Eye Exams, and Seeing the Advantages of the New Brite-View CinemaTube

Both my wife and I had our eye exams today. And now finally our insurance will let my wife get a new pair of glasses, which she desperately needed. Took a little while looking around and trying various ones on, but I think we finally found a pair that looks really good.

The new Brite-View CinemaTube arrived today, so I got that all set up and started testing it out. So far, I like it. Compared to our current networked media player, video and audio quality seems about the same, but the new player has advantages that I think outweigh the advantages of the previous player.

Advantages of the CinemaTube:

1. Sends the video signal to every output simultaneously, so no more switching back and forth.
2. There is an aspect ratio button for quickly switching ratios, so no more navigating through a bunch of menu options.
3. It boots up almost instantly, compared to the 60 second boot time of the EGreat.
4. Plays subtitles in MKV files
5. Played some DVD folders that the EGreat would crash on
6. Plays some FLV files
7. Better support and more frequent firmware updates

Disadvantages:

1. System folders, hidden folders, and empty folders are all displayed in the list
2. Page Down doesn't jump to the top of the list when on the last page, nor will Page Up jump to the bottom when on the first page
3. No way to create a shortcut to the video library folder, so have to navigate the network every time
4. Won't cause the HDMI switch to automatically switch when turned on or off
5. No 30 second skip (there is a GoTo feature, but nowhere near as convenient)
6. No Jukebox, so no poster art or movie description or genre filter

The main feature that got me to switch was the MKV subtitles, since I watch a lot of anime and want to convert my DVDs to MKVs so they don't take up as much space on the hard drive. That, plus the latest EGreat firmware, which was released in December, broke the machine's ability to play DVD folders, yet the firmware was left up and no mention was made of this.