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AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 2 1TB review
Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 06/12/2011 01:00 PM [ 0 comment(s) ]
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Alright then, above, the Playon!HD 2 -- we received the SKU with with a 1 TB HDD built in. Let's have a look at the bundle.
The bundled items are definitely extensive. Next to the PlayOn!HD 2 unit you'll receive a very decent media remote control with batteries, a manual, power adapter, USB (and 3.0) cable, component and composite cables and a good quality braided HDMI cable (1.3).
Compared to the first revision the media remote (still IR based) has had a facelift. The remote covers all the functionality, selecting chapters, fast forward, next, stop, play menu, setup, the entire spectrum of functionality that you may expect from a media remote control.
The new model is more intuitive then the older one that's for sure, and the slim design makes it aesthetically pleasing as well. Again, one little remark here, being a remote control it would have been nice to have UV reflective buttons, that would be very handy in the dark. The new model RC is decent and gets the job done nicely.
If you like to stream your content over your network from say a shared drive on your PC or over a NAS server you could do this wirelessly. Though we recommend wired Ethernet, you can opt for a Wireless N WiFi dongle as well. Fairly cheap, you should be able to pick one up for roughly 20 EUR.
Now don't expect miracles. Out WiFi router is like 4 meters away from the media-player and 1080P content could not stream fast enough. A regular AVI, DVD and even 720P movie should not be an issue though.
Setup is easy, insert the Wireless adapter in the side USB port, then in the menu you can detect SSIDs from WiFi clients, insert a password or phrase and boom, you are good to go. For faster operation we recommend you to use the Ethernet jack though.
AC Ryan Veolo Review
The market is continuously changing, the biggest trend last year where tablets, Android entered the market and that certainly changed the balance of smart phones. The concept proofs that you can do a lot of stuff with very little hardware, yet it remains intuitive. With that concept in mind AC Ryan started developing a new media hub slash player, in fact I shouldn't call it a media-player really as it is much more then that. The end product is called the Veolo. The Veolo is AC Ryan's version of a media 'HUB' powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo).
AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 2 1TB review
The interesting thing about the PlayOnHD series 2 media-players is that they come standard with the new and very much improved GUI but also hardware wise harbor the latest Realtek 1185 chipset, and that changes a thing or two as the performance issues we had noticed in 1080P content playback (with very high bit-rate) are now a thing of the past. That Realtek 1185 chipset has an increased clock frequency, 500 MHz coming from 400 MHz on the original version. And it makes all the difference. Meanwhile AC Ryan started to further improve on the PlayOn!HD 2 as you'll spot a USB 3.0 slave port which you can use to quickly play back from or transfer files.
AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 1TB and Mini review
Today we test the Playon!HD 1TB and Playon!HD Mini with new updated firmware, both products are media streamers, they can sniff your network for photo's, music, but most of all these little kits are specialized high-definition content playback up-to 1080P, and that's where stuff gets interesting.
The market is continuously changing, the biggest trend last year where tablets, Android entered the market and that certainly changed the balance of smart phones. The concept proofs that you can do a lot of stuff with very little hardware, yet it remains intuitive. With that concept in mind AC Ryan started developing a new media hub slash player, in fact I shouldn't call it a media-player really as it is much more then that. The end product is called the Veolo. The Veolo is AC Ryan's version of a media 'HUB' powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo).
AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 2 1TB review
The interesting thing about the PlayOnHD series 2 media-players is that they come standard with the new and very much improved GUI but also hardware wise harbor the latest Realtek 1185 chipset, and that changes a thing or two as the performance issues we had noticed in 1080P content playback (with very high bit-rate) are now a thing of the past. That Realtek 1185 chipset has an increased clock frequency, 500 MHz coming from 400 MHz on the original version. And it makes all the difference. Meanwhile AC Ryan started to further improve on the PlayOn!HD 2 as you'll spot a USB 3.0 slave port which you can use to quickly play back from or transfer files.
AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 1TB and Mini review
Today we test the Playon!HD 1TB and Playon!HD Mini with new updated firmware, both products are media streamers, they can sniff your network for photo's, music, but most of all these little kits are specialized high-definition content playback up-to 1080P, and that's where stuff gets interesting.