The new 2.0 GUI

As stated, once you hook up the WiFi dongle you can configure it here for wireless access as well. We use the good old-fashioned Ethernet jack though. You can assign an IP, but like 99% of you have it, it will pick up the DHCP lease from your router and the unit as such configures itself once you power it up. That has to be stated, everything in the AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 2 has been thought through well, to make the end-user experience as easy and pleasant as can be.

Connecting to a username and password protected network share on PC or NAS is not an issue, it's a bit unwieldy, but the PlayOn!HD 2 allows you to input a username and password though the remote control to access your network share.

Last page in the setup segment, of course all important data can be read out easily, upgrading from an old to the new firmware is as easy as copying the Firmware IMG file in the root of a USB stick, starting up the PlayOn!HD 2, going to the upgrade function and following the instructions. Both our units upgraded to the new GUI firmware without any issues.

Movie or content playback quality is downright good, we threw MP4, x.264, h.264, MOV and WMV files at the PlayOn!HD 2. It takes all formats without any issues whatsoever. The new firmware has been calibrated to really nice dark levels and just the right contrast, gamma and color levels. You can tweak a little on your HDTV to fine-tune things, but the default setup is very impressive.

We did not have any major issues with the PlayOn!HD 2, no more lag / stuttering in high-bitrate movies thanks to the faster Realtek chip.

Again, these screenshots are photos, hence the distortion and lack of quality. The output quality on the HDTV is what you may expect from a proper High-Definition 1080P playback device.

Let's see, what else can we say. Boot time is quick with the PlayOn!HD 2 booting up in roughly 15 seconds. Overall, as stated we are very impressed with image quality and predefined settings.