Just to emphasise how completely rubbish Netgear were with this, I re-read the thread. Here are some timeline highlights. Remember that this was a 3rd generation product from Netgear.
Once they work the kinks out of it and update the firmware for a bit I think it's going to be terrific.
It's early days for this unit and Netgear have the chance to make it something special with some decent and timely firmware updates - give them a chance
Player has just been shipped (Jan 2011), and we are now 7 months away from end of life...(EOL) - Last FW update was August 25th 2011
Fw Thread
Then 3 months before EOL
Just to spread the word, Netgear have now opened a Bug / Feature Voting System.
Now 3 months after EOL we have posts such as:
Pixmania are selling the NeoTV 550 for £83.90. Good deal?
Is the new player something worth buying?
1 year after EOL
I'm looking for at mediaplayer and consider the Netgear Neo TV550
First mention on this thread that it is EOL is one year after...
Support - FAIL!!!!! Netgear have made this product EOL already and the promised updates have not materialised.
The unit never really worked as advertised for most people. Blu-ray was terrible, youtube did not work, negotiations fell down for some paid streaming services, the last FW for me (both beta and stable) also left cover art wall not working, the SD card does not work anymore so there is no caching at all, scanning does not work until you have done it 3 times in a row....
The worst I think is that Netgear kept saying "don't worry, this is a flagship best in market product and FW fixes will solve issues" and then they dumped it with no warning, but kept selling it!!
The customer support, tech fixes, marketing and communication, and level of honesty and customer care displayed were a complete shambles, and I have vowed to never buy netgear again (including at work where i have spent hundreds of thousands on computer equipment).
sorry it is seems a rant, but when you read back knowing when EOL is, you just feel like so many people were let down.