Provided by: Patriot
No compensation was received for review of this product.
Price Point
Price: $89.99 USD
Class: Mainstream
At a price point of $89.99, the Patriot PBO Alpine is in the Mainstream category of Media Players.
Performance
Media playback and networking of the PBO Alpine were excellent. Picture was crisp and audio was better than expected. Streaming with Ethernet was flawless, and was near flawless over WiFi.
Reviewer's Opinion
If you think that the PBO Alpine is a full featured Android piece, you need to re-evaluate that thought and take the Alpine for what it really is; a very easy to use and excellent performing media player with excellent networking capabilities. Taken as that without further expectations, the PBO Alpine does very, very well for itself, covering that realm nearly perfectly.
As an HD Media Player, the PBO Alpine really shines. Playback is absolutely excellent on every media type. HD and SD video are both clear and crisp, with no signs of ghosting and no noticeable coloration added by the PBO Alpine itself. Streaming media is just the same, and YouTube 1080p clips looked fantastic. The quality of the audio surprised me quite a bit. While it is certainly not an audiophile piece, it sounds as good as higher quality onboard computer solutions and better than most portable devices by a good margin. The photo viewing capabilities are a nice add in with today’s photo-happy culture. But, the most impressive thing was the incredible array of audio and video formats the Alpine handles. I literally could not find a piece of media on my drive that it couldn’t play or view.
Since Android has its shortcomings in the file explorer side, I was curious how the PBO Alpine was going to handle this. To my surprise, it does it in a very simple and powerful way. Connecting to a network device is a one click operation, and bringing up the player of choice (video, audio or photo) brings up a vast number of ways to navigate. If your source material is tagged, you can browse by artist, genre, album, etc. You can, of course, simply browse by folders. When you connect to your network device, the PBO Alpine seeks and sorts all of the shared media on the device and presents it with options that make sense for sorting. Connect a USB storage device, and the Alpine does exactly the same thing.
Of course, nothing is without faults, the PBO Alpine included. If you are a hardcore Android user, you might find the OS restrictions of the Alpine somewhat off-putting. To start, the Google Play Store is not available, so apps must be side loaded. Even then, it is all a matter of “maybe” as to whether or not they will work. In a multimedia streaming box, one would expect Netflix, Hulu Plus, Blockbuster, etc, but right now they are not compatible with the firmware. Same goes for Adobe Flash. When you do install some apps, you will be doing it with very limited space, as the Alpine is not capable of having apps installed on the SD card. Like I said to start, the Alpine is a media streamer, gives you a little more (yes, you can install the Facebook app…….), but don’t expect a full-fledged high end tablet-like experience.
The Patriot PBO Alpine is a very powerful media streamer packed into an incredibly simple and easy to operate package. There are no controls on the unit itself, but the included remote gets around the OS very well, and standard USB keyboard/mouse devices work perfectly with just a plug in. Networking is simple, and playback of all media types is excellent. The only times the Alpine seemingly falls short is when expectations go beyond what it was designed to do. As long as you keep your expectations to it being a streaming media device with excellent networking capabilities, the PBO Alpine is a great performer and all around very easy to use piece.
Pros
Cons
{aseadnetadblock|Patriot PBO Alpine Media Player|Patriot PBO Alpine}
