Gizmodo Australia » locationfree

Sony LF-V30 LocationFree Video Streamer Reviewed (Verdict: Not Bad)

Charlie White — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:06:57 +0000

Ever since Sony introduced us to the LF-V30 LocationFree Base Station last summer, we were wondering if this place-shifting Slingbox precursor could deliver the goods. Now our buddies at Maximum PC have taken the VAIO-branded video streamer for a test drive, calling the image quality from its new HD-source-handling component inputs “excellent” even though it’s downscaled to a puny 320×240 pixels. They also dug its Wi-Fi connectivity and ability to act as a wireless access point, a feature retained from the earlier Sony LocationFree LF-B20.

However, the Max PC guys told us behind the scenes that this LF-V30’s feature set is still “markedly inferior to the Slingbox.” They also smack down clueless Sony for charging $30 for the necessary PC viewing software, an uncalled-for ripoff. Even so, the Maximum PC verdict is still respectable, giving the LF-V30 a 7 out of 10. [Maximum PC]

Sony LocationFree, Now in HD

Mark Wilson — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:33:19 +0000

Sony is stepping up their LocationFree game, now supporting HD transmission through this new transmitter/receiver pair, the LF-W1HD kit. The catch? Well there are two, actually.

First, the HD signal is not your source signal but an MPEG4 compressed product. Sony claims the picture has somewhere near 96% fidelity, which is still pretty good in our book.

Second, the transmitter doesn’t have HDMI input. The receiving unit supports the format, but apparently Sony can’t deal with transcoding and transmitting the HDMI data—or finds the prospect too expensive. Ugh. Deal breaker? I think so.

The LF-W1HD kit is slated for a December 1st release at about $430. Japan only. [press release via impress]

Sony’s Location Free LF-V30 Gets HD and Vaio Branding

Seamus Byrne — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:01:39 +0000

It won’t stream HD, but Sony’s newest LocationFree TV (and Slingbox competitor) will take HD video sources by component cables, down sample them to QVGA, and spit em across your network or the internet to laptops running the Location Free TV clientware. (I believe Sling does higher res on a LAN, and their Pro unit already does HD by component.) Oh, this one gets VAIO branding, too. The question is, who will be the first to do HDMI?