When I first read about the Ultio Pro from Mvix, I was extremely hopeful that it would enable me to stream movies from my network attached storage (NAS), record movies to a hard drive (DVR), and stream NetFlix and Hulu to my TV (plus do a boatload of other things as well) like more and more network enabled devices can. I was looking forward to getting closer to the point where I could cut my ties with Comcast and its costly (overpriced) monthly service.

According to Mvix, this set-top box can do it all; from NetFlix streaming, to being able to play nearly every digital file type known to man, to an embedded torrent client, to DVR capabilities, and the list goes on and on.

Product Features/Specifications:

• HDD Compatibility – Supports 3.5 SATA hard disk (capacity up to 2TB), HDD not included
• PVR Capabilities – Analog recording from any external analog video source. Supports time-shift and scheduled recording.
• HDD Format – FAT32, EXT3 or NTFS format
• External Storage – Via USB Host (for external CD ROM / DVD ROM / Portable HDD / USB storage)
• Video Resolution – H.264, MKV, WMV9, MOV, RM/RMVB, TS and HD Divx supports up to 1920 x 1080p
• TV System Compatibility – PAL, NTSC, Auto
• Networking – LAN RJ45 10/100M or Wi-Fi 802.11N (via USB dongle, sold seperately)
• Network Protocols – Embedded uPnP Client, Samba Client
• Video Playback – Codec: H.264, MKV, WMV9, MPEG 1/2/4, HD Divx , Xvid, FLV, RM/RMVB, Container: mkv, ts, m2ts, mts, tp, trp, wmv, Ifo, iso, vob, dat, avi, mpg, mp4, mov, rm, rmvb, divx, xvid, flv
• Audio Playback – Codec: MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, AAC, LPCM, FLAC, AC3, Container: WAV [.wav, .pcm], ADIF, ADTS [.aac], M4A [.m4a], OGG [.ogg], ASF/WMA [.asf, .wma], FLAC [.flac]
• Image Playback – JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
• Subtitle Playback – sub, smi, ssa, srt, idx + sub
• Audio/Video Out – HDMI1.3 (digital video and audio signals), Component (Y Pb Pr), Composite Video, Optical SPDIF (5.1Ch Dolby Digital), Stereo audio output (Audio R/L),
• I / O Ports – USB2.0 Host (for connecting external CD ROM / DVD ROM / Portable HDD / USB storage / USB WIFI), USB2.0 Slave to transfer Media from PC. 10/100Mbps Ethernet port (Media Transfer and Sharing across network
• Torrent Client – Embedded Bit torrent Client
• File Management – HDD Format, Copy, Delete, Rename, File Transfer via hand-held Remote
• Power Input – Universal AC 100 ~ 230V 50Hz ~ 60Hz, DC Power DC 12V 2A, 30-W
• Language – English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Hebrew

Mvix includes all the A/V cables and pieces to be up and running straight away. Although, they do not include an ethernet cable to get you talking to your network and/or the outside world.

Package Contents:

• Mvix Ultio Pro Media Center
• HDMI1.3 Cable
• AC Adapter
• Remote Control
• USB 2.0 Cable
• AV Cable
• User Manual
• Batteries
• Power Plug Cable

The Ultio Pro is capable of HDMI1.3, Component (Y Pb Pr), Composite (RCA), and 5.1 digital optical audio output. There is an analog composite input for recording to the DVR (aka installed/attached hard drive). I/O data ports include: 2 x USB-Host, 1 x USB2.0,  and SD slot (up to 16GB). As you can see, the two USB slots are located in the back of the device. I would have preferred one of the slots to be positioned on the front-face for easier access. A minor inconvenience, a simple USB extension cable fixes the hassle of having to reach around the back to insert the portable media you want to attach it.

In my tech geek excitement and desire to truly embrace most, if not all, the Ultio Pro had to offer, I ran down to Fry’s and picked up a 2tb hard drive to install into the heart of this media device. If you do not want to deal with installing an internal hard drive yourself, Mvix produces the Ultio Pro in several different capacities; without ($179), 1tb ($260), 1.5tb ($300), or 2tb ($330). Or if you had a spare external hard lying around, you could just plug that into the device as well.

The installation was quick and simple. Just connect the two wires to the SATA HD, place it into the metal bracket, screw the cover back into place and you are good to go.

When I first turned the Ultio Pro on, formatting the hard drive was pretty simple. After a few minutes and a reboot, I was ready to use the device.

Connectivity

The Ultio Pro can connect to the internet via ethernet cable or optional WiFi adapter. If you have a hard-wired ethernet port near your device that is the easiest way to get connected. But if that is not an option, you can order either a 802.11G adapter ($20) or 802.11N ($35) adapter to wirelessly connect to your network. The slower, 802.11G adapter allows for non-HD streaming only.

Networking

After plugging in the ethernet cable, the first thing I tried to do was get the device talking to my Time Capsule (NAS). Sadly, I tried to make this happen for HOURS Painfully so….. I am pretty good at figuring things like this out and MaGuyver’ing the rest, but I am definitely not a ‘network-guy’. This effort was to say the least, frustrating.

So, since I was not able to get my Ultio Pro communicating with my Time Capsule on my own, I asked several of my tech-buddies over for free food and drinks one Friday night to assist me getting the two talking. We had the instructions in our hands and our laptops out searching for some clue as to why we could not access my NAS and see its contents. We worked on it over an hour and after much frustration and swearing we gave up. Let’s just say my friend’s opinion of the Ultio Pro (at least the network/NAS portion) was less than favorable.

However, I/we did get the media device talking with my unibody MacBook, iMac and the internet. Transferring movie files from my computers was relatively simple. I was also able to stream files from my Macs as well.

The Ultio Pro can also play media files off of external storage devices as well, like SD cards, thumb drives, portable hard drives, and external USB DVD players. This was also easy to accomplish.

Playback/Streaming

I listened to and viewed a multitude of file types, from aac to mp4. They all sounded and looked very nice. Once I got it functional, watching movies from the Ultio Pro was a great viewing experience. The playback was crisp and vivid, with only the occasional hiccup while we watched. I believe when there was hesitation in the playback, it was due to the bit rate (too high) I encoded the video at.

I then looked into watching internet content via the Ultio Pro. I came to discover the Ultio depends on services like PlayOn and TVersity to access streaming video content from Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Youtube, CNN, ESPN, etc. These services require not only a monthly fee but a Windows computer to make this happen. This seems a bit old-school considering how many devices have this ability/feature built into them, from Blu-Ray/DVD players to the TVs themselves.

File Management

The Ultio Pro allows you to manage files via the screen interface and remote control. It allows for formatting the hard-drive, copying, deleting, renaming of files and even physical transfer of files between USB storage, network shares, PC and its internal HDD (relatively) easily via the hand-held remote.

The device’s navigation is done in file folder format; the user interface is very Windows 95. Inputting information and navigating through the Ultio Pro’s various screens with the remote (vs keyboard and mouse) while simple, can be tedious. It is not nearly as polished as the AppleTV’s interface, but usable none-the-less.

Built-In Torrent Client

I am definitely not much of a bit-torrent user, but can tell you how the Ultio Pro is supposed to be able to help you do this. The Ultio Pro has a built-in torrent client that allows you to share large media files without the need for an active computer running all the time. This in combination the media devices’ NAS features provides a worthy setup for digital media acquisition, storage and sharing. ‘The Mvix Ultio Pro is capable of connecting to all the popular p2p networks, and users can search, download, archive and play all media files.’

Bottom Line

If you are a tech/computer person, this device is fine and even fun to play with if you have the time. However, the average user will not like this device as an alternative to cable/satellite TV, DVR, AppleTV, etc. Setting up and using this device takes time, skill, and knowledge. It is definitely not for the plug and play kind of crowd. The Ultio Pro costs $180 and if you do not need all of its features/capabilities, there are less costly alternatives. That said, if you want a device that can play just about any file format, store a ton of content (w/attached or installed hard drive), bit-torrent, stream movies and music from any computer in your network, etc, you definitely should consider the Ultio Pro.

MVIX is offering a limited time discount code for Gadgeteer readers:

CODE: KHK3POWS9
Amount: $30 off a Mvix Ultio Pro MX-880HD (bare unit)
Expiry: Nov 30th, 2010

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Do-It-Yourself, Reviews

Tagged: Media player

Mvix Ultio Pro Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 11, 2010 at 11:00 am.

Western Digital, maker of the popular WD TV media player family has just announced the WD TV Live Hub media center. This is a 1080p media player with a 1 terabyte built-in network hard drive. In addition to playing the videos you store on the HD and available through shared network drives, it will also allow you to view internet media from Blockbuster On Demand, Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Pandora and others. The only down side that I see is that you have to supply a compatible USB Wireless adapter if you want to go wireless. The WD TV Live Hub Media Center is available now for $199.99.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: Media player, Spotlight Gadgets

Western Digital Introduces the WD TV Live Hub Media Center originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 26, 2010 at 1:00 pm.

I’ve read reviews on The Gadgeteer for media players that hook up with your TV or home theater setup and let you view your home videos, pictures, movies, and even play your music files.  I’ve always been interested in them, but I’ve never had one of these devices.  I had looked into an Apple TV some months back, but they didn’t do HD.  I liked the idea of the Apple TV because of the easy access to movies I could rent or buy for the device.  Recently, I’d been noticing that some companies making these devices were forming relationships with Netflix or other movie services, and my interest in media players was growing again.  When Julie offered the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD media player, I was excited to give it a try.

What’s in the Box
FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD Media Player
Composite A/V cable
Component A/V cable
Power supply
Remote control
(Seagate’s website says a Quick Start guide and a CD should be included, but there wasn’t either in my packaging)

Specifications
Dimensions: 4.30in L x 5.91in W x 1.65in H (110mm x 150mm x 42mm)
Weight: 0.67lb (0.30kg)
Video file compatibility: AVI (Xvid, MPEG1/2/4, TS), MPG/MPEG, DVD (VOB, IFO) MP4/MOV (MPEG-4), H.264, VC-1 (WMV9), ISO, RM/RMVB, Motion JPEG, FLV, DivX HD
Audio file compatibility: MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, WMA Pro, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE, Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS
Video resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p, PAL 576i/576p, 720p, 1080i,1080p
Computer system requirements: Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, or Windows® 7 operating system or Mac® OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or later operating system ;  available USB port
Video output: Composite video, component video or HDMI
Audio output: Stereo, S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio or HDMI audio
Network: Ethernet connectivity enables access of shared folders on computers and other devices connected to your network such as a GoFlex Net media sharing device, media server or a NAS
Wireless: Optional Wi-Fi adapter (sold separately), Wireless-N supported
Internet Services: Netflix, YouTube, Paramount, vTuner, Mediafly, Picasa, Flickr, Video feeds (RSS), Text feeds (RSS), Finance widget, Weather widget

(Note: Some of the pictures in this review are clickable for an enlarged view.)

My A/V setup is very simple.  I have a 60” Sharp Aquos LCD TV, a cable box, and a Sony Blu-ray player.  Other than TV programming through the cable connection, our entertainment has been mostly limited to the DVDs we currently own.  We don’t often bother with our local DVD rental store because they have a problem with correctly checking in returned movies.  Our cable service allows us to rent On Demand movies, but we seldom do because of the often choppy, pixelated playback of these movies.  This poor playback of the On Demand movies can’t be attributed to our bandwidth, because we have outstanding bandwidth for home service.  I was happy to see that the GoFlex was partnered with Netflix, and I hoped that the playback of those movies would be better than the On Demand movies.  We were ready to broaden our entertainment horizons! 

The front of the GoFlex TV is actually a hinged cover. A GoFlex hard drive can be plugged in the chamber behind the cover.

The GoFlex TV HD is a small black plastic box, some parts shiny and some matte.  There’s only the Seagate logo and an LED on the front.  The LED is solid amber in standby mode, blinks amber while starting up, and is solid white when the unit is powered on.  If you find it distracting, you can disable the LED in the setup options.

The GoFlex TV HD doesn’t have any internal memory, so I was planning to use an external hard drive I had on hand with it.  When I received the package from Seagate, I was surprised to see that they had also sent a 1 TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-portable hard drive.  The GoFlex Ultra-portable hard drive is also made of shiny black plastic, and it is even smaller than the GoFlex TV.  The hard drive comes with a connector cable that allows you to plug it directly into a USB port.  There is no power adapter for the hard drive; it is powered through the USB port.

Internal chamber for plugging in a GoFlex hard disk

The GoFlex TV actually has an internal chamber (behind the hinged front cover) where you can install a GoFlex Ultra-portable drive, but the chamber is sized for a much smaller drive than the one I received.  The 1TB GoFlex hard drive is physically bigger than the smaller capacity GoFlex drives.  No problem, however, because the GoFlex TV has two USB 2.0 ports – one on the back, and one on the side.  I plugged the GoFlex Ultra-portable drive into the port on the back, leaving the more accessible port on the side available for plugging in USB flash drives, a digital camera, a digital video camera, or the like.

Back of the GoFlex TV showing power connection, composite video, component video, optical audio, HDMI, LAN connection, USB 2.0 port

I did not receive the optional Wi-Fi adapter.  They were on backorder, so I bought an Ethernet cable and connected the GoFlex TV to my router.  Luckily my router and my TV are in the same room.  If you do decide to add the Wi-Fi adapter to your setup, you’ll be happy to know that it supports wireless-N for best range and speed.

Side of GoFlex TV showing USB 2.0 port and reset button

The GoFlex TV comes with composite and component cables, but no HDMI cable is included.  My new Sharp Aquos TV has a lot of HDMI connectors, so I bought an HDMI cable.  Now, I’m finally ready to go.  Or was I?

As I mentioned, my package didn’t contain a Quick Start guide, CD, or manual.  I’m resourceful, so I went to the internet and found the most recent version of the manual and the Quick Start guide.  I hooked everything up in the order specified by the Quick Start guide.  No problems, until I came to the place where I was told to insert the CD.  I couldn’t find downloadable software for the GoFlex TV on the internet, so I contacted Seagate customer service and was eventually told the Media Sync software (which allows you to automatically sync files on your computer with the GoFlex hard drive) was not available for 64-bit systems, and that the GoFlex TV device required no other software installed on the computer. 

I did find a trial version of Media Sync on the GoFlex Ultra-portable hard drive itself.  I connected the hard drive to my computer, installed the software, and ran it to copy my video files to the hard drive.  I found the copy to be rather slow, but I don’t add a lot of files to my video directory.  I won’t have to worry about needing a sync manager – I can just quickly attach the drive and copy over any new files as I add them if I want them on the Seagate’s disk.  At the time I began testing the Seagate with my TV, I had copies of my home video files on both my laptop and on the hard drive attached to the GoFlex TV.  My music files and my picture files are only on my laptop.

The GoFlex TV comes with a remote control.  It is small, with only a few buttons.  There’s a power button, Menu and home buttons (to quickly return to the home menu), a circular set of up/down/right/left/OK buttons to navigate the menus, video playback controls, volume controls, and video zoom buttons.

On-screen keyboard

Some options will require you to input data.  There is an on-screen keyboard that you navigate and select letters with the remote control.  This option works well enough, but you can imagine it is slow.  You can attach a USB keyboard (wired or wireless) to the GoFlex TV using one of the USB 2.0 ports to make entering data much easier and faster.

Home screen

Finally, I’m ready to try out the GoFlex TV Media Player.  I selected the proper video source on my TV and powered on the GoFlex TV, and I was immediately connected.    The final option on the top row in the above image, Browse, lets you search the devices connected via the USB ports, and it lets you find computers on your network and setup shortcut connections for quick access to files stored on them.  I easily created a shortcut to my laptop by signing in once through the Seagate.  You can set up these shortcuts to allow free or restricted access to your files.  After defining the shortcut, you quickly and automatically get logged in to the network devices by browsing to your list of shortcuts.  I had to access the files on my computer through the Browse option or through the Network icon (looks like two computer screens) in the bottom row seen in the above image.  The “Movies”, “Pictures”, and “Music” options on the first row showed only the files on the connected hard drive.

Pictures, Movies, and Music files display with this format

After I created the shortcut, I could see a listing of my computer’s directories.  For music, picture, or video directories, you see an alphanumeric sorted list of icons like the one above.  I’ll be honest and say I have no interest in playing music through my TV, so I gave that a cursory look.  I navigated using the menu control buttons, selected a song, and played it.  Music plays well, and information about the song and time remaining displays on the screen during playback.  I was able to play songs I had ripped from my CDs and songs I had purchased as digital files.

A picture file displayed on the Sharp TV screen.

I’m also not very interested in looking at pictures on my TV screen, but you can view your photos in a slideshow while you’re listening to your music, if you so desire.  Even high-resolution pictures taken with our Nikon camera could sometimes appear fuzzy when blown up to fit our 60″ TV.  The movie playback also works great with our home videos.  They played smoothly and cleanly.

Internet options screen

The “Internet” option takes you to the same options you see in the middle row of the home screen.  We’ll talk about those options in more detail later. 

My Shortcuts lists pre-defined logins to my network devices, and Workgroups lets me see devices on my network

Browse function lets you see files on the attached USB drive or networked computers and media servers

I found an HD movie trailer online and downloaded it to my computer.  I tried streaming it wirelessly from my computer, and it froze up a time or two during the first playback.  I tried playing it from my computer again on a different day, and it played perfectly.  When I copied the trailer to the GoFlex drive connected to the GoFlex TV, playback was smooth and uninterrupted. 

Setup options for GoFlex TV HD

My TV can display information about the attached sources, and I was concerned to see that my video playback from the GoFlex TV was NOT in HD.  After all, I have a full-HD TV, an HDMI cable, and a GoFlex HD media player.  After a quick consultation of the manual I had downloaded from the internet, I realized that I needed to go into the setup function and select the appropriate video resolution for the GoFlex HD. 

Video resolution setup

I selected HDMI Auto resolution, and my playback is now 1080p.

Listing of the movies in my Netflix Instant Queue

We’ll finally discuss the Internet options.  I’m ready to try out the real reason I was interested in a media player – streaming movies from Netflix.  I created my Netflix account, activated my Seagate GoFlex, and was connected – just like that!  You can only play movies that you have already added to your Instant Queue at the Netflix website.  After a few minutes searching around the Netflix database from my computer, I had created an Instant Queue.  On the TV, you see a scrolling list of “movie posters”, and the playing time and rating for each movie.  When you select a movie and press the OK button on the remote, you see a summary description of the movie, an option to rate the movie, and an option to remove it from your queue.  The only parental controls are those you set up for your Netflix account.  Once you select PLAY, you get a progress screen showing the movie retrieval which displays for a few seconds, then the movie starts.  We’ve watched several movies since installing the GoFlex TV.  Every single movie downloaded and played absolutely flawlessly.  There was no hesitation, no pixelation, no problems of any kind.  We won’t be renting any more On Demand movies from the cable company!

Despite being listed in the online information, the Paramount video service isn’t an option on my GoFlex TV.  YouTube videos can be accessed by several categories, including recently added, top rated, etc.  Or you can search for videos by name or sign in to access your account.  Mediafly lets you access popular videos or audio files, search, or sign in to your user account.  vTuner lets you listen to radio stations from around the world.   These functions were easy to use and worked well.

The Picasa picture service lets you search through and view public pictures, or you can access your account.  Flickr lets you search through photos, but there is no login option for your account.  These functions worked well, but some pictures didn’t look their best blown up to fit the screen of our TV.

There are video RSS feeds for world or US news, business and technology, entertainment, and sports.  There are text RSS feeds from CNN News, NPR News, and BBC News.  There’s a weather widget that shows information for pre-selected cities, or you can specify a zip code for your local weather information.  There’s also a finance widget that shows you information for the Dow Jones Industrials and several pre-selected stocks; you can also add stocks to the list or delete stocks you are no longer interested in. 

There seems to be a little redundancy in the home screen options.  As I mentioned before, the “Internet” option at the top takes you to the exact same functions shown in the middle of the home screen.  The complete set of icons on the bottom row on the home menu are exactly the same options that are accessed through “Browse” at the top of the screen.  I don’t mind this, though I wish I could re-order the sets of options.  I’d like to have Netflix on the top row, or at least be able to define it as my pre-selected option when I turn on the GoFlex TV. 

You’ll be happy to know that the GoFlex TV’s firmware can be updated.  Simply check the Seagate website periodically for downloads to keep your GoFlex TV up-to-date with the lastest version.

I found the GoFlex TV HD media player to be a snap to set up.  It’s easy to connect the player to computers on your network, even when you use the on-screen keyboard and the remote to enter your information.  I was able to easily access and play files on my computer with few problems.  It’s easy enough to copy any personal files onto the GoFlex Ultra-portable hard drive, and playback from there is flawless.  My favorite thing is the Netflix option.  It’s a snap to connect to Netflix and select a movie from your Instant Queue.  Netflix movies worked perfectly – no choppiness, no pixelation, and no problems of any kind.  The only hiccough I had was because of the missing CD – that I didn’t actually need.  I would recommend that the Quick Start Guide be amended to remove the CD installation step.  Quick Start also should tell you to go into setup and choose the correct output resolution for your home theater.  I recommend the Seagate GoFlex TV HD media player, and it will have a permanent place in my A/V setup.

I didn’t mention the GoFlex Ultra-portable drive much in this review.  I’ll be covering it, along with a 500GB version in more detail in an upcoming review.

The photo of the tall building shown on my TV screen is from the public pictures at Flickr.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: A/V device, HD, Media player

Seagate FreeAgent® GoFlex™ TV HD Media Player Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 24, 2010 at 3:00 pm.

Is there any tech company not making a media player?  This will be the fourth product of this type that I’ve reviewed for The Gadgeteer.  The main differentiating property of the devices, besides the price, seems to be the number of file types and codecs supported.  The MPLAY-HD has all the types I need and then some.

This unit is a stand-a-lone media player (no net access), so streaming isn’t an option.

Specs:

File types

- Video Files: MKV, AVI, MP4, MOV, XVID, TS, M2TS, RM, RMVB, DAT, MPG, MPEG, VOB
- Video Codecs: H.264/AVC BP/MP/HiP L4.1,MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, Real Video
- Audio Files: MP3, WMA, WAV, RM, OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, APE
- Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, AAC, FLAC, APE, PCM, DTS, AC3, RA, AMR
- Photo Files: JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF
- Subtitle: SUB, ASS, SRT, SSA, SMI, IDX+SUB
- Other: DVD VIDEO_TS with menu

Compatibility

- Video: HDMI 1.3, YPbPr/Component, CVBS/Composite
- Resolution: NTSC, PAL, 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p, 1080i/p
- Audio: SPDIF coaxial and optical, analog stereo
- Storage Interface: Dual USB 2.0 Host ports, SD/SDHC/MS flash memory card reader
- File System: FAT32, NTFS

Here’s what’s in the box:

- Micca MPLAY-HD
- IR Remote
- AV and Component cables
- 100-240V AC adapter

My first impression of the player was positive.  I especially like the coating on the housing which gives it a rubbery non slip feel.

The front panel is clean and the box sits unobtrusively near the TV.

On the back you’ll find most of the connectors.  There is a card slot on the right side.  You will have to provide your own HDMI cable though.  This isn’t a show stopper because I get mine for 99¢ online.  If you don’t want to spend the money, the component cables are more than adequate.

The remote is a small full unit.  Just don’t lose it.

Installation was a snap. Plug the MPLAYER into the TV using the supplied cables or your HDMI cable. Connect the power and turn the on/off switch on the back of the unit. Connect your media storage to either the usb connectors and/or the card reader.  Assuming you have the TV set to the correct input , you’ll get the Home screen above. All functions are activated using the included remote.

At the top right of the screen you will notice 3 small icons. They indicate which devices are plugged into the MPLAYER. The device depicted by a folder icon had me confused for a while. It’s not listed in the user manual and when I selected it, I received a no file found message. After about a week of playing around with the unit, I discovered that this indicates internal memory in the unit. It appears there is about 100MB available which allows one to copy from the other inputs. I don’t know if this is an unsupported feature, because it’s not referenced in the manual or the manufacturer’s web site. The middle icon depicts the 2 usb ports and the last one is for the memory card slot. These will be highlighted if a device is available on the ports.

In the center of the Home screen are icons which filter the media types on the storage devices. These filters can be changed by scrolling using the remote. From left to right they are; Movies, Photos, Music, Text, Flash Videos, and not visible in the photo, Files and Settings. They are mostly self-explanatory. When one of them is highlighted, only those types of files supported by the MPLAYER will be recognized and displayed.

Here’s an example displaying the contents of a portable hard drive connected to the MPLAYER using the Movies filter. Using the remote to select the folder or file will either begin playing the media or if a folder will drill down to the next level.

Once the media is playing, it can be controlled by the remote, or an on-screen bar can be activated using the display button on the remote. It has all the playback functions one would find on a DVD player. Depending upon the media type, background music can be added, sub-titles can be displayed and the image can be adjusted to fit the screen. I particularly liked this last feature because I can fit the image to the different types of TVs I have around the house.

The text file display utility is somewhat unique. I can’t see much use for it, but it does display .txt encoded data.

With the exception of copy protected media, I was able to play a selection of file types using different outputs to both a 720p and 1080p TV. However, comparing this unit to the other 3 I have reviewed does confirm 2 issues apparently inherent in these devices.

The first I define as sluggishness. Selecting an application with the remote takes patience. I found myself stabbing a button several times thinking I didn’t poke it, only to find out my inputs were buffered and when they were actuated I wound up several steps beyond where I wanted to be. I guess this delay it because of the disk access time through the usb ports. Now that I am aware of it, I expect it.

Secondly, the remote on this and other units appears to be extremely directional. Unless I’m pointing it within 20 deg of center, it doesn’t work. Again, I can deal with it now that I know. By the way, this device, as others, is dependent upon the remote. Lose it and you’re out of business. Aside from the power button on the box, there are no function buttons.

In the end, I like the MPLAYER. For less than the price of a DVD player, you have a unit that can play your backed up DVDs , music and photos. I no longer own a DVD player and use media players exclusively. The MPLAYER has been recruited for duty as the grandkids movie player. Because of its intuitive GUI and ease of use, it’s perfect for the younger set.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Entertainment, HD, Media player

micca MPLAY HD Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 5, 2010 at 1:00 pm.

It’s 2010, digital media is at its prime.  We see LCD TVs everywhere.  And I’m sure everyone reading this has at least one LCD TV at home.  And I’m sure we all have lots of digital media laying around on our computers.  But how do we bring all of this media to the LCD TVs?  That’s where the Box Office Media Player from Patriot Memory comes in.

The Box Office Media Player is a black box about the size of a Mac Mini.  It comes with a HDMI cable, composite AV cable, AC adaptor, USB cable, remote, and manuals.  Patriot was kind enough to send me a wireless USB adaptor also.

Here’s a list of supported media formats and it’s a pretty long list!

Support Video Formats:
MPEG-1: MPG/MPEG/DAT up to 1080p
MPEG-2: MPG/MPEG/VOB/IFO/TS/TP/M2TS up to 1080p
MPEG-4: MP4/AVI/MOV up to 1080p
DivX 3/4/5/6 & Xvid: AVI/MKV up to 1080p
H.264 & AVC: TS/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS up to 1080p
Real Video 8/9/10: RM/RMVP up to 720p
Other: FLV;WMV9(1080p) & ISO(1080p)

Supported Audio Formats:
Dolby Digital AC3, DTS (via S/PDIF)
MPEG-I Layer 1/2/3, MPEG-II Layer 1/2
RealAudio, AAC, WMA, LPCM
HDMI Raw, S/PDIF RAW (output to 5.1/7.1 Ch)
WAV, OGG, FLAC

Supported Image Formats:
JPEG, BMP, PNG

Let’s just say Patriot really covered pretty much all the common formats out there!  The one that got me interested was the Real Video format.  My mom likes to watch a lot of Chinese drama shows which are always encoded in Real Video format.  I’ve been looking around for a media player that can play the Real format on TV for quite some time and it does a great job at it!

On the front of the Box Office is a USB port for you to connect either the wireless USB adaptor, USB hard drives, or USB flash drives.  On the back are connectors for composite output, optical output, HDMI connector, mini-USB data transfer port, USB host port, LAN port, power port, and the power switch.

The Patriot Box Office gives us an option to put in a 2.5” SATA hard drive if you want to load media files directly on to the Box Office.  But of course the best functionality of the Box Office is for it to access files across the network either on your shared folders on your computer or a NAS (Network Attached Storage).

Another added bonus is that Patriot decided to put in a small fan to cool off the Box Office.  The fan runs pretty silent.

Personally I don’t like having a 2.5” SATA hard drive running constantly (since spinning drives tend to break faster) so I decided to use two 8GB compact flash drives in a SATA case.  Plus all my media files are located on a 4TB NAS drive on the network.

Upon starting up the Box Office, I was prompted to format the hard drive which only took a few seconds since it was “solid state” and only 16GB total.  Then the Box Office finished the rest of the setup which took less than a minute.

The main screen has 3 options: File Copy, Browser, and Setup.  File Copy allows you to copy files between the network drives, internal drive, and any connected usb drives.  The Browser is where you will look for the media file you want to play.  Setup is where you can set audio, video, network, system, and miscellaneous settings.

At first I wanted to try the wireless USB adaptor to test if streaming a 1080p video would lag or not.  First I plugged in the wireless USB adaptor in the back of the Box Office, which should be the most logical position to put the adaptor.  The only problem is that the wireless USB adaptor casing is just a little too big which bumps against the Box Office’s metal housing causing the USB port to not make a full contact with the USB plug.  This was pretty disappointing.  At the end I had to plug the wireless USB adaptor in the front of the Box Office which made it look awkward having an adaptor sticking out in the front.  What I would prefer would be to have either the adaptor plug inside the case (since we have to open it anyway to put that hard drive in) or have the wireless functionality just be built-in to the Box Office.

Streaming 1080p from my NAS drive runs perfectly with no lag at all from both the wireless and direct network cable.  The Box Office supports UPnP which makes accessing files on a network shared drive easy.  It even has the functionality to download P2P torrent files directly on to the internal hard drive.  Even up-converting a smaller DivX file to a 46” LCD TV did a pretty good job.  Sound quality was amazing.  Video quality was gorgeous.  Playing my mom’s Real Video dramas was perfect too and she gave a 10 out of 10 in quality and ease of use.

Here’s a picture of the Box Office playing a DivX file of 24.  Does Jack Bauer ever smile?

The Patriot Box Office is an amazing product.  It plays all known formats that I know of and more.  And at a price of $89.99 on Amazon.com, I suggest everyone to go pick one up.  I highly recommend this product if you’re a huge media fan!

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Media player, Network Storage

Patriot Box Office Media Player Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 16, 2010 at 11:50 am.

In today’s plug-and-play, wireless, streaming, hi-definition world, it’s not uncommon to find products geared towards the fusion of technology and media.  TVs are now equipped with integrated wireless services, and, as Jay mentioned earlier this week, even the home telephone is receiving the tech-treatment.  Micca has decided to enter the digital media fray with their introduction of the Slim Portable HDD Digital Media Player.  In true Gadgeteer spirit, I was fortunate enough to give Micca’s media player the old college try.

Hardware Specs

Video Formats:
- RMVB: RealVideo 8/9/10/11, Max 1024 x 576 @ 2.8Mbps
- AVI: MPEG2/4, DivX 3/4/5/6, Xvid, Max 720 x 576 @ 4.5Mbps
- MOV, MP4: MPEG4, Max 720 x 576
- VOB (DVD): MPEG2, Max 720 x 576 @ 10Mbps
- MPG, DAT (VCD): MPEG1/2
- 3GP: 640 X 480
- Subtitle: .SRT for DivX/Xvid/AVI
- Not Supported: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, WMV, MKV

Audio Formats:
- Codecs: MP3, WMA, AAC, AC3, PCM, DMPCM, OGG
- Bit Rate: 32Kbps ~ 384Kbps
- ID3 Tag display for MP3 and WMA

Image Formats:
- JPG, GIF

What's in the box?

Package Contents

- Micca Slim HDD Media Player
- IR Remote Control
- 3.5mm to 3 RCA AV Out Cable
- 110-240V AC Adapter
- Hard Drive Screws and Tool – Micca Slim can be ordered with or without hard drive

The Micca Slim HDD Media Player is fairly small.  Size-wise, it matched up fairly well with my Western Digital Portable HD.  The casing for the unit seems a bit slight; however, it should be noted that the version I received did not come with a pre-installed hard drive.  The Micca does come with hard drive screws and a tool for those wishing to do the handy work on their own.  You can order the Micca with one of three possible pre-installed hard drives: 160GB, 320GB, or 500GB.  Price increases will incur.

Micca provides an AC adapter, RCA AV out, and USB cable.  While there is an HDMI port, you’ll have to provide your own cable.

The included remote – while a bit nondescript – does provide convenience when operating the device.  Responsiveness was solid.  Batteries for the remote are not included.

The unit itself is dressed up in a polished black metal and contains exterior control buttons – from here, the unit can be powered on/off, navigate through the on-screen menu, and play/stop the selected media.  The buttons are tactile and responsive.

The rear of the unit displays its connectivity options.  Because the unit I received did not come with a pre-installed hard drive, I hooked up an external hard drive to the unit via mini-USB port.  In addition to USB-powered hard drives, the unit can access media from thumb drives and SD/SDHC flash cards.

Since the unit was shipped without a pre-installed hard drive, I simply hooked the Micca Slim up to an external hard drive.

Performance

Setting up the Micca Slim was a breeze.  Upon plugging the device into your TV and powering it up, you are prompted with the option for a basic set-up, or, in my case, simply access the hard drive plugged into the device.  One thing I really liked is that the Micca Slim recognized all of the accessible media from my external hard drive and sorted the media into its respective category (movie, music, picture, etc).  From here on, operation is as simple as selecting your preferred media and pressing play!

Media playback was quick – there was no lag time between selecting and playing a video file.  While you are browsing your files, a small video preview is displayed on the right hand side of the screen.  File information is displayed on the left.

Video quality was good (as good as the original source was, anyhow).  It should be noted that the included images represent video from the standard RCA AV out cable – not the HDMI cable.

Final Thoughts

I’m all about digital media.  As it stands, most of the movies or television I watch are streamed over a wireless network bridging my computer, gaming device, and television together.  Convenience-wise, it’s tough to top.  Because of this, I had reservations about the Micca Slim Portable HDD Digital Media Player and its usefulness in my life.  But what if your wireless network is down?  What if there isn’t a wireless network to be found?  (Hey, it still happens from time to time!)  In this case, simply plugging your media-loaded Micca Slim into a television (old or new, thanks to it’s connectivity options) will provide you with your digital media fix.  Want a nice gift idea for the less tech-savvy folks in your life?  Load up one of these bad boys with an array of movies, pictures, and music and simply tell them to plug it in and click away!  Take your media on the road with you and snazz up the old 19″ RCA tube in the EconoLodge with some of your favorite movies or music.  Or, think of it this way – for the price of a low-end DVD player, you can consolidate space and time with a unit much smaller than even the most compact video players.  The more I think about it, the more I appreciate what the Micca Slim Portable Media Player has to offer!

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Media player

Micca Slim Portable HDD Digital Media Player Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2010 at 4:45 pm.

The Gravida’s Nurse is marketed as a prenatal education device for expectant mothers to use to view educational material, but it’s really just a touch screen digital media player. It has a 4.5 x 3.35 inch color display with a resolution of 1600 x 1200, a touch screen, an all in one flash card slot, and a USB slot that you can use to load video, audio and image files. The device itself does not come with any media at all. It’s up to you to supply them. It supports video formats (AVI, MPEG, DivX, RMVB), audio formats (WAV, MP3, WMA) and image formats (JPEG, GIF, PNG). You can buy the player at Uxsight for less than $23.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: Media player, Spotlight Gadgets

Touch Screen Media Player for New Moms? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 29, 2009 at 9:36 pm.

Using an SD-Card, FlashDrive, or even a multi-Terabyte USB HardDrive, the CiragoTV Mini lets you playback videos, pictures and music that you downloaded or created at your computer on your television in beautiful 720P or 1080i ( and 480i & 480p for any tube owners ). This isn’t a networked UPNP media playback system with wireless or even ethernet: it’s a far simpler solution utilizing the classic SneakerNet to transfer files on a storage device. For around $70 retail, you’ll get a box a little bigger than a deck of cards with AV and HDMI output, a remote, AC adapter, and some composite AV cables. Plug your SD card ( Or USB hard drive/flash drive ) into the CiragoTV Mini, and it’s quickly being shown on your television in excellent quality. Read on for more information…

Since CiragoTV Mini’s sole purpose is to play media, in my opinion there are just two concerns; The first is what formats the device supports. My video files are in a multitude of formats, so having a device compatible with the majority of my files is seriously important. I don’t want to re-compress anything if possible. And the second is the playback quality; how well does it play on my current TV and on the flatpanel I’ll eventually have in my living room. In both areas I’ve been satisfied with the CiragoTV Mini, but thats because most of my files are in SD formats. But even a few DVD’s compressed down to around 256MB ( created back when my PSP had a 512MB MemoryStick Duo ) looked decent and surprisingly viewable, even on an a 720P plasma.

I have to admit something here; I still have a 32″ tube television. It’s a nice one, but it’s still ancient technology. I used this monstrosity for all the screenshots below and some of the testing. But we also spent a night watching this through the HDMI output on a 720P 42″ Plasma TV, and even though most of my files were SD the output scaled nicely. Of course the higher resolution AVI files played back beautifully on the plasma TV, and we quickly realized we’re probably the only people in Brooklyn without a flatpanel TV. Hopefully Santa is going to rectify this.

I ended up playing files in Divx, AVI, MPEG 1,2 & most 4, and almost all played without problems or hiccups. There were a couple known-bad files I tried to play, and mostly these just refused to play. But a couple times I needed to unplug the device’s power cable to play new files after it ‘froze’. Overall the playback quality was impressive considering most of my video is SD, and I found the UI completely useable although it could look better ( IE: more modern – reminds me of XP ). There is built in support for VOB files & and subtitles too- along with customization of the colors involved which is nice. But the bad news is MKV and M4V files both fail to play back, which could be a serious limitation. Since I’ve been dealing with a tube TV, and most of my files are AVI or Divx SD, I can play almost everything in my library. But a close look at the device’s playback compatibility and your video file formats is a must before purchasing.

Included in the box is the CiragoTV Mini unit, a remote, a AC Adapter, and an A/V cable with composite video & RCA Right and Left audio connectors. On the front of the unit there is an IR sensor, a USB port, and a SD/MMC card slot. On the back is an HDMI output, but the cable is not included, and there is an A/V port for the included composite ( not component ) cable. There is a small wall-wart power adapter included that also plugs into the back. The remote’s batteries are pre-installed and protected by a plastic tab you remove to activate the remote, and the video/audio cable is about six feet long. The digital output is, obviously, sharper and cleaner than analog.

Overall, I’m really enjoying this little box, more than I thought I was going to. The small size of the CiragoTV Mini makes it totally portable, it’s a little bigger than an older iPod, so taking it with you to a friend’s house or a hotel makes watching your media on any tv completely possible. I’ve got about a dozen 1GB to 4GB SD cards floating around, and copying files to one of these cards and popping it into the CiragoTV Mini is almost second nature to us now. Plus the USB port lets you to also keep a huge hard drive plugged in as a permanent addition to your media center and use the SD cards just for new files. The flexibility of the USB and SD/MMC reader plus the great output makes this a real winner in my opinion – I recommend this device as long as it will play back your videos in your existing library & please remember to check for format compatibility before purchasing.

The front of the unit has an IR window ( With the red/blue power indicator LED inside ), the USB port, and the Card slot. I tried a USB Flash Drive, USB Hard Drive, and a USB Card Reader; all worked without problems in a FAT32 format.

The reasonably long AV cable and power adapter, the remote, and the CiragoTV Mini. You get an idea of how small this device is from the picture. The little rubber feet on the bottom helped it stay put on a wood shelf and on the metal top of an A/V receiver.

The remote has some nice features; a USB device button to switch between media containers, mute and volume, but no fast forward. You have to open the menu while video is playing to fast forward in 2x, 4x, and 8x increments then one more press puts in back into normal playback speed.

The main menu lets you select media types to playback, look at the files through a file-system browse, or setup the CiragoTV Mini.

The CiragoTV Mini will work with almost every SD and HD set out there with the composite and HDMI outputs.

The unit also supports 7 languages.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews

Tagged: HD, HDMI, Media player, USB

CiragoTV Mini Media Player Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 1, 2009 at 1:26 pm.

Hoping to enjoy the same popularity as the WD TV and Popcorn Hour, the new ViewSonic VMP70 is yet another media player for your TV. The VMP70 boasts more compatible video and audio formats than any other player (MPEG 1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, H.264, VC-1, WMV9, RM/RMVB, WMA, MP3, DTS, OGG, AAC, (2-channel), Real Audio, JPG, JPEG, BMP, PHG,  and GIF photo format) and even includes an HDMI video cable. The ViewSonic VMP70 is now available for an MSRP of $129.99 with a promotional holiday ESP of $98.99. Check out the full press release here.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: HD, Media player, Spotlight Gadgets, TV

ViewSonic’s sub $100, Full HD media player now available originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 2, 2009 at 6:42 pm.

I received a CinemaCube from Brite-View for review. The CinemaCube enters a crowded marked for media players (see the Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank, and the WD TV HD Media Player) but offers a number of unique features at a very competitive price.

The CinemaCube features:

• Multiple Video interfaces
• 2 USB ports to attach USB devices
• Network connection
• BitTorrent Client

The footprint is not much larger than a standard DVD case. You can also use the stand to stand the CinemaCube on its edge.

What’s in the box

• The BV-5003 Internet multi-format media player
• Stand
• AC Power Adapter
• Composite AV Cables
• RJ45 Ethernet Cable
• User Manual
• Quick Guide

The Remote

The remote is fairly small and apparently under-powered. I found the menus to be a little sluggish and non-responsive. But once I programed my Harmony remote the CinemaCube worked noticeably smoother.

Video Interface

The CinemaCube provides connections for:

• Composite Video
• Stereo Audio
• S/PDIF
• SVHS
• Component Video
• HDMI

I tested Component and HDMI on my television, and both worked very well. Since my TV only has one HDMI input, I primarily used Component. The device does not automatically select the video mode, you will need to use the Video button on the remote to toggle through the options.

USB Connections

The CinemaCube has two USB ports. They are both located on the front of the device under a hinged cover. I am not a big fan of this arrangement. Unless you primarily use this device to view content on your network, there is going to be a USB hard drive attached to the front of this device. It would be nice to have 1 USB port in the back.

There are also only two ports, if you choose to add a wireless network dongle, and have a hard drive attached, your ports will be full. It would have been nice to have two in the back in addition to the connections on the front.

On the other hand, the connectors on the front do make it very easy to attach a USB device like a camera, video device, or phone to access pictures, video, and audio.

Network Connections

The CinemaCube comes with an Ethernet port to connect to your network. There is also the possibility of adding a USB wireless dongle. They plan on providing a list of compatible devices, and selling one on their site.

The only issue with the wired option is that I did not have a network jack near my TV. I had to rearrange my setup and move the hub to my entertainment room. Once I did that, everything worked fine.

I was able to check for updates to the firmware over the internet, access shared folders on my network, and download Bit Torrents (more on that next).

BitTorrent

The CinemaCube comes with a built-in BitTorent client so that you can download torrents from the CinemaCube rather than tying up a PC/Mac. As they mention, this also eliminates the risk of downloading a virus to your PC/Mac since you are not involving the PC/Mac in the download.

You cannot browse the Internet for the torrents on the CinemaCube though, you need to put the torrent seed on a USB drive or network share the Cube can access. One important requirement for downloads is that the CinemaCube can only download torrents to a drive that is formatted NTFS or EXT3. This proved a challenge for me as I searched through all my external drives to find a properly formatted one. I did find an NTFS drive that had plenty of space. Unfortunately, it had a lot of files that created problems later.

Once you have the setup, you need the content.  They have a number of torrents you can download to demo, but they are all very short pieces. With a little searching (OK, a question sent out in Twitter) I discovered www.legaltorrents.com. I went to this site, and downloaded seeds for Make Magazine’s show, and downloaded them to a network drive.

As you can see, the CinemaCube downloads up to 3 torrents simultaneously. Obviously in a device like this, the processor is not high-powered, and you cannot do anything else on the CinemaCube while it is downloading. However, it is very easy to add a bunch of files to download, and then leave the Cube unattended while it downloads your entire list.

Video

The CinemaCube supports a number of video formats up to 720p. Formats include Xvid, RMVB, WMV, AVI, MP4, MKV, and H.264. It did a great job reading the different video files on my hard drive. It was a little slow finding them all, however, since I was using a hard disk with a lot of files already on it. The downloaded BTs worked nicely as well. I noticed a couple times that I would get some audio sync issues, but they were easily resolved by a quick rewind.

The CinemaCube works with the Flip if you plug it into the USB port. I was hopping to try this out with my Sony Webbie. However, the native format of the Webbie could not be read by the CinemaCube. One issue is that my webbie shoots 1080i, but even when I stepped it down to 720p, the CinemaCube failed to recognize the AVC/H.264 file. I’m told the next iteration will support this format.

Pictures

The CinemaCube supports JPEG, BMP and PNG files. I plugged in a  Sony W810i phone and it easily brought up a list of pictures on the phone:

It did not, however, work with my Android G1 phone. In talking to their support, it is an issue with how my Android phone connects to computers. It worked wonderfully with my camera when I shot in JPEG. Unfortunately I tend to shoot in RAW. I cannot imagine a consumer product like this attempting to support all the different flavors of RAW out there, so I was not surprised it would not view those pictures.

The Slide Show feature was fun. It starts a slide show of the pictures in the current folder. It also randomly selects a music file as a soundtrack. This led to some interesting slide shows when it selected a ringtone as background music. It would have been nice to be able to select your own background music, but that would add steps to the very simply one-click option that currently exists.

Music

The CinemaCube supports a number of audio formats including MP3, WMA, RA and even non-DRM iTunes. On the Sony phone it was able to see and play these Venus Hum tracks that had been ripped in iTunes:

While playing you get a background screen (I apologize for the pictures, hard to get a good picture of a CRT TV):

Drive Support

I was able to use this device with all of the Hard Drives and Flash drives I have. The only time you are restricted is when downloading a BitTorrent. In order to save the BT, the hard Drive must be NTFS or EXT3 formatted. But if you have a drive with video, images or audio already on it, any FAT formatted drive will work.

I found the CinemaCube a little slow in bringing up a list of files. However, the drive I had to use had a number of folders and lots of non-media files on it to add to the overhead. I plan to dedicate a drive for just this device to remove the overhead.

Conclusions

I really like this device. It is not without its limitations, but what it can do for the price is pretty impressive.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear

Tagged: Media player

Brite-View CinemaCube Media Player Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 22, 2009 at 7:12 am.

We like our TV media players here at The Gadgeteer, with my current favorites being the Popcorn Hour Media Tank and WD TV HD. I just received an email from Brando with a link to an interesting looking adapter that allows you to play media files from an SATA hard drive, USB flash drive or SD card on your TV. No WiFi, but it it does have HDMI and a nice looking non-chicklet remote control. What do you think, worth a review?

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear

Tagged: Media player, Spotlight Gadgets, Video

SATA HDD TV media player adapter from Brando originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 1, 2009 at 8:05 am.

I watch a LOT of television shows. Too many shows. It’s a sickness really. I just can’t get enough of American Idol, Survivor, LOST, Celebrity Apprentice, Amazing Race… the list goes on and on. For that fact, I often have days where I need to record three shows that are all on at the same time. My dual tuner DirecTV DVR can only record two at a time, so what’s a TV addict like myself to do? I grab the shows off the internetS of course! But I don’t watch them on my 24in iMac screen in my office, I watch them on my 65″ HDTV in my living room. I had been using the WD HD TV Media Player for this task, but lately I’ve been testing the Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank. Let’s take a closer look.

First of all, I have to say that I went into this review with a bit of bias. I couldn’t help it really as I was already in love with the WD HD TV device. The WD HD is one of those products that is extremely simple to setup, easy to use and just plain works well. I didn’t think anything would be able compare to it, but I was curious to find out if the wireless functionality of the Popcorn hour would cause me to choose it as my new favorite media player.

I was sent the Popcorn Hour A-110 and WN-100 wireless USB adapter to review.

Hardware Specs

Connectivity: Bonjour, UPnP SSDP, UPnP AV, Windows Media Connect, Windows Media Player NSS, SMB, NFS, HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal, Llink, GB-PVR, BitTorrent P2P, NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services:

• Video : YouTube, Veoh, Videocast, DLTV, Cranky Geeks, Bliptv, PodfinderUK, Vuze, Break Podcast, Revision 3, CNN The Larry King Podcast, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, The CNN Daily, CNN In Case You Missed It , NBC Meet The Press, NBC Today, CBS Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, Mevio
• Audio : Live365 Radio, iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, BBC Podcast, CNN News , Indiefeed, Jamendo
• Photo : Flickr, Picasaweb
• RSS feed : Bloglines, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo Traffic Alerts, Traffic Condition, Cinecast, Yahoo! News, MSNBC News
• Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV
• Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Video formats supported: MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V), MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG), MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS), VOB, AVI, ASF, WMV, Matroska (MKV), MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4, XVID SD/HD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4.2, WMV9, H.264, VC-1, ISO, IFO

Audio formats supported: AAC, M4A, MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA), WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG

Image formats supported: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

Chipset: Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video outputs: HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p), Component Video (up to 1080p), S-Video, Composite Video, Stereo Analog Audio, S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio

Interface: 1x USB 2.0 slave, 2x USB 2.0 host (placed at front and back panel each), SATA

Network: Ethernet 10/100

Power: 12V DC, 3A

Dimension: Width 10.5″(270mm) x Depth 5.25″ (132mm) x Height 1.25″ (32mm)

Weight: 2.2 lbs (1Kg)

Package Contents

• Popcorn Hour A-110 (HDD not included)
• 100~240V Power Adapter and 3 Prong Flat US Cord
• 1.5M length HDMI cable
• Remote Control with 2 “AAA” batteries
• USB Slave cable
• Quick start guide

If you get the package with the wireless option, it will also include a WN-100 802.11n (draft 2.0) USB WiFi adapter and a USB extension cable.

The main device is nicely constructed of metal, with an easily accessible USB port on the front. Next to the USB port is a recessed reset button.

All of the various video, audio and power ports are located on the back.

There’s a master power switch, component video, s-video CVBS, RCA audio, optical audio…

HDMI, USB host, USB, Ethernet and power connectors.

In addition to the USB ports, you can also install an SATA 3.5 hard drive inside the Popcorn Hour. I didn’t have one available to me, so I tested using USB flash drives, USB hard drives and network drives.

Connecting this player to your television set is not difficult. Since I wanted the best picture possible, I opted for the HDMI connection. I was very pleased to see that an HDMI cable was actually included in the package. That’s pretty rare. My joy was short lived though as I was unable to get the player to work using HDMI. I tried 3 different cables and 3 different HDMI ports on my TV. Whenever I would power on the Popcorn Hour device, diagonal lines would display on the TV for a few seconds and then the screen would turn Blue as if there was no input signal at all. To their credit, the folks at Popcorn Hour tried to help me figure out the problem. Their suggestions to try a lower resolution and upgrading the firmware did not fix the problem though. I finally gave the unit to a friend to try on his TV and wouldn’t you know that it worked fine for him. This is the first time I’ve ever had an HDMI device that was not compatible with my 5yr old Mitsubishi RPTV. Bah!

So I ended up connecting the device to my TV using component video cables. Not my first choice, but oh well…

I also plugged the included Wifi adapter into the rear USB connector so that I could test wireless connection to network drives. This is one feature that could give the WD HD a run for its money and I was anxious to try it out.

Click for full-sized image

The remote included with the Popcorn Hour (which I’ll call PCH from here on…) is full sized with a bazillion buttons. It’s comfortable to hold and the buttons are easy to press.

Once you have the unit connected to your TV and audio source, you can turn it on. It takes a minute or two to boot from power off and when fully loaded, you’ll see the main menu shown below.

The main options are designated by large icons for video, audio, images and files. You can also change the media source (USB or network), connect to web services or go into the setup options.

Connecting to WiFi is quick and easy if you have a non-secure SSID like I do. Otherwise you will have to specify various security settings for your wireless network. Once connected, you can then connect to a network drive on your computer or use the web services.

Web services are things like YouTube, RSS feeds and Internet radio. I tried all of them, but my main interest for this device was playing video files.

Instead of copying video files to a USB flash drive or portable hard drive and then plugging them into the PCH, I wanted to access a shared drive on my iMac in the other room. Setting this up wasn’t hard. It just required me to go into the system preferences, turn on file sharing, check SMB (Samba) sharing and specify the folder to share. The only annoyance came when I would have to actually login through the PCH using the remote. My username on my Mac is “Julie Strietelmeier”. So I would have to type it in using the telephone style keypad. Not a huge deal to complain about if you only have to do it once, but this info isn’t saved if you remove power from the PCH or you switch back and forth between an attached USB drive and network shared drives. Grrrrrrr… Maybe there’s an easier way to do this, but I’m not sure what that is.

Update 5/19/09 – There is an easier way. You add the share instead of browsing the workgroup list. I thought I had tried this without success, but a subsequent try worked! Now I can even unplug the unit and it remembers the share and automatically connects to it. Yay!!!

When I was connected to a network drive, streaming videos, music and images over WiFi worked very well for all the formats that I tried except for a 5GB ISO. Playback of that file was very jerky and not viewable at all. Playing the same ISO file from an attached USB hard drive worked just fine though. I was also impressed that the DVD menus from the ISO worked just like they do on a regular DVD player. The WD HD is unable to show DVD menus (as of the current firmware), so this is a definitely plus for the PCH.

Some of the formats that I tested were ISO, MKV, M4V, MP4, AVI. They all worked fine with this player and looked good on my TV at 1080i (my TV doesn’t do 1080p). The audio behind the video also sounded just fine. I liked that video playback including web videos can be resumed (as long as you don’t remove power) if you stop and come back later. This is true even if you stop one video and go watch part of another. You can then go back to the first video and resume from where you left off.

It also has some good playback features that allow you to jump to different times in a video, zoom / shrink the display, change subtitle size and colors, etc.

I also tested the music and image playing features of this device. Although they work relatively well, you can tell that they aren’t the primary feature of this product. Album art is supported for music playback, along with track info (time, title, artist, album name and genre).

Because the PCH is running a version of Linux, it has other more complex features such as a BitTorrent downloader and FTP server. You can even install 3rd party music and video jukebox applications that allow for feature that the default player does not have. One feature that comes to mind that the video jukebox apps add are DVD thumbnails. But installing these applications feels like a big mystery. You have to navigate the Networked Media Tank forums for instructions.

Besides the HDMI issue and the PCH not storing the username and password info for network shared drives, I really only have two other complaints. One is that this device feels a little sluggish, but you mainly only notice this when navigating from menu to menu. I also noticed that the remote control seems to have a narrow area where it can ‘see’ the command. Often times I would have to press the buttons a couple of times before it would recognize the key press.

The Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank is one step down from having a full fledged HTPC (home theater PC) and with it, come a complex set of features that might be wonderful for some, but a headache for others. For that fact, I don’t see this player in the same category as the WD HD TV Player. I like the PCH because it has WiFi capability out of the box, but I don’t like its overall sluggish feel. If you love hacking around with devices, then you’ll probably love the PCH. If I can fix my issue with logging into network drives, I’ll probably stick with it just for that convenience, but otherwise it’s overkill for what I want to do – just playing video files.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear

Tagged: Media player, Video

Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 8, 2009 at 2:00 am.