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We were impressed with AC Ryan's original PlayOn! HD Mini network media player which offered good performance and numerous features even if the user interface was a little rough round the edges. But with this second version, the user interface is vastly improved and the feature set has grown to include internet media access and a gigabit Ethernet connection.
The PlayOn! HD Mini 2 is very understated in design but is attractive nonetheless. It feels very securely put together and all the materials seem to be of decent quality. One of our favourite aspects of the HD Mini 2 is the passive cooling design which means it remains silent. This isn't the case with the larger PlayOn! HD products as they require more cooling.
We think the latest version of the software is much improved over the previous versions, especially the internet media integration. It is a little unfortunate that you need a keyboard and mouse to use Facebook and Twitter but we can't think of any way AC Ryan could have easily avoided this. It would have been nice, though, if they had included more than two USB ports to make sure there is room for a keyboard, mouse and an external hard drive or flash drive.
Another positive point of the HD Mini 2 is AC Ryan's support. The entire PlayOn! HD range is covered by a 2 year warranty and AC Ryan are continually releasing firmware updates to improve the user experience.
For many people the decision to buy will come down to price. Well the AC Ryan PlayOn! HD Mini 2 can be yours for a shade over £90 at Scan. At this price we think it offers great value for money and should be affordable to most users. For an extra £18 at Scan, you can add wireless functionality to the HD Mini 2 for those who don't have an Ethernet connection available.
Pros:
- Sleek Design
- Silent Passive Cooling
- Gigabit Ethernet Connection
- Attractive, Intuitive User Interface
- Good Value
Cons:
- More than two USB ports would have been nice
Nice products, I like the interface.
I bought this a few weeks ago and its great, I find however sometimes it ‘hard locks’ when im moving between menus across the network. Any ideas?
These are great for a living room or for lying in bed, but im still not sold on replacing a proper media center, even in those situations. AC Ryan are a good company, they seem to support their customers well, looking at their forums anyway
Excellent. should be popular
DO hard core enthusiast users really buy these and not make a cool custom media center?
I think these are cool devices, but I dont think id buy one, mainly because I like more control having a full media center. The IQ always concerns me as you have no play with it really. ATI and NVidia offer a lot in their panels.
They need to start offering a lot more options IMO before id even be remotely interested.
They are ideal for low power drain users who want a tiny box in a cabinet under the TV. I think there is a place for them. Not for me either im afraid
My friend has another one of these media players, cant remember the name of the company, but it looks very like this. The networking speeds are terrible. streaming is a disaster. I would be surprised if this could handle a high bitrate 1080p file probably ober a network.
So many of these for sale now, what do AC ryan do differently from the others on scans store?
bought their last generation player and I dont see any need to change tbh. good products, people are being a bit hard,. they arent meant to replace a media center, more to suit people who cant be bothered with windows and want an easy to use remote.
Hi just look at the comments on amazon about this product
a night mare.
As a satisfied user of the old AC Ryan Playon! HD MINI1 “I wanted to buy new equipment because the gigabit data stream over my gigabit network, and thus the ‘heavy’ files to my TV set could stream without faltering.
But what happens is that a downgrade rather than purchasing an upgrade.
The menu where you must scroll through file consists of large icons, which only 8 fit on your screen.
So, if you have many files in a folder, it may leave you a long scroll until you have found the correct file.
(There is a ‘list’ button on the remote, but this is a detour, and not at all practical)
Also it goes very wrong with the subtitles of mkv video files.
The unit takes the first .srt-file from the folder, regardless of the video file. So you should always manually add your subtitle manually via the configuration sub-menu. (The name of video and subtitle are always identical, with no spaces or dots)
The previous ‘Playon! HD MINI1 “I had it two years in my possession, I’ve never had this problem.
Also the sound goes mute, and you can hit a few times forward and backward, to get the sound back.
At first I thought it were beginners flaws of a new device, but these problems have existed since February 2010, and AC Ryan has still not be able to correct these problems through firmware updates.
I’m looking for another media-player, because this unit is a bad buy overall. This unit has won prizes, but many buyers experiencing the same problems as me.