In today's world almost all media is digital, or can be digital if you want it to be. I, for example, have all of my CD's ripped and stored on my computer's hard-drive, along with all of my photos from my digital camera and some home movies too. So now they are there, what do I do with them? ... Read review
Advantages: Good interface, simple to set-up Disadvantages: Supplied software is flakey
In today's world almost all media is digital, or can be digital if you want it to be. I, for example, have all of my CD's ripped and stored on my computer's hard-drive, along with all of my photos from my digital camera and some home movies too. So now they are there, what do I do with them? Well, I listen to the MP3s on my rather rubbish monitor speakers or I copy them to my MP3 player to listen to on the train or at work. I look at the photo's ... ...print them out via an online store. As to the movies, I had ideas to burn them to a DVD but never got round to it.
That's where the Dlink DSM-320 comes in. It frees all of your digital media from you computer and allows you to play it on your TV and Stereo (with this device you need the TV to navigate as there is no display).
How?
----
Assuming that you are savvy enough to have set-up a home network (wired ... more
In today's world almost all media is digital, or can be digital if you want it to be. I, for example, have all of my CD's ripped and stored on my computer's hard-drive, along with all of my photos from my digital camera and some home movies too. So now they are there, what do I do with them? Well, I listen to the MP3s on my rather rubbish monitor speakers or I copy them to my MP3 player to listen to on the train or at work. I look at the photo's occasionally and maybe send them to friends and family or print them out via an online store. As to the movies, I had ideas to burn them to a DVD but never got round to it.
That's where the Dlink DSM-320 comes in. It frees all of your digital media from you computer and allows you to play it on your TV and Stereo (with this device you need the TV to navigate as there is no display).
How? ---- Assuming that you are savvy enough to have set-up a home network (wired or wireless), then you can use this device to listen to your music, watch your videos, look at your photos through the TV & Stereo. It does this by installing a software component on your PC that connects to the DSM and sends the files it requests.
Installation ------------ On the back of the DSM are a multitude of connection options, including Scart, RCA audio & phono, S-video and optical output. This allows you to connect the device to almost any TV/stereo out there.
Once you have connected the DSM to the TV, you should install the software on your PC. This is a standard windows installation and should provide no surprises. Once installed, the program starts up and asks you to specify where the music, video and pictures you want to share are located. This done, it will scan the directories and start listening for the DSM to connect.
Configuring the DSM is a simple operation, controlled by a wizard process on the TV. It looks for a wired or wireless network and once found allows you to configure the network settings. For me, it was a simple task of choosing my wireless network and then pressing OK. The DSM then located an IP address and then found the PC media server software.
Using the DSM ------------- The DSM menu system is very simple to browse, allowing you to select pictures, music, video or online (currently only live365.com is supported for Internet radio). The menu system sorts all your music by artist, album, genre, etc and allows you to play whole albums by selecting them and pressing play on the remote. Also playlists are supported but have to be created on your PC using software such as Winamp or Windows Media Player and saved into the directories.
Problems -------- The main problem I have with the DSM is that the software supplied does not cope with the amount of MP3s that I have (over 6,500). To overcome this I have installed a new PC media server, the rather strangely named TwonkyVision MediaServer (www.twonkyvision.de/UPnP/). With this sorted the DSM is awesome.
Summary ------- This is a great product once you work around the rather bad software that is supplied in the box. Once installed and running, it's great. I have rediscovered a whole load of music that I had forgotten about as well as watching a slideshow of all of my pictures while listening to the music.
I bought this for £110 from Amazon, which is the cheapest on the net that I could find, including Ebay. Is it worth the money? You can buy cheaper Wireless MP3 players (Netgear MP101 is about £75), but for the extra money, to be able to watch videos and pictures on the TV is the great part for me! Plus easier to navigate those menus on screen too.
Advantages: Stream all your media files to your tv Disadvantages: Server software is a bit flaky
The fact that you're looking at this review tells me you want to stream all your lovely downloaded files to your TV. Before I begin though...you see those picture and sound quality ratings? You do realise they're meaningless for this product, don't you? The quality is solely dependant on the quality of the files you want to stream. With that out of the way, let's move on to my 'medialounge' experience. == The Boring Technical Stuff ==
Supported ... ...Supported Image Formats • JPEG • BMP • PNG • TIFF • JPEG2000 • GIF Supported Video Formats • MPEG 1 • MPEG 2 • MPEG 4 • Xvid • AVI Audio Playlist Formats
• M3U
• PLS == Classy Chassis ==
Slimline, sexy, glowing blue LED frontage. It's quite a classy looking piece (as far as these things go) and should slot into your current set up. The only button on the front is the POWER. That's ...
Maf9000 10.06.2005 (14.06.2005)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of D-Link DSM 320 Wireless Media Player
Windows 98 SE or later - 500 MHz - RAM 128 MB - HD 20 MB
Remote control
Type
Remote control
Technology
Infrared
Connections
Connector Type
1 x SPDIF output ( TOS Link ) - rear
1 x SPDIF output ( RCA phono ) - rear
1 x S-Video output ( 4 PIN mini-DIN ) - rear
1 x composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - rear
1 x network ( RJ-45 ) - rear
Manufacturer's product description
The D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player unites your network with your home entertainment center, allowing you to share, access, and enjoy your digital media - whether it is music, videos, or photos - in the comfort of your living room. The DSM-320 supports 802.11g wireless standards with transfer speeds up to 54Mbps, giving you maximum throughput for your digital media. Setting up the DSM-320 Wireless Media Player is simple, and the sleek design makes it a natural addition to your home entertainment center. Audio Video (AV) jacks on the back panel of the DSM-320 can be plugged directly into your TV, letting you access digital media content stored on your PC, browse your music files, watch your videos, and display your photos. In addition, the DSM-320 lets you access online media contents such as Radio@AOL on your TV through an existing broadband Internet connection. The DSM-320 adheres to the Universal Plug-&-Play AV specification, and complies with Intel Networked Media Product Requirements (INMPR), allowing it to communicate with other UPnP AV media devices seamlessly. The DSM-320 Wireless Media Player supports and streams virtually all audio, video, and image formats stored on your PC. With support for MP3, WMA and WAV audio files, listen to all of your music on your stereo. Watch your stored videos in MPEG1/2/4, AVI, QuickTime or Xvid format on your TV or enjoy slideshows of your favorite photos in JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, GIF, BMP or PNG formats. Better yet, it's easy to access all your media files through the TV Interface using the remote control included with the DSM-320. Experience your digital media like never before with the DSM-320 Wireless Media Player. The DSM-320 includes everything you need to instantly access and play your music, videos, and photos using your home entertainment center.
Related tags for D-Link DSM 320 Wireless Media Player »
