Advantages: Plays MP3, photo and movie over your network to your HiFi/TV. Disadvantages: Stutters very badly on any HD content.
Morning all,
I finally decided last week to order the D-LinkDSM-520 from Komplett.co.uk at £172 inc VAT & del. Reasons for buying : I wanted to stream HD movies, photos and music.
Reviews have been mixed, admittedly, but seemed to indicate that this was the best of the bunch. I also looked at the Freecom and the Pinnacle before deciding. The DSM-520 arrived on Monday 4th Dec 2006, and was installed very easily and quickly. That part at least was painless. I used D-Link's own Media Server and also a demo version of TwonkyVision. I couldn't get M$ own MediaConnect to work, and I still can't figure out why.
Getting wireless working was strangely easy from my Netgear router, and I was offered WPA or WEP. So, at first I used WPA wireless, just for a gag I suppose, cuz I knew it wouldn't work with HD due to the limited bandwidth. It ...
Advantages: Plays DivX AVI and MPEG files, Supports lots of formats, Looks good, Karaoke, Disadvantages: DivX 3.11, 4.02 plays slightly slanted, cheap plasticy remote, Doesn't play some NTSC encoded files
, it marks it by bevelling the box, which at times makes it harder to tell which file you selected.
When you've found a file you want to play, just press 'Play' or 'Enter'. Once it has finished playing a file, it will move to the next one. I've found that the DVD-500 plays DivX files well with no loss of quality. These were DivX files on CD-R and DVD-R. These files are highly compressed Video files in the AVI format (has the extension .avi). I've also managed to play Mpeg (.mpg) video files but found that the player does not support WMV (Windows Media Video) and simply skips the file altogether.
The player is also able to play MP3 files. A few niggles with playing files though is the navigation. Although easy, it still does take a second (possibly half a second) to move from track to track so it's definitely not very zippy. I cannot ...
Advantages: Stream all your media files to your tv Disadvantages: Server software is a bit flaky
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 it.
Output Connections
• RCA audio jacks
• RCA video
• S-Video
• Component Video
• Optical Digital Audio
• Coax Digital Audio
You connect it to your tv (using the variety of sockets on the back...surely one of which will suit your AV set up) and then power it on. All being well, you will be able to run the onboard wizard that lets you set up you wireless network details.
Hang on there though... haven't you forgotten something?
Go back to your PC and install that darned Sever Software. While you're there...check your wireless router and make sure its within a working range of your new player.
I have had a couple ...
Windows XP/Vista - 1.6 GHz - RAM 512 MB - HD 60 MB
Remote control
Type
Remote control
Connections
Connector Type
1 x HDMI output ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - rear
1 x SPDIF output ( TOS Link ) - rear
1 x SPDIF output ( RCA phono ) - rear
1 x composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - rear
1 x Ethernet ( RJ-45 ) - rear
1 x S-Video output ( 4 PIN mini-DIN ) - rear
1 x USB ( 4 PIN USB Type A ) - front
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
2 years warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - 2 years
Manufacturer's product description
The DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player allows users to enjoy multimedia content stored on their PC on a home entertainment centre over their Wi-Fi or Ethernet home network, using the DivX Connected platform. DivX is to video what mp3 is to music. Owing to powerful compression, DivX video files are a fraction of the size of a DVD, saving bandwidth when streaming them over a home network. With this media player, resolutions of up to 720p can be achieved for best picture quality on a HDTV using the HDMI connection. Standard televisions may also be connected using SCART or Composite Video cables. Software is also included to convert other video formats into DivX.
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