NETGEAR NeoTV 550 NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player Review

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(More customer reviews)[Downrated because of Blu-Ray ISO issues over SMB. See Updates at bottom.]
This is a review of the Netgear NeoTV 550 with updated firmware version 3.0.268 EU. I received the device from a European retailer on Nov 30, 2010.
The Netgear NeoTV 550 is a complex product to review. Your success with the device is highly dependent upon situational factors such as usage, media source, network speeds, and user technical ability. While the device is easy to use, it requires a home theater geek to properly and optimally set up the device. When first received, I recommend going through the device's Settings menu, drilling down through all the submenus, to properly understand and configure the device. Take the time to go through the several dozen settings and try to make them match your home theater equipment. There are settings for DVD region, video resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, language, audio output (pass-through (bitstreaming)) and so on.
The remote is IR based, non-universal, non-learning, and not backlit. Ports include one HDMI port, two USB ports (front and rear), one SD port and one eSATA port. Some Blu-Ray menus require 1GB of storage. This can be a USB stick, SD cartridge or other attached storage device. The unit has no fan and is dead silent.
My media consumption is largely local content so this review reflects that bias. Alternatively, other people will use this device for consuming online media. I selected this device because of its rare ability to play Blu-Ray content with full menu support, bitstream audio and WAF. A plus will be when and if it plays Netflix, Vudu or other streaming services. I have hundreds of movies stored on a Windows Home Server (WHS). DVDs are ripped to folders and Blu-Rays are ripped as an ISO file. I tested several dozen DVD and Blu-Ray titles. Blu-Rays and DVDs play fine, audio bitstreams and menus work. The device has a good user interface. Video quality seems quite good too. Movie files are shown as cover art. My girlfriend has given the NeoTV's usability an eager thumbs up whereas the HTPC was impossible for her to use and difficult for me to maintain. I do not use any reencoded media/containers so I can't speak about MKV, FLAC, etc.
Initially, I had problems with stuttering on Blu-Ray. This is a common problem on networks that are not optimal. In my case, I had to turn of WHS's Drive Extender on my movie server. There's a host of technical problems that can prevent media, especially Blu-Rays, from playing properly. The device has a network speed test which can help identify some issues. However, my issue was the server's inability to sustain adequate disk read rates. The device offers no diagnostic for this situation. This must all be a nightmare for Netgear tech support -- customers too.
Tip: The power button will stop a playing movie and bring up the Home menu.
Update 3-Dec-2010: Updated firmware to 3.0.268 EU. It fixes a few annoyances, adds a couple nice touches, leaves a couple bugs not fixed. No sign of Netflix. Perhaps an annoucement next month at CES?
Update 4-Dec-2010: Raised the rating to five stars because of resolution to my Blu-Ray networking problems (my bad) and bug fixes in 3.0.268 EU firmware. All's good now.
Update 4-Feb-2011: NeoTV 550 is stuttering on some Blu-Ray ISOs when played across a network. Importantly, it does not stutter when playing directly from a file or folder across a network. I believe the NeoTV has some optimization issues on Blu-Ray network playback. I'm hoping the NeoTV developers fix the stutter issue with a firmware update. Otherwise I'll be spending hours converting ISOs to folders. Because of the stuttering issue, I've lowered the rating from five stars to three.
Update 7-Feb-2011 I've confirmed that Blu-Ray stuttering is caused by NeoTV's SMB (network protocol) implementation. There's no stuttering when using NFS. This is a major problem as SMB is used by Windows networks. If you are planning on playing Blu-Rays ISOs across a network, hold off buying until the issue is resolved.
Update 9-Feb-2011 Community has confirmed Blu-Ray stuttering over SMB. Waiting for firmware update. Workarounds are to use file/folders or NFS. Hold off buying until the issue is resolved.

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Why NETGEAR's NeoTV 550? Bring all your digital media to your TV. Play movies, music, and photo collections stored on your networked devices (such as PC, Mac, and network attached storage). The NeoTV 550 also provides easy access to files stored on your USB drives and SD cards. Features: Automatically searches and scans your networked and local devices, and organizes your movies, music, and photos. Live Browsing provides an easy and fast access to your media collection. Built-in media card slot for convenient access to personal photos and videos (AVCHD compatible). Compatible with a wide range of SD file formats including. Blu-ray with menu, navigation and BD-Live support1. Delivers your movie sound tracks in Hi-Def 7.1 (Dolby, DTS & LPCM compatible). Improved video and audio navigation using movies and CD covert art instead of file names. Custom remote with shortcuts designed for quick selection and ease if use. Disclaimers: 1Blu-ray experience requires an external USB or eSATA Blu-ray drive. Package Contents: NeoTV 550 (NTV550), Infrared (IR) remote control, Two (2) AAA batteries, Ethernet cable, AV cable, Note: HDMI cable not included, Quick install guide, Resource CD, Power adapter (localized to country of sale).

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ASUS OPlay - TV HD Media Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's not much to look at coming out of the box, but boy, does the O!Play pack a wallop! It's an outstanding first effort from Taiwan-based Asus, a company known more for Eee Netbook and notebook computers than home entertainment devices. With Asus being a newcomer to the media player field and my having tested so many bad players, I was a bit hesitant to order the O!Play, but now I'm a believer. With its exhaustive list of supported video codecs and network connectivity, it is nearly the perfect player, capable of playing everything from VCD to DVD to Blu-ray/HD DVD rips. Most notably, it supports RMVB, an important feature to fans of Asian shows and one that most of the major-brand players lack, including the otherwise superb WD TV HD Media Player and WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player. ASUS seems to be very actively developing firmwares and I'm impressed by their diligence.
SETUP:
Setup is easy and literally takes 30 seconds. On the side is 1 USB port and 1 eSATA port to connect local hard drives should you need them. HDMI and optical cable (S/PDIF) are not included, so you'll need your own. I really appreciate Asus using a 2-prong power cord instead of a wall-wart that blocks neighboring outlets. True to Asus's PC pedigree, the AC adapter looks like a PC laptop's AC adapter. It's very small (about the size of a Hostess Twinkie) and has a pleasant (and VERY BRIGHT) blue LED. Upon boot-up, the device asks you to configure it with TV settings, network settings, time and date, etc. After plugging in the LAN cable, it found my NAS units (D-Link DNS321 Gigabit Network Storage Enclosure and D-Link DNS323) right away. The O!Play did have a problem interpreting non-Roman characters on my NAS, so folder names and files got garbled. Some files did not show up on the O!Play until I removed the offending non-Western characters (Chinese and Japanese).
With the new firmware, UPnP has been added, along with some slightly improved icons. With UPnP, the O!Play sees Chinese and Japanese filenames properly, but none of my MKV's showed up, a problem I had on all networked players I've tested. Only a fraction of my total library was listed. If you want to see your entire list, don't use UPnP.
INTERFACE AND USABILITY:
From a total off and unplugged state, the O!Play takes 10 seconds to boot to the home screen, compared to as many as 40 seconds for the Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Multimedia Player 1 TB. The home screen is bright and attractive, but the folder navigation scheme leaves a bit to be desired. It's spartan, white text on black, and not nearly as attractive as the WDTV or WDTV Live, but it gets the job done. The remote control is big and solid, though the buttons seem to be bizarrely grouped and scattered about, forcing me to look down each time to make sure I'm pushing the right button. The bottom group of buttons is arranged in a circle around the music button for example, mixing different functionality into one area: volume controls (+/-) with subtitle (Aa), audio track (head icon), repeat mode (circular arrows), picture zoom (magnifying glass), file display mode (Mode), and device setup options (Setup). "Mode" is a file listing filter, toggling between Movies, Music, and Pictures. With it, you never need to go back to the home screen. Unfortunately, there's no "Show All" mode which lists every file together at the same time. To PageUp or PageDown long directories, use the |< and >| buttons.During video or image playback, the picture can be zoomed up to 8x. During video playback, the fast-forward/rewind can go up to 32x. The inclusion of volume control buttons is very thoughtful and useful. You can turn video preview on or off. Pausing over a file for a second will play it in a smaller window on the right (with audio). There is a slight delay of a second or two when reading the file's metadata off a drive or the network, during which time you can't push the play button. This can be a potential problem for people and gets annoying. For music, pausing over the file displays the ID3 info (song name, artist, album name, year, etc).
One cool feature is the ability to adjust the device options while playing back a movie. The menu overlays on top of the movie and you can adjust your settings (Brightness, Contrast, Aspect Ratio, etc) and resume. There's also a Noise Reduction option, but I suggest turning this OFF. It caused strange and distracting frame shimmering in some movies. Lastly, O!Play also remembers where you left off on each movie and can resume the next time you play the file.FORMAT SUPPORT:
This is where the O!Play really shines. It played all of the 100+ random files I threw at it, except for a few stray (and poor quality) .WMV files I got from the internet. MKV, AVI, MPG, DIVX, RM, TS all played flawlessly, both standard def and hi-def 720p/1080i/p content. It even plays Flash Video (FLV), a feature rarely encountered. DTS and Dolby multi-channel audio is downsampled to stereo, so there's no need for an audio receiver if you just want to output through the TV for convenience.
The Asus also plays .IFO/VOB files with DVD chapters, menus, and all disc features as if it were the original DVD. That's great news for users looking to make a centralized DVD collection on a server or a big hard drive. The only problem is there doesn't seem to be a button to get back to the menu. You have to stop the movie and start it again.
For photos, the ASUS has a problem displaying progressive JPEGs. Images will fit to screen and can zoom up to 8x, but there's no 1x view to see it at the original size.
EXTERNAL SUBTITLES:
I tested external .SRTs and internally embedded subtitles in .MKV's in a number of languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian, English, French, and others. All worked when saved as UTF-8. For multilingual families and fans of foreign film, this is great news. You can also set the interface to one of 10 major world languages. Subtitle files can be downloaded from sites like DivxStation.
With firmware 1.11, external and internal subs are both recognized if both types co-exist for a movie. Previously, only embedded subs were seen when a movie had both types. Now, pushing the subtitle button pops up a submenu where you can select the subtitle, change its encoding, font size, position, color, and importantly, syncing (many downloaded subtitles are off by a few seconds). This is very useful! No more re-saving. Just cycle through the available encodings or adjust the timing until the sub looks right (but you should still re-save to avoid doing this every time). Where multiple external subs existed, the O!Play did not recognize their names, showing only a number (like "Subtitle: 2 (SRT)", even when named according to the movie's filename (e.g. "Batman.mkv" -> "Batman - English.srt"). Pushing the info button a second time shows extended info like codec, resolution, and bitrate. It is better to mux the subtitle into the file using something like mkvmerge GUI and metatag the language name onto it. Subtitle line-spacing is a bit of an issue (too much). You can change the font size and color, but not the gap. Lastly, I wish for a thick black outline around the text like the WDTV Live. Sometimes the subtitle blends into the movie, no matter what color you set it to.
10/100 NETWORK INTERFACE:
This is a weak point for the device. With no gigabit Ethernet, it is less future-proof against monster 8GB+ .MKV files and other bandwidth intensive HD content. Also lack of wireless connectivity means I do not have freedom to locate this device wherever I want.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The O!Play is truly a multimedia beast. It plays nearly everything under the sun and as a WDTV and WDTV live owner, I can safely say that Western Digital has some serious competition here. At $99, it is a very capable device at a fantastic value, and its homely interface is forgivable. It is, however, rather boxy and brick-like, taking up as much space as a 3.5" external hard drive or an average Bible. It's 2x the size of the WDTV. Lastly, WDTV Live has Flickr, YouTube, and Pandora streaming. O!Play has no internet playback capabilities as of the current firmware release, though that can quickly change. ASUS has already added substantial improvements like the subtitle fixes and UPnP.
If wireless connectivity could be added with a firmware update, then this player will be all things to all people. (WDTV Live supports third party WiFi dongles). This is THE player to get if you want MKV, RMVB, and DVD .IFO support and don't care about wireless. Great value coupled with a great firmware support attitude makes this a highly recommended buy, and I hope ASUS surprises us with more software features down the road.UPDATE #1: Dec 10/09: Firmware 1.17 is now available, which adds BD .iso support and lets you jump forward by 5/10/15/30 mins.
UPDATE #2: Feb 15/10: Firmware 1.21 has just been released. It adds MAJOR internet content connectivity as well as the option to wirelessly connect your R1! This is something users have been clamoring for since this product's release and a giant leap forward. With a compatible USB dongle, this thing does everything the Air does, except the media...Read more›

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ASUS O!Play is the most convenient way access your media files on your TV. This device is easy to use and highly compatible with many video and audio formats. Equipped with an eSATA, USB, and LAN port, you can access your files from an external hard drive, PC, or NAS. The O!Play even supports HDMI so you can display your content in 1080p.

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