Originally Posted by cashvanveen
Its all well and good saying how it will be a fix all in one box and if you need support then they will help. I've had numerous DVD players from Meridian over the years and every one has gone wrong through software problems. I've then waiting going on 2 years for all the fix's to stop it freezing, jumping, droping audio etc.
I never minded but my wife drove me nuts, expecially with the G91.
Now my question is, can you really see a plug and forget system that just does everything, especially if your doing it via wireless.
My wife used to comment that I've spent �3k on a DVD player that won't play discs and is always playing up, when I could have got one for �50 that played everything!
Can you really see the system working without issues? I can not and there is the point of wasting �10k on this system! Customers will be on the phone all the time, everytime they download music, every time they want to watch a movie. I have a popcorn hour A100 and it plays up just as much as my G91 did, but it only cost me �100.
If I'd spent �5k on it I'd be spitting feathers and I can see the Sooloos being the same albeit to a lesser degree.
On a side note it was never the dealer who helped me with my problems, it was always this forum!

I can't speak for Meridian as I have never been an owner of theirs, but I can say that my experience is that the world of servers and streamers operates differently from most hardware AV companies. As per the press release, Sooloos will keep its existing NY HQ (and likely their support structure). So, ongoing support will be from Sooloos and not Meridian for some period of time.

Why might that matter? Because I've found a far quicker response time to fixes from companies who produce products like this vs "standard" AV hardware makers. Firmware updates for the latter take ages to roll out and, depending on the hardware's required upgrade steps, may make the process a hassle. Companies like Sooloos often code on an ongoing basis. They are constantly working on tweaks, fixes, feature additions, etc. So, software upgrades come much more frequently to address field issues and teh updates happen automatically over the net. The feedback I've gotten from my dealer is that Sooloos' turnaround time on hardware issues is also very snappy. Now, not all companies in this segment are not equal and some are better than others (Kaleidescape is probably the best I know of - and for their price, you could say that they sure as heck should be), but again the feedback I've gotten is that Sooloos is pretty darn good.

You never know what might happen under new ownership, but going into it Sooloos is starting from a good place. All that being said, the initial comparison was between and all in one solution like Sooloos and a DIY system. Regardless of how good or bad Sooloos' support is, any organized support would be better for a non-tech customer than trying to troubleshoot themselves on a DIY system. And that would be true for any out of the box solution. That was the point. Of course you still want the chosen all in one solution to have good support, even when compared to others, and from what I've heard Sooloos does have that.

Jeff

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