Linksys RangePlus Wireless Network USB Adapter WUSB100 - Network adapter - Hi-Speed USB - 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)When the adapter first arrived, we tried running the set-up with a computer that is running on Windows Vista. In short, it wasn't happening. We got repeated error messages and the Network adapter would not connect to our wireless network.
On the recommendation from my son, we tried doing the set-up procedures on my laptop that happens to still be running on Windows XP. It connected in record time and now works perfectly on our wireless system.
We have no issues with slow speed when we download movies via Netflix, etc.
Great product! I would recommend this Adapter for any household system.

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The RangePlus Wireless Network USB Adapter is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your desktop or notebook computer. Just plug it into your computer's USB port and enjoy incredible high-speed wireless network access while retaining true mobility.The RangePlus Wireless Notebook Adapter uses wireless networking technology to achieve extended range. Unlike ordinary wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, MIMO actually uses these reflections to increase the range and reduce "dead spots" in the wireless coverage area. The robust signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections much farther than standard Wireless-G. And with MIMO, the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. It works great with standard Wireless-G and -B equipment, but when both ends of the wireless link use RangePlus technology, the throughput can be increased even more by using twice as much radio band.Once you're connected, you can keep in touch with your e-mail, access the Internet, and share files and other resources such as printers and network storage with other computers on the network, wherever you wander. At home, you can surf the web or use instant messaging to chat with friends while sitting out on the patio. You'll also be able to connect with any of the growing number of public hotspots springing up in coffee shops, airport lounges, hotels and convention centers. Your wireless connection is protected by industrial-strength WPA2 encryption. The included Setup Wizard will walk you through configuring the adapter to your network's settings, step by step.Get connected with fast throughput, reduced dead spots, and increased wireless range with the RangePlus Wireless Network USB Adapter from Linksys.

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Popcorn Hour C-200 Networked Media Tank (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)BUYER BEWARE!!! I bought the C-200 back in December 2009, it worked well for a while but died in August 2010, I had to send it back to popconhour for a new motherboard :( The device does play everything you throw at it and is faily versatile in that it can take an optional bluray drive and more internal store etc. Unfortunately it is an ugly addition to a home theatre setup. There is no offical support that I can see, most of the problems people have with playback seem to be addressed with firmware updates. It is NOT worth the price, there are many alternactive devices available now which do just as good a job, WDTV, PlayOn, ASROCK ION 330 etc. Trust me, it is a hassle to keep this thing working well. The forums over on networkedmediatank shows many uswers having problems which are NEVER resolved. Best steer clear of this box and all other popcornhour devices folks.

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It's Time to Unleash Your TVThe Popcorn Hour C-200 is the most powerful and versatile Networked Media Tank yet. It’s blazing-fast processor, Blu-ray capability and storage options make the C-200 an ideal addition to your home theater or high-definition entertainment system. All Your Media in One BoxWith Popcorn Hour you can stream or playback digital media content from a variety of sources, such as your PC, network-attached storage, digital camera or USB storage (flash drive, hard disk, and DVD drive). Popcorn Hour also makes it easy to download and stream content directly from popular Internet sites like SHOUTcast™ Radio, Blip.tv, Revision 3 and dozens of others. Popcorn Hour even has a built-in download utility, eliminating the need to rely on your PC to download files from the Internet.Expand Your Possibilities• The C-200 includes the most expansion options with a total of 5 USB ports and 2 SATA ports for all your storage needs.• You can add a Blu-ray drive** to turn your Popcorn Hour C-200 into a full-featured Blu-ray player.• You can add a hard drive to create a central library of all your digital media files, ready to play on your HDTV at any time.**Requires at least 1GB storage space (USB or Hard Disk) for full playback.

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Noah Company MediaGate MG-M2TVD Digital Media Player HDMI Full 1080P with DTS 2.0 Digital Audio Out (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As the other reviewer noted, the fan is super loud, more noisy than my PC with 3 fans. Granted, there is a mod over on the yahoo group to modify it so the fan is less loud, it also means I have to open up the box. I buy the box to be ready to use. Not acceptable IMHO, so I took out one star for that.
The next bad thing is that there is no easy way to change the screen resolution on the fly during play back, other similar product from chinese manufacturer has that feature. It is very useful to swap between 4:3 vs 16:9 material. There are also some files has no sound when play and it does have sound on the computer. That is the reason why I only give it 3 star.
It is great that my parents can plug in the SD card directly from the Digital Camera and see everything on TV, photo and movie.

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Ever wanted to relive those key family vacation recordings in the comfort of your living room? How about listen to your favorite music, while viewing through a slideshow of your latest digital photos? All of that can be now done with the new MediaGate M²TVMedia Player, Media 2 TV never made easier! Scalability, portability and flexibility, all in Full 1080P. Plug and play any external hard drive using the USB host port, or simply plug in your digital memory card and enjoy the digital life on your digital TV using the MediaGate M²TV. The best has just got better, now supporting Real Media files!

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Argosy HV335T 3.5-Inch HDD 1080P HDMI Mobile Video Media Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is the third video multi media player I have ordered in 6 weeks. The first two were a Brite-view and WD live. They didn't cut my picky standards. The Argosy is a solid bug free unit. I have had it for 5 days and really like everything about it except the remote is very directional. It takes a little more hands on but I like that. Install your hard drive in it if you like and its a nice compact unit. To update at the time you copy the firmware off the website onto a flash drive. It doesn't update on it's own off the net maybe that will change but no big deal. This unit can see all the video files you need. It also has a built in cooling fan. I think this will increase the life of the unit. The remote works a lot like a standard DVD player remote if you push stop once on a playback it will resume the next time you hit play. If you hit stop twice it will start from the beginning on next play. It plays all the formates you can throw at it ,yes MKV. There web site has a good PDF manual [...].

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Argosy HV335T 3.5" HDD 1080P HDMI Mobile Video Media Player

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Xtreamer Media Player & Network Streamer 1080p HD Review

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(More customer reviews)The Xtreamer and the NMT are the 2 best hardware media players out there based on frequent firmware upgrades and manufacturer's participation in the support forums. NMT (Networked Media Tanked) is the technology from Syabas that many many OEM'ers license to make their players. Popcorn Hour, EGreat, Jasmine, QNAP, Istar, Elektron, Suno, Kaifa, SnaZio, Eminent, CMI, etc. all license NMT firmware and hardware to make their players. Popcorn Hour (PCH) is subsidiary company of Syabas so it gets the firmware releases quicker than others. PCH for this reason and its broad user base may be the best NMT device to go for. The other camp is really the Xtreamer. Functionally it's almost the same as the NMT devices except it doesn't have BitTorrent download capability built-in. It has NAS, FTP, HTTP, UPnP, SAMBA. It can stream content from your PC or Mac like any other streaming device including PS3, XBox, etc. It has Internet streams and Internet Radios.
As far as playing all kinds of media types, me-too doesn't cut it. 1080p materials all differ. Wait till you actually try high sample-rated stuff. The true test is something like lossless blu-ray rips. I used to own a Mediagate M2TV. That thing chokes all over the place on full sample-rated 1080p. The Xtreamer used to too. But with the latest firmware 2.0.2, not a problem anymore. That goes to show frequent firmware and manufacturers' dev team support are so important. In 2-3 months I have owned the Xtreamer, there've been 2 major releases. I'm just waiting for their full TrueHD and DTS-HD MA support. The Xtreamer is safe to get.

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Check out the new Xtreamer Wireless Headphones--Search for Amazon ASIN #: B003UU8FYAThe Xtreamer features state-of-the-art digital playback that brings all the media content from your PC to your living room. With a dizzying array of file-format support, it is engineered from the ground up for high performance networking and high-definition playback. Media files supportedVideo containers: o MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V) o MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG) o MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS) o VOB o AVI, ASF, WMV o Matroska (MKV) o AVC HD o MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4 o FLV - Flash VideoVideo codecs: o XVID SD/HD o MPEG-1 o MPEG-2 o MP@HL o MPEG-4.2 o ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC o WMV9 o MP@HL o H.264 o BP@L3 o MP@L4.0 o HP@L4.0 o HP@L4.1 o VC-1 o MP@HL o AP@L3Audio containers: o AAC, M4A o MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA) o WAV o WMA o FLAC o OGGAudio codecs: o Dolby Digital o DTS (DTS DownMix Supported) o WMA, WMA Pro o AAC o MP1, MP2, MP3 o LPCM o FLAC o VorbisChipset o Realtek 1283 (Special Edition)Memory o 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB FlashAudio/Video outputs o HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p) o Composite Video o Stereo Analog Audio o S/PDIF Optical Digital AudioInterface o 1x USB 2.0 slave o 2x USB 2.0 host o Internal SATANetwork o Ethernet 10/100 OPTIONAL USB WIFI 802.11n Antenna SOLD SEPARATELY Amazon ASIN: B002OHARAU* This model does NOT support 7.1 pass-thru (bitstreaming) of Dolby True-HD & DTS MA (HD Audio)

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Popcorn Hour A-200 Networked Media Tank (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
I've had the A-200 for 4 days now and so far it works great. It was very easy to setup on my 10/100 wired network and have it access a Buffalo 4TB Linkstation hosting all my backed up DVDs stored as ISO images. The Popcorn Hour has no problems in playing any one of these images. I've tried .VOB and .AVI formats also with success. Navigation to the videos is folder based and is as easy as using Windows Explorer to get to the video you wish to play. The main reason I bought this unit is because of all the different video formats it can play and the rave reviews it has received. My TV is a 55" Samsung 8000 series that has DNLA built into it but its very lame. You can't FF or REV the movie and depending on the video container you can't even pause the movie. The Popcorn Hour A-200 performs all these functions without flaw including "jump to chapter". It also automaticaly sets a bookmark on the movie you are watching when you push the Stop Button. When you select that movie again, it resumes at the bookmark. It will set bookmarks for 10 different movies. The unit does contain a cooling fan but you can't hear it unless you put your ear next to it. At first glance, the remote control looked like a universal remote because of all the buttons on it but its not. All those buttons control different features of the A-200.
The reason I gave it a 4 star rating is because it doesn't come with a manual, just a quick start guide and the font is very small. Also if you have any questions, there is no phone # to call but there is support online and also a forum to post your questions.
If you are not a techy then this unit is for you, it works right out of the box.
If you are techy then you can have lots of fun with this, applying different skins, writing your own skins...
I am not disappointed at all with this purchase.
Cons:
I don't have anything serious to complain about it except:
It does get a little warm.
It can use some weight. With the amount of cables attached to it, it tends to not lay flat unless you arrange the cables just right.
A manual would be good.
Update
I've had the PCH for 3 months now and the "New Toy Feeling" has worn off. I have loaded 400 movies onto my NAS and every one of them plays beautifully through the Popcorn Hour (PCH). There is one thing that bugs me about it, the IR sensor that picks up signals from the remote is very narrow. If you don't point the remote directly at the unit then it won't pickup the signal. I use a Logitech Harmony 7 remote and all of the devices that it controls responds well even when I point the remote to a white wall behind me but the PCH will not respond unless the remote is pointed directly at it and parallel with it's sensor. A small inconvience considering all of its other features that work very well.

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It's Time to Unleash Your TVThe Popcorn Hour is the world's original Networked Media Tank. It allows you to stream digital video, audio and photos from your PC, storage device, home network or the Internet to your HDTV or home theater setup. The A-200 gives you total control over your digital media experience.Expand Your PossibilitiesAdd an optional hard drive to the Popcorn Hour's standard expansion slot to open up a host of additional features and options:• Create a central library of all your movies and video files, ready to play on your TV at any time.• Easily share media with friends and family; utilizing the hard drive the Popcorn Hour can act as a file server to share files over your home network.Digital Entertainment Your WayPopcorn Hour's interface utilizes intuitive navigation prompts, so first-time users can quickly get up to speed on even the most advanced features. The standard remote control supports playback modes such as play/pause and trickmodes, as well as simultaneous display of images and playback of audio tracks.Features• Play virtually any digital media file on your TV.• Supports the most advanced high-def video and audio standards, including Blu-ray and Dolby.• Newer and faster processor for increased performance in all areas

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New Arrival brite-View "CinemaTube Mini (BV-5005HD Mini CT)" 3-in-1 1080p Full HD Networking Multimedia Player/Streamer/Torrent Downloader, Black (HDMI cable INCLUDED) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have previously tried WD TV (1st generation) and CinemaTube and compared them since these were the media players having similar features at similar prices. Despite WD TV was the most popular media player, I had shown that CinemaTube was the winner.
Read my review for CinemaTube here:
http://www.amazon.com/Brite-View-BV-5005HD-CinemaTube-Multimedia-Downloader/dp/B002CNOYRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1280036605&sr=8-1
Now that both WD TV Live Plus and CinemaGo are out to fight, I can see CinemaGo is still going to be the winner for similar reasons. Although this time I did not try WD TV Live Plus (I didn't feel to), but after comparing their available features, from my previous experience with WD TV and CinemaTube and current experience with CinemaGo, I must say it will be hard to get a better product in the market at this price point.
Don't care about wireless? Save money then! You can get CinemaTube Mini now for less, which is nothing but CinemaGo sans wireless. You can still buy a wireless USB adapter in future to make it wireless (Brite-View recommended adapter desirable).
Read my review for CinemaGo here:
http://www.amazon.com/brite-View-BV-5005HD-Mini-Networking-Multimedia/product-reviews/B003TUB2VE/ref=cm_cr_pr_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
CinemaTube Mini can do "everything" that CinemaGo can do!!!
NOTE: Muzee now offers some TV channels for free! I liked some of the channels and added to my favorites. Quality is standard internet quality. Parenteral control can be done by using a password.
Some bugs need to be fixed through firmware updates:
As someone else also reported,
# ISO's DVD menu is still kinda buggy. For example, the movement of the DVD menu's pointer doesn't match the graphic sometimes.
# IDX+SUB subtitle doesn't work sometimes. As soon as a video is loaded with IDX+SUB subtitle, the screen turns black, and the device restarts automatically.
# If you come across a radio/TV station where you cannot get a signal (nothing plays), the whole player freezes up. You cannot power it off via the remote; you have to yank out the power cable. I came across several of these stations that froze my player among the handful that I tried out. For now, best option is to add the working channels to favorites. That works perfectly for me.
# Sometimes even after I power off the unit (red light), sometimes it comes back on even though I wasn't doing anything.
# Some folks reported slow torrent download. I don't see that much problem. Remember, speed of download depends on the number of seeds/peers at a particular time and their upload speeds. Nevertheless, torrent may be slow because of BitTorrent client Brite-View is using. The advantage is CinemaTube Mini can be left on overnight to finish downloading as this device uses very low power.
And guess what? You will see ALL folders, even system/hidden ones!!! It doesn't affect your unit, but you may not want someone see these folders.
Built quality could be better, but that might make the product price higher.
Bottomline: If you are looking for a compact computer-free media file playback, torrent download and streaming, you are going to fall in love with this inexpensive but powerful gadget. For your peace of mind, frequent firmware update and excellent customer service from Brite-View are also right there. For the price, I could not find anything better.

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OVERVIEW

brite-View CinemaTube Mini is a compact (dimensions : 4 X 1.4 X 5.5 inches) full 1080p HD networking media player/streamer features HD playback from removable USB/eSATA HDD, streaming contents from remote computers.

Full 1080P HD

It supports 1080p video formats in VCD 1.0/2.0,SVCD,MPEG1(DAT/MPG/MPEG),MPEG2(MPG/MPEG/VOB/ISO/IFO/TS/TP)/M2TS,MPEG4(MP4/AVI/MOV),DivX 3/4/5/6(AVI/MKV),Xvid (AVI/MKV),H.264/AVC(TS/AVI/MKV/MOV)/M2TS,VC-1(TS/AVI/MKV/WMV)/M2TS,WMV9(WMV),Real Video 8/9/10 (RM/RMVB,to 720p) and FLV. Note:Media files protected by DRM are not supported.

DVD Menu

It supports ISO files, so you can navigate the DVD menu and watch your video as if there was a regular DVD.

Playback Features

You can play media files directly from removable USB/eSATA storage devices (HDD,Digital Camera,HD Digital Camcorder,FLIP Video) with zooming. A preview function with video playback, panoramic photo slideshow with background music and editable playlist to play preferred files continuously!

Streamer

Built-in wired connection with an Ethernet cable included (Or an optional dedicated USB WiFi adapter which is sold separately for easy wireless connection), it can stream contents stored in shared computers (with or without password-protected), or stream online contents like YouTube and Hulu etc from UPnP devices (*3rd parties apps like PlayOn installed in computer*). Due to the "best effort" nature of networking, the streaming playback quality might not be in HD .

BONUS FEATURES
Built-in torrent downloader, you can download torrents without turn PC on.Built-in MUZEE Internet Radio can live broadcasting tens of thousands of sports, music, news or talk show channels from 210 countries.
What's in the Box
BV-5005HD Mini HD Media Player, Ethernet Cable, RCU, HDMI and RCA cables, Power Adapter, Quick User Guide.

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Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player Review

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(More customer reviews)After much anticipation, WDTV Live is finally here! I'll get right to the point, because I know there are a lot of questions from current Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player owners and those sitting on the fence about the capabilities of the Live in comparison to other media players on the market. I also considered the ASUS O!Play ($99) while waiting for the Live's release or the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+HD ($135). The WDTV is a proven quantity and for the Live, I had high expectations.
Cosmetically, not much has changed. Not even the box. The Live is nearly identical to the WDTV except in color, being matte grey instead of shiny piano black. Ease of setup and usage carries over from its forebear, so WDTV users will be right at home with the Live's interface and settings. At the rear, the ports have been slightly rearranged to make room for a LAN port and component out. HDMI is now 1.3 instead of 1.2, capable of a color depth of 12 bits per pixel. Batteries are included in the box, as are component and composite cables, but bring your own HDMI or LAN cable.
Building on the strengths of the original (and successful) WDTV, WD has made an already excellent player even better. They listened to users and addressed two of the biggest complaints of the WDTV, namely: lack of network connectivity and lack of DTS down-mixing.
I am pleased to report that on these two counts, the Live is a winner, packaged inside the same compact form factor as its predecessor and sold at a very reasonable price. The most exciting thing is network connectivity because the Live can be made wireless!
1) Network connectivity: out of the box, the Live connects via CAT-5. I have no interest in connecting USB hard drives to the Live because it limits my mobility. I have 2 NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices (D-Link DNS321 2-Bay SATA, RAID 0/1 Gigabit Ethernet Port Network Storage Enclosure and D-Link 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure) and have been streaming movies wirelessly to my PlayStation 3, but I don't like the PS3's lack of MKV support and wasteful energy consumption. My PS3 can now go back to being a dedicated game and Blu-ray machine.
I was surprised to discover that my AirLink 101 AWLL6070 150Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter (purchased for a failed WDTV networking hack attempt) worked. I plugged it in, changed the Live's setting to wireless and it saw my wireless network with no fuss. I really have to hand it to WD for making the device open-ended, unlike the NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Live (Black) (which I tested and returned), which requires a proprietary $40 Netgear dongle. Other dongles will work too with the Live, and WD has a forum listing them.
2) DTS down-mixing: this was another shortcoming of the original WDTV. The Live down-mixes DTS to 2.0 so you don't need to slave it to an audio receiver anymore. Many of my MKV's are encoded with DTS, so this is another huge improvement. DTS Master Audio does not seem to be supported, but I am not very concerned as DTS MA is rarely encountered in the wild (though that may change in the future). All my files are MP3, AAC, AC3, or DTS audio streams, which all work on the Live. Many of the tested MKVs have multiple audio streams for different language tracks. You can also mux additional tracks and subtitles into the MKV file with the free and awesome mkvmerge GUI program. Subtitle files can be downloaded from sites like DivxStation.
DTS downmixing means now I can take a portable drive of movies over to a friend's house and not worry about compatibility, greatly increasing the versatility and value of the Live. The inclusion of both component and composite outs removes the worry about older TV's. And like the WDTV, the Live will downsample to standard def for non-HDTV's. However, if you have an HDTV and an AVR, you'll want to use them for maximum enjoyment.
But the most biggest selling point for me is wireless. After discovering WiFi connectivity, I lost all interest in using the Live as a wired device. With just $20 (cost of AirLink), I now have a wireless player that easily out-competes more expensive ones like the Popcorn Hour A-110 HD Networked Media Tank (EU), and can enjoy the freedom and convenience of putting this player anywhere in my house. I don't have messy and dangerous wires all the floor to trip over (I killed a 1 TB hard drive full of movies this way) and I don't need an audio receiver. All the 720p/1080i/p videos I had on my NAS played perfectly with the except of one 1080p .mp4 which had intermittent hiccups every minute or so.
The Live saw each device 2x on the menu, as a media share and a network share. With media share, the files are divided into 3 categories: video, photos, music. Only some of my movies showed up (WMV, MP4, AVI, TS), no MKV's. With network share, all the files are listed. This is the listing option to use if you have a NAS.
3) Additionally, third complaint on the WDTV was lack of support for 1080p24. This format now plays. VOB is now also supported, for those of you who make DVD archives.
USABILITY:
The WDTV had the most attractive and usable interface of any of the 10+ media players I tested over the years, and WD didn't mess with a winning formula. Graphically, the Live retains the blue cool-toned look and easy-to-use navigation of the WDTV. It adds a third listing option, Preview mode. Movies will now start playing in a smaller window on the right if you pause over the title for a second or two (with audio). Every movie I tested plays in preview. The remote control is the same as the WDTV. Navigation long directories is still somewhat of a pain because of no Page Up/Page Down button, but if you hold the up or down button down, it'll scroll by a page at a time after a second or two. Commands are fast and responsive. No spinning dials that plague the Netgear Live Entertainer.
For rewinding, the preview sometimes does not match the time-code. The timer was counting down, but the screen showed video from the opposite direction. If you stop rewinding and resume again, it'll show the proper preview. This is a small nuisance that I hope WD fixes soon in a firmware update.
Subtitle support via embedded or external still works great for Western and non-Western character sets because of Unicode. Embedded subs are pre-tagged with the language code, so the device will display "Subtitle 1/3 - English". For external .srt files, I discovered that if I name them the same as the movie and include a dash, then the language (e.g. "MOVIENAME - ENG.srt"), the WD will display the part after the dash as the language name.
INTERNET STREAMING:
For YouTube, the videos looked really good. The Live will select HD streams if available. I was surprised at the video quality of some of the ones I loaded, particularly one music video. Startup was fast, if not instantaneous, and I did not notice a buffering delay. Currently, YouTube is the only site supported, and searching is only in Western characters. The onscreen keyboard is arranged in row, A-Z, with 0-9 at the bottom. (Plugging in a USB keyboard did nothing.) I'm hoping for Hulu, Vimeo, and more in the future, like a WDTV Live Channels Guide or something like that, organized by interests (sports, history, science, news, etc), or regions of the world. It would be a very useful feature for people like my dad, who doesn't know how to use the web and he'd be able to watch shows from other parts of the world. Maybe in a future firmware update.
I didn't test Pandora or Live365 (internet radio) because I'm not interested in listening to radio/music out of my TV. Noticeably missing is NetFlix support, a feature prominent on some networked media players, Blu-ray players, and gaming platforms (Xbox 360), though word is that WD is at work on an update.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Next on my wishlist is RMVB support. This is the last thing missing from the long list of supported formats, because then I can throw out the really crappy RMVB player I have. Sadly, it seems to be hardware related and cannot be added with a firmware refresh.
Lastly, if the Live came in new colors like fire engine red like the Western Digital My Passport Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive WDMER3200TN (Real Red), or banana yellow, that'd be hot. I don't particularly care for the Live's matte grey exterior and prefer the glossy finish of the WDTV. It's not solid grey. It's sparkly like glitter, a rather odd choice for a finish.
To sum up, this is the device you've been waiting for! It is a great little player for the price. It now does everything I want it to (minus RMVB playback) and is truly the versatile and unfettered player that I have been hoping for. As a gadgets guy and early adopter, I wasted several hundreds of dollars testing out disappointing players and can say definitely that WD makes one of the best players on the market.
UPDATE 1: 10/24/09:
1. I logged into Pandora and it worked...Read more›

Click Here to see more reviews about: Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player

The WD TV Live HD Media Player from Western Digital has everything you need to play your HD media collection and the fun stuff you find on the web in brilliant HD 1080p on your big screen HDTV. Because it supports a wide variety of file types, you can instantly enjoy all your home digital media, regardless of the file format. Plus you get direct access to a huge selection of video, photos, and music from popular internet sites like YouTube, Flickr, Live 365, and Pandora (U.S. only) right from the beautifully easy WDTV navigation screen. The WD TV Live HD media player is exceptionally easy to use so anyone in the family can do it and, because it’s networked, you can easily access media from any PC in the home. Compatibility; HDMI, Full HD (1080p), AAC, MP3, JPEG, USB 2.0, H.264, SimplayHD, Energy Star, Dolby Digital, DTS, DLNA, Bonjour, AVCHD, Windows Vista. Box contains; Media Player, Compact remote with batteries, Composite AV cable, Component AV cable, AC adapter, CD with sample media, Quick Install Guide.

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Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is my 3rd media device, and by far the most capable. I bought it solely based on the HDMI output and MKV playback abilities, and am pleased with the performance so far. Given the price to features ratio, this is the best such device on the market, in my opinion, and one of very few devices I know that can play the robust (and relatively obscure) MKV format as well as being able to output to HDMI. My other 2 devices play AVI's and so does my PS3, so AVI playback was not important to me.Major pluses:
1) HDMI output at 1080p
2) Unicode support is flawless (for subtitles and filename displays). for subtitles, simply name them the same as your movie file and put in the same directory. e.g. Batman.mkv; Batman_ENG.srt; Batman_ESP.srt, etc.
3) remembers where you left off in a movie so you don't have to start from beginning
4) BEAUTIFUL and easy to use interface that is similar to PS3's cross-media bar
5) solidly constructed remote control and overall superior build quality
6) wide selection of languages for the interface, not just the usual French, Spanish, and English.
Major problems:
1) inability to decode DTS audio
2) external hard drive does not power down when device is off
3) higher bitrate 1080p MKV files are unwatchable due to screen artifacting and other visual problems. i think it has a problem with 29fps @1080p.
Not so major problems, but still bothersome issues:
1) excessive spacing btwn lines of text in subtitles
2) inability to read muxed subtitles in files
3) no ability to go to a specific time code if you want to skip ahead
4) thumbnails don't work on any of my videos
5) shiny surface is nice, but fingerprints are easy to see on it
Overall, this is a great value if you're in the market for a versatile multi-format device. It even plays FLAC and OGG audio. If you're a movies guy though, the inability to decode DTS audio may be the deciding factor in your purchasing decision. Hopefully, WD can fix this via a firmware update.
If they release a Gen-2 version of this device that fixes the DTS problem and also has an Ethernet port and/or internal storage, I will gladly repurchase it at a higher price.
4.5/5 stars
UPDATE 12/26/08
WD released a firmware update a few days ago that addressed several of my complaints, including embedded subtitle playback, fast-forwarding and reversing by 10 minute increments, fixed subtitle spacing, subtitle font size select, and a long list of other improvements.
My 3 major problems mentioned above seems to remain. Hopefully, a future firmware release will address these, with the biggest priority for me being DTS decoding.
New Rating: 4.75/5. Highly recommended product.
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UPDATE #3: May 21, 2009: I continue to be highly pleased with this product, after 6 months of ownership. WD has periodic updates that greatly improve the device and fixes small issuse, or introduces new features. The latest firmware shows the subtitle's language name (English, Spanish, etc), instead of just "Subtitle 1/3".
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UPDATE #4: Nov 22, 2009: WD has quietly released a hardware update to the WD TV a few days ago, calling it the WD TV Gen 2 (not to be confused with the WD TV Live, a totally different model). This hardware revision adds DTS downmix and HDMI 1.3, making it very similar to the WD TV Live, except without networking. This is great news for users who don't need networking and want a cheaper second unit for the spare entertainment room because DTS downmix was one of the major features missing from the original product. I am not sure about other features, but make sure the SKU is Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player WDBABF0000NBK-NESN instead of WD00AVN.

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The WDTV HD Media Player is full HD 1080p video playback and is an ultra-compact, USB 2.0 device that attaches to an entertainment unit through a variety of audio/video interfaces and supports playback of major audio, video, and image file formats. It supports high-definition video playback of up to 1080p through an HDMI connection or standard definition for TVs with lower capabilities. It includes remote control, composit AV cable, AC adapter and quick install guide. (Brown Box, Product is Recertified)

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ASUS OPlay - TV HD Media Player (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(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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Seagate FreeAgent Theater+1080P HD Media Player STCEA201-RK Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this unit to replace the previous version (Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player (STCEA101-RK)) that didn't play MKV (high definition) video files.
CONSIDERATIONS
1. The previous version only displayed 6 items on the screen and it was somewhat difficult to find things with a large number of files. I have a 1.5 TB external drive to hold my movies. Both versions allow me to keep multiple files within a folder, which is handy for a TV series. This newer model displays a whole lot more on the screen--every file on the hard drive--10 at a time. You will need to learn to use the settings available from the Menu button on the remote to view folders and files according to your taste. I have over 300 files on the drive and most of them are TV series, so the interface is somewhat of a challenge if you don't use the Menu button. The unit plays one file after another, so a series with 10 episodes will play all 10 episodes in the order of their alpha-numeric file name.
2. NO S/PDIF coaxial output. This one has an optical outlet for sound, as well as stereo outputs using an A/V mini-plug.
3. Documentation/instructions need major help.THE GOOD NEWS
1. It plays every video file format that I use. It will play a DVD image and most other video formats, including MKV. The audio and video quality are excellent. I compared a DVD movie using a high-end DVD player, my Blu Ray player and a ripped version of the movie using the Seagate FreeAgent player. The movie looked best on the FreeAgent player. It apparently up-converts the video signal, and does a great job of it. It's like having a Blu Ray/DVD player without the delays.
2. My video source is a DLP projector displaying on a 92-inch screen. The long length of my video cables (75 feet) requires me to use component video cables, not HDMI. This unit can output video in both component and HDMI formats, so it's the major reason for me buying the Seagate versus the Western Digital equivalent.
3. Movie, picture and music folders show up 10 at a time. Individual thumbnails show up 10 at a time. Selecting a music album brings up 10 thumbnails of the songs. Click on a song and it shows the song's run time and 4 adjacent songs within the album. Use the Menu button to View List and you'll get a clearer view of the titles. You can play a music selection while viewing pictures.
4. If you have hundreds of movie/music/photo albums, you might find this interface to be a challenge. However, you can quickly scroll the list by holding down the remote up/down buttons to find what you want. Lists of your music files can be searched using the on-screen keyboard--kind of a "clunky" way to do so.
5. The remote is a standard IR type, so you can train your universal remote with its commands. Power off/on is done only via the remote, and the external drive powers off when the unit is off.OTHER
Immediately after installation, I connected to the Internet to download the latest (26MB) firmware update. The unit did everything on its own and the process took about 15 minutes.
All cables except HDMI and optical audio are included.
Connecting to my home network was simple, once I figured out how to find the on-screen keyboard (you have to hit the remote's OK button at the Network log on screen for it to appear). I was able to play music from my network while scrolling through my pictures on the network.
Wow! This box connects directly to a number of web sites, including Netflix, your local weather forecast, CNN, Youtube, etc., etc. Even a stock market overview!
It operates similarly to a netbook without the keyboard.
Very cool device for the money!Developer Recommendations:
1. Add a wireless keyboard (you can access an on-screen keyboard via the OK button on the remote).
2. Allow it to appear as a media server on networks.
3. Expand the Internet interface to use typed input.
4. Add coaxial.
5. Improve documentation so the buyer knows how to use it! (you can download the documentation from the Seagate website).
UPDATE 04/06/2010
After 2 months of use, the box decided it could no longer access the Internet--even though it could find other computers on my network that can access the Internet through that same network. It also decided that every time I turned it on, it wanted me to perform an Initial Setup process. It lost my audio settings and the only way I could access them was to remove the power plug from the unit before turning it on. Updates from the Seagate website were of no help in addressing the problems. I contacted Seagate and they are replacing the unit by RMA. I like the box enough that I have just purchased a second one for backup.
UPDATE 10/08/2010
FYI, I was playing all videos from a networked Windows XP laptop that has 5 external hard drives attached (8TB of space). One frequent issue I have is that the Seagate has trouble finding my XP laptop on my wired network if it's the only one on the network. If there are two or more turned on, it finds all of them. Today I installed Windows 7 on the laptop to use is as a media server. That didn't work as well as I had hoped. I finally found a fix on the Seagate blog. Simply enter the IP address of the computer that has the files on it and the Seagate will find everything on the PC! This is a great box, but it someone at Seagate needs to work on the software that operates it. I'd buy the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV STAJ100 but it seems to have the same limitations that this one does.

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The FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player provides an easy way to store and move your photos, movies and music from your PC or Mac computer to your TV, allowing you to share and enjoy your digital media in a comfortable, social environment such as your living room.From your home computer, use the included sync software to automatically copy all of your media files to the FreeAgent Go drive, or simply drag-and-drop files directly to the drive. By then docking the FreeAgent Go drive into the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, connected to the TV, it puts your entire media library at your fingertips with 1080p high-definition playback and crystal clear surround sound audio. With the front-mounted USB port, you can also plug your digital camera, digital camcorder, USB flash drive, or external USB hard drive directly into the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player and enjoy the same high-quality viewing experience.With the built-in Ethernet port or optional Theater+ wireless adapter, the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player can connect to your home network to access content from shared devices, including networked computers and NAS (network attached storage). The network connection also allows the Theater+ HD media player to access internet content such as pictures, weather, stocks, and more.Navigating through your media library is intuitive with the DVD-like user interface and compact remote control. Browse your files with a familiar folder structure view, thumbnail view or filter by media type such as movies, pictures or music.

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