Excellent, can't wait for a review of this. I'm particularly interested in how good it is at deinterlacing DVD content. I rip mine and stream to my PlayON!HD mini but I would upgrade to this if it's better.
I'm very very interested in the real speed of the USB3 and Gbit network. And if supplied the WiFi speed with a USB dongle. Having Gbit and USB3 doesn't mean the filling up of the HD goes fast (see previous generation of mediaplayer).
My WDLive HD does do DTS HD, My reciever sees it as a DTS stream, so unless its encoding a DTS ( Doesn't support DTS MA) stream from a DTS MA stream ( highly unlikely, na impossible) It does support DTS MA It just sends the core audio(DTS.
In fact its the Dolby True that I cannot play back. My Receiver only supports Dolby Digital and DTS, Its a harman Kardon from about 2004.
My Files are MKV remuxes of full Bluray ( no re-encoding) movies. I use DVDFab, ClownBD,MKVMerge, and ANYDVD HD.
Software I use Twonky Media center in Virtualbox ( It didn't play nice with my Windows 7).
The WDLive is connected though component to the TV and through Fiber for Audio.
I am sorry if my comment about the WDTV Live series wasn't clear.
I meant to convey the fact that the WDTV Live series can't decode to full LPCM / bitstream the full DTS-HD MA soundtrack. Yes, core DTS is taken advantage of.. but that is hardly what the people with the latest AV receivers want.
Btw, over fiber, you will get only DTS or Dolby and not any of the HD audio bistreamed.
Yea I understand that you need HDMI for any of the HD Audio formats.
What leads to my confusion is the fact that I have yet to get Dolby TrueHD's core audio to stream through my WDlive HD. Right now I have to demux the core Dolby Digital sound track and if I want to retain the TrueHD I have to have that as a separate audio track. Not a big deal but it is one extra step I'd love to remove.
Any Ideas? Does the WD Live simply not support this?
If you guys could tell us how the Media streamer handles/ Builds the libraryies i'd appreciate that. Expecially the libraries located on a network drive.
This is important for us who want to set it up for people less tech savy. The most important thing is how clean the selection is, How many different folders/screens do they have to navigate to find the content.
Also, the $290 comes with a 2TB HDD. I for one, would want to just stream all my video from my NAS, so a cheaper version of this w/o HDD would be interesting and less expensive than building something with the same features from scratch.
A.C.Ryan is working on this, but you should never assume the feature is going to come in until it is announced. As of now, there is no Netflix, but it MIGHT change in the future.
When doing the final review try to compare features with: the also new Netgear NeoTV-550, the Dune SMART (D1) and the current gold standard for HD streamers -the Popcorn A-210.
The NeoTV-550 seems very promising, and the latest beta firmwares are quickly fixing any serious issues.
Got the NTV-550 and it is a great streamer for the price to feature ratio. Still needs some firmware tweaks. Will definitely compare it against the PlayOn!HD2 though there are a lot of features in the 550 which are not in the POHD2, while there are some features in the POHD2 not in the 550 (this is reflected in the price of the base model.. the POHD2 is cheaper)
Don't have the Dune D1 or the A210 for comparison, though :( (unless the manufacturers contact us for reviews, we don't want to take them up because we already have quite a number of streamers lined up for review)
I've got streaming devices falling out of my closet (and off my desk, and draped off my tv). I like what I have seen with the ACRyan devices. My hope is that interest will continue to climb and perhaps ACRyan will reconsider their decision to not offer their more interesting devices here in the US.
Speaking as an anime fan with TBs of stuff... mkv is great but support for dual audio? Can I change audio tracks while playing? Must I pause it or do I have to restart the video? Can I select a seperate subtitle file? Does the subtitle file have to have the exact same name and path? can subtitles be enabled/disabled while playing? Support for supplied fonts in the mkv? Antialiased fonts? Support for fancy font effect found in some anime openings? I'm sure someone will figure out the exact encode settings for h264 but if I'm lazy and I use common encoders and select (base, main and high) profiles does it play? If it plays BD I assume high profile 60fps as per spec, if it can play everything defined in the official specs that is helpfull. Real media formats are still popular. Storage is cheap so what if I have a folder with dvd .isos? If I have an .iso folder, when I browse does it dynamically mount each one or what ever is needed to show a thumbnail and possibly movie info? I don't care if nfs, cifs, samba performance isn't 125MBs random read and write (it won't be) but can I play the spec on all types of shares? Play back BD spec on usb3? Will the device organize my files and do tagging? Read and execute required for playback assuming I don't want tagging/updated info/etc? Will it arange things if I tell it to do so? Iscsi work? Assuming it supports iscsii, read performance enough for mentioned specs? Testing network with zfs and caching with ssds might be cheating but would be interesting to help point out where weaknesses are like how good is the buffer and seek/fast forward performance. Seek and fast forward performance on local storage as well? I didn't see anything about wireless but if it has it then test that as well? Many people still have old tvs with analog imputs so how good is the color and stuff on the composit/componet out? Not asking for perfect but good enough so yellow isn't mustard red isn't magenta is good. I think you get my point about good enough analog performance. Same aplies the analog audio, is it good enoug for say older systems/tvs and possible people who have a bose like system? Yes I know they can dts blah blah but is the analog performance overall acceptable? I know you already do calibration on with your video test suite with hdmi. But possibly on analog as well? Again not asking for a perfect score on there but good enough for parents who bought a plasma when they came out and they want to recoupe their $13k investment lol. Audio streaming? Shoutcast? Pandora? Last.fm and other common streaming? I'm personaly more interested in shoutcast since I can set up my own and maybe take this device on vacation or a friends house or RVing or what ever and connecting to public/private shoutcast servers. Analog audio better than logitech and other audio streamers? Dvd audio .isos? Sacd .isos? Flacc? If I can think of more ill add to it
Can you set this up to play files from a Samba server? This would be very important to me, since I put all my media on my home NAS server. As well, can this use DNLA (I'd think about trying this as well). As a final question, does it support Homegroup? I doubt it, but that might be a nifty thing to play around with, even if I wouldn't really use that.
Yes, in the initial testing, I could enable or disable DLNA functionality (not quite stable in the pre-release firmware, but should be fixed soon)
It could also play off SMB and NFS shares, and it is tested to work (got only 34 Mbps in the pre-release firmware, over GbE, so still some work left to do for BD-ISOs to not stutter over the network).
What do you mean by supporting 'Homegroup'? It could easily gain access to the home group network in my testbed and play the files, but I am not sure what else you want us to test out in that case.
In searching for a media player for music I found a disregard for audio codec support. HD video playback is ubiquitous, however hd audio is nonexistent. I am most interested in lossless audio playback, namely high bit rate flac at 96/24 in surround via hdmi, and Apple lossless unprotected(via the Nero aac codec set to lossless). The details on how music is organized, is the album art tiled across the screen like Kaleidescope's interface(ideal)? Or are music files simply listed in a unimaginative and seemingly endless list of text or cheesy one icon of a musical note for every item like the WDtv live plus? It's easy to find information on video, much harder to find specifics on audio support. Thanks in advance.
Does the specs say anything about UPnP AV compatibility? I have all my media stored on a Synology box. I have never been pleased with the GUI of media streamers and would like to use an UPnP Control Point on a tablet, smart phone, or other suitable device to control the PlayOn. The flexibility to customize the interface is quite valuable to me.
In any case, I would like to have tested whether the PlayOn is picked up as an UPnP renderer by other UPnP devices.
It would be nice to see a compact media player with facility to provide on top sata6 docking station that will not only play media files but can also be used as storage device as well as transfer facility. Wouldnt it be nice if they had bundled integrated bluetooth wifi direct and other connectivity? I would also like to see some HDMI 1.4 connection for ARC and higher resolution video support to make it future proof as we in Asian countries do not change our device once a year like some western countries.
they talk about only "core" DTS. So what's the real life experience with this DTS HD MA story. And what about the mini, his passthrough capability is the same as his HD2 brother's ?
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probedb - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Excellent, can't wait for a review of this. I'm particularly interested in how good it is at deinterlacing DVD content. I rip mine and stream to my PlayON!HD mini but I would upgrade to this if it's better.Bartjes - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I'm very very interested in the real speed of the USB3 and Gbit network. And if supplied the WiFi speed with a USB dongle.Having Gbit and USB3 doesn't mean the filling up of the HD goes fast (see previous generation of mediaplayer).
SlyNine - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
My WDLive HD does do DTS HD, My reciever sees it as a DTS stream, so unless its encoding a DTS ( Doesn't support DTS MA) stream from a DTS MA stream ( highly unlikely, na impossible) It does support DTS MA It just sends the core audio(DTS.In fact its the Dolby True that I cannot play back. My Receiver only supports Dolby Digital and DTS, Its a harman Kardon from about 2004.
My Files are MKV remuxes of full Bluray ( no re-encoding) movies. I use DVDFab, ClownBD,MKVMerge, and ANYDVD HD.
Software I use Twonky Media center in Virtualbox ( It didn't play nice with my Windows 7).
The WDLive is connected though component to the TV and through Fiber for Audio.
ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I am sorry if my comment about the WDTV Live series wasn't clear.I meant to convey the fact that the WDTV Live series can't decode to full LPCM / bitstream the full DTS-HD MA soundtrack. Yes, core DTS is taken advantage of.. but that is hardly what the people with the latest AV receivers want.
Btw, over fiber, you will get only DTS or Dolby and not any of the HD audio bistreamed.
SlyNine - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Yea I understand that you need HDMI for any of the HD Audio formats.What leads to my confusion is the fact that I have yet to get Dolby TrueHD's core audio to stream through my WDlive HD. Right now I have to demux the core Dolby Digital sound track and if I want to retain the TrueHD I have to have that as a separate audio track. Not a big deal but it is one extra step I'd love to remove.
Any Ideas? Does the WD Live simply not support this?
SlyNine - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Thanks for the preview, I love these.If you guys could tell us how the Media streamer handles/ Builds the libraryies i'd appreciate that. Expecially the libraries located on a network drive.
This is important for us who want to set it up for people less tech savy. The most important thing is how clean the selection is, How many different folders/screens do they have to navigate to find the content.
Thanks.
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
For $300, what can this do that a zacate mini itx cannot do?ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
For starters,1. Ease of use for the non-DIY crowd
2. No messing around with codecs
3. Play 1080p60 H264 videos in a reliable manner
Don't get me wrong.. I build and use HTPCs too, but there is a market for each of these products :)
Trefugl - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Also, the $290 comes with a 2TB HDD. I for one, would want to just stream all my video from my NAS, so a cheaper version of this w/o HDD would be interesting and less expensive than building something with the same features from scratch.probedb - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Then you want the Mini2 :)conejo99 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Doesn't the Popcorn Hour A210 support a hard drive without needing a fan?Sharro - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Yes it does, got 2 at home.:-)
I wish Anandtech would cover more or PCH products.
ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I should have mentioned -- amongst the streamers we have reviewed :)Btw, a 3.5" HD without fan is asking for trouble wrt component longevity unless there is quite a bit of airflow in the case.
AmdInside - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
What video streaming services will be supported? Netflix?ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
A.C.Ryan is working on this, but you should never assume the feature is going to come in until it is announced. As of now, there is no Netflix, but it MIGHT change in the future.bertrandr - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
When doing the final review try to compare features with: the also new Netgear NeoTV-550, the Dune SMART (D1) and the current gold standard for HD streamers -the Popcorn A-210.The NeoTV-550 seems very promising, and the latest beta firmwares are quickly fixing any serious issues.
Cheers,
BR
ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Got the NTV-550 and it is a great streamer for the price to feature ratio. Still needs some firmware tweaks. Will definitely compare it against the PlayOn!HD2 though there are a lot of features in the 550 which are not in the POHD2, while there are some features in the POHD2 not in the 550 (this is reflected in the price of the base model.. the POHD2 is cheaper)Don't have the Dune D1 or the A210 for comparison, though :( (unless the manufacturers contact us for reviews, we don't want to take them up because we already have quite a number of streamers lined up for review)
hohowan - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Can you please test for proper stylized-ASS subtitle support?ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Sure, I will do that.. Just wanted to mention that the Boxee Box is the only streamer I have tested so far to do flawless stylized-ASS.ckryan - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I've got streaming devices falling out of my closet (and off my desk, and draped off my tv). I like what I have seen with the ACRyan devices. My hope is that interest will continue to climb and perhaps ACRyan will reconsider their decision to not offer their more interesting devices here in the US.I'll be looking for the update.
MGSsancho - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Speaking as an anime fan with TBs of stuff... mkv is great but support for dual audio? Can I change audio tracks while playing? Must I pause it or do I have to restart the video? Can I select a seperate subtitle file? Does the subtitle file have to have the exact same name and path? can subtitles be enabled/disabled while playing? Support for supplied fonts in the mkv? Antialiased fonts? Support for fancy font effect found in some anime openings? I'm sure someone will figure out the exact encode settings for h264 but if I'm lazy and I use common encoders and select (base, main and high) profiles does it play? If it plays BD I assume high profile 60fps as per spec, if it can play everything defined in the official specs that is helpfull. Real media formats are still popular. Storage is cheap so what if I have a folder with dvd .isos? If I have an .iso folder, when I browse does it dynamically mount each one or what ever is needed to show a thumbnail and possibly movie info? I don't care if nfs, cifs, samba performance isn't 125MBs random read and write (it won't be) but can I play the spec on all types of shares? Play back BD spec on usb3? Will the device organize my files and do tagging? Read and execute required for playback assuming I don't want tagging/updated info/etc? Will it arange things if I tell it to do so? Iscsi work? Assuming it supports iscsii, read performance enough for mentioned specs? Testing network with zfs and caching with ssds might be cheating but would be interesting to help point out where weaknesses are like how good is the buffer and seek/fast forward performance. Seek and fast forward performance on local storage as well? I didn't see anything about wireless but if it has it then test that as well? Many people still have old tvs with analog imputs so how good is the color and stuff on the composit/componet out? Not asking for perfect but good enough so yellow isn't mustard red isn't magenta is good. I think you get my point about good enough analog performance. Same aplies the analog audio, is it good enoug for say older systems/tvs and possible people who have a bose like system? Yes I know they can dts blah blah but is the analog performance overall acceptable? I know you already do calibration on with your video test suite with hdmi. But possibly on analog as well? Again not asking for a perfect score on there but good enough for parents who bought a plasma when they came out and they want to recoupe their $13k investment lol. Audio streaming? Shoutcast? Pandora? Last.fm and other common streaming? I'm personaly more interested in shoutcast since I can set up my own and maybe take this device on vacation or a friends house or RVing or what ever and connecting to public/private shoutcast servers. Analog audio better than logitech and other audio streamers? Dvd audio .isos? Sacd .isos? Flacc? If I can think of more ill add to itprobedb - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Paragraphs....it's all about paragraphs!Drizzt321 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Can you set this up to play files from a Samba server? This would be very important to me, since I put all my media on my home NAS server. As well, can this use DNLA (I'd think about trying this as well). As a final question, does it support Homegroup? I doubt it, but that might be a nifty thing to play around with, even if I wouldn't really use that.ganeshts - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Yes, in the initial testing, I could enable or disable DLNA functionality (not quite stable in the pre-release firmware, but should be fixed soon)It could also play off SMB and NFS shares, and it is tested to work (got only 34 Mbps in the pre-release firmware, over GbE, so still some work left to do for BD-ISOs to not stutter over the network).
What do you mean by supporting 'Homegroup'? It could easily gain access to the home group network in my testbed and play the files, but I am not sure what else you want us to test out in that case.
Shiitaki - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
In searching for a media player for music I found a disregard for audio codec support. HD video playback is ubiquitous, however hd audio is nonexistent. I am most interested in lossless audio playback, namely high bit rate flac at 96/24 in surround via hdmi, and Apple lossless unprotected(via the Nero aac codec set to lossless). The details on how music is organized, is the album art tiled across the screen like Kaleidescope's interface(ideal)? Or are music files simply listed in a unimaginative and seemingly endless list of text or cheesy one icon of a musical note for every item like the WDtv live plus? It's easy to find information on video, much harder to find specifics on audio support. Thanks in advance.SlyNine - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
If I may ask, where do you get your music files? CDs should only be 16bit 44.1hz, But I'm all for better quality.alleyezonme - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
can you please check can this play blu-ray subtitles streams in an mkv container?eg: you remux .sup (PGS) bluray subtitles streams into the mkv container and play them properly. Avatar would be a good test to check out. Thank you.
tecsi - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Please review ability to play BD-ISOs and extracted BDs from server, complete with LPCM, DolbyHD and DTS MA pass-thru over HDMI.What sort of navigation support to organize DVDs and BDs?
Tinface - Sunday, February 20, 2011 - link
Does the specs say anything about UPnP AV compatibility? I have all my media stored on a Synology box. I have never been pleased with the GUI of media streamers and would like to use an UPnP Control Point on a tablet, smart phone, or other suitable device to control the PlayOn. The flexibility to customize the interface is quite valuable to me.In any case, I would like to have tested whether the PlayOn is picked up as an UPnP renderer by other UPnP devices.
Thank you for your time.
ruzveh - Monday, February 21, 2011 - link
It would be nice to see a compact media player with facility to provide on top sata6 docking station that will not only play media files but can also be used as storage device as well as transfer facility. Wouldnt it be nice if they had bundled integrated bluetooth wifi direct and other connectivity? I would also like to see some HDMI 1.4 connection for ARC and higher resolution video support to make it future proof as we in Asian countries do not change our device once a year like some western countries.all6atos - Friday, February 25, 2011 - link
In this:http://www.acryan.com/en/specs/specsheet_playonhd2...
they talk about only "core" DTS. So what's the real life experience with this DTS HD MA story. And what about the mini, his passthrough capability is the same as his HD2 brother's ?
Thank you!