Sony Bravia Internet Video Link (DMX-NV1)
Manufacturer: Sony Part number: DMX-NV1
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Sony Bravia Internet Video Link (DMX-NV1) will stream Web video and Amazon Video On Demand to your Bravia HDTV, but its slow interface and limited content options will have you looking at alternatives.
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CNET editors' review
Sony Bravia Internet Video Link (DMX-NV1) price range: $138.72 - $229.99
- Reviewed by: Matthew Panton
- Edited by: Matthew Moskovciak
- Reviewed on: 07/20/2009
- Released on: 03/26/2008
The good: Slim module can be mounted out-of-sight on back of the television; reliable, hiccup-free video streaming; works seamlessly with Sony's XMB interface; supports Amazon Video On Demand; a lot of free content.
The bad: Only compatible with select Sony televisions; sluggish interface and poorly designed menus; most of the content can be freely accessed from the Internet; free content is mostly lackluster; video quality is poor in many instances; doesn't stream media from a PC; superior alternatives available.
The bottom line: The Sony Bravia Internet Video Link (DMX-NV1) will stream Web video and Amazon Video On Demand to your Bravia HDTV, but its slow interface and limited content options will have you looking at alternatives.
Editors' note: Sony has announced that Netflix streaming will be coming to the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link this fall.
The moment Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link (also known as the BIVL or DMX-NV1) was announced last year, we knew the product would face an uphill battle. What could Sony's proprietary video streamer offer that you can't already get from Apple TV, Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Vudu, or the Netflix Player from Roku? Well, Sony's main answer is free content. While most network media streamers focus on movie rentals or subscription services, the BIVL's backbone is bringing content freely available on the Web--from places such as YouTube, Blip.TV, CBS, and Sports illustrated--and putting it on your HDTV. Recently Sony announced the addition of Amazon's Video On Demand service, giving you the option of renting in addition to the free content.
That might sound good on paper, but using the device is a whole different story. First off, most of the free content is lackluster--the video quality is poor, many of the clips are short, and most of the content just isn't compelling. Secondly, finding the content is difficult as the interface is sluggish and much of the content is haphazardly categorized and out-of-date. If the BIVL still sounds enticing, you may be disappointed to find that it only works with recent Sony Bravia LCDs--you can't just add it to any old HDTV. That leaves a pretty small audience of people who would still be interested in BIVL. Granted, the addition of Amazon's Video On Demand has made the product more compelling, but with superior alternatives such as the Apple TV, Netflix player, TiVo HD, and the SlingCatcher, it's hard to recommend. If you really want to watch YouTube videos, Web video clips, and rent movies from Amazon on your new Bravia HDTV with minimal effort--and don't mind a sluggish interface--the Bravia Internet Video Link gets the job done. But regardless of whether you have a compatible Bravia, almost any of those alternatives will be a better choice.
Design
Measuring 6.5 inches long by 1.46 inches wide and 4.13 inches high, the module is about the length and width of paperback book. It weighs less than 4 pounds and can be screwed on the back of Sony's compliant TVs with the included mounting bracket, allowing the device to be hidden behind the TV set. The BIVL can also be fitted with the included stand if you choose to vertically stand up the device beside your other AV gear. The device is outfitted with curved, slim edges on the top and bottom and coated in Sony's traditional, neutral color--dark gray. It has a subtle appearance, similar to a cable modem--a good thing if the device is sitting next your black, chunky AV receiver.


Sony includes an HDMI cable, a USB cable, AC adaptor, stand, cover, and TV mounting bracket. That's a solid accessory pack, but curiously, the company did not include an Ethernet cable, even though the BIVL requires one--there's no built-in Wi-Fi. You'll need to make two connections from the BIVL to your TV: USB and HDMI. That means the BIVL will use one of the HDMI inputs on your TV, but there's an additional HDMI input on the BIVL to replace the lost connectivity on your TV. Unfortunately for those who loathe adding more to the spaghetti of wires behind their AV system, the BIVL requires another wall outlet for its external AC adapter. This might be even more problematic for users who go the wall-mounting route.
Interface
Sony seamlessly integrates the BIVL's content into the PS3-style XMB (Xross Media Bar) interface that is already used on Sony HDTVs. Navigating to the Web video content is logical compared with other devices we used; for example, Samsung's interface divided its content between two menus (and two remote buttons) and had a noticeable amount of latency when browsing through the built-in Shockwave videos. Connecting the BIVL to your Sony HDTV adds two new features to the default interface: My Page by Yahoo and a list of channels under the Videos tab.

Browsing for videos also follows the familiar XMB layout; content is set up by channel, followed by a gridlike interface, with (but not always) categories on the left side of the screen to further distinguish videos. There is no search function, which we immediately desired after scrolling through thousands of CBS episodes. The playback interface bar for videos is also laid out logically. The up-and-down directional pad buttons zoom in and out on the picture, while right and left fast-forward and rewind the video, and holding down right enables a "super" fast-forward.

For Yahoo's My Page, the idea is that users can sync up their Yahoo account with the device, offering customized news bulletins, weather, and traffic. While the panel does look slick and is very usable, the simple fact is not everybody is going to convert to Yahoo's services if they are already well established with AOL, Google, or Microsoft. And as of now, you cannot access your Yahoo e-mail account or use other popular Yahoo services, such Messenger, Flickr, Answers, or Buzz. It's possible that these might be added in the future, but as of now the service is pretty underwhelming.
You can also add your own content via a downloadable utility from Sony's Internet-based synchronization Web site. We tried downloading the software--Sony clearly states that it's in beta form and an unofficial feature--but we were unable to get it to work with either Internet Explorer or the outdated Firefox 2 (it currently does not support Firefox 3).
Content
As for content, Sony has assembled a list of channels that seem to mostly be targeted at the 18- to 30-year-old demographic. It's worth noting that most of the content, excluding Amazon Video On Demand, can be accessed freely on the Web, but Sony does provide the content advertisement-free, even with the full CBS episodes. Here's a brief overview of some of the channels Sony includes:
- YouTube: Sony provides nearly complete YouTube functionality, including the capability to log in to your account, search for videos, add tags, select the most viewed, popular, and newest playlists. The one catch--you can't add your own comments.
- Amazon Video On Demand: Amazon's streaming video service offers TV shows and movies to rent, and unlike the other channels, there's plenty of good content. Most movies cost about $3 or $4 to rent and TV shows go for about $2.
- CBS: A selection of videos from CBS, presented without commercials. It's a great idea, but the execution is off the mark. While you can watch the latest Survivor episode or the premiere of Worst Week, we couldn't find any CSI, The Mentalist, or the latest full episode of the Late Show with David Letterman. (Editors' note: CNET is a subsidiary of CBS.)
- Yahoo Video: a competitor to YouTube that tends to show editorially featured videos rather than user-voted submissions.
- Blip.tv: Known for its video blogging services, the company mainly focuses on episodic content instead of viral video.
- The Minisode Network: Owned by Sony Pictures Television, the channel shows condensed--sometimes down to as little as seven minutes--episodes of popular television shows, such as NewsRadio, The Facts of Life, and more.
- Sports Illustrated on Demand: The title explains it all--short episodes of your favorite sports moments.
- FEARnet: a multiplatform horror network created by Lionsgate, Comcast, and Sony, where horror fans can watch free, full-length films as well as red carpet and convention coverage, trailers, and shorts.
- Wired: Based on the geek-tastic monthly magazine, the channel has a variety of videos covering how technology affects culture, the economy, and politics.
- Style.com: Coverage of the runway for those infatuated with fashion and glamour.
- Video Detective: The most popular movie trailers are categorized as HD but do not even close to hi-def video quality.
- CBS College Sports: a hastily assemblage of CBS sports videos that are neither up-to-date nor listed chronologically.
There are certainly a lot of content partners here, but without the recent addition of Amazon's streaming service, we'd almost completely write off the device. Many of these videos are either listed in the wrong category or are out of date. It takes enough patience just to browse through all of CBS's content to find a particular show (more on the sluggishness in the performance section), but it's only made worse to find it listed in the wrong category or missing altogether. In addition, no standardized resolution or aspect ratio is used for the content; some videos appear with blacks bars on all sides. Perhaps this isn't Sony's fault, but it doesn't make for a consistent user experience.

It's also important to note that, unlike the Apple TV, the BIVL isn't capable of streaming movies and music from networked PCs. That's a pretty big downside, especially since we found the content to be lackluster--you're stuck with what Sony provides.
Performance
Content aside, the BIVL was a very reliable video streamer in our experience. Sure, videos took a few seconds to buffer, but once they started playing we didn't experience any dropouts or stuttering. Of course, this all depends on your Internet connection, but it's good to know that if your connection is solid, the BIVL will serve your content glitch-free. That being said, we did have the device hang on us a couple times, which required us to unplug the unit and restart it.
While we were impressed by the buffer-free playback of the videos themselves, it was hard to look past the sluggishness of the actual menus. Compared with services such as Apple TV, Xbox Live, and PS3 store, browsing the BIVL is slow, which is only made more frustrating when there's so much mediocre content to scroll past. When you first select a channel, it's not unusual for it to take more than 10 seconds to load the initial screen of choices, and then you'll hit another delay when you want to go to the next page. It's not pleasant.
Image quality on the videos is a mixed bag, but we found ourselves disappointed more often than not. Obviously, YouTube clips blown up on a 46-inch HDTV are going to look a little rough, but we were surprised that a lot of the other Web video was of similar quality. For example, we loaded some clips from Sports Illustrated and were shocked that the quality was YouTube like, or perhaps even worse. Of course, Sony's job is just putting Web video on the big screen, but we can't imagine too many people will be happy with the experience. To be fair, some of the videos actually looked pretty good. A trailer for Hancock was sharp and relatively artifact-free and Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising (hey, it was the only free movie) via Amazon Video On Demand service was probably the best-looking video we saw, hitting at least DVD quality. But even content from CBS, such as Worst Week, was worse than standard-definition cable. If Slacker Uprising can look good, why can't the other programs?
User reviews
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Not useful at all
by braviatv on January 20, 2008
Pros: It fits nicely on the back of the TV
Cons: Minimal buffering, limited and stale programming available
Summary: Not usable in the real world.
We have a decently speedy DSL connection and we cannot watch even a postage-stamp sized video without continuous buffering occurring. Add that to the ...Summary: Not usable in the real world.
We have a decently speedy DSL connection and we cannot watch even a postage-stamp sized video without continuous buffering occurring. Add that to the video content that hasn't changed in weeks (except the yahoo news feed), and you have a pretty worthless gadget. Why Sony would sell something like this with what appears to be almost no memory for buffering is beyond me. Maybe it can be fixed with a software update????
And I might add that the content available consists largely of movie previews and snippets, none more interesting than that available on YouTube, etc. with much less hassle.
AppleTV is looking better every day.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Neat, but not worth the price
by usmc_guy on November 23, 2007
Pros: It can get weather and traffic info (in certain areas) at the press of one button. It can also download SD and HD videos from Sony Pre-selected sites
Cons: Similar features to a Tivo. User can not select other sites outside the ones Sony has preselected. Also, is not a UPNP Media device.
Summary: I thought it was neat for all of 5 Minutes. But when I realized that my tivo had more capability (and Im not talking about the record feature) I was ...
Summary: I thought it was neat for all of 5 Minutes. But when I realized that my tivo had more capability (and Im not talking about the record feature) I was upset. I was hoping I could use it to stream media from my Media Server. Opps, my mistake.
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Does not work with all broadband connections!!
by t_numbersgame on January 6, 2009
Pros: It's a keeping up with the Jones' strategy-
Cons: Does not work with all boadband connections. The marketing material does not describe this unfortunate situation nor do the sales folks (how could they know?).
Summary: People who rely on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or clearwire "broadband" should not consider it as an option- they will not recieve the 120 free promotional movies. Sony wants ...
Summary: People who rely on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or clearwire "broadband" should not consider it as an option- they will not recieve the 120 free promotional movies. Sony wants people to have a router and stuff...
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The 4th wire is the killer
by caponsacchi on July 4, 2009
Pros: The literature failed to say an ethernet wire was required and that the unit comes without it. So what do you do if your internet source is on the other side of the house? String a cable across yours walls and ceiling? And for what? Absurd.
Cons: I couldn't get it to work. I got tangled up in cables--hdmi, usb, AC, and ethernet--with no place to attach the ethernet.
Summary: The concept is promising, but Sony should not have released this unless it required no more than 2 cables. Either a wireless device, or an internet receiver built into the ...
Summary: The concept is promising, but Sony should not have released this unless it required no more than 2 cables. Either a wireless device, or an internet receiver built into the set, is required to make this thing the least bit attractive.
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Worthless!!
by diegocevallos on January 29, 2009
Pros: None is worthless
Cons: Does not work with certain ISP/IP addresses in the US. It seems that the service is just available for the US, there are unfortunately several IP addresses in the US are not in a database of a Malaysian company that provides insight to sony about IPs
Summary: Avoid headaches and very bad customer service. Don't buy it!
Summary: Avoid headaches and very bad customer service. Don't buy it!
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got it free
by Rchfssm on January 27, 2009
Pros: some nice features
Cons: Not well thought out
Summary: I bought My new Sony Bravia @ Costco. This thing came free with it. The TV was a great deal so I would have bought the TV with or without the ...
Summary: I bought My new Sony Bravia @ Costco. This thing came free with it. The TV was a great deal so I would have bought the TV with or without the link. I have a PS3. I figured Sony would have thought enough about this to allow you to connect it to your PS3, which has a wireless connection built in, via an ethernet cable and be in business. Alas that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems that I need to buy a separate wireless Bridge to run this thing. I can't figure out why Sony wouldn't try to marry all the stuff together. Can't they picture a guy after buying his new bravia that comes with the link on it saying, " I could buy a Blue ray player and wireless adaptor, or I could spend just a little more and get a PS3 and get a game player too."?
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Waste of money/time and not compatible with all TV
by mattliptak on January 10, 2009
Pros: Looks good and sounds good
Cons: Not compatible with all Bravia TVs., and you must have a USb port on the back to be compatible
Summary: Waste of time and money and not worth the effort...just buy and Apple TV or Vudu..its better and has more content!
Summary: Waste of time and money and not worth the effort...just buy and Apple TV or Vudu..its better and has more content!
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Not worth the aggravation
by dsc3507 on December 26, 2008
Pros: Fun the very first time (maybe)
Cons: Too many to list them all. If this was a give away or cost (maybe) $50 it might be worth a try.
- Numerous lockups when playing local files on a wired network. Required pulling the power cord to resetSummary: I got the video link as a bonus when buying my Sony Bravia TV. At best it it s a toy and probably more a waste of time then anything ...
Summary: I got the video link as a bonus when buying my Sony Bravia TV. At best it it s a toy and probably more a waste of time then anything else. Like most Manufacturer add-ons it is only as good as Sony makes it and without content providers and their support it is a useless box. So if that were to ever go away (and it eventually will) you are left with a lousy paper weight.
I was able to get the local file playing to work but for me it was a challenge. Who besides a geek would have the knowledge or patience to even do this. First you have to have a HTTP server where you place the files in a directory. Then you have to use your browser with add-on (only explorer not firefox) to add bookmarks to the video link memory. Then you go to the TV and hope it works. No where does it tell you exactly what files it will play. I did find it would play wmv's for the most part. If not or if you just want to delete a link you will have to log onto a Sony page, where you previously registered, and logon to see and delete the bookmarks. There is no way to do this at the TV screen. Such a kludge. Why anyone would buy this box is beyond me. While it is hard to pick a really good media box, this one is NOT in the running. Something like the Netgear EVA8000 or it's soon to be announced successor would be a much better choice. So buyer beware. If it comes with your TV and you get a good deal then play with it until you get bored, which won't take long, otherwise get something else. If you really want to play your local content well plus Internet stuff get a real media player. Around $300 would buy many much more capable units like the Xbox360 or EVA8000, etc. -
Lost time and money
by wodralir on June 26, 2008
Pros: Only for more cables and gabage.
Cons: A lot , don't any use.
Summary: I have one conect with my TV Bravia 1080p , for nothing.......i don't have extra , nothing, pleaseeeee!!!!!! don't play with the customer. If you have cable, antena or ...
Summary: I have one conect with my TV Bravia 1080p , for nothing.......i don't have extra , nothing, pleaseeeee!!!!!! don't play with the customer. If you have cable, antena or internet don't neat expend 300.00 dollars
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Sony
- Part number: DMX-NV1
- Description: Watch Internet video from the comfort of your couch with the DMX-NV1 Bravia Internet Video Link. This easy-to-attach module lets you stream Internet video to compatible BRAVIA HDTVs over your broadband Internet connection. The DMX-NV1 stays hidden behind the TV keeping your home theater setup clean and uncluttered. Using the award-winning Xross Media Bar and your TV remote control, you can intuitively browse select online music videos, movie trailers, user-generated videos, personalized weather, traffic feeds and more with no additional download or access fees. Internet video providers include AOL, Yahoo!, and Grouper (and more as they become available).
General
- Product Type Digital multimedia receiver
- Width 1.3 in
- Depth 4.1 in
- Height 6.4 in
- Weight 1.1 lbs
System
- A/V System Recommended Use Home
- Features Upgradable firmware
Network & Internet Multimedia
- Functionality Digital audio playback, Digital video playback
- Connectivity Wired
- Connectivity Protocols IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet)
- Supported Video Formats HDV 1080i
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Network ( RJ-45 ), 1 x, 1 x, 1 x ( Mini-USB Type B ), 1 x DC power input
Miscellaneous
- Cables Included - 5 ft, - 5 ft
Power
- Type External
- Voltage Required AC 120 V
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - Parts and labor - 1 year
Manufacturer info
- Sony
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Sony products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.sonystyle.com
- Address:
16765 W. Bernardo Dr., San Diego, CA 92127 - Phone: 1-877-865-SONY
- Email: contact@sel.sony.com
- Fax: 941-768-7790








