Eminent HD Media Player EM7280 Review

While many of our readers probably don't have a Media Player, for others, it has become an integral part of their entertainment within the house. Primarily, these devices allow you to store all of your Music and Films in one central location which can then be accessed by your TV or other computers. In theory, it eliminates the need for a DVD player and a large stack of DVD's, or more recently blu-ray discs. Eminent are a member of the TKH Group, a company who provide state of the art telecommunication and electrotechnical engineering and Industrial Solutions. The goals of Eminent when creating a media player are straightforward, to keep the experience simple and as easy to use as possible. The HD Media Player EM7280 that we are testing today, has a 1TB internal HDD and features USB 3.0 connectivity and the next generation Realtek 1185DD C+ chipset. Specifications: Dimensions in mm. (WxHxD): 222x58x161 Weight in grams: 650 Video codecs: AVCHD, H.264, VC-1,MPEG1/2/3/4, MKV, M2TS, TS, ISO, FLV, VOB/BUP/IFO, AVI, MOV and others Audio codecs: DTS, AC3, DTS-HD, TrueHD, MP2, MP3, OGG Vorbis, PCM, LPCM, MS-ADPCM, LC-AAC, HE-AAC, COOK, RA-lossless, FLAC Picture formats: HD JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIF, PNG Subtitles: SRT, SMI, SUB, VOB (DVD) & PGS (BluRay) Hard disk: Internal 3.5 inch SATA (NTFS/FAT32) Audio: Digital Optical (TOSlink) & COAX interface and stereo (CINCH) output Streaming media: Video and audio Video Output: HDMI, Composite Video Next-Generation Realtek 1185DD C+ chipset Lan port: 1000Mbps (Gigaport) ; optional wireless with EM4576 USB 3.0 port: 1x client port USB 2.0 ports: 2x host port Webservices: several webservices like Shoutcast, Metafeeds, Flickr, Picasa etc. The box lists features and specifications of the device, but is not going to stand out in a retail store environment. The rear lists all the features in various languages, as well as a schematic of the Media Player set-up and how it can be used. Opening the box up we find another box inside, this contains the HD Media Player itself. Below this, is another box for all the cables, which we will take a look at first. Eminent include an optical audio toslink cable of a sensible length so that you can get the best quality sound directly to your speakers, or via your computer. An included USB 3.0 cable will aid with initial transfer of videos and music, allowing you to take advantage of this super speed transfer protocol. As you would probably expect they have also included a good old component cable, carrying stereo audio and video to your television. The more common method is to use an HDMI cable, and Eminent have included a very short cable. We can only presume the company expect you to have this box right next to the TV, else it just won't reach! Also included is a mains power cable. Unfortunately our review sample contained a Euro version but don't worry, a UK version is also available. Eminent have decided to include a comprehensive user guide on a CD, and have supplied a very simplified 'quick-start guide' on paper. They also include batteries for the remote. The product itself is very understated, finished in black. We expect it will fit in perfectly next to any modern TV. The device is not that large (222mm x 58mm x 161mm), much like any other freeview-style set-top box, and only has a single LED on the front. One side of the Eminent HD Media Player has an SD card reader, brilliant if you want to show your friends your latest photographs, as well as a USB 2.0 port for transferring or playing data via memory sticks. The back of the box is home to all the ports. Firstly there is the power jack, then a secondary USB 2.0 port (most likely to be used with an external USB drive), the USB 3.0 port and HDMI port. There is also a Gigabit ethernet port allowing you to stream data from your networked computers, as well as the three component sockets and a coaxial connector. Finally, there is the digital audio output. The bottom of the box gives you access to the Hard Disk Drive ... in this case a 1TB drive. There are small rubber feet to raise the box off the surface allowing cool air to circulate around the drive. The remote is long and well built. This is a slight change from Eminent's previous generation of remote controller. Time for a look at the interface. After updating to the latest firmware this is the screen we were met with. This uses a simple cyclic menu with 5 different options; Video, Music, Apps, Photo and Setup. We started with the System menu, and as you can see this uses a cyclic pattern as well, with the current page always being listed first. Each page has all the options you would expect, with System and Audio having more options available below. The pages didn't seem that quick to load and there was an obvious lag between pressing the button and the next page loading. We then went back to the main menu and selected Apps to see what came pre-installed. There are several key ones to note, Youtube, Facebook, Picasa, Web Browser and '3rd Party Apps' which will allow access to lots more apps after registration with Eminent. Loading up the Youtube app gave us plenty of options, with spotlight videos, top rated, most viewed etc. The navigation around this app was fairly simple, and videos played nearly instantaneously. You do however have to press the 'Zoom' button at the bottom of the remote to get the videos to play in fullscreen mode however. The videos were also being played at what seemed to be the highest quality available, and we were quite impressed. Clicking on a video link opens it up in a small window, just like that of the online version. The quality is certainly a bit grainy but we found this to be the video, more often than not. Going back to the main menu and loading up 'Photo' gave us three options. It is a shame they didn't add an overall gallery/library as this means you have to find the right folder each time you want to look at some pictures. Opening up 'HDD' presented us with the internal file system of the Eminent HD 7280 Media Player. Once you have found a photo you want to view, you can click to open. Each of these pages has the 'operation' option which allows a few different view options to be selected. The 'Movie' page is much the same as the 'Photo' and still unfortunately doesn't have a library. This means it might take you a while to find the film you want. After searching through the network we were able to play an ISO directly off our computer and it loaded nearly instantly. In fact, quicker than the menu system. The 'Music' menu is slightly different, but only with regards to the thumbnails. We plugged in the Eminent HD Media Player via the USB 3.0 connection and transferred files across. We then thought we'd test a more realistic transfer of a collection of over 50 large .AVI files - similar to that of a 'movie collection' - totaling over 53 GB of data. 53.6 GB in 9 mins 13 seconds. When transferring music you will find the average speed drops closer to around 70-80 MB/s, due to lots of smaller files - but this is still pretty impressive. Certainly these are quick speeds and we are fairly impressed with the data transfer rate via USB 3.0. The data transfer rate via Gigabit Ethernet is still more than capable of streaming HD movies, from a computer or other network attached storage. The Eminent HD Media Player EM7280 is a simple and elegant design. It is also very compact, meaning it will fit in next to a television set without being intrusive. Eminent have had to fit a fan to the back of Media Player, and it can generate some noise when it reaches a specific thermal threshold, under load. We feel if they had made the chassis slightly larger and incorporated bigger heatsinks, then they could have ditched the noisy little fan completely. I was impressed by the interface design as it does incorporate a lot of key features, these mainly being the Apps - including Facebook and Youtube. The third party apps include Torrenting services and there are many others that are under development. The application support appears to be growing all the time however it is too early to make a judgement on the longevity of the device. There are problems with the EM7280 too. While the box is fairly quick at playing movies, the menu interface is sluggish and the lag between pressing a button and getting a response can be rather irritating. It is interesting that the processor is able to cope with playing back Blu-Ray ISOs and other high definition media, but does hesitate when loading a menu. We would assume that there is room for operating system optimisation in the future. We would like to add that this isn't a huge issue, but it does ruin the overall experience. We were also a little confused as to why Eminent haven't included a Media Library, as each time you want to play a movie or cd, you have to scroll through all the file system menus to find it. It would have been much easier to have had one Media Library with three sections (Music, Photo's, Movie's) and then to be able to add or even scan for media files for each of these. The features of the file system are still useful and I wouldn't want them removed but feel that a Media Library on a High Definition Media Player makes it more convenient. There are however plenty of advantages in purchasing the Eminent HD Media Player EM7280, mainly that it will play nearly every media file out there, including .FLV .VOB . ISO and plenty more. The EM7280 does also have Gigabit ethernet, allowing super fast transfer rates between all network attached storage devices, as well as USB 3.0 support for super speedy initial transfers when setting the device up. We were very impressed with the speed of transfers, and the fact it nearly managed to maintain an average of 100 MB/s across 53.6 GB transfer means stiff competition for others on the market. While we know the AC Ryan products are very popular and tend to be more customisable, Eminent are certainly fighting back and with the inclusion of third party apps and several firmware updates since release we are quietly confident that this device will just get better and better. With a price tag of a cool £200 it is certainly a large investment, and for only 1TB of storage included this may seem a lot, but we feel that this could be an essential part of your entertainment system and would compliment any new high definition television set very well. Pros: Plays all media files smoothly. Super speedy Gigabit ethernet and USB 3.0. Small and compact with large 1 TB HDD. Easily upgradeable storage. Has Youtube and Facebook built in. Cons User Interface is sluggish. Remote is not the most user friendly. High price tag. No Media Library.

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Eminent HD Media Player EM7280 Review

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