Media Player

Jul 12 2012

News - ASUS O!Play LIVE HD Media Player

By Mike Garcen

Media Players are a huge part of the home theater PC world these days, and there is no shortage to choose from. While we try to remain up to date with our Media Player Comparison Guide, it's tough to keep up to date. Here's the latest from ASUS who continue with their O!Play line of players.

ASUS

If you're like me, over the years you've collected a huge digital library full of music, pictures, and movies onto your computer. Occasionally, I might watch a video from off my laptop or listen to a song while working at the desktop, but high-definition movies and music are really best enjoyed on a home theater system with larger screen and powerful speakers. The ASUS O!Play LIVE HD Media Player makes this transition easy, accepting every modern media format over local storage and network connections. Watching broadcast television and DVD/BD movies have been replaced with streaming Internet content and downloaded multimedia files, especially for college aged viewers who own a smartphone or tablet device. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the ASUS O!Play LIVE HD Media Player, and we evaluate how well it performs our tasks.

Benchmark Reviews

May 21 2012

News - Dune HD TV-301A Universal FullHD Network Media Player

By Mike Garcen

We reviewed one of the higher end Dune HD media players last year and were very impressed with the quality and abilities of the unit. However, the cost of that one was $250, pricing it out of the market for lots of folks. Dune has listened to their consumers and up for review is a more affordable, $169 media player that shares a lot of the benefits we covered. Wifi version is available for $10 more FYI.

Dune HD recently released the TV-301 in two flavors, the TV-301A and the TV-301AW which is basically the same as the first but also features a built-in Wi-Fi adapter coupled with an external antenna. The TV-301 series are also amongst the first to feature the latest HD decoding chipset by Sigma Designs, the SD8671 which may not be their most powerful decoding solution to date but it comes really close. That aside i was somewhat surprised (in a good way) to see that the TV-301 series also feature a nice easy-swap 2.5" HDD bay which is certainly not something we see a lot with media players since most manufacturers prefer 3.5" drives. Of course the TV-301 is as big as an 3.5" hard disk drive so an 2.5" easy-swap bay was a one way for Dune HD and i am honestly glad they decided to take it. But let's take a closer look and she what else you can expect from the latest network/hdd media player to hit the market by Dune HD.

NikkTech

Aug 02 2011

News - LG NC1000-DABA Digital Media Player - External

By Matt Siciliano

So I was browsing Newegg.com today when I saw this interesting piece of hardware. LG's site didn't offer much more information than Newegg. It appears to be geared towards use for digital signage, but when I saw that it comes with Windows Embedded Standard, I thought about the possibility of using it as a set-top box. I think Embedded comes in several flavors, so I'm not even sure it has Media Center on it, but this could be interesting. Also, they make an internal one that slides into a compatible monitor. Could this possibly be a Windows TV?

Jul 25 2011

News - LG Smart TV Upgrader Review

By Mike Garcen

Here's a review from HDGuru on a LG Smart TV device designed to upgrade your television to a "smart" tv. The guru seems to love the picture quality and only notes the price as a big caveat, but a glance over at reviews on Amazon are much less flattering.

You get the expected HDMI output, plus optical for those inclined towards that style of digital audio transmission. A USB connection is an added bonus, giving the Smart TV Upgrader the ability to play music, video, and photos from flash drives. The stubby remote is similar in size to the Roku’s, though the button clicks are far more precise. The center button has a touch/motion functionality. This works marginally better than wishing. There’s a slight sluggishness to the controls and interactions. It’s not a big deal, but it’s not as polished as the Apple TV.

HDGuru

Jul 23 2011

News - The Roku 2 Review by ZNF

By Mike Garcen

This is one of the first reviews I've seen of the brand new Roku 2 unit that offers a fairly nice supply of features starting at $60. We reviewed the original Roku XDS previously and liked it.

Roku 2 hardware is by far the most elegant they’ve ever produced… and how far its appearance has evolved from off-the-shelf components and generic look seen in the first generation Roku Netflix Player. The Roku 2 is quite compact and, in fact, will fit in the palm your hand. It doesn’t feel quite as solid as Apple TV, but it features a smaller footprint, more rounded corners, and clocks in slightly taller. But, at the end of the day, while Roku’s outward appearance may help move units in Best Buy, it’s the technological capabilities that folks should be interested in. And the Roku 2 line comes in three flavors…

ZatzNotFunny

Syndicate content

Cheap Home Theater Systems

Buy Cheap Home Theater Systems at Wholesale Price on DHgate.com.

Website design by Yammm Software
Powered by Drupal