested in buying this thing? And, at what price? Or would you rather go for Apple TV or a PS3 for that matter?

[kelmon]

I can't say that I'm interested in this vs. the Apple TV because I'm primarily interested in the Apple TV for its movie rental service. The ability to show photographs on a high definition TV is nice but if that's the primary intention for this device then it's a bit limited. If it interfaces with a video content provider and is available outside the US, then I'll take another look.

[-fjtorres-]

"In my humble opinion, this device needs to cost less than $200 and probably closer to $150 to be viable. Of course, I keep telling Apple TV reps the same thing about their device, but that hasn't seemed to have had much of an impact."

Why would it? Apple customers *expect* to pay more than competing/more capable products. Its part of their "mystique"/busineplan.
Now Kodak, they have to go lower than low; I'd expect them to have problems at anything over $99.
The STB wars are obviously heating up if even non-contenders are getting into the biz. Who's next? The NYT? Ford?

[tehrani625]

I think considering that this is not an apple TV they could have done a bit better for the price considering that an XBOX360 is about $300 and that has a hard drive, shows photos from a usb device, streams media from your computer such as you tube, flicker and internet radio. I think they could have atleast turned it into a media center extender so it can better compeet with an apple TV and xbox. The remote seems like the only interesting feature out of all of them. Lastly they say that they will add stuff through firmware updates. So they could posibly make this work. It does need a price cut of at least $100 because Kodak is not Apple and has no right to charge this much for so little. Oh and for about $300 you could build a small linux computer and it would do whatever you want with it.

[drr3761]

need to see the user interface before making a decision. like apple, kodak makes things simple, and as such can demand a price premium. who else has a gyro remote with their media player? if this device gets my content (thousands of pics, mp3s, and videos) off my PC with few steps so that even my wife can use it, then I'll take it seriously. this seems incredibly more useful than a GPS or new digital camera I just bought for the same price.

[closer2112]

Don't underrate the device. True color photo display of your photos on your TV is what this does. This true color display is not available for people who display photos on their mainstream LCD monitors.

This device also lets you sort through your photos in true color, uploading the ones you want.

Could it be cheaper? Yes. It probably will be at some point, like everything else tech.

[newbride08]

I already use the kodak online gallery website to store and share photo albums with friends. I tend to take a lot of digital photos. As a new bride I can see using a product like this to show my family all the wedding photos. It also helps that we have two HDs in the house so this would be a much cleaner way to show photos than gathering around the laptop or waiting for my husband to hook up the camera.