Hi Folks,
No doubts that we’re all B&O fans and would do crazy things to get their latest product, but we must be honest and admit that there have been some failures (sometimes major!) in releasing some of the products. I have been a BO geek for more than a decade.
I wanted to start this discussion and share with you my opinion on some of these items. This is not about saying bad things on B&O and their products, but to help them not to repeat some of the mistakes. Feel free to agree, disagree or add other items.
1) DVD2 (2007-2009): nice design, but horrible software and drive (a basic Philips). I still don’t understand how B&O could come up with such software. Absolutely not intuitive or friendly use. You need to have the manual to navigate the menu. Slow to react (power on needs about 30 s!). The Guide+ system, which is suppose to help recording programs, is no longer in use in most countries, making the DVD2 almost useless. To get access to the close-up operation panel, you have to press the front of the top panel… which breaks after a few uses (100% of the cases!)
2) SERENATA (2007-2009): the most expensive mobile phone ever (with mp3)… with the least functions! Even a basic mobile phone has more functions. Good luck if you want to write a text message! If it wasn’t the design, this phone would be a joke! No wonder it was stopped shortly after it was release. SERENE was a bit better, but definitely not great either.
3) BEO5/6 remotes: The most unstable remote in the world and the only remote you need both hands to use (unless you’ve good dexterity). The ergonomics is just awful. How many times you want to grab it and it falls or glitches from your hand. About the touch screen, why did B&O not use the capacitive (iPhone), rather than the resistive type, which is not always working (can sometimes get on my nerves!). Could have been a very interesting product because of its programming possibilities via the Config Tool software.
4) BEOMASTER5/BEOSOUND5: These products can still be improved by software updates, but they have several issues. I don’t want to go into details (discussed in a specific forum), but among other things I would list the following:
a. Navigation wheels (I often mix up the browsing and volume wheel). If you have many songs, it takes forever to get from A to Z . Why not a touch screen??
b. When you have both BM5+BS5, you cannot navigate in your library using the TV, which is particularly annoying when you’re in a linked room. Maybe they want you to have a BS5 in all rooms (to replace the remote!) This just doesn’t make any sense to me! Even the BEOMEDIA 1 does it better!
c. The BM5 web navigation on TV… just awful. I still haven’t figured out how to do it with the remote or keyboard!?
d. The weak or lack of possibilities to play videos (BS5 screen or TV screen)
e. The loss of BM5 HD picture in the main room, when turning on the BM5 in a linked room…
Hopefully most of these issues will be solved by future software updates.
5) TV HDMI connection: they were introduced rather late compared to all other brands. Why did B&O insist with the DVI connection? How many BV7-32 TV (HD-ready) are out there with no HDMI connection? This was bad anticipation of the markets need.
6) Blu-ray drive software of BV7 series: Unlike the DVD player of the same series, the BR player does no longer read DivX, XviD etc… formats. I agree that on a full HD panel, DivX picture doesn’t look great, but still it’s sometimes useful.
Well, that’s all folks!
A huge B&O fan!!!
