ZeeVee ZvBox

Other products by ZeeVee

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 14.2 x 5.2 inches ; 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0018L7NUA
• Item model number: ZV100-NA
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,549 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 30, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer

Broadcast Any Internet or Computer Content to All Your HDTVs

ZvBox is the first device that allows you to watch anything you can get online or on your computer from all your HDTVs. Simply connect the monitor output of your computer to ZvBox, then connect ZvBox to your home’s cable TV wiring. ZvBox takes the high resolution output of your computer, including Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, and creates a new HD channel that you can tune in alongside your other TV channels from any HDTV in the home. ZvRemote, combined with a ZvReceiver that is attached to your computer, provides full control of your computer from anywhere in the house, including multimedia and cursor control. The optional ZvKeyboard, available August 2008, makes it even easier to compose email, surf the web, and type text for desktop applications.

With Zv you can now watch a virtually unlimited menu of online TV shows and movies, play DVDs, check your e-mail, view photos, listen to music, and browse your favorite web sites. Best of all a single ZvBox, easily connected to your existing in-home cable TV wiring, makes it all happen. It’s that simple. No more flipping channels looking for something to watch. No more huddling around a computer to watch online shows. If it’s out there, you can watch it on your HDTVs from the comfort of your couch.

ZvBox. Watch Zv and "Free your TV!"

With ZvBox You Can: Watch any video available online or on your computer Avoid new subscription fees Access ANY computer application from your HDTVs: Photos, music, and home movies Email and web browsing Computer’s DVD player Enjoy the same great resolution you get at your computer Use existing cable wiring to reach all HDTVs in the house Just one ZvBox for all HDTVs No receiving device needed near your TV No wireless interference or performance problems Start watching Zv in one room and finish in another Tune in Zv like any other TV channel

Zv Products

ZeeVee products help you turn one of your computers into your own HDTV channel. They also help you control that computer from anywhere in the home. These products are easy to install and use, and once they are setup need no ongoing configuration or control. There are absolutely no hidden costs or monthly subscription costs. Get ready to enjoy your new HDTV super channel--Zv!

ZvBundle Everything you need to get started with Zv! Includes a ZvBox, a ZvRemote, a ZvReceiver, and cables and accessories that help you connect your ZvBox and your HDTVs to your in-home cable TV wiring.

ZvBox This is the core of the Zv system--it creates your own HDTV channel and localcasts it to all of the HDTVs in your home. The ZvBox is currently only available in the Zv-100 Bundle, which includes everything you need to get started.

ZvRemote Finally, a remote control that can drive your computer from across the house, including multimedia and cursor control. Additional ZvRemotes can be purchase to expand your system. Requires a ZvReceiver.

ZvReceiver Connects up to eight different ZvRemotes or ZvKeyboards to your computer. Drive your experience from many rooms in the house.

ZvKeyboard (Available in August, 2008) Interested in doing more extensive typing while watching your Zv channel? The ZvKeyboard combines a high quality laptop keyboard, a trackball, scroll wheel and multimedia control. Requires a ZvReceiver.

How Does Zv Work?

The Concept
The idea behind Zv is elegantly simple--if it’s online or on your computer, you can watch it on the HDTVs in your home. While the concept is simple and the Zv experience is user-friendly, the technology that makes it all possible is quite an achievement.

ZvCast Technology
The power behind ZvBox is its pioneering ZvCast technology. ZvCast uses real-time MPEG-2 video compression and Dolby Digital audio encoding to turn the output of your computer into a new HDTV channel that is added to the other channels already on your cable--a process called "localcasting". When ZvBox is first installed, it scans your existing cable channels and finds an unused channel to broadcast on. Then, ZvBox begins the process of encoding and transmitting your computer’s screen onto this new "Zv" channel. This channel can then be tuned in from any TV in your home that has an HDTV tuner. And since ZvCast utilizes the latest HDTV technical standards and advanced digital signal processing, it delivers stunning quality--the same high definition video you see at your computer and Dolby 5.1 digital surround sound, without the interference and performance problems of wireless solutions.

ZvRemote, ZvReceiver and ZvKeyboard
Now that you are able to display your computer on every HDTV in your home, you also need a way to control that computer from any room. That’s why we created these very powerful wireless input devices. They use 2.4Ghz radio frequency communications and advanced power modulation technology to make sure that they can communicate even through walls and between floors. These devices can significantly outperform Bluetooth based solutions.

The ZvReceiver plugs into a USB port of the computer you are controlling. It can communicate with any combination of up to eight ZvRemotes or ZvKeyboards. The ZvRemote is optimized for helping you lean back and enjoy your media, while still providing pinpoint cursor control via a laptop-like touchpad. The ZvKeyboard features a high-end laptop keyboard and integrated trackball for more heavy-duty computer interaction.

Zviewer
With the explosive growth in online video content, there are many different websites or applications that bring you this content. There are new names like Hulu, Veoh, and Joost, and more established names like iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft TV, Yahoo TV and Bitorrent. All of them can be operated from your computer, but not all of them have a graphical user interface (GUI) that is designed to be driven from the living room couch on the HDTV with a remote control. Zviewer bridges that gap. Simply hit the Zv button on the ZvRemote and the Zviewer GUI shows you what’s available, both online and on your computer, and helps you get to these destinations. Zviewer does not trap you into what we want you to see. You can add your favorite locations and applications, making it a very powerful control center for entertainment. Best of all, using Zviewer is not a requirement. ZvBox customers can use other applications such as Joost or Hulu directly to navigate their content if they desire, or use the computer’s desktop environment to launch any application, including documents, email, and internet browsers. Thanks to the superior screen resolution served up by ZvCast, your applications look just as sharp as on your computer monitor.

For Most Homes, Zv Setup Is a Snap

The initial set-up of Zv involves the following steps:

1. Connect ZvBox to your computer
2. Allow the Zv software to update and install itself
3. Connect ZvBox to your home’s TV cabling
4. Ensure proper cable connection at the HDTV
5. Tune in the special Zv channel on the HDTVs
6. Optimize the Zv experience

How is Zv Different?

• Unlimited access to internet and computer video
• No new subscription fees
• A single ZvBox serves all HDTVs in the home
• The same great HD resolution that your computer creates on your HDTV
• Uses the home’s existing cable TV wiring
• No wireless network setup or video interference
• Move from one HDTV to another to watch Zv
• No new clutter near your flat panel TV or entertainment center
• Pinpoint control of PC cursor up to 150 feet away

Zv Lets You Watch Anything Available on the Internet

Today’s TVs are trapped with limited content options and scheduled programming. Some solutions have arrived that have tried to open up internet TV options, but they still decide for you what is available to watch. Zv allows you to use your HDTV to watch anything that’s on your computer or the internet, so your choices are virtually unlimited.

Product Description

Complete Zv system. ZvBox, ZvRemote and accessories turn the output of your computer into a true HDTV channel and broadcasts it to all HDTV¿s in your home. See your favorite content in the same great HD resolution displayed on your computer. ZvRemote controls your computer up to 150¿ away. North American version.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not ready for primetime., August 7, 2008

By	T. Heyn "KinsmanRedeemer" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The positives:

* This is a very creative approach to getting around the issue of streaming HD content (actually, VGA content) throughout the home. ZeeVee's paradigm is to broadcast your content from a PC over an unused cable channel...this is a great concept since it doesn't rely on any of the host of other transmission conduits that have have either not been reliable enough or deliver the adequate bandwidth necessary to get the job done, e.g. wireless, powerline, etc...

* When all is said and done, the product DOES work.

HOWEVER...(the negatives)...

* The installation guide just casually expects you to find the root source of the cable signal coming into your home and to hook in a little signal "reflecting" device to ensure your personal channel doesn't transmit all over the neighborhood. Otherwise, conceivably, your neighbor could watch your movies with you, watch you do your banking online, etc... If you install this device anywhere else on your cable line inside the house, you risk cutting off parts of your home from receiving your personal channel.

Now, perhaps in Massachusetts where these guys are based, that's no big deal since cable TV service was patched onto homes that were already decades old. Here in California, the cable connection is relatively embedded...it was installed when the home was built. While it's possible that I could go outside and open up the TV service panel and figure out some way to do all of that without losing signal fidelity, I'm less than excited about actually doing the deed. For many, I'd expect that this is far beyond their technical capability.

* Software stability issues. I installed the requisite driver software on a Vista PC, and my PC seems to be running into technical issues on a pretty regular basis. This is a "clean" PC--i.e. there's hardly anything installed on it to interfere--so I'd simply point out that you might expect to run into some software glitches initially.

* Image issues. I'm not going to nitpick the quality of the image transmitted (which is fine within all reasonable standards), but more about how its configuration is absolutely frustrating. First, the assumption is made that you'll simply patch their box onto the existing VGA line running from your PC to monitor. I hate to tell the manufacturers this, but it's 2008 and folks who are buying a device such as this probably are not living in a world of analog video signals. Nonetheless, I hooked it up to a laptop and found the software messing absolutely everything up on PC...screens going blank, resolutions being changed, etc...

In terms of usability, the problem ultimately was that even with the device's "calibration" capability, it was impossible to properly frame your PC's screen on the TV. For example, you're supposed to properly position a picture of a flower on the TV in order to ensure your video output will fit similarly. The first problem is that the image of the flower isn't 16:9...it's off somewhat, so you're fighting a battle of trying to figure out whether to crop off the top/bottom of your screen image or have black vertical bars on either side.

Ultimately, it seems to be impossible to get back to the point of trying to re-calibrate the Flower from Heck...the software keeps crashing (see earlier feedback), so in my case, I simply had to live with the minor issue of having no ribbon bar or start menu on the bottom of my screen.

* Fidgety remote. Again, I like the concept of having a single remote control that can command the host PC into opening windows, launching videos, etc... The problem is that there is a serious lag issue...you move the mouse on your remote, and about 3/4 of a second later, the mouse spurts around on-screen, somewhat uncontrollably. The remote, which is wireless, was only about two feet from the included receiver, so signal strength shouldn't have been an issue.

* Thou Shalt Be Channel 125. On a separate aside, you are "forced" to being on a single, pre-selected channel, all of which is dependent on which "reflector" is packaged in your box. (I guess 125 and 135 are the two models they're shipping out.) Unfortunately, both 125 and 135 are "real" channels on my cable system, so you effectively have to forfeit the content delivered by your cable provider. Theoretically, you can ask for a different reflector on a different channel, but I suspect they're going to give you the choice between...channel 125 and channel 135.

CONCLUSION

This is a cool technology to try out, but unless you're just a real nerd who likes the idea of creating his own TV channel and possibly hijacking neighbors' TV sets, I'd sit out this generation of product and wait for 2.0.

Wait for:

* the software to become more stable
* for some easier implementation of "reflectors"/filters (possibly like how DSL does it...a different filter available for each cable connection throughout the house.)
* for a DVI connection, not VGA (duh!), which should also lead to fewer "calibration" issues.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a PC-To-TV Device That Works!!!, September 3, 2008

By	P. Colin McGraw "AV, Computer & EnviroTech Nut" (Castle Rock, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wanted a PC-to-TV device ever since I started recording TV with my Media Center PC and ripping movies to my hard drive.

I have some other media streamers, but it seemed like where they come up short is in the number of formats they support and the limited amount of web content they can access. The ZvBox gets over all the format limitations by just putting what's on your PC monitor onto your TV screen!

Setup was easier than other reviewers made it out to be (you screw in a couple of coax cables and plug your monitor in), though you do have to know where the main splitters are so you can screw in the channel filter.

It also doesn't interfere with my cable-based "digital voice" and broadband services which is something I worried about.

The device itself performs reasonably well. Resolution is truly HD, frame rate is impressive, but darker gradients sometime pixellate because of the signal compression. The vast majority of content looks just as great on the big screen as the computer monitor, but I wouldn't stream Blu Ray over the ZV channel or anything because there ARE minor, usually unnoticeable quality issues that keep it from having the quality of a direct HDMI connection.

The RF remote that comes with it is pretty cool and functional, though you'll want to learn to use the directional arrows, play button, and "full screen" button to minimize the reliance on the laggy touchpad and the painful text-message style text entry (for the rare circumstance where you'd want to simulate typing via the remote).

Also ZeeVee created a streamlined interface to Hulu and a few other sites which provide a pretty solid selection of free, ad-supported streaming content from the internet. I wasn't anticipating watching a lot of Hulu when I got the ZvBox, but as it turns out, Hulu support makes me question if I should keep paying for Comcast on-demand content, since ZvBox gives as good of a selection, but with a better interface and for free!

ZvBox has its limitations, but the fact that it can play iTunes, Media Center, Amazon Unbox, Hulu, YouTube, Netflix.com and whatever other format or website that your computer supports make it the most versatile media streamer on the market, though not the cheapest or easiest to use!

Plus, when you do have questions, the company is small enough that you get personalized support from American reps, which is a rarity nowadays!

All in all, I'd highly recommend it if you can get over its few quirks/usability issues and high price tag.

UPDATE/TIP: If you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone and you buy this device, I recommend an application called "Air Mouse" which lets you control your computer's mouse and keyboard with your i-device. It's a handy way to get full keyboard functionality when operating the ZvBox without buying an expensive wireless keyboard.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT WORKS!!!, October 16, 2008

By	REDFOXXX (Sacramento,Ca USA) - See all my reviews

I got my zv box yesterday and did the setup this morning.Seting up the hardware part is not that hard and did not effect my internet or cable service.I have a new home and my cable box is in my master closet so i installed the filter and did not have to go out of the house and look for the outside cable box. I have a sony xbr 46 and a sony xbr 52" .They both working perfect with zeevee.Yes it has some minor problems like pointers responce lag issue but not that bad.And now i am watching turkish channels for free from my hdtvs for free.Thats what i wanted to to for a long time.One problem about hulu is i can not watch it in full screen when i use zeevee viewer.I do not know if its my fault or not.But overall i waited to buy zee for couple months to compare with sling catcher(which i use slingbox pro and very happy with it) but it was a big disappointment when i try it and returned it .Zeevee does the job and does it well.It has small problems but in time i am sure they will fix it with some firmware updates.And before ending my review it took me about 40 minutes to setup everything.