RRP: £139. A standard definition Version is available for £99.
Upon opening the package I was presented with this:
Taking a look round the back shows you this:
2 USB ports (currently used for device updates)
1 HDMI Output
Composite AV ports (for a standard definition TV)
Digital Audio/Tos Link
At first I didn't really understand the purpose of the Veebeam. I watch a lot of streamed media from my laptop on my TV and I guess I'm lucky because I have a HDMI output, I usually just plug that in. I gave the Veebeam a go and it has to be said - I'm glad I did.
The functionality of the Veebeam is awesome. The software is so easy to use, everything is where you would expect and you can just right click on any video file and click "PC to Veebeam". You can put the output into 2 modes, Screencasting and Play To.
Screencasting mode:
This displays exactly what is on your screen on the TV. It's much like the extend desktop feature in Windows. This streams your desktop (and anything you are watching such as iPlayer, itv Player, 4OD and anything else you can think of!)
Play To:
In this mode you create a playlist and it is seemlessly streamed to the device and played on your TV. You can work (or if your me - play games) on your PC whilst streaming a film, music or pictures to the TV.
To top it all off both modes work in glorious 1080p!
We have found although it is great for media streaming, it isn't really a viable option to use as a dual screen for your computer as there is a slight lag when navigating the screen on the TV. This does not affect the audio and video at all - to be fair to Veebeam they don't pretend you can use it for dual screen mode.
We tested the Veebeam on: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. It worked fine on each (note: You do need a fairly powerful system to run the Veebeam software - they recommend 2.2GHz Dual Core with 2GB RAM)
It's worth mentioning that I don't use a Mac, however Sean (another BSR editor) does. He informed me that Macs don't have a HDMI port, he also says that after much research this is the cheapest and one of the most efficient ways of transferring media from a Mac to a TV. Come to think of it he was the last of us to test the Veebeam and I haven't seen it since...
I see the Veebeam as a direct competitor to the Apple TV, and without wanting to sound like a sales pitch, in my opinion it's clearly much better. With Apple you need to purchase content through them and everything is done through iTunes. This will let you watch what you want from wherever you want.
Veebeam offer a full 30 day money back guarantee. I think it's defiantly worth at least giving it a try! get one at http://www.veebeam.com/ You can check out the tech specs of both the HD and SD versions at the bottom of this article.
The Veebeam gets 4.5/5. The reason it didn't get 5 is because I cant bear to look at 2 USB ports just sitting there. I contacted the CEO who informed me that the ports are used for device updates however they are working on making them fully functional ports. They get the extra .5 when they do!
Spec List:
| Video/Audio/USB output | Composite A/V HDMI Digital Audio/TOSLink Two (2) USB Ports |
|---|---|
| Screen/input resolution | 1280 x 1024 - Desktop 1280 x 1024 - Photo, Video |
| Max output resolution | 480i - NTSC/PAL 1080p - HDMI |
| A/V containers | If you can play it on your PC, you can play it on Veebeam. Capable of supporting: AVI, MKV (Matroska), MOV/M4V (Quicktime), MP4, ASF/WMV (Microsoft), MPG (MPEG2-PS/TS), Flash, AVCHD. |
| Video decoders | If you can play it on your PC, you can play it on Veebeam. Capable of supporting: H.264/AVC, MPEG4 (part 2)/Xvid, WMV (VC-1), MPEG-2 , VP6/7/8, Theora |
| Audio decoders | If you can play it on your PC, you can play it on Veebeam. MP3 (MPEG1 Layer 3), AAC, AAC+, Dolby Digital/AC-3 (downmix), LPCM (AIFF, WAV), WMA, DTS (downmix), FLAC |
| Photo formats | Screencast | JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF |
| Power | 110-120VAC (60Hz) or 220-240VAC (50Hz) 10W at 12VDC (20W max) |
| Wireless | Ultra-Wideband @>150Mbps constant rate |
| DRM | None |
| Systems requirements | 2.2 GHz or greater Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel i3, i5, and i7 2 MB cache memory 2 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.5, 10.6), Windows 7, Vista and XP |
| Protocols Used | DLNA, UPnP and Wireless USB Compatible |
| Footprint | 120mm x 120mm x 80mm |
| Warranty | 1 Year |