Tech Olive

You might recall when we reviewed Seagate’s GoFlex ultra-portable drive, as well as the GoFlex Net media sharing device. We’re here once again to continue the GoFlex saga to bring you the GoFlex TV HD media player. This little guy plugs right into your television and plays any videos, music, or photos that you have stocked on your GoFlex drive or any other USB external hard drive.

The GoFlex TV is nice and small in size, which makes it a great space saver. It also has a trap door on the front that you can open up and slide your GoFlex drive right in. What we would’ve loved to see though is the ability to slide the drive all the way in and close the trap door, that way the drive can remain hidden and not take up any more space. The drive doesn’t slide in all the way, so the end sticks out a bit (see the photo gallery at the bottom).

It has two USB 2.0 ports, one on the side and one on the back. Also along the backside are component and composite outputs, which require the included adapter cables. There’s also digital S/PDIF, HDMI, and ethernet. Seagate includes an ethernet cable, but no HDMI cable sadly. You can also get a wireless adapter for the GoFlex TV, which can be purchased separately and will take up a USB port, leaving you with only one.

On the software end, the GoFlex TV’s user interface is pretty much exactly the same as previous media players from Seagate. It’s really simple and easy to navigate, but it still seems a little sluggish at times. You can stream Netflix movies and YouTube videos, as well as Mediafly and vTuner internet radio. You also have access to Flickr, Picasa, weather, and more. You can also stream media from a network drive to your GoFlex TV.

The device will play pretty much any video file you throw at it, including .MKV, and it’ll play full 1080p HD video at pretty good quality (assuming your original file is good quality).

So, the ultimate question is: should you buy this? It’s definitely a good investment if you’re the kind of person who has all of your movies on your hard drive and would rather watch them on your TV than be stuck watching them on your computer screen. If you already have the FreeAgent Theater+, don’t bother upgrading to the GoFlex TV unless you absolutely have to have the latest of everything. There’s really not much difference other than looks. However, the smaller size of the GoFlex TV can be really enticing. The choice is up to you.

You can get the GoFlex TV for a very reasonable $130 on Seagate’s website.

Score: 8 Olives