Holiday season product reviews ala Greg V- Xbox 360 with Kinect, Apple TV
Apple TV first since Greg did a great job. Some additional thoughts- very easy to swap between TVs. Initially set it up on my happy holidays to us Sony 46" LED in the living room and moved it to the pain palace today.(cave seems inappropriate for a room with a 32" flat screen LCD, blu-ray sound system, multiple fans, treadmill and two Kurt Kinetic bike trainers with my sister and my tri bikes attached plus artwork courtesy of Ironman NA with race posters from LP, Moo, FL 70.3, HI 70.3 and unfinished business with SG) It just needed to be plugged into an HDMI slot and the powerbar and no additional set up needed. It was still paired to the iTunes library resident on sister's laptop/external hard drive. Prior to the computer completely dying a month agoI had my laptop that I shattered the screen on in June 2009 hooked to the system so losing my iTunes library for the palace was a drag as it limited my entertainment options to just what we have on DVD or blu-ray. I prefer TV shows to movies while working out and most of those are in iTunes rather than on hard media. Apple TV at $99 plus $19 for HDMI cable ws far cheaper than replacing the computer. One last Apple TV point, the remote has a nice feel, is metallic and a good weight but probably wouldn't respond well to the amount of sweat produced in the palace so I placed it in a snack size ziplock baggie and it still worked just fine.
Xbox 360 with Kinect
The backstory- was in Broke Guy and they had a demo unit set up running Kinect Adventures where you are stand up rafting. Hey this is pretty cool. Very different from the way the Wii works with the remote and the new PS move that works similar to the Wii(disclaimer- own a Wii and PS3 but no PS move). Traded in old game systems and media not being used and got enough credit for 4 GB Xbox 360 with Kinect. Came with Kinect Adventures plus we purchased Dance Central and Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout that also work with Kinect.
The hardware- the Xbox 360 is intermediate in size between the Wii and my first gen PS3 that I originally bought as a blu-ray player that just happens to do games too. The Kinect sits on the TV stand in front of the TV and is about 3.5 in tall and 10 in long. It works best between 2 ft and 6 ft high and there is a mounting bracket sold separately for placing it on top the TV. Our LED TV is too narrow for that though. The Kinect is a camera/motion sensor. It works best if you have a clear space in front of the TV of at least 6 feet and preferrably 8 plus feet. We do have a friend that mounted his high in a small room and that shortens the space needed. Two players require more space than one.
The test drive- Invited over a friend that is also a triathlete and ran 3:23 for his first marathon at Honolulu a week previously. We started off with Kinect Adventures, moved to Dance Central and then on to Biggest Loser. We did the challenges in Biggest Loser. Example was the slide and stride. Idea was sliding down a slip and slide with good body position being faster and then running back up the hill to do it again with winner being most laps/distance achieved. It starts off with 8 people and 4 advance and then 2 advance so its three rounds. Light mode was holding plank on knees for slide portion and jogging for uphill. We didn't do that, we went directly to hard which was regular plank and tire drills(high knees out to sides) for 2 minutes each round. Next level was 'challenging' with planks with leg raises and tire drills for 2 minutes and then 'intense' was planks with leg raises and tire drills for 3 minutes. We all ended up sweating and the 3:23 marathoners comment was "a true fatty would die trying to do this" as he left a puddle on the tile
I've since done a yoga session plus a box-fit workout which also created sweat even on the easiest setting. Probably the best part is the form feedback it provides. Sag or raise your butt on plank it shows you and frequently has some comment too. The Dance Central game also has a calorie mode. All three games are much more interactive than any traditionally controlled game and I like the interface better than the Wii with the Wii fit as it truly allows free form movement. Yes you are running in place but that's what a treadmill does too. I'm impressed with the graphics on the 360 and the gameplay is pretty good too but I'm really not a hardcore/good gamer.
Hope this helps with future purchasing decisions.
Lynne
Comments