So Kiss has come out with their most recent bid to become your networked home entertainment center, and with a price around 350 € for the DP-600 that does indeed sound interesting. But if you compare it to the slightly older DP-558 with 200GB hard drive, which is currently available for around 440 € in Germany, 490 € in the Netherlands, and about 3.500 DKK (470 €) in Denmark, you start wondering what you get for those extra 150 € (depending on country). The VR-558 comes with a 300GB hard disk and does not seem to have a whole lot more to offer than the DP-558 besides increased price.
It seems from the info that I can find online at this point in time that the differences are these:
– the DP-558 has 200 GB of recording hard disk space;
– the DP-600 has support for High Definition, but can’t record.
At this point in time I can’t find a review of the DP-600, but will continue to look for one in order to get more information on this box. So far I’m definitely much more a fan of the recorder-type boxes and think that the DP-558 probably still offers the best value for money.
[tags]Kiss Technology, Kiss, DP-558, DP-600, VR-558, DVD, Hard Disk Recorder, HDR, Divx, Recorder, Networked Home, Xbox, Xbox 360[/tags]
Comments 4
AFAIK the DP-600 doesn’t yet come in a HDR-edition. But Linksys promised that they will launch an edition medio 2006.
The DP-558 with 80 GB of diskspace is available for 2.500 DKK here in Denmark.
BTW: I can’t read you post because of the add.
The DP-558 was a complete failure… I was looking so much forward to this product – I tried it and could have had it for free (due to my work at that time). I did not want it in my home after a short trial.
From a technical/spec. POV it looks just great – but from a user point of view it’s a mallfunction. This even if you where one of the “lucky” few waiting for the promised update to fix wellknown & documented problems for 1,5 year. Futhermore KISS (even if sold and rebranded) will probably have the courtesy to leave their heritage of problems behind them when they move on to the next gen. products (DP-558 -> DP-600 -> DP-???). = DONT BUY IT!
The XBOX 360 is what people should be looking for right now – it will light up your Plasma/LCD/HDTV brightly (please make sure the screen supports 1080i – cause it should:-)) with your first true HDTV experience and it’s relatively cheap from a hardware POV. Three things make it an outstanding platform at the moment:
1) This machine is just begging to go live to play and show you new game demos and _real_ HDTV “clips”.
2) It will (even if you are not a +multinerd) give you a real home network with a direct and welknown user interface towards your PC (for recording/playing video, pictures etc.) (Furthermore plz. note that MS Mediacentre Edition/Vista is mandatory on the PC in the home network for this to work seamless = $!)
3) Gaming is growing and the DP-558/600 is not very good at this?!? (that’s a joke right there). Even so it’s a very big plus that just tags along – if you compare to usability vs. the DP-xxx lineup.
And yes you will be able to get support and yes MS can’t really afford not to listen to complaints and cries for help – KISS has a wellknown history for doing this. This is also the simple reason KISS is not and probably never will be a succes on it’s own homemarket of Denmark.
These products are very much depending on OS/software since they are not just your regular VHS recorders only based on hardware – thus the customer should make sure not to get left behind.
Sorry but I could go on for hours – I tried them both – but yes still these are only my humble opinions.
Nice to see some reflection on this topic 🙂
After a short look at the specs of the two KISS’s – I can see that one of the major differences is the wireless-features, USB connections and the Nero-software. But what worries me is the “feature” to RESET almost every firmware-setting, and that option is – in my point of view – confirming OT’s sad story!
In – a gaming – point of view I agree in OT’s fasination with the Xbox 360, but in an entertaning view I still belive in the PS2’s ability to produce interesting hardware-plug&play-fun that apeals to children and the whole family – Eye Toy is just one fun thing.
Lots of fun and love
I have had one of these units since last Tuesday. Its performance as a media streaming device is a atrocious. Even after upgrading the firmware and PC Link software I have yet to watch a movie.
The system comes with the Kiss proprietary software and is also supposed to support Windows Media Connect. I have succeede in playing music using PC Link but the interface for this software is awful. It does not import existing playlists, has no shuffle or continuous play capabiliy so all you can do is manually select tracks to play individually. Movies constantly freeze and you can only get out by turning the unit off and on. I have even tried nero digital content which is jointly promoted by Kiss and Nero without success.
Neither Windows Media connect or Nero media home work at all. Trying to play any content from these results in the unit hanging.
I have an xbox 360 and a Dlink 320 and these operate without any issues as media clients.
I will be returning the Kiss DP-620 early next week.