AC Ryan Playon! DVR TV

This was looking really interesting until I read the bit about it not supporting .MKV's. Also, the fact that the NAS feature isn't that great is disappointing.

I'm using a IcyBox NAS4220-B for the storage and a Lynksis Kiss 1600 to access the media. Works well at the moment, due to the built in Twonky Media on the IcyBox. This set-up can't be directly compared to this AC Ryan, as it's lacking the TV functions, but it does offer more storage with space for 2 hard drives. Cost wise, this AC Ryan Playon! is good value imo, I think my setup cost over £200 + HD's.

As soon as I have the time and money, I'll upgrade to a custom build MITX system to do what the Playon! does, it's the best route imo, especially as I have a spare Core2Duo and twin TV Card. Media Centre is also a big step up, OS wise. Both that AC Ryan Playon! and my Kiss 1600 user interfaces look ugly and limited. Support for all media files would also be straght forward. I've also filled my 1TB storage in the IcyBox, so more HD space, through larger drives or more of them is a must.

Good review as always Bit.

no 1000 port . read it all when get home (no mkv support is an no for it unless i convert it)

Why the restriction to a "100MB/s Ethernet port" and not a 1000MB/s one...is it that much more expensive?
(Same question goes for Netbooks really...with no drive to feed them with)

I'd think when toying with DVD-sized files (especially since the file system is up to it) 100MB/s is a bit...limited

Try replacing the harddrive with current Top-end SSD's and show us the results
Pretty please :D

So it's a terrible HD player? It's a terrible NAS?

Yeah 8/10 sounds a bit high to me

No HD already killed it for me. Shame about the NAS function, too.

Another good idea... another bad result. :(

This product doesn't even deserve to be mentioned on Bit-tech. please delete the article and never speak of it again!

No HD support in 2009? That is fail on a big level!

I believe this is a victim of the current struggling economy. They try to push out sub-standard products that are cheap to manufacture (using outdated stuff) and looks attractive on the box. But when it's put through the scrutiny of this community it falls short immediately.

Looks pretty damn good to me. Personally I try to avoid .MKV files if I must, I prefer .AVI. I really like how you get to add your own HDD, makes it easier to get the right size for you.

Why do you avoid .MKV? I never had any problems with that container.

I just find .AVI to be better quality (both visually and audibly). .MKV may be a smaller file size but HDD space isn't something I am really concerned about.

mkv files are 3x bigger (1.2gb tv 4.4gb 720p 8gb 1080p) then avi files norm you must of been getting converted xvid files

Originally Posted by The boy 4rm oz
I just find .AVI to be better quality (both visually and audibly). .MKV may be a smaller file size but HDD space isn't something I am really concerned about.

God no. .Mkv is far more flexible in terms of both video and audio codecs and h/x.264 allows more advanced compression standards

I think its a bit feature lacking, given that its meant to replace a number of devices....

will bit-tech be reviewing the Western Digital HD Media Player?

Originally Posted by leexgx
mkv files are 3x bigger (1.2gb tv 4.4gb 720p 8gb 1080p) then avi files norm you must of been getting converted xvid files

I was meant to write it the other way around lol, I was tired.

Really it's just my personal preference. I have used both .AVI (including Xvid/DivX converts) and .MKV but .MKV always seems to find away to kick it's own arse. All my ventures with .MKV have ended badly lol .AVI is far less hassle for me.

Like mentioned before, it was all a good read until the HD and NAS part. The interface looks outdated to. I also disagree with the high score it gets. It should have been all 5 and 7 for the looks...

Shame, a good first attempt I think but not quite enough yet in my opinion, what I would really like to see is the features that this has along with:

1) An IR blaster so that it can control a seperate AV Box (if you wanted to use sky/freesat) or even a model with a DVB-S/S2 receiver built in

2) stable and complete 720p and 1080i playback for all fiuletypes/bitrates, inexcusable really that it is missing this!

3) A Bitorrent client built in (like the popcorn hour)

Then it would be perfect!

Originally Posted by The boy 4rm oz

Quote:

Originally Posted by leexgx
mkv files are 3x bigger (1.2gb tv 4.4gb 720p 8gb 1080p) then avi files norm you must of been getting converted xvid files

I was meant to write it the other way around lol, I was tired.

Really it's just my personal preference. I have used both .AVI (including Xvid/DivX converts) and .MKV but .MKV always seems to find away to kick it's own arse. All my ventures with .MKV have ended badly lol .AVI is far less hassle for me.

ops i agree with this user my self i do have far less problems with xvids as thay have been standered for last 5 or more years ,mkv do not all ways work well but 720p stuff is nice, seems to be better now then from yr or 2 ago

I admit .MKV's have gotten much better but I still seem to have a lot of trouble with them.

where is standard MKV encoded in X264 support? Everything i now have in my video collection is HD encoded in X264. Its how the TV episodes are distributed, its how movies are ripped from Blu-Ray. However you look at it, the AVI container format with shoddy DivX codec is LONG DEAD and manufacturers should really listen up to us lot - its US that explain to our mothers/fathers what the difference is between MKV and AVI, and why their shiny new box is absolutely useless when it comes to playing back all the content their family has harvested. Its us that recommend new products to the average consumer, and without our support and help these products sit unused on people's shelves. Another case of charge the consumer cos they have no idea what they're paying for.

Is Bit-Tech going to be reviewing more of this sort of device?
i.e. the Western Digital HD Media Player, the Icy Box IB-MP3010HW?

As i'm trying to decide whether to purchase one of these all in one PVR/Media Player/NAS devices, or just to go for broke and try and build an HTPC...

As an aside, when you had the competition for the Icy Box, Nathan from Nanopoint implied there would be a review for it coming out soon, and unless i'm blind I haven't noticed one...

Cheers all, keep up the sterling work!

MadG

I was looking for a hdd recorder with network, for that purpose the playon is working very well for me. The media player part of it is a bonus. If I was looking for a media player, I probably would end up with another player eg. the WD TV.

But for hdd recorder with network (to replace my dvdr), there isnt really much choices out there and I was surprise too that there are hardly any reviews too. All the reviews out there are about mediaplayers. So I'm pretty thrilled to see bit-tech reviewing this :)

While I can see many ppl going for mediaplayers to play their downloaded stuff, dont forget there are also ppl like me around who still record TV programs ;) After much searching, I finally bought the playon last week after reading a review on mpcclub. very happy with it still.

Originally Posted by MadGinga
Is Bit-Tech going to be reviewing more of this sort of device?
i.e. the Western Digital HD Media Player, the Icy Box IB-MP3010HW?

As i'm trying to decide whether to purchase one of these all in one PVR/Media Player/NAS devices, or just to go for broke and try and build an HTPC...

As an aside, when you had the competition for the Icy Box, Nathan from Nanopoint implied there would be a review for it coming out soon, and unless i'm blind I haven't noticed one...

Cheers all, keep up the sterling work!

MadG

I was building a HTPC ... well, still building / installing. Perhaps one day I will complete it. The last straw came when I wanted to record champions league matches and uhm couldnt for "technical reasons". so I decided to leave the HTPC as a "fun hobby" instead of something I actually use daily.

Originally Posted by MadGinga
Is Bit-Tech going to be reviewing more of this sort of device?
i.e. the Western Digital HD Media Player, the Icy Box IB-MP3010HW?

As i'm trying to decide whether to purchase one of these all in one PVR/Media Player/NAS devices, or just to go for broke and try and build an HTPC...

As an aside, when you had the competition for the Icy Box, Nathan from Nanopoint implied there would be a review for it coming out soon, and unless i'm blind I haven't noticed one...

Cheers all, keep up the sterling work!

MadG

We want the WD TV, we have the Icy Box, and we even have the PlayOn DVR as well. They're all on the list... the long list.. :|