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There are many video options to select from including 1080p 24hz mode for movie purists and a wide array of SD and HD resolutions. Be aware that we haven't had great success by leaving the unit on ‘auto', as it would sometimes not detect our TV as a 1080p capable unit. It is always best to initially spend a few minutes configuring this to your specific television set.
If you are connected to the internet then the system time can be configured and maintained via several online time servers. In this menu there is also the option to update the system, simply handled by placing the new firmware on a USB drive and navigating to this location.
Network settings are configured in the ‘network' menu, which allows for control over both wired and wireless options. You can also turn the HD into a NAS device if you wish which will be a very useful feature for many people.
A feature which might appeal to some users is the option to use the Playon! DVR HD as a Bitorrent downloader. We played around with this a little and it seemed to work fine throughout our testing. The detailed manual explains this if you don't understand how to set it up.
Among the ever growing list of features there are RSS/News feed capabilities which are really useful if you want to catch up on the latest news online without having to leave the comfort of your armchair. We used this many times and love the ability to bookmark any sites we wanted.
In the comfort of your chair you can also check the weather of any city in the world, with a mapping system alongside it. Again very useful if you are travelling or checking up on the week ahead.
There really are so many features that it would take a small book to detail them all, we can safely say however that this latest firmware update is leading the way with these devices and A.C. Ryan have clearly spent a lot of time putting the device through its paces internally.
For the Internet radio fans among us, there is huge support for online stations, and all the rock stations we tried worked perfectly. Some were a little slow to buffer but with our 50mbit connection we would assume it was the source and not the device.
As before, the browser mode is the setting you will be using if you are watching movies on the device. We have access here to the internal drive, the network, NAS systems, DVD drives, eSATA drives, Flash cards. There are also capabilities to set up locations as ‘shortcuts' for immediate access without the need to navigate through various layers.
As with the plain Playon! HD unit, the playback is fantastic and the device supports a full list of codecs including: AVI / MKV / TS / TP / TRP / M2TS / MPG / MP4 / MOV / M4V / VOB / ISO / IFO / DAT / WMV / ASF / RM / RMVB / FLV resolution up to 720p / 1080i / 1080p. We were even able to playback Bluray folders stored on a NAS system, although not all the menu options were available! The wealth of support is extremely impressive and we only experienced a single file in our huge collection that would not play correctly (video would drop and sound would play). Bearing in mind we tried well over 1,000 files with the DVR HD this is impressive.
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