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Hardware A.C. Ryan PlayON! HD Media Player Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Sifter3000, 2 Feb 2010.

  1. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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  2. Omertron

    Omertron What's a Dremel?

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    And with the new firmware you can use Yet Another Movie Jukebox (YAMJ) to graphically display your movies
     
  3. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    Genuine question as I am having a really dense moment (and it is doing my nut in). How did you get a transfer rate of 8MB/s from the original 100Megabit/s?
     
  4. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    The lack of gigabit network support on cheaper NAS/NDAS boxes never stops to amaze me...
     
  5. Greenie

    Greenie What's a Dremel?

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    You get 12.5MB/s when converting from bits to bytes, but due to protocol overheads and other assorted little things, you get roughly 8MB/s from most 100Mb networks
     
  6. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    Ah, Thanks for that. I got 12.5MB/s but when I read the 8MB/s I doubted my own calculation (I hate it when that happens).

    I had assumed something like overheads came into play but wasn't 100% sure.

    :)
     
  7. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

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    Surely you can just fill your HDD in a PC then put it in the box. That'd solve the speed problems.

    Otherwise nice little box. :thumb:
     
  8. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    Why the hell can't these things have gigabit ethernet? Is it REALLY that much more expensive for gigabit?
     
  9. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    None of them have. I'd guess the Realtek chipset doesn't support it.

    As for 8MB/s - it was a measured amount :blush:
     
  10. lacuna

    lacuna Minimodder

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    For not a lot more money you could have a PS3 which does basically everything that this box does (although no bit torrent) plus a lot more.
     
  11. Nedsbeds

    Nedsbeds Badger, Slime, Weasel!!

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    Do any of these sort of boxes play dvr-ms natively?
    Would love something that could integrate with media center in some way
     
  12. yakyb

    yakyb i hate the person above me

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    or technically for free you could use an old pc
     
  13. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    Personally I would still prefer to pay the extra and build a HTPC so I can have a decent GPU hooked up for gaming on the TV when required and also the practicality of doing everything properly... lol
    I have only two main issues with the HTPC route and that is the extra cost and the lack of support of MKV files through MediaCentre. Other than that, the benefits far out weigh the cons for me.
     
  14. lacuna

    lacuna Minimodder

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    I have my PC connected to the tv too but the PS3 is so much faster to start up and easier to use that it has almost made my PC redundant.
     
  15. GW42

    GW42 What's a Dremel?

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    Not according to Play On's website - no support for .dvr-ms or .wtv. You can use MCEBuddy to automatically convert Media centre (sorry - center) recordings to a supported format, but MCEBuddy has to recode the recording. Very easy to set up but it means whichever box records your tv then has to stay on to recode the recording as well. If your HTPC was designed to be low power/low noise, it'll probably take a while to chug through the recode, & it's definitely not an integrated solution. (I try not to think too much about the fact that lack of support for dvr-ms and wtv filetypes is probably due to DRM issues - my blood pressure is high enough as it is... )

    MKV support in MediaCentre is fairly easy to sort out if you have the right codec pack. I think, iirc, Shark 007 is the pack specifically designed to work alongside media centre and it does enable MKV support.

    & for me, the advantage of a 'real' HTPC is support for iplayer, 4OD and all that sort of stuff. But then I'm a geek, and I love tinkering. I would not recommend a HTPC if you want plug and play...
     
  16. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    Think you've hit the nail on the head there, my friend. A box like this one will certainly fill a gap very nicely, but it doesn't have the same appeal as building your own. I've just cobbled together a media centre PC (I hesitate to use the term HTPC, as it's not exactly an all-in-one) out of old components, and it was far more satisfying than just buying a box and plonking it under the telly. Especially when I didn't want to spend much money and had to rely on older parts/components (have you ever tried setting up an ATI Remote Wonder Plus these days? :fume: ). Plus, I don't yet have an HDTV (don't really need it at the mo) so had to source a graphics card that can output to a standard def. TV in a clear and legible way (got hold of an ATI All-in-Wonder X800 GT from these very forums - brilliant bit of kit!).

    EDIT: And, as others have said, I can play games on my TV too - Audiosurf and HL2 work brilliantly, even on the meagre hardware I have :)
     
  17. pbryanw

    pbryanw Minimodder

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    Ah, but the great thing about these media streamers is that they have 90% of the functionality of a HTPC at a much lower price (unless you can build an HTPC for £100). That's what appealed to me. Plus my WDTV boots up in about 10 seconds from cold, whereas my old HTPC took about 50-60 seconds.

    For tweakability and ability to play media, the HTPC will beat any media streamer, but I don't need all those options, and for iPlayer & 4oD, I have my Virgin Media Box. I suppose that's why media streamers seem to be increasing in popularity, with more manufacturers offering models. It's not the route for everyone, but for those who don't need all the functionality of an HTPC, media streamers are a great thing.
     
  18. legoman666

    legoman666 Beat to fit, paint to match.

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    Can I just drop any ol' hard drive into this thing and expect it to work?
     
  19. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    I'm not sure that you can say it's "90%" of the functionality of an HTPC. Certainly if you're only looking at using the computer as an HTPC, as an appliance designed to play/record media and nothing else , you are right. But an HTPC is still a computer, no matter what interface you put on it or what you do with it. That means that all the benefits of having/using a PC can also be enjoyed through your HDTV - gaming, web browsing (if you wish), media streaming, ability to customise as much as you like....

    Standalone media players/streamers fill a niche very well and at a very good price - you're probably right that you couldn't build an HTPC with the same capabilities for the same price. I did manage to build a "media centre" for less than £100, but that's with some reservations: I used existing/donated parts and bought very little, the case isn't exactly AV cabinet friendly, and it can't handle full 1080p HD (it can handle lower quality HD, but HD isn't a consideration for me, as I only have a standard def TV!). So it's not exactly on par with machines like this AC Ryan unit.

    It's horses for courses I guess. I just prefer having something that can be more flexible when I need it to be and something I can tinker with when I want to. Hence why I've just installed Moblin on my netbook and spent over two hours compiling WINE from source code (because Moblin does not and will not have any pre-compiled WINE binaries), simply so I can use Spotify on Linux. Under Windows it'd take me thirty seconds to download, install, and start listening to music; with my way, I've learned a lot more ;)
     
  20. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Yup. It'll give you the option to format it when you turn it on.
     
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