Twonky Beam Browser hands-on

Showing your folks the most recent viral video traditionally requires huddling around a smartphone or tablet, that’s odd when you find yourself sat in a room with a 40-inch flat-screen. Web connected TVs or media units just like the Apple TV permit you to watch YouTube so long as you spend five minutes tediously inputting the quest term to your remote. For those folks who can’t afford a unified Airplay setup, there’s PacketVideo’s Twonky Beam Browser, which allows you to push mobile content on your TV as fast as your wireless router can handle it. Does it work in addition to advertised? Is it the reply on your prayers? Read directly to discover, dear reader, read on.

Beam’s essentially a browser overlay — only differing out of your regular web portal due to six buttons at the bottom frame that control your media: On/Off, Device Selection, Play, Stop, Volume control and a queue on your videos. The house screen lists officially compatible channels you need to use the browser with, including YouTube, Vimeo and Funny or Die. Any HTML5 video you surf over may have a “BEAM” logo slapped on it (pictured), that you just have to tap and some moments later, it’ll start playing for your TV. When you surf, you’re able to then queue up subsequent videos without stopping the single you’re watching.

In theory, setup need to be instantaneous so long as everything’s connected to an identical wireless network. In our case, it took slightly coaxing to get the iPad and Apple TV to acknowledge each other. Once it really works, it’ll behave just like any Airplay-enabled device, so Flash videos won’t work here. Android devices, sorry to claim, include the identical limitations, so no late-night Google-video MST3K marathons for you.

Beam Browser does nothing revolutionary, however the freedom it provide you with is welcoming. Fundamentally, it’ll span any HTML5 video on the net, whereas your Apple TV is restricted to the iTunes store, YouTube and Vimeo. Most web-connected TVs are tied to premium options like Netflix and Hulu, but Twonky provides you with the power to vault over the walled garden. As Flash video dies out, you will discover this app’s utility increasing and what is more, it’s free — so that you really have no excuse to not keep it around.