I’ve been reading with interest the posts on these new fangled multimedia hard drive players and on a recent trip to the big Mango paid a visit to PhanThip to have a look at what’s available.

I have already got a DVD player (999฿ from Tesco) that has USB input but with that I still had to burn CD’s or load up a memory stick.

Now I know that does not sound like a big deal in the great scheme of things but sometimes I just wanted to watch something without the hassle of firing up the computer and all that. Also I needed more storage anyway so this multimedia drive seemed to be ideal.

The multimedia player I bought is just a bit bigger than a normal external hard drive enclosure so quite compact. The box cost 3290฿ and I also bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA drive to go in it for 3190฿ The box will take SATA or IDE drives formatted to FAT 32 or NTFS.

I’ve been using it for a couple of days and it seems to play most stuff. One MPEG-4 movie it won’t play also my digital camera movie clips JPEG and MOV won’t play but apart from that it works fine. There is firmware upgrade available but on checking their web site I could not find my model, will e-mail them sometime to see about updates.

My computer is near enough to the TV so by using an USB extension cable I can plug into the multimedia box and add or remove movies/photos without a load of messing about.

This is in no way a recommendation for this particular product just my own personal view. This set up may not suit everybody and I’m sure some one will come along and suggest a better/cheaper/faster set up but this works for me so I thought I would share it with you all.

It’s going to be a beer free couple of weeks to pay for my new toy.

Does it play h264 ??

Does it have HiDef outputs.. And if so which ones..

Those are the primary interests for media players for me.

Does it play h264 ??

Does it have HiDef outputs.. And if so which ones..

Those are the primary interests for media players for me.

Erm! I don’t see anything about h264 or HiDef outputs,

I would guess at the price you can’t expect too much.

Does it play h264 ??

Does it have HiDef outputs.. And if so which ones..

Those are the primary interests for media players for me.

It seems to have YPbPr, and it states that it supports up to 1080i, but I found nothing about upscaling...also the S/N ratio of being "70dB or over" doesn't really stir the soul. However, I suppose that's why it offers digital passthough!

I found this in regards to the codec support:

Support Format

Video

File Type

Video Codec

Audio Codec

Remarks

MPG, MPA, M1V,M2V

MPEG-1 (VCD)

MPEG-1 (VCD)

Subtitle: SMI, SRT, SUB

Resolution Max. 720 x 576

Frame Rate Max. 30fps

QP(Quarter Pixel) Feature.

MPG, MPA, M1V,M2V

MPEG-2 (DVD)

MPEG-2 (DVD)

AVI

DivX(3.11/4/5)

MP3, AC3, DTS

AVI

XVID

MP3, AC3, DTS

AVI

MS MPEG4 V3

MP3, AC3, DTS

* It is normal to experience an occasional pixilation and "skip" during playback due to clarity of digital contents during internet downloading.

Audio

File Type

Output Bit Rate

Sampling Rate

AC3.MP2,MP3,DTS pass through Ogg,WMA.MPGA MPA

64K ~ 192Kbps

32K/ 44.1K/ 48KHz

All in all not too shabby of a buy; even more so if they offer x.264 support. That would definitely turn it into a best buy!

...I also bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA drive to go in it for 3190฿...

Bl*ddy h*ll - I paid nearly double that 6 months ago.

And I bought two of the b*ggers. Should've waited a bit.

.mkv support and a hdmi port with 6 channel output.... that would please me ... However, it seems these things are only supported by the more expensive ones like Popcorn ....15,000 - 22,000.

Anyway my current setup is more than satisfactory:

- HDTV connected to my computer at 1920x1080

- 6 channel output through my Realtek sound card which is connected to my Yamaha Home Theater.

- mkv micro high definition rips downloaded from the Internet

.mkv support and a hdmi port with 6 channel output.... that would please me ... However, it seems these things are only supported by the more expensive ones like Popcorn ....15,000 - 22,000.

Anyway my current setup is more than satisfactory:

- HDTV connected to my computer at 1920x1080

- 6 channel output through my Realtek sound card which is connected to my Yamaha Home Theater.

- mkv micro high definition rips downloaded from the Internet

Very close to mine but with a dual head card and 2 output displays.. Projector goes back up in a week or so after a house move so back to big screen goodness..

...I also bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA drive to go in it for 3190฿...

Bl*ddy h*ll - I paid nearly double that 6 months ago.

And I bought two of the b*ggers. Should've waited a bit.

Yea! I know the feeling – Once I’ve bought something I NEVER look at prices for that thing again even if I see one right there in a shop in front of me.

Sometimes ignorance IS bliss

...I also bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA drive to go in it for 3190฿...

Bl*ddy h*ll - I paid nearly double that 6 months ago.

And I bought two of the b*ggers. Should've waited a bit.

Yea! I know the feeling – Once I’ve bought something I NEVER look at prices for that thing again even if I see one right there in a shop in front of me.

Sometimes ignorance IS bliss

And I suppose a 4 GB USB stick is a lot less than 1,400 baht now?

...I also bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA drive to go in it for 3190฿...

Bl*ddy h*ll - I paid nearly double that 6 months ago.

And I bought two of the b*ggers. Should've waited a bit.

Yea! I know the feeling – Once I’ve bought something I NEVER look at prices for that thing again even if I see one right there in a shop in front of me.

Sometimes ignorance IS bliss

And I suppose a 4 GB USB stick is a lot less than 1,400 baht now?

only about 3 times cheaper . seriously !

Hey Daffy -- where did you buy the playTIME?

Edited July 23, 200818 yr by octagon

Hi Octagon

I got it at Phan Thip on our last visit to Bangkok. The actual shop was opposite the bottom of the stairs coming down from the IT center on the very top floor.

It’s not an actual shop that you go into but one of those counter places that have lots of price lists hung up all along over the top of the counter.

I can’t tell you the name of the place as it’s in Thai but here is a scan of their card that may be of help.

This was the first shop I tried that had a multiplayer, but on wandering round I noticed several other places had multiplayers of various models so there is a choice available.

Daffy.