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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XTREAMER PRO Media Player & Network Streamer with 2 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)So, I've had a few days to test out the Pro. I have experience with the ROKU SDRoku SD Player box and loved it. I thought I would solve a network storage for media problem as well as eliminating a DVD carousel and CD carousel.
The good: This box is tiny. The box looks nice. The remote is easy to use and has special function keys to speed things up. With fan on low, I only hear hard-drive noise. The UI is usually fast (although it slows down when switching thumbnails) and the boot time is fast. DVD ISOs seem to play without issue. DVD ISOs stream across wireless N without a problem. The device found all of my NAS shares devices automatically. The video quality seems to be good but it is hard to tell as I have had to drop back to composite video as I do not have HDMI.
The difficult:
Firmware:
The firmware provided needs a good bit of work. The functions implemented are brittle. Something works for this file this way and for the next file of the same type it will not. You either get a black screen that you can get out of or the device reboots altogether. Currently, the device reboots all of the time for me as I try something, it hangs and then restarts. The device UI is designed for large screen displays. On my 32", the text is very hard to read. Will not copy files to the box without a flash drive inserted even though it has HD installed.
Music:
The device fails to play any file from my Thecus NAS N2100 Network Attached Media Server (Black). However, it will stream across the network from a PC and will play locally.
Jukebox:
Performance is slow.
Video:
When playing videos through the optical digital cable, it appears that the device is outputting analog signals as opposed to digital. I suspect this because the PCM indication is raised with my receiver rather than just Dolby.
Internet TV
The implementation of the internet tv screens is badly laid out. The thumbnails either do not load or are mismatched in size.
Summary:
The UI is several steps down from the ROKU standard I love.
The reliability of just doing what is supposed to be supported is not there.

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The Xtreamer PRO player is based on the same successful platform of the smaller Xtreamer model. It allows you to stream HD (MKV H.264) movies or user-generated videos, listen to high-quality digital music and show high-resolution photo slide-shows on your TV. With the added dual 3.5" SATA drive bays, you can now have a gigantic capacity of up to 4 TB storage. The Xtreamer Pro is equipped with double the memory of the smaller model and adds an ultra-fast eSATA connector (with dedicated controller chip on-board).Experience the new spectacular artistic GUI on your TV screen and amazing picture quality of HD video and crystal clear 7.1 CH digital audio.*Chipset:Realtek 1283XJM20336 - Dedicated Storage ControllerMemory:512mb Total: 256MB DDR 2 SDRAM & 256MB FlashAudio/Video outputs:HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p)Composite VideoStereo Analog AudioS/PDIF Optical Digital AudioInterface:1x USB 2.0 slave2x USB 2.0 hostInternal SATA 2eSATA FrontNetwork:Ethernet 10/100 RJ-45WIFI USB Antenna 802.11n (optional - SOLD SEPERATELY)Media Support:BluRay BD Iso with Simple NavigationCommercial DVD with menus.Artistic GUI:HD menu with Artistic (user defined) BGSearch, Indexing and Thumbnail Based Navigation (MovieJukeBox) will be introduced in later Firmware update free of charge.Multilingual On Screen Display , Subtitles & GUI:Arabic, Thai, Hebrew,Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, Italian, Turkish, Greek , Dutch, French, Latvian, Russian, Croatian, Portugese, Swedish, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, English, Magyar, Czech, Slovenian, Finish, Danish, UTF-8*HD Audio Pass-thru requires a firmware update.

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Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player, 2TB - 34653 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have never owned a multimedia player before, and I didn't think using one would be this hard. Technology has been around for a few years now and you would think manufacturers would have figured out some basic necessities. I wonder if Iomega engineers even looked at their competition before designing this.
Pros:
1) It works
2) Connections are easy
3) Looks good
4) Has buttons on the front for most operations - if you lose the remote, you can still use the device
5) Built-in hard drive
6) USB allows external drives (I have only tried a flash drive and it worked well)
7) Plays AVCHD files from Canon (HG10) without conversion
8) Plays Flip videos without conversion
Cons:
1) AVI Videos from my Canon (S1-IS and S2-IS) can not be played
2) MOV video files from my Panasonic (FZ28) can not be played
3) USB connection with computer is flaky. Some times the drive is recognized some times not. Win XP and Win 7 had the same issue. I am yet to figure out what causes it work - very frustrating issue.
4) Printed manual is only quick setup manual, has no useful information, and occupies less than a letter sized paper (one side only)
5) Manual is on a supplied CD, in HTML form, hard to use. WHY CAN'T THEY GIVE A PDF?
6) When connected to TV and turned on, it takes several seconds to boot up. I have a suspecion that it reads the hard disk contents while booting up.
7) Menu selection (using the remote) is hard to control. Push the button once - nothing happens. Push it again, skips twice.
8) When you navigate into a folder containing a large number of files, it will show first few files. There is no scroll bar and there is no way to know how many files are there. I couldn't figure out how to page-up and page-down. That function may not be there.
9) I couldn't find a way to randomize video playing sequence. If you have a bunch of home videos and you want to watch them, you must watch them sequentially.
10) When an error occurs (file can not be played), a popup box comes up and it wouldn't go away easily. Pushing the OK button performs some other unanticipated action.
Wish List:
1) I want a firmware update with a totally revamped menu design. Current system is very frustrating.
2) The device must play most popular file formats (MJPEG) without having to convert them first.
3) A printed manual.
4) Fix the USB connection issues
5) Speed up the boot up process
I was able to convert my video files successfully using MediaCoder software (free) into MP4 and the ScreenPlay Director played them fine.

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Enjoy a complete media experience with the new feature-rich Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player, USB 2.0/AV/Ethernet - With full 1080p high definition multimedia player connect easily to your home network to store and access your videos, music, and photo collections. Easily browse your network to select stored videos and view on your home theatre or access online content with the convenient remote. Compatible with the latest media formats such as H.264, MP3, AC3 (Dolby Digital Encoding), WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI/XViD), DivX and JPEG. It supports the Iomega USB WIFI Adapter for wireless access (adapter sold separately). DivX Certified to play DivX video, including premium content. Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, plus includes Iomega Protection Suite software with anti-virus and backup software solutions.

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

Average Reviews:

(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›

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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.
---------------
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".
---------------
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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