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This time, the Playon! DVR HD didn't need to format the hard drive, as it seemed to be already preformatted from the factory. There were no updates online for the firmware, and as you can see, the user interface has been massively overhauled thanks to a recent update from the A.C. Ryan team.
The first course of action is to set the unit to auto scan for DVB-T broadcasts in your region. This takes about 2 minutes and depending on your location, you may need to move the aerial around in the room for best pickup.
We have a relatively weak signal in our region but we still managed to pick up 14 channels.
Initially, our signal was breaking up a little, so we had to move locations a little to maximise our weak signal strength.
The quality of the image surprised us, as our previous experiences with a similar unit were less than impressive. Even on a 42 inch plasma the quality of image was very impressive. If you don't initially get a perfect image, it is worth spending some time moving the aerial until the optimum image is displayed. It took us around 15 minutes in total from initial setup to get this all configured perfectly. The front of the device details the current mode via a lovely blue LED readout.
Obviously one of the main selling points of this device is the ability to record live TV and the options presented are very comprehensive – a wide range of quality settings are available and depending on your hard drive size, you will be able to record over 2000 hours of footage. LP is actually quite a good setting if you aren't recording HD footage. EP and SLP tend to suffer from quality degradation, especially on larger TV's. That said, if you are only recording an old SD show of Top Gear on DAVE then its acceptable.
You can also watch a different channel to the one you are currently recording which is a fantastic feature also available in certain Sky and Virgin Media HD receivers. There is an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to program recordings. Time shifting is a feature also available to the end user.
Now that Digital Television is configured we can look at the other options, many of which are similar to the Playon! HD unit we reviewed several weeks ago. Video and media is catered for by menu sections which allow for media to be viewed and shared across the network – either wired or wireless (see below).
The optional Wireless unit supports 802.11 B/N/G and can receive 300Mbit while sending 150mbit. This is a great option to ensure total compatibility and it supports WEP, WPA/2 TKIP and AES. We tested it on our Windows 7 computers and it also worked great there. A.C. Ryan do not include wireless internally as they say that the signal can be much weaker. This little extra costs £20.
What a fantastic product, im really tempted to get this.
I bought the mini from the last review here – I might use it in a different room and get this one. I see misco have no stock though? whats up with that?
That is a really good price with the 1TB unit in it. glad to see they aren’t using crappy drives either. weird point to bring up I know, but samsung are always good to see !
Great review again Zardon. I like the front design of this. I always though the playon HD was really quite naked looking but I like the readout. Obviously AC ryan are clearly spending a lot of time on the firmwares/OS which means this is the only one to get. Pricing is very competitive also.
Fantastic. I dont really need one of these myself, but its a brilliant idea. like the fact you can use it as a NAS also.
Brilliant, i have been waiting on a review of this for ages now. Have already mine preordered 🙂
Their support is great. I have an older version of this and have been waiting on the new one to be released.
The firmware updates seem really good on these devices. Asus for instance never update theirs. just buy the hardware fromr realtek, mod it a little, and thats them done forever. AC RYAN seem like a company with their finger on the pulse. I am going to get this as I dont use my cable box much in the UK and only want sky news. glad to see you can get it (great review!)
This looks so good powered up. the other ones look a bit ‘bleh’.
No stock in Misco? maybe best ordering from AC Ryan directly?
wonder why they dont do a 2TB version? Also bit disappointed they didnt upgrade the LAn to gigabit after the last 2 products. It would be a very slow NAS system. Surely it cant add much to the cost?
Great review, well done on the software side of things, thats incredible functionality.
Why oh why build this and then hamper such a great product with 100mbit LAN ! wireless is faster and this should never be the case.
a good gigabit lan controller could add 20 quid to the price, but in this case I think its a move they need to make, especially for a NAS option and for moving files to local storage. I wouldnt fancy moving a bunch of 10GB 1080p MKVs to this drive.
Wow, around here you have to pay $15 (10 quid) a month for something similar a month. Was amazed when i found these things listed to be honest might suggest these to my parents
Very good price point on these units. Might invest in one nearer christmas as a treat for myself.
Very good review of what appears to be a brilliant product. Worth buying.
Another great review Zardon. This looks to be something I would enjoy. Shall probably pick one up soon.
Looks nice, the glass front is very attractive. good price really when you weigh it all in, seems much better than the asus one you reviewed last month.
Hey, long time lurker, first time poster (well under this account anyway)…felt the urge to post today as I wanted to ask how can you guys do so many quality reviews when other sites struggle with one a week? They really are mince, especially the ones who nick your ideas and try and claim them.
Its really great to see such quality reviews up here amongst ye others !
Another media player… and a memory cooler… really helps split up the indepth analysis of the other items.
I really like this product, looks like a good price too. Shame about lack of gigabit lan support tho.
Excellent, these really are great.
Guys what a brilliant review – really looks like this is a fine piece of hardware with a good interface. I might check it out later in the month if I can wrangle the money together. Keep up the awesome work !
Very cool idea from AC Ryan, good price point.
Hello everyone,
Glad you seem to like this player of ours as well! 🙂 I just wanted to answer some of the questions that turned up in the comments. If you have other questions after feel free to post here and I’ll try to reply to them,
The reason we don’t support 1GB Ethernet is due to limitations on our chipset. Our players hardware simply could not handle those networks speeds, in particular if multi tasking, by watching a movie/downloading a torrent etc.
If we would change the hardware to be able to perform those speeds then the price would go up drastically. If you are in need for a large file transfer you can connect the player either with USB or even eSata for optimal transfer speeds. USB is the ‘slower’ of these two and I’m having around 17-23MB/S in average transfer speeds with it.
If you are looking for the 2TB version. I see that we are sold out in some of our re-seller in the UK. You can see our re-sellers list here: http://www.playondvr.com/en/#uk
I know we do have stock if you order the 2TB version directly from our homepage as well.
mmmm thanks Mikael. I would like this device myself but 100mbit is too slow for a NAS system which is one of the features. Can you not implement a system when you are watching a file that no copying can take place? I cant see how having gigabit lan while watching a movie would make a different for just playback, its still going to stream at the same speed anyway. right?
Hello Dave,
I understand your request. I would also prefer 1GB Ethernet port since that would make it possible to stream highest quality files over network, but most importantly deal with huge transfers much better. However, the reason it’s not currently possible is because the chipset cannot handle those speeds and stream/encode a movie, even if you would disable the copy like you suggested. It would just not be stable to stream and watch a movie at those speeds and that is one of the players main purposes. Still have to try and remember that you pay quite little for these players.
I’m hopeful that the next generation chipset will handle 1GB Ethernet. We will see!
Br,
Wheres the HD recording options?? we use DVb-t2, not available on this model. Its 2010 not 1999. And also recording from svideo sources.. otherwise quite good. GBe not needed as you have USB slave (connect direct to computer via USb) and Esata to transfer stuff. Also DarK Blue is the New black. See to it.
From website “so you can enjoy DVB-T broadcasts in every country regardless of which DVB-T format is broadcasted. ” UK HD freeview mpeg4/aac over DVb-t2, not supported in this unit, sadly.
I just bought the device with 1.5 TB Samsung Harddisk and wireless dongle for RM950 (equivalent to euro 226) in Malaysia after reading this raving review. The device is fantastic and the wireless works fine on my PC too. Have hours of fun playing it on TV. Absolutely no regrets. Cheers
Mikael, am i correct in saying that the Dual Tuners are Digital only, not HD?
Currently I can only access Picasa, News, Flickr & Weather on the internet. Would appreciate if anyone could tell me how to access Youtube, Google Mail, etc.
Thanks and Regards
My AC Ryan is hard wired to my computer and this way I have access to my drives both internal and external.Unfortunately when i add a new external drive it prompts me for the user name and password (which I have forgotten!!!!). Is there a way to either bypass the user name password system or if not ,to enter a new username and password?
Hope you can help me
Kind regards
James K Greenham