KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
First start up takes a few minutes, its a non native 1080p resolution to ensure compatibility with a variety of screens, until the software can be setup to suit specific high definition screens. AC Ryan have been highly regarded for supporting their user base with frequent and often dramatic system upgrades so we would assume this device will be updated on a fairly regular basis in 2011.
A.C. Ryan always had a good reputation for a polished and enhanced GUI, and the Playon! HD2 is no exception. The interface is generally quite responsive and it looks great. There are instances when it does stall for a second or two between menus, but on the whole its acceptable. We are hoping they can improve the speed a little over the coming months.
From the main menu its easy to access media folders for video, pictures and audio as well as YAM Jukebox, Internet media, Torrents and device setup. In the middle there is a handy overview of what additional devices are connected to the unit.
There are a variety of settings to cover many situations. We particularly like the support for 24hz 1080p playback as this will appeal to the hardcore media lovers out there. Night mode is a handy option to compress the dynamic range, meaning that lower volumes are possible with less dynamic range. Ideal for late night viewing when you don't want to wake up the household.
Network settings are useful for customised configurations, although our Belkin 16 port Gigabit switch set it up on an IP we had already preconfigured. It is possible to connect a wireless adapter to this system if it is in a location far away from wired connectivity options.
The internal hard drive can be accessed via the menus. You can create folders, delete files, copy files and reformat if you wish. The system had no problem detecting several of our NAS systems.
Many of the interface menus can be listed as text, rather than icons if you wish. By selecting the menu button you can get access to a user interface menu on the right hand side of the screen.
Excellent range of products these guys put out every year.
I love the piano finish. Interesting idea to add USB 3.0, cant see myself using that much as i would leave this in a network position all the time, not next to a PC? more next to a TV. Dissappointing about the gigabit lan performance, I was expecting much faster times to internal drive over network.
Looks great. The pricing is hard to beat. USB 3.0 option would actually be useful for me to transfer a lot of content over, as I dont really have a good home network.
I wish one of these could act as a 24/7 nas with good speeds. no one makes one yet. 🙁 means you could download on the PC< move it to the NAS connected to the TV and watch the stuff later. they are all far too slow.
They do the styling well, reminds me of my pioneer limited edition amplifier with piano finish. I think I spent more time polishing it than using it.
korn, why not just copy them to a NAS, and then stream them to the media player later?
I keep meaning to buy a media player like this, just havent gotten around to it. ive a ton of spare HDs. the bare one would make more sense for me.
AC Ryan told us “The processor is unable to handle large data packets via the same Gigabit Ethernet port. For a standalone NAS system, the chipset used is better meant to handle data transfer, and Gigabit Ethernet improves this by providing a larger bandwidth.
This is not an uncommon problem with media players, with the current Sigma processor also handling high bitrate streaming via their Gigabit port, but data transfer is relatively the same as our players on Realtek. At the moment Realtek is tweaking the data packets configuration to improve in this area, but it will not achieve the intended data transfer rates due to the processor limitation.”