asus o!play air - wireless n tv hd media player

 

Buy Cheap ASUS O!Play Air - Wireless N TV HD Media Player

 

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ASUS O!Play Air - now with integrated wireless N and a built-in card reader, it is the most convenient way access your media files to your TV/monitor. Stream your media content wirelessly or through the LAN. Also equipped with a eSATA, USB, card reader for a variety of storage support. This device is easy to use and highly compatible with many video and audio formats. Experience full HD 1080p playback through the HDMI port.

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Technical Details

- Hassle-free multimedia playback without file conversion

- Full 1080p high-definition video via HDMI output

- High-speed wireless 802.11n / Ethernet LAN connection for easy network streaming

- Simple and fast plug-and-play connectivity (eSATA, USB 2.0, CF, SD+MMC, MS+MS Duo)

- Instant music playing with dedicated Music Shuffle remote button

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 "No more CD Burning xDDD" 2010-03-28

By Jose Martin (AGS MEX)

Excellent product, just as promised, works great, haven't found video formats that doesn't play, the image quality is great, at last I can watch my HD movies and clips, the only thing is that indeed the remote control is sometimes unresponsive when playing media, specially HD media, but I guess that is kind of normal I mean even a good computer ( lots of RAM, Processor speed, etc)shows some delay when watching HD media and try to configure something. I bought also a Wireless N router to connect it to my NAS and 720p streams smoothly to about 100ft including walls and height level but I guess that the router does its part xD.

 

 "I found the unit to be great, has limitations but in comparision to others it near the top" 2010-03-27

By Robin M (CA, United States)

I have this unit for about 2 months, I got it for just over one hundred dollars. There really are no other products at this price range with the feature set. It has built in wireless N, which may not be that great for HD but my divx and DVD.iso play just fine even with others on the network. It has a card reader that allows you to transfer files over the network to your computer or WHS.

It will play nearly all format files - the biggest exclusion though in my opinion for a HD player is the lack of .wtv / .dvr-ms which would be wonderful if it could (these are the file types stored by windows for TV from a capture card though WMC). It does play my HD camcorder video great but occasionally stutters over wireless (especially G) but great when on the wired ethernet.

The picture quality is fantastic over HDMI and not too bad on the composite output to an old Sony CRT TV (although the menu aspect is a little off on that TV).

Physcially the unit is heavier than expected, a little larger than I thought it would be. I would say 3+/5 on the build (one of my LED lights is off axis). The unit runs warm.

In recent firmware updates they have added online content / weather and picasa/flickr access although I really don't use those (Hulu, youtube or Netflix access would be much more useful).

I have been a user of these media streamers and extender for a while now and have been through my fair share of different units. Many have been under powered in terms of processing power (such as some of the units from Netgear and DLink) and the would freeze often. My main stay till now has been the PS3 which plays limited number of formats but it does it well since it is way overpowered for this particular function - it eats up a lot of power and at my home is practically on 24/7 between the kids and I for watching movies etc. This unit is less than 10W (which I understand is ~5% of the power for the PS3). It plays way more formats.

Lastly a slight con is the remote response when in wireless more - it is slower (I don't know why but can be annoying). In wired mode there is no problem.



Lastly my wife can use this and was happy once shown how to navigate the device, big plus for me!

Overall, for the price / feature set it's a great buy, I think most people will be happy with it.

4+/5 overall, recommend it for sure.



(I actually also bought the wired version too for about eighty five dollars for another room since I was very happy with this unit overall - but did not need a wireless unit).

 

 "Its Growing on me..." 2010-03-26

By Dane718 (Brooklyn,NY)

Purchased this about a week ago and so far so good. I recently decovered that when trying to connect to network (windows 7) it can't recognize it. Has something to do with the new security feature of window 7. There is a firmware update coming soon, and should fix the problem and well as ton of new features, which im looking forward to seeing and using.

Out the box it was pleased, took one of my external hard drives with a ton of divxs and mkv moves on there and played them extremely well, with no hick-up definitely was pleased with that. As far as custumer service goes... I havent a clue for I havent given them a ring or emailed.

Overall... Definitely a great buy and its a ez hook up!

 

 "In my case, the unit froze up" 2010-03-26

By Danton B. Spivey (Denver, CO USA)

I was really excited to set up the O Play; unfortunately, halfway through the initial setup, the unit stopped responding to the remote control. I tested the batteries in the remote - they were ok - but replaced them anyway - didn't fix the problem. I unplugged the unit, let it sit, then replugged it in. No benefit. Did this several times without any benefit. Had to send the unit back.



I am not really reviewing the box, since I never got it to work; I am just saying - try setting it up early after you get it, and be prepared for disappointment. Thank God for Amazon's return policy.

 

 "It worked fine, but not as well as expected." 2010-03-17

By Raymond Shih (Elgin, IL, USA)

I used this for 3 weeks and decided to return the unit and wait for a next-generation product coming out. There are very nice things about this unit, but on the other hand, there are more troubles that we are willing to take. Here is my opinion.



Pros:

1. Takes all formats! - So far I haven't seen any format of video or graphics format that it can't take. I especially like the ISO and RMVB support that its competitors fall short. I have all my DVD collection converted to ISO format, and it has no problem playing any of them!

2. Beautiful graphics - The graphics is better than my home theater PC! Color is vivid and motion is fluid. It plays as well as my blu-ray player in 1080p format.

3. Wireless-N Network - Different from other people, I have absolutely no problem with the N wireless network. It seems my NAS right away. After I set up the permission on my Windows 7, it has no problem seeing my share directories and playing from them without any issue. Actually, I think it even plays better than locally connected drives, at least it won't crash in the middle of play (see below.)



Cons:

1. Crashes - that's the main reason we return the unit. It crashed more than 10 times in the past three weeks, and we have to unplug it every time to recover. It doesn't have to be a network issue. We have experienced crashed in the middle of movies.

2. Remotes - Quite often the unit were not responsive for any remote click, mostly lasting 30 seconds or 1 minute. If it is a Linux-based OS, then I cannot understand what can tie down the unit, and it's surely bothering. Also, there are not enough buttons on the remote to control every function. I often has problem getting to the title screen on my DVD. While it's nice to have a DVD subtitle button, it will take at least six clicks to get - while most DVD players can do with a single click.

3. Endless menu- After a beautiful initial screen, all the remaining screens are simply boxes with filenames in it to choose from. While this is a good way to choose files, it's annoying to keep paging down to search for the files I want, especially when pre-view slowed down the search. I have already organized my share drives as much as possible and still feel bothered. If only we can customize the menu by adding shortcuts to the very beginning two screen, it would make it much easier. But now we have to click MOVIE -> DEVICE -> LOCAL STORAGE -> C Drive -> and then subdirectories. It would be much better if it is MOVIE -> C Drive. Please, make it more friendly on next upgrade.

4. Drives disappearing - Network drives disconnected itself, or took a few tries to sign in. Even our local USB storage disappeared once for absolutely no reason - will have to unplug to get it back.

5. Internet TV - Good features to have, but most channels not useable, some will hang your unit. I've stopped using it after the first day.



I will look for their next upgrade. If it fixes these issues, I will no doubt repurchase this. Otherwise, I will pray WD TV supporting those additional formats, or something else comes up soon. For now, I'll have to go back to my HTPC - thought I found a replacement, well, I didn't.





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asus o!play - tv hd media player (black)

 

Buy Cheap ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player (Black)

 

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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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Technical Details

- Hassle-free multimedia playback without file conversion

- Full 1080p high-definition video via HDMI output

- Simple and fast plug-and-play connectivity (eSATA, USB 2.0)

- High-speed Ethernet LAN connection for easy network streaming

- Highly compatible device that supports HDMI and composite inputs

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 "Great, easy to use media player" 2010-03-31

By Chae An (Atlanta, GA)

I've been searching for a product like this for some time. For comparison, I have had experience with Popcorn Hour and Western Digital TV as well as Kodak HD player. O!Play more directly compares with WDTV in my opinion as far as features and ease of use. PCH has a dizzying array of functions and customization, and is a more complete product, but it is also over twice the price, and the features sometimes makes troubleshooting more time-consuming and the setup experience, more uneven. Kodak HD player doesn't directly compare, but it can be had for a little more than half the price of O!Play.



First off, I primarily use the O!Play to catch a movie or TV program at night, after we tuck in the kids (10PM'ish) and when we pass out from sheer exhaustion (11PM to 12AM'ish). So some of the features WDTV and PCH had didn't necessarily appeal to us. We weren't going to browse the web TVs and youtube. We also doesn't have Netflix so O!play's current lack of Netflix support didn't matter, although I understand that for some, that may be a deal breaker.



Setup was easy. Plug it in, and it worked. I had to manually download an updated firmware, put it on a thumbdrive and install, unlike WDTV that automatically detected new firmware, downloaded and installed it over the internet. But it's a minor issue.



I didn't like the fact that I had to navigate through all the video and photo options and directories each time. There's a rudimentary saved/favorite folder option but nothing like what PCH had. Same issue also plagues WDTV. But again, at around $100 as opposed to $250 I paid for PCH, I can live with it.



Video quality is great. 1080p is supported, although lack of Blu-ray drive support means that you are often playing compressed video formats that may introduce certain noise and artifacting. I think the latest O!play firmware supports blu-ray ISO play so you may be able to feed it as good as possible 1080p signal and see how the player handles it. But all I can say is that 1080p digital files look very good, and ripped DVDs look great as well.



Audio quality is pretty good. The remote has volume control on it, as opposed to WDTV that does not. Remote itself is somewhat chunky and awkward, but larger than WDTV's tiny remote. We once lost WDTV's remote and took us a week and a complete bedsheet change to find it.



Overall, it's an excellent product with somewhat more limited range than (slightly more expensive) WDTV. Of the two, I like O!Player better, primarily based on WDTV's $149 price at Best Buy. But recently, I saw WDTV for $108 at Costco. At that price point, I think WDTV slightly edges O!Play out, but I think I would've been happy with either.

 

 "Prefer this over WDTV" 2010-03-30

By M. S. Kubota (San Carlos, CA)

I only use this for watching movies from hard drives, so I can't comment on other forms of media or networking. I've had the WDTV (1st gen) and the WDTV Live and was pretty happy with both. However, the things that made me move over to this ASUS were:

- Support for USB hub. Your storage needs will only grow and instead of replacing smaller but otherwise perfectly fine hard drive units, this one will let you ADD more than one hard drive per USB port. I currently am using a Belkin 4-port hub (non-powered) and it works perfectly.

- Navigates DVD ISO images for menus. For 95% of my rips I watch just the movie. But there are a few discs like my Rick Steves collection that are divided into several indexed segments where if you were to just play the ISO on the WDTV you would only see the first segment. This box almost allows me to get rid of my DVD player.

- Reads pgs (Blu-ray) subtitles for movies like Gandhi, Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill, etc. The subs (at least for Blu-ray) look VERY clean. The letters are sharp/ high-res, a good size, and not too bright or obnoxious.



Other differences between the ASUS and WDTV:

- ASUS interface is a bit more like Windows browsing which I like. Think of the WDTV GUI as more like a Mac. And although my main computing is done on a Mac, for this application I like how the ASUS navigates. While not quite as smooth and quick as the WDTV the ASUS interface is still plenty fast.

- ASUS unit is bigger and heavier. I actually like this because the unit has less of a tendency to move around from the weight or strain of the USB and HDMI cables. The ASUS is still small by component standards.



Minor gripes:

- If I connect the ASUS to a switched outlet, when the unit turns on there is no video going to my Toshiba TV. I have to turn the unit off via the remote and back on and then I will get video. I think this is an HDMI sync/ handshake issue. No biggie for me though- I just leave the unit plugged in and use the remote for power on/ off.

- The eSATA/ USB port is a bit odd. I read somewhere that somebody thought there was only one USB port on this unit. The combo eSATA/ USB port is a bit strange. Plugging in a USB cable is kind of difficult and it's easy to see why one might think that this is not a USB port. The good news is that you will probably only have to do this once and the cable stays in really well.

- The IR remote for my Comcast HD box shares at least one code with the ASUS. I noticed every once in a while that the ASUS would be on and I swear I didn't turn it on. I finally figured out that every time I hit the 'Guide' button on my Comcast (Motorola) HD box, the ASUS would turn on! And no- hitting the 'Guide' button again does NOT turn the ASUS back off. I plan on getting a TiVo next week anyway, so this is not a big issue for me.



Overall, I really like this ASUS unit and will replace my other WDTV with another one of these. I really like (need!) the ability to use a USB hub. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that Western Digital is not able to do DVD menus (or Blu-ray subs) at this point, as it seems like most other media boxes do. The only reason why I didn't give this 5-stars is because I've only had the unit for a week, so I can't speak for overall long-term reliability. But I am confident enough to replace my other WDTV with one of these! And for the record the HDs I am using are: WD 500MB MyBook (about 4 yrs old), Hitachi 1TB 7200 in a Diablotek SATA cradle, and an Iomega 320MB eGo Portable.

 

 "You can't go wrong with this one!" 2010-03-30

By William (New York City)

So i've been wanting a media player that can play movies off my external hard drive. it was either WD Live or Asus Oplay. Both have good reviews but Asus apparently has a better remote.



Set up takes less than 5 minutes. Load time is like 2-3 seconds. Plays files instantly.I love the preview function. The remote is awesome, has volume control which WD Live doesn't. Trust me when you wouldn't want a remote that can't adjust the volume. Everything is simple and very intuitive.



I am very satisfied with my purchase. I will buy their USB3 version whenever it comes out!

 

 "Exactly What I Wanted!" 2010-03-24

By Michael P. Banek

The brand ASUS was new to me. Their design and product promises have completely filled my expectations. It is a simple unit that plays my media files from my portable hardrive on my TV. It is all I asked for and at a reasonable price.

 

 "BAD for viewing on NTSC (composite out) televisions" 2010-03-23

By Patrick T. Gorman (Diego Garcia, BIOT)

If you are trying to use this player to watch video files on your old analog NTSC television, you will experience horrible playback. It does not get the frame rate correct nor does it get the aspect ratio correct. This results in combing effect, jaggies, jerky motion and stretched picture. When watching 4:3 content, the jerkiness made the video unwatchable. When watching 16:9 content, the combing effect was horribly noticeable and it stretched the picture vertically to fit the 4:3 screen. I tried changing the different aspect ratio settings, zoom settings, but nothing helped at all. I am returning this and will stick with a computer and a good NTSC scan converter to watch my mp4 files on regular non-hd TV.



Also, this device will not play the audio on files that I edited in Quicktime. For instance, after using Handbrake to encode some dvd's into mp4, there were some files where the A/V was out of sync. I repaired the A/V sync with a third party program and the files played back normally using Quicktime. However, when I tried to play these files with this device, it would not play the audio at all. Just great. I got what I paid for.





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Play, Inc. Snappy Video Snapshot (1996)

Before PCs came with composite video inputs, before TV-tuner cards became de rigueur, before USB-connected video input devices became ubiquitous, there was the Snappy Video Snapshot. Attached to your PC's parallel port (and sticking out several inches), it supplied standard video inputs, thereby allowing you to capture still digital images from an analog video source. Snappy lovers may read more at this dedicated page.