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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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.
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.
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!
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.
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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