Unboxing the Krave Multimedia Soundbar

Got this interesting piece of equipment from Filmographia, a local developer and distributor of the Krave Multimedia Soundbar. It looks just like a typical soundbar that works like a 2.1 speaker and subwoofer set but there’s actually more to it.

The Krave Multimedia Soundbar attempts to be the centerpiece of your living room or entertainment room. It’s a full HD multimedia player — can play all of the popular formats at 1080p full HD resolution. Just plug in a storage device (flash, HDD, NAS, etc) to one of its USB ports and a native Linux-based player will do the rest and project it to your HDTV via HDMI.

The Krave can also connect to your local network and the internet via a GigaBit LAN or a WiFi dongle (sold separately) so you can stream videos to the TV set connected to it as well as download podcasts and access P2P services. Once connected to the net, the Krave can download movies and files straight to an attached storage via P2P networks.

The Krave also has the ability to record videos that are being played on your TV — whether it’s local or cable channel or from a DVD or Bluray disc. The Scheduler also helps you set the time when you want the recording (ala-TiVo) to start even if you’re away or asleep.

But first and foremost, this is a Krave Soundbar so you have a docking station for your iPod or iPhone. The set can play audio from your iDevices and even project the videos straight to the attached TV.

The Krave Soundbar has two (2) USB 3.0 ports at the back, an SD card reader, DVB-T support, HDMI v1.3 port, S/PDIF Optical & coaxial jack, 10/100/1000Mbps LAN port, up to 300Mbps via WiFi dongle (optional), and comes with a free 1 TB external/portable HDD.

Saw this same set-up over at @victorbasa last week as well (we’re hosting/running the @geekynights podcast every Wednesday at his place, go follow us on Twitter).

Filmographia also offers a subscription-based service if you get a Krave system from them. The service allows you to rent or borrow from their 7,000+ titles (Bluray & HD quality) for a monthly fee of Php600USD 10INR 867EUR 10CNY 74 to Php1,200USD 20INR 1,734EUR 19CNY 149. You send them a checklist from their database and their tech guy will deliver it to your home on a new 1TB HDD and replace your old one for free (you basically get a new replacement HDD every time).

I still have to do a burn-in of the Krave Soundbar but based on the demo over at Vic’s place, the system performs pretty well and the speakers sounds pretty good. The Krave Soundbar costs about Php29,999USD 511INR 43,337EUR 487CNY 3,723 and they’ll deliver and install it to your place for free. You can check them out here.