CIB K808AV500G H.264 8 CH Network Security Surveillance DVR Recording System Included 500GB HDD

I purchased this a few months ago based on the stellar reviews everyone gave it, but they obviously haven't needed to actually play back any footage or backup a copy for the police. The software is USELESS... and when I say useless, I mean there's physically no way to select the date you want to playback files from. There's some glitch with the software and the calendar just flips around randomly, sometimes years ahead of the date I want. I spent half an hour just now trying to get a file to catch a shoplifter and it's impossible.

Theoretically you can use the remote control on a tv to use it, but the remote barely works and it's a whole system of unintelligle up and down arrow commands, and once I was trying to input a date and the only characters it would give me to choose from were various types of puncutation no numbers.

I gave it 2 stars because you could actually just use it as a live monitor for a security guard sitting in a warehouse or something, so one star for that functionality.

Yeah yeah the cameras are easy to set up, it starts recording right away, the box is pretty and has lights on it. So what? what's the point of a security dvr if you can't view the recorded footage?

Overall impression: basic system that has some nice features, performance/usage seems adequate.

Setup Plugged in the system, hooked up the video out to a monitor, turned it on, and the 3x3 grid came up, showing 8 channels (plus 1 empty as 8 is max). I had ordered a ccd camera with it, so opened that up, hooked video cable to the DVR and the camera's power to a transformer, and the camera's video signal showed up in the 3x3 grid. So far so good.

To test the camera's infrared function out, I turned out the lights, and immediately could see a grayish display that allowed you to see a person from 40+ feet away. During this time I noticed an 'R' being displayed on the DVR's display (specifically within the grid that held the camera's view), which made me realize that the DVR was recording the video.

The recording brought me to the Playback function, which uses the Search feature to find recordings....the Search is not too easy to figure out, but once I did I could pull up the recording and watch it...seemed to be doing the job.

Once I started the permanent installation, I moved the DVR to it's final location, then started running video cables down through the wall. The cables I used have the video & power both only after pulling 2 cabled down from the attic and trying to plug them into the DVR did I realize that although the video connections are BNC female on both ends, the power connections are male on one end and female on the other my luck (which is always BAD) proved out, when I figured out I had pulled the wrong end down, so I had to pull the cables out of the wall, reverse them, then pull them back down. Lots of work in a hot attic!

Once the cables were pulled, I mounted the cameras then fed the cables to them and hooked them up. On the DVR end, hooked up the video, then had a choice on power could use a wall-wart aka transformer for each cable, or buy the 4-connection 12vdc device which provides power to 4 cameras (more if you buy the 1-into-2 splitters) I used the 4-connection device, and plugged it into the cables near the DVR. By the time I finished adding a total of 6 cameras onto the DVR, there are quite a few cables behind the DVR might want to keep this in mind when planning.

Once all 6 cameras were running, I started working with the motion detection config... each camera channel can be configured with a 'mask' that defines where within the camera's image motion is noticed (or ignored). This makes it very nice when you might have a small tree or hanging plant that might move in the wind you can tell the DVR to ignore motion within a given area. Each camera signal has 4 levels of sensitivity default is 2 I found that 2 seems to miss quite a bit, but when I bumped it to 3 I got better results I tried 4 (the highest) but it seemed to start recording on such small motion that I couldn't actually tell what had triggered the recording.

I also played around with the remote access (via network) from my local network (LAN). The browser requires an Active-X plugin, and even though I turned off every security setting I could find in IE, Windows 7 would not allow me to install the plugin, because the publisher was listed as 'unknown' and Win7/IE would NOT accept that. I finally found that by downloading it in FireFox (had to turn off Symantec Antivirus first) I could install it and run....which gives a nice GUI to work with from your laptop. This Graphical User Interface (GUI) provides the same functions as the DVR's general menu (accessed via the handheld remote that comes with it) including Setup, Record, Playback....it also provides an Export process that exports the H.264 recording to AVI format, so you can play it on your laptop/PC directly.

Overall I feel like I've gotten my money's worth, even considering that each channel requires a camera that runs $40-80 apiece, so the final cost of a full system is $500 & up. The system is simple enough that most DIY'ers that can handle a weekend project can install and configure a basic CCTV-DVR system that should help to figure out which neighbors are letting their dogs soil your yard ;-) Within two days I was able to figure out why my back-yard bird feeder was turned a different direction every morning a cute little doe (female deer) was caught coming up from the city park to feast on peanuts/sunflower/millet BUSTED!!

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I purchased a 8CH CIB DVR a few months ago. When I went to play back video to see how my dog was getting out, I found that the DVR randomly blanks out and stops recording for anywhere from 3 seconds to several minutes per channel. I also tried to hook up some high end Pelco Spectra IV SE 35X PTZ cameras. This unit will not control these cameras. Just FYI. I contacted Customer support over a month ago. I received a very quick automatic response saying they would get back with me asap. Month later, still no attempt from anyone at this company reaching out to assist me with my issues.. I own an integrations company so id consider myself pretty familiar with this type of equipment.. lol I will not be purchasing any more of these for my needs or customers..

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I bought this for 8 pinhole cameras (similar to the ones on amazon but not the same brand) being put up in an office. Requirements were fairly simple, 8 channel dvr that was lightweight and could be viewed remotely and from an iPhone.

I picked up an Acer V173 Djb 17-Inch LCD Monitor Black for the monitor and it works well, with a native resolution of 1280x1024.

The cameras were standard 1v75OHM and they seem to work fine. I didn't use siamese cabling, rather I went with BALUNs and cat5 for the cable runs (this means I also used a dc power distribution center, but regular dc power plugs should be fine for BALUNs as long as the genders match up).

Setting everything up was fairly easy with the remote. Note that some of the network numbers might scare you off (192.168.001.001 for example rather than 192.168.1.1) and UPNP didn't work for me. Either way I just forwarded the ports and gave the DVR a static IP. After connecting remotely I actually found out that the plugin worked way better in Chrome than IE (which is usually required). The iPhone app worked fine, but remember to set up the port and password in the specific mobile section.

I found it fairly easy to work with. Playback worked great over the LAN but watching old videos is semi painful across the net unless you have good upload speeds.

Recommended for the price.

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Udate 4/22/2013:

I owe 5 of these DVRs now and so far so good. I've run into a couple of problems that turned out to be power supply problem for the cameras. The only annoyance is that the browser playback plugin crashes quite often, and lately it doesn't work work well with Google Chrome (may be I'm missing the latest plugin). Firefox still works fine and Android viewing over internet is works great too. Tech support is responsive. My other disappointment is that high end 3rd party DVR software is not compatible with this camera.

Other reviewers commented that there is no way to select date to playback and others suggest playback doesn't work well. Both are not accurate and probably due to some other problem. The software is not very impressive, but play back is as simple is clicking on "Play Back" and then on the right would a be calendar from which you pick a date. After you pick the date you can search by channel or search all channels. Recordings are grouped into 1 hour time chunks (this is configurable) and of course you can only go back as far as your storage space allows. I've uploaded a picture of one of my 4-camera DVR showing the playback interface. I get 22 days of 24/7 recording on this one. I have another 500GB hard drive with 8 cameras recording 24/7 and I get about 10 days worth of recording.

Note that this company has a utility called PlayBack software and that only plays back your archived H.264 footage. You cannot search within that tool. If you use the regular supplied NetDVR software or a browser with netdvr plugin you can search and play back with no problem. You can also search directly on the on the DVR although I don't use that feature very often.

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After giving this product 2-stars in my initial review due to viewing software problems I've now revised my review to 5-stars. This product is very much worth it. Setup was a breeze. Just plug in, turn on and you are finished. I used VideoSecure dome and bullet cameras. My viewing software problem turned out to be due to missing audio device drivers on the PC. It's a Win2K8 server that I never bothered to install and enable audio since I don't need one. The cameras I'm using don't have audio and so I thought I didn't have to worry about that but it turns out both the browser plugin and client viewing software require working audio on the PC to function properly. Everything is working well now including remote viewing over the Internet. I never had to call customer service, but based on the sellers helpful response to my initial review I can only conclude that customer service would be great.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%Original Review for reference%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I bought this full of hope based on previous 5-star reviews. Setup went quite easily as described, just plug in cameras and it starts recording. Unfortunately that's where the fun ends. My primary access to this system is supposed to be over the local area network but the provided Netdrv software for remote viewing doesn't work. Both the Windows client and browser plugin hang as soon as I enter login password and hit enter. It displays "Login Success! Initializing..." and that's it, the plugin or Windows application hangs. It also says "Login Success" regardless of the password I use (right, wrong, blank) as long as the IP address and port numbers are correct. Has anyone gotten the remote client viewer to work on Win2K8 server or Windows 7? It's probably worth 4 or 5 stars if you have it connected to a monitor for live viewing, but for me it's nearly worthless, hence the two stars.

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USB Voice Recorder 8GB by Brickhouse Security

Worked excellent for three months then suddenly stopped working. When it was working it had good pick up and was very user friendly.

The recording function part works good.However, the key chain part broke off the very first time I put it on my key ring. The key chain part needs to be redesign.

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I bought this usb voice recorder so that I can record voices. The recording function works well, picup is good. packaging is terrible. The key chain stub is just pitiful it is not worth putting it there. This device needs to be repackaged, if key chain is what it is intended to be held, then redesign the damn thing, make it substantial, not so easy to rip off. By they way without a way to hang it to something I halve lost and found this thing twice..

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ser du, dette bord er sendt till USA till en veninde, og jeg bor i Danmark så har ikke fået så megen glæde af bordet, men tror hun har

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me encanta este producto, ya tengo algun tiempo con uno y grabo mucho, ahora lo pedi para un familiar estudiante y se que le sacara provecho

SPECIAL MART / HD 2.7-inch LCD Dual Car Dvr + GPS / G-sensor Car Video Camera / Car Camera Surveill

• 2.7'' 16:9 HD display without distortion.
• Duel camera two screen
• GPS LOGGER BASED ON golbal postiton system
• G-SENSOR
• Cyclic recording mode with no memory run out issue

I bought this for my husband who is very fussy and a bit of a techy and he loves it. He wanted a camera which was forward and backward recording and we have been using it for two month and have had no problems with it at all.

Zmodo 16 Channel DVR H.264 D1 3G Remove Support No HDD Surveillance Kit ZMD-DR-SFN6

Easy to set up and work with .. I used a 1 TB HD and worked nice... No way I could ajust the cameras to clear them up like I can on my DVR cards in my computer... Sent it back with out any trouble ... Very good support .... I have one Pan Tilt Zoom camera from Zmodo and two smaller just Pan N Tilt camera and they all work great... I will buy one again when it come out with camera ajustments for bright and color ajustment ...

I love my DVR I have all 16 channels up and running. I have one problem with it freezing up after viewing remotely via iPhone (occasionally) working with Zmodo to get it corrected I think probably need a firmware update if that gets fixed it would definitely be a 5 star item. BE AWARE you must buy the hardrive seperately not a big deal as I had one from an old computer anyway.

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I've worked with a couple different DVR units from half a dozen brands and I have to say, this is a decent unit for a pretty good price. I will admit, the age old idea that you get what you pay for is true here; the unit works but it doesn't have all that many features and the actual interface isn't nearly as friendly as some of the other units I've worked with. If you're looking for a basic DVR at a bargain price, this one will work; if you're looking for a feature rich or highly resilient unit, look elsewhere.

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just make sure you know up front it doesn't have a hard drive in it, the machine is great runs all camera's hooked to it. I had a hard drive when I ordered it so it was fine and works awesome. plus hard drives are cheap. the only thing is its on a high shelf and the eye for the remote is toward the top of the unit and from the ground the remote doesn't work for me, but really its on record and that is all i need.

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I have bought this at the end of the last year from CrazyTalk Electronics. I received them, but it doesn't support D1, It was wrote right in the header of the product, as you see.

Contacted the seller, but they told me to contact the website. I wrote an e-mail about that to the , but they never answered.

Why do you guys still lie? Remove D1 from your product header, this confuses us. Now i will have to buy another one with D1, but not from you, guys!

Dingoo Digitial A-320 Emulator Game Console MP3 MP4 Media Player LCD 2.8 inch, White

• Color: White
• Built-in 4GB memory
• including pouch and SILICONE CASE

I was impressed at the build quality of this emulator, Its very sturdy. And has a good weight to it. The screen is rather sharp, But as with most Chinese/Japanese to English conversions. The menu wording can be a bit strange. for example. to play loaded roms you open the menu "interesting game" ..weird. But functional, none-the-less. some menu navigation is a little uneasy. But despite the menu, the overall function of this device is over satisfactory. It emulates. and it does it well ;)

Morris Mini DC Slave Flash Wide Plus with PC Cord, Guide Number 24 with ISO 100 in Feet.

This thing packs a big punch to be so small! I like the angled bottom, and it's only about the size of a tennis ball, and I even glued some Velcro straps to it so I and mount it about anywhere needed when I am outdoors.

Hauppauge 1198 WinTV-HVR-950 TV Tuner Stick/Personal Video Recorder with Remote Control (Black)

I run the Hauppage USB 950Q Tuner on a Windows Vista 32-bit system with a high end Nvidia 9800 640MB PCI-E video card, dual core Pentium 2.8ghz processors and a Creative Xi-Fi PCI soundcard, with 3GB's of system RAM. This is well above the minimum requirements.

My primary use involves plugging in the coaxial cable line directly to the USB Tuner, in order to record certains shows a couple of times a week.

I did some basic research and read the various reviews of what was out there. My video card takes up so much space, that I didn't want to fool with squeezing a PCI card inside the case, a USB card that I could even take on the road with my lap top easily, seemed perfect.

This version comes with (at this time) the latest Hauppage drivers on the CD. It's best to install the CD apps first before plugging the USB device in. If you don't, make sure to cancel the Windows prompt to find drivers on it's own.

I also had to install the WinTV application in order for Windows Media Center to recognize the signal. I prefer to use WMC because of it's very nice guide, genre summaries of "what's on" and the speed at which it operates. I still need to fool around a bit with the aspect ratio, as I have a widescreen 24" flat panel monitor.

After the 10 minutes or so it takes to scan all of the analog cable channels, I played the live TV and the picture was grainy, choppy, and kept stuttering out. It took me a while to figure out it was a bad signal from the cable line. Keep this in mind if your picture is snowy, having blips or a white line running through it intermittently etc..., you probably need a Cable Signal Amplifier. I got a bi-directional cable TV amplifier from Radioshack for $34 and after plugging it in the right way, the signal and picture for analog channels was noticeably improved, and I am now reasonably happy with it. Make sure your fuzzy picture is not a result of this, if you have any splitters on your line, multiple TV's and an internet modem hooked up to your cable lines, an amplifier can work wonders. I haven't seen this obvious remedy mentioned in any other reviews, so wanted to make sure I put it in here.

I also tested the included atenna, and the local, free QAM or HD channels it picked up, looked fantastic, the analog channels were too choppy but clearer than the cable picture, I didn't spend much time with the antenna though. The problem is there are very few of these HD/QAM channels available, even here in a major city where I live, and they are just versions of the local network station (which I rarely watch). Literally 4-6 of these, if that.

If the day comes where everything is broadcast in HD, this card will make the picture rather remarkable, for obvious reasons being you don't have to convert an analog signal and the resolutions match hi-res PC monitors much more closely.

WinTV is very cumbersome and slow, I notice a slightly better picture with it at this point, versus WMC, but WMC's functionality make it the preferred application.

Unfortunately I cannot find a way to easily switch back and forth between the Antenna source and Analog Cable line, without having to re-scan everything which takes 10+ minutes for WinTV, less for WMC. I don't think there is an easy way, even with another splitter.

So, buy a cable tv amplifier, (bi-directional if you use PPV or Indemand services etc..,) make sure you have a powerful video card (more important than your CPU but they ultimately both work together) and at least 2GB of system RAM if you're on Vista ecspecially.

This should give you adequate results and feel this is probably one of the better, more affordable, PC TV with HD/QAM options out there, and should get better with time as broadcasts move to an all-digital signal.

Of course if you have a DVR or hi-def cable box, use the S-video connection if possible, and your HD channels and other digital channels will probaby look and play even better.

Hauppauge Model 1198, HVR-950 does not have Clear QAM as described in the title, and item information.

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I am using this tuner as part of a Beyond TV setup with multiple tuner cards for receiving OTA HDTV broadcasts. Installing the tuner software was easy, and its tuning sensitivity seems as good as the other brands of HDTV tuner cards I have used. I have not tested the remote control with it, so I cannot comment on that part of it. I did not try the video-in option or the included antenna so I cannot comment on those either. I briefly hooked my analog cable up to it and it seemed to tune those channels well also. The included software suite is adequate and does what it says it does. Its compact size would make it great for travel and/or a laptop.

When you hook this up you may want to use the USB extender cable to minimize strain on your computer's USB port from the cable attached to the tuner weighing down on the port.

Needless to say, the only disadvantage of this type of product vs. a plug-in card or USB box is that you must chooses if you want CATV or OTA HDTV, since many of the cards and USB boxes offer separate F-connectors for cable and OTA signals. Their may be a way to combine both signals on one cable, but I did not attempt that. Video input is separate via a small port on the tuner stick, so that input can be used with either setup. Also, to the best of my knowledge this stick does not have a hardware-based MPEG-2 decoder. Some products require at least one tuner in their setup to have a hardware-based decoder, so you may want to double-check your application to be sure.

In short, this is a great product and I would buy another one. I've used Hauppauge products for years, and found them to be well designed and reasonably priced. This tuner continues that tradition.

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This product has problems with Windows XP (and possibly ATI video cards). Could not get a picture at all on one computer but had sound. Audio had lots of static on another computer with a great picture. It would not work on one of our laptops at all. But, it worked great on a new laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate. Hauppauge's fix for these computers was an older driver in which the remote control would not work.

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Bought to view cable TV on my laptop computer. Plugged into a coax cable and into usb port it works fine. Only issue is the audio sync with picture. If I work on an application on my computer then come back to TV the sync is off. I need to change channel then back to the show I was watching to fix the timing. But it does work well so I recommend this product.

6.2" Widescreen PhotoShare 7XS Digital Photo Frame & Media Player - MP3, MPEG/DIVX & E-Book Reader!

2.5 stars, almost ok, but not durable.

The features are plentiful, plays video clips with or without sound, also plays music, nice looking frame, and accepts SD cards.

Remote not very responsive, but works and has nice shortcut buttons. GUI could be better, but not too bad.

Resolution on the low side, but pictures look nice.

Ordered 3, so far electronics in 1 burnt out half a year later after being left on, left a funny smell, so it doesn't look like these are very durable.

I bought 2 of these items for gifts last year, however in hindsight I should have spent a bit more and bought something larger and more displayable like Pandigital Panimage PI1003DW 10.1-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Black) since both the units I bought for family are collecting dust and unused.

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This unit works ok on ac power (plugged in the wall socket) but it's promoted as portable. It uses a proprietary battery which is virtually impossible to find.

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Since you can play this through the TV, you can watch movies from your computer on the TV doing away with burning DVD's and it works with music, photos & text also.

Nice little unit.

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Love this product I have ordered two and now bought one for myself.

Would recommend it to anyone.

Indoor Wireless Fixed IP Camera with Night Vision

According to the specs, this camera is supposed to work with systems other than Alarm.com

Well GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

About the ONLY thing I can do, is get it to see an IP address. I can't connect into that IP, can't access the camera and there IS NO DOCS on this camera besides "log into your alarm.com account"

This leads me to say that, you can't use this camera with ANYTHING but Alarm.com

This is by far one of the easiest cameras to set up and install. Actually has a good picture and i love watching my house and dogs when we are not home. Have two trying to buy two more.

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The monitoring security service I use, uses Alarm.com for their web and iPhone interfaces. Alarm.com does appear to be the best in that its better than others but no where near as good as it could be. There were a lot of setup issues. They didn't mention it needed to be plugged in to power so assumed it would work off of batteries like all the sensors. Also to setup you need an ethernet cable not provided unless you use a router with WPS. To note, a quick google search will show you WPS routers are HIGHLY insecure so this device should not promote WPS and should instead include an ethernet cable. The pictures do not show that unlike most corner motion sensors this one attached to a semi long pole that attaches to the wall that is white but the screws aren't white so doesn't look great. Next issue was my password wouldn't work because it was too secure. This device which only works with alarm.com has old software that doesn't let passwords with any characters, so if you have a complex password you may need to change it to something simpler. Which in my case meant changing the password on my router, then changing it on the two nests in my host, the 2 iPhones, the 1 iPod, the three Apple TVs, the tv receiver the wifi tv and the 2 iPads to all connect to the new password. It ended up being a major project. I told Alarm.com about the issues they said to tell my vendor which was SafeMart and they said they would tell Alarm.com but SafeMart was not helpful. They said the device has a backup battery (it does not). They (rep named Greg I think?) said they would look into my issues and get back the following day. Also that chat took about an hour since he would go quiet for about 7 minutes at a time and then come back since apparently they also answer phones and they take calls while on chat with customers and dont tell customers when they are on a call. It's been several months and no word from them in regards to that. After all that eventually got it installed and thought ok, they have issues but as long as it works now thats all that matters. Sadly no. The motion sensor does not appear to work. It is suppose to detect motion but in my several tests it only works if you are about 4 to 5 inches in front of the device. I asked support about this at SafeMart they didn't seem to think it even had a motion detector. I provided them links and showed them that it did and they were like oh.. hmm. And never got back to me. I figured since I knew more about the product than they did they wouldn't be of any help anyway and once again Alarm.com won't help since they say you have to go to your vendor. Everyonce in a while if I'm a couple feet a way and do jumping jacks it detects motion for a second. As for video quality, if you set it to the highest it is good quality for this price of a camera, but not great if you are use to looking at video on say a smart phone. The night vision looks good however, another big big bug is that is doesn't go on consistently. There is a setting to say whether it should turn on more often or less often, but regardless of the setting, sometimes its pitch black and it wont turn on, other times it works as expected, other times sporadic. If I'm at home and look at video through my iPhone (on our home wifi) the video is relatively close to live video, a second or two behind and doesn;t slow down our internet. However if I view the video through alarm.com at home it slows our internet down which is comcast's highest speed 100mbps to a snail pace. This seems to be a bug with their web interface. Also it uses Java so if you use up-to-date Chrome on a Mac for instance it won't work so you will have to use another browser. When viewing the videos from remote locations it's about a 7 second delay. About 4 out of 10 times it gives an error saying it can't connect to the camera. Sometimes restarting the app helps, sometimes unplugging and replugging the camera works. We have two of these and both are equally flaky. Also other than unplugging there is no way to have the camera turned off when your at home. Alarm.com already has geofencing meaning they know when your home or not, or they could simply have an option that says disable camera feed when the alarm isn't enabled but no such option and alarm.com says they dont have plans for this feature yet. The Green Led on the face of it can be turned off in the settings. Overall it's not reliable, and if you are using SafeMart they have little to no knowledge about it and will be off little to no help and Alarm.com won't listen to your complaints about bugs or security issues. That being said, for residential customers, alarm.com and safemart still is the best affordable option in comparison to others so unfortunately at the moment we are stuck using these cameras and software until Nest of another modern company creates a progressive alternative.

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Panasonic DMR-E10 Progressive-Scan DVD-RAM Recorder and Player

• Make your own DVDs!
• Encodes and stores video information in the MPEG2 encoding format using hybrid VBR (Variable Bit Rate) on DVD-RAM discs
• Dolby Digital 2.0 audio recording (two-channel stereo, using Dolby compression to allow greater recording time)
• 3 recording modes: XP (60 min.), SP (120 min.), and LP (240 min.)
• Fully equipped DVD-Video player with progressive-scan video and Dolby Digital and DTS surround audio outputs; 5-speed (up to 100x) crystal-clear scan quality

Please note this vitally important information that you can only know AFTER you purchase this DVD player and read Page 6 of the Operating Instructions: "DVD-RAM discs recorded using this unit cannot be played on other DVD players (including units made by Panasonic except specific players having DVD-RAM playback capability). The only type of blank disc which the unit can record (and play back) is a DVD-RAM/RAM 4.7 (type 2 cartridge recommended but type 1 can also be used)."

Therefore, when you tape on this machine, you CAN ONLY playback on this machine or other SPECIAL Panasonic machines (that have only just been released with DVD-RAM functionality) and you have to use special DVD's as well. Be careful, this is far less useful when you cannot give a taped DVD's to your friends and family to watch without giving them your DVD player as well !!

Good luck,

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Having purchased this item,it seems to do exactly what it was designed to do,which is recording and editing of tape and broadcast material.Although this item does not play its recorded media on most other manufacturers DVD players,it posseses powerful editing features,which allow for creation of a master which is capable of being overwritten and used again.If your looking for something to copy camcorder tapes and send them to friends,this isnt what you need,go to ebay and buy a VCD burner,Video CD recorder:ie OX-DVA 2000, which copies media to a regular 74 minute CDR.If you like collecting and editing old out of print movies and tapes,and plan on buying two units,use this one for making a master and purchase a DMR-E20 or a Panasonic DMR-T2020D and make your final copy on a DVDR.note:DVD RAM discs are expensive and this unit uses specific types.DVDR discs are not cheap,but they are cheaper then dvd ram,but to my knowledge the cheap ones are write once only,and if you spoil the recording your out a disc.this unit also requires some getting used to,my only regret is that if i had waited a few days,I could have paid alot less.hope this helped you on making a purchase decision.

best regards,

ST

NOTE:if you want a unit that records on both types of media the Panasonis DMR-E20,and the Panasonic DMR-T2020D(pro version)are compatable with both DVDRAM and DVDR.

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I didn't read the previous reviews carefully enough. DVD's recorded on this unit can only be played back on this unit. I bought it so I could record DVD's and watch them elsewhere. Since I can't do that, I am sending the unit back. It is too bad that this feature--or lack of feature--wasn't mentioned in the item's description. That would have saved me considerable time and trouble.

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I bought one of these machines in September and liked it so much I bought two more, for two other TVs in the house. I can't say enough good things about it. It works very simply, just like a VCR, only with DVD quality. (No more tracking problems on VHS or S-VHS tapes!) DVD-RAM is great for time-shifting and creating play lists, which basically let you easily re-arrange scenes of the original recording, so you can play back without commercials or play back scenes in any order, etc. You can then transfer that to DVD-R for permanent archiving (if you have 2 units, one to play DVD-RAM, the other to record DVD-R). There is, however, no digital-to-digital connection so to do this you have to use analog outputs/inputs but the quality is still superb. Despite your first impression when you look at the instruction book (it looks complicated) it's very, very simple to use the machine. I don't know what some of these other critics are talking about here, rating the machine so low. I just love it.

For those people who are constantly taping movies, specially when receiving from a satellite dish, you notice how the quality diminishes completely when recorded on VHS, and until now, we had nothing else to do.

So, for those who can afford this DVD recorder and the DVDs you'll have to record on later, this is a dream come true. I couldn't wait for another player, so this is what I chose, and I'm completely happy.

A drawback is that I can't play CD-R.

DISH Network Player-DVR 510 - DVR - 100 hour(s) - DISH network

I used to consider DirecTV to be the preferred choice of satellite television providers. With the introduction of new personal video recorder models, also referred to as PVR's or DVR's, Dish Network has established themselves as a formidable competitor in the areas of price, selection, picture quality, and customer service. My gripe is with their lack of Dolby Digital and 5.1 surround sound channels. It's enough to be a dealbreaker for audiophiles.

This model was a free replacement for an older model satellite receiver being phased out in 2005. A phone call set up the shipment and the process was painless. The receiver contains standard cable jacks for input and output as well as two RCA audio and video outputs, an S video output, and a Dolby Digital connector. With the number of audio/visual devices out there (TV, VCR, DVD, Satellite as well as stereo components), I would have liked to have seen an RCA audio and video input.

Included with the DVR is a built-in infrared "blaster" that works like a remote to control VCR's supported by the device (all major brands.) With this function you can use the satellite receiver to record programs to your VCR instead of the DVR. That said, it can be a daunting task to ensure both the VCR and DVR are set to the correct channels and appropriate TV/video settings or you'll end up recording the wrong program. This is why A/V inputs would be helpful and you'll likely be better off recording the program to the DVR first to transfer to the VCR later.

The Dish Network's customer service staff are some of the finest I have talked to in any company. Not only are they friendly and helpful, but I've found them to be knowledgeable (reducing the need for transfers) and hold times are usually under a minute. After installing the receiver, activation took less than five minutes and we were up and running before I hung up the phone.

Compared to the older receiver, I find this new receiver delivers a sharper picture with improved contrast and clarity. Until now, I gave the nod to DirecTV, but I believe the two are now equal. Dish also fixed some annoyances while channel surfing. In the past, pulling up the Dish guide meant obscuring the entire channel. Now the channel is moved to the right corner of the screen, similar to DirecTV, so you can view the current channel while you scan other channels. Another channel surfing option is to flip through the names (only) of programs on different channels. Unfortunately, this method obscures the top third of the screen with the title of the current channel and the bottom third of the screen with the title of the channels you're flipping through. The size of this obscured screen space could be drastically reduced and still provide the same information.

Another new feature is the ability to display the name and phone number of incoming telephone calls for those subscribing to caller id service through their telephone company. Finally, the old receiver used to suffer severe lag in downloading program descriptions. This problem seems to have disappeared entirely.

On to Digital Video Recording. This is my first experience with DVR's and I must say they have made the process very intuitive. I haven't had to refer to the user manual yet. The most prominent difference between DVR users and those without is the ability to pause live television. This is easily done via a big yellow pause button on the remote. Once this happens, the DVR kicks in and begins recording from the point you pause. To the end user, it simply looks like you hit the pause on a DVD. As soon as you start up again, the DVR continues to record as you watch so you never miss anything. Because you're now watching recorded television, you now have the advantage of skipping past commercials until you reach the point where you're back to a live broadcast. The only drawback is you will lose what you have recorded if you switch to a different channel. The system does prompt you beforehand so you won't switch back to live mode by mistake. The process may sound complicated but it's very painless. If you can operate a VCR, you can operate this DVR.

Programming the DVR to record programs is even easier than a VCR in my opinion. Simply scroll through the guide until you find a program you wish to record, then hit the record button. A prompt comes up, select VCR or DVR, and you're ready to go. I did get a tech to admit that it is possible to record one channel while watching another but they are only offering this service to new subscribers. Apparently, replacing the receivers of existing customers to include this feature will tax the current capacity of their system. If you're limited to recording the same channel you're watching as I am, a timer icon will pop up five minutes prior to warn it's about to flip the channel on you. To access and playback recorded programs, simply hit the button marked "DVR" on your remote and a list of recorded programs will pop up. Scroll through the list until you find the program you want, hit the select button, and you're off and running.

Thanks to DVR, the remote control is now as intuitive as you can get. The standard up/down/left/right controls are used to flip through the channels, the channel guide, and menus, but now you have DVR controls similar to what you would find on a VCR remote. This provides the ability to replace your current VCR remote entirely as all the functions are supported. The Dish remote acts as a universal remote for three devices in addition to the satellite. I just wish there were four devices we could add instead of three. If I didn't have to choose between controlling the home theater system and the DVD player, I could have eliminated all of the remotes in the house.

Perhaps it's better marketing but DirecTV seems to be the provider of choice for sports fans thanks to their all-inclusive sports package. Dish is the winner for music fans thanks to their partnership with Sirius. I counted 140 music channels (although I'm tempted to exclude the 20 or so channels that are broadcast in mono.)

This brings me to my only major gripe with Dish Network the sound quality. Dish Network broadcasts only HBO, Showtime, and a few Pay-per-View networks in 5.1 or 6.1 surround sound. That's it. All other stations are simply 2-channel stereo, including premium channels. The signal/noise ratio is high enough that you won't hear any hiss, but the channel separation seems to be rather low for regular stereo. I find myself frequently fiddling with the virtual (fake) surround effects to find a setting I like. Anyone used to the immersive effects of true five or six channel digital audio will find the Dish Network sorely lacking. Since most cable companies do not have this limitation, I have a hard time recommending the Dish as an alternative to anyone owning a home theater system.

Finally, a new feature entitled Dish@Home isn't a gripe as much as an example of a really bad business decision. I beta-tested a similar service through a cable company years ago and this isn't any better. The service attempts to provide information such as news, weather, sports scores through your television yet the process is so slow and cumbersome you'll never use it. The games on cellular phones are higher quality and at least a game on a phone is a one-time fee vs. the monthly subscription this service tries to extract from you. I expect Dish@Home to die a quick death.

Hope the review helped.

I've just upgraded one of my 301 receivers for this 510 so I can get dvr.This dvr has a feature called live record which is similar to what the Xm skyfi 2 has.It automatically records the minute you cut the receiver on.You can pause and pick up where you left off or rewind to the beginning.It will record for over an hour and then start writing over.Also this dvr has a harddrive which will let you record over 100 hours of shows,movies etc.You can record several ways.My favorite is to go to the guide and just click on a future show and you're all set.Incidently this guide goes a week out about 9 days.The 301's guide goes 2 or 3 days a big difference.There is also a menu to let you edit your recordings,name them and even erase them.It also lets you know how many hours you have left on the harddrive.I checked the recording and you can't even tell a difference in the live picture and the recorded one.The recorded one looks the same as the live one and the sound is the same too.It isn't dimminished thru recording.Previously I use a dvd recorder to record from dish.The picture quality on the dvd recorder was diminished slightly and I had to cut the sound up a lot.Not so with this dvr.The only thing I don't like about the 510 is it gets hot even when it's off for a lot of hours.My 301 is cool to the touch when it is off for a few hours.

Good points

Dvr feature lets you just set it up to record on the guide days in advance which means no programming vcrs or dvdrecorders.The clock is already set in the receiver.All you do is press select over the show you want to record in the guide and it's all set.You can also do a manuel recording where you extend the times if you want to.

Over 100 hours of harddrive space

Guide goes out 9 days instead of 2 like the 301

Beautiful Picture Quality Sharp and pristine like all of dishes receivers dvd quality.

Auto Record I should mention that when you cut it on it records but when you cut it off it's erased.This isn't what goes on the harddrive.

Recordings are as great as the original picture both in sound and picture.

Info on dvr lets you know how many hours are left on harddrive,edit,name etc.

Remote has the interactive button for instant access to channel 100 the interactive channel.

Receiver has fan to keep harddrive cool.

Has all the bells and whistles of the 301 and lets you pick favorites channels on the guide and themes.

Bad Points

Receiver gets too hot even when it's off it's hot to the touch.

Manuel states you have to unplug receiver before you move it because it can damage harddrive.

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We've gone through at least five of these DVRs every time it's the same thing: suddenly we lose programs we had recorded even the night before, and/or the timers we had programmed all suddenly disappear and have to be reprogrammed only to vanish again. These problems start between 6 months to a year of use. Each time we have called Dish Network and they have exchanged it, then it takes some time to set up the new DVR and get it synced with your satellite feed etc. Then months later same thing. I should mention that there was one exception: one DVR that was sent to us for exchange was faulty right out of the box. The rest took at least 6 months to go on the fritz.

This seems to be either "built in obsolescence" or just horribly shoddy quality.

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The product is outdated, and in order to make it functional, it would cost twice as much as the asking price. The remotes that were supposed to be included were missing. It seems like false advertising!!

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This item was advertised as 'like new.' It arrived dirty and in pieces. The front of the unit was completely off. The damage may have been caused by the poor packing job. The unit did arrive very quickly.

ADS TECHNOLOGIES Media-Link

While I think the overall idea is great, ADS Tech really developed a poor solution to the problem.

Setting it up isn't hard: install some software on your computer, plug the box into your computer, a little bit of configuration, and you should be able to view media on your TV.

It works some of the time. When it does work, the menus are really slow and difficult to navigate. If I had it all to do over again, I would purchase a Mac mini for double the price. At least the UI makes sense.

I use it for watching movies while on the treadmill. I'm kinda a video geek movies have to be in mpeg avi format. I have 2 in my house and use them daily. I only use video option not picture or music options.

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CE Compass 6Ft Digital Toslink Audio Optic Cable Optical Fiber S/PDIF Cord Wire HDTV DVD PS3 Xbox

With simple items like this, usually all you can say about it is either it works, or it doesn't. Well, it works.

Bought this one so I can hook my new HD TV to an older version of receiver, and this one works as expected.

Price is fair, and it does what is needed.

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I remember when these came out. For the price you paid you'd expect they were full of gold. Now, the price is ridiculously low and it works as good as a TOS link 10 years old that cost 20x the price. I am using it on the audio out on my Panasonic VIERA TC-P60GT50 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz Full HD 3D Plasma TV to connect to a C2G / Cables to Go 28733 Digital To Analog Audio ConverterDAC Black so I can listen to my Ultrasone HFI-780 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones and not disturb the house late at night.

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It snaps into socket firm and works flawlessly. I wiggled it around some and never lost sound at any time.

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Prompt delivery, DVD player was as described. I like the USB feature, Now other cables required. I would recommend this for a first or second drive. I am using on a 10" laptop that came with a DVD drive.

BLU T190Q-BLK/RED Tank Quad-Band Dual SIM Phone with Camera, Bluetooth, MicroSD Card Slot and MP3 P

We bought this phone for grandma since she always forgets to charge the battery and she has trouble pushing the power on button after charging. We can't visit her very often. That's why we bought this phone for the advertised monster battery life. When the item arrived, the model number said T190i instead of T190Q. And the spec states the battery could last only 500+ hours, far less than the advertised 1700 hours standby. We decided to give it a try anyway. So far, it's been 2 weeks, the battery indicator is still 100%. We'd be happy if the battery can last 1 month. The voice quality is great. Overall, if you are looking for a fancy phone, i.e. 4G etc., it's not the phone for you. However, for a very basic 2G phone, it has everything, large buttons, good voice quality, dual sim, long battery life, camera, music, and flash light etc.

1Item received was not the model I asked for,

2Item received menu was in spanish.

3operating manuels not even good for the birs or monkeys to operate.

4Seller is one of the worst I have ever come across and dealt with.

5Seller is unable to understand in plain English my desire to return item.

6Seller keeps chewing and chewing and chewing but unable to see and understand when given instruction.

7please review all my contacts with seller,as well as your contacs with him.

8I am not able to explain my reasons for returning the item,he keeps offering me an adapter,why adapter was not included in the first place.

9A very hard headed and stubborn vendor I will not want other people to face on any item he sells..

10Just help me return this telephone to him,also please when a phone's menu is in spanish and not English { our language} it should state so in the presentation..it was deceiving,vey decieving..

regards karl lawar

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Yes, this little device is my constant companion. It has a GREAT radio and a GREAT light, but I rarely use them. I like the fidelity of the calls, and with the 4 GB micro SD card, I can keep a lot of photos and music on here. I mainly made my purchase for the battery life, which is outstanding. Quad band seems to be working here in Asia, but it also worked great in the Transcaucas and Middle East. Wait 'till you hear the speaker! I dropped it multiple times and it is still "ticking". If I had to do over again, I would certainly buy it a second time.

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The instruction manual was too small to read and the instructions were not very helpful. Also I did not understand how to get the SIM card to work.

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Great Value for Money, Same Phone with blue color is $2-$3 less, but I like the red color so bought this one. Great Value for Money and reliable phone to be used overseas. Easy to Use, you really dont need instructions to install and use one. Great Buy!

Sanyo MCD-V199M Portable VCD/CD Radio Cassette Player with Karaoke. Cassette Recorder with MP3-CD P

• 110V - 240V Unit for Worldwide Use. Top Loading VCD/CD player.
• Portable VCD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3-CD Radio Cassette Player. Only Cassatte Recorder with MP3-CD Playback.
• FM Stereo / AM 2-band Radio. 100W P.M.P.O
• Line in (AUX in) Terminal for All Music Player
• KARAOKE Function. Remote Control. BASSXPANDER, VIDEO CD, MP3 MEGA AUDIO, COMPACT DISC DIGITAL AUDIO.

I wanted a Karaoke capable boom box with a radio and cassette. This has all the parts, they just aren't integrated together. Some notes on this:

* It only plays VCD disks, not CD-G disks. It seems everything is CD-G.

* The microphones do not work except if you have a VCD disk in. (Well, I don't know,

because I can't find a VCD disk). It would have been fine if the mics worked all the time. It's silly to turn them off except for VCD disks. Kids want to sing along with everything.

* You cannot record from the microphones. I was really hoping we could do that so my kids could hear themselves for choir.

The above three issues are ridiculous.

The quality and sound are ok, not exceptional by any means. Radio seems to work ok, though mine was off a bit on the displayed frequency. I didn't try the mp3 part.

I'm sending it back.

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I brought 2 of these as gifts for people who did not have players and who I wanted to send some CD's to. They LOVED this player. They said it was easy to use and with 4 speakers it sounded great. I would recommend this player and it was delivered 2 days early.

Roger

.

Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct

• DivX Ultra 6, Mpeg 4 video
• HDMI, 1080i Upsampling
• USB Connect, plays flash drive files
• Ultra Slim Design. Compatible with both NTSC and PAL.
• Composite and component inputs cables supplied are only for composite no optical out just digital coax

I bought this DVD player in mid May and 3 weeks later with very nominal usage my player just died in the middle of a movie. I had it connected to a top of the line surge protector so the problem was not a power surge. I could not even get the disc out. When I took it back to Circuit City they assured me it was probably just a bad one and gave me a new one. I could have got another brand but for the features and price I could not find one I liked in the store. The new player has worked ok for the last month but it shows some jitters while switching from one HDMI set up mode to another and causes a 'green' screen to display on my plasma. Once I switch it off and then on again it has worked fine but I am prepared to have it die on me in just a few months. I did not notice any substantial improvement in picture using the HDMI cable over the component connection. In fact, if you have a progressive DVD player I doubt that you would notice too much difference in the image quality using this upconverting DVD player. I had it set to the 1080i resolution and also to the 720p and 570p. On some DVDs the 1080i performed better than the other resoulutions but on some others it did not seem to make much of a difference which makes me think that the image quality is very DVD dependent.

The good:

Plays all discs VCDs, CD-RWs, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, Div-X and just about anything that won't play on other DVD players.

It even has a USB connection in the front which you can use to directly plug in a zip drive or another device like a hard drive, although I have not used this feature yet.

The bad:

Remote is not at all user friendly. It is of cheap construction and buttons are not intuitive. I liked my Sony remote much better. Worse, the DVD player is VERY slow to respond to your pressing remote buttons. At times, I have to struggle to get it to respond.

While changing resolutions through DVD player set up it is better not to have a disk playing in the DVD player as that causes errors.

Finally, for the features and price this is a good buy if you have a lot of Div-X, VCD, DVD-RW discs and copies of original DVDs as this player plays them all. However, don't expect this player to be a life-long purchase and cross your fingers and hope you get a good piece when you buy one. In fact, I recommend buying it from a store close to you so that the return is easier.

11/06/06 Update: The player has worked just fine up till now but I hardly use it more than once a week.

11/16/08: This player is still working fine and plays all DVDs and home made movies without any problem. You can also make it region free if you like just Google it. So I stand by my rating.

Buy Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct Now

I bought this after being incredibly satisfied with its pseudo-predecessor, the Philips DVP642 DVD Player. The reasons I loved that player was that it played just about anything I threw at it. I could take DVD's I bought and convert them to DIVX or XVID and play 6 movies, or twenty TV shows on a single disc. It would also happily play all of my mp3's and jpgs I burned to data DVD's and CD's. I don't use the picture functionality much, but it makes for a great slideshow/screensaver.

Anyway, the DVP5960 has all of that functionality and more. Here are the top three reasons I recommend this DVD player and the reason I gave it 5 out of 5 stars:

#1: like it's predecessor, the DVP5960 is cheap. It makes a great birthday, Christmas or wedding present. I've probably bought 6 or 7 of the DVP642's to give away, and will likely do the same for the DVP5960 over the next couple of years.

#2: this sucker plays just about anything you throw at it. The DVP5960 will happily trudge through scratched or non-standard DVD's that other DVD players would scoff at. (Especially the DRM-happy Sony players)

It plays NTSC, PAL, Burned DVD's and CD's, and even burned *DATA* DVD's and CD's which can hold thousands of pictures, hundreds of mp3s, 15-25 television shows or 4-8 movies per DVD (compressed, like in divx or xvid formats.) There is a slew of software which will convert your legally-bought DVD's to these compressed DIVX formats, as well as all kinds of free content you can download off the internet.

I'ts pretty cool to throw in a DVD and watch an entire season of your favorite show without changing the disc. Also, I found that the DVP642 occasionally had problems rendering certain .avi's. The DVP5960 seems to have improved it's codecs and consequently, every video I used to have a problem with plays beautifully on the DVP5960.

#3: This is the coolest feature to me: The USB port. The product literature suggests the USB port is there to hook up mp3 players and cameras, and play mp3's or display pictures from them. As a test, I threw a few .avi video files on a 2 gig USB stick and plugged it in. I was delighted to see the DVP5960 pick up the videos on the stick with absolutely no problems. In fact, it loaded and played them much faster than it read my DVD's.

Next, I took a little external 80 gigabyte hard drive I had, loaded it up with mp3's, jpg's, mpg's and avi files (divx, xvid, etc) and enthusiastically plugged it in. After a few seconds trying to recognize the drive, it displayed "Disk Type Unsupported" on the screen. Doh!

Demoralized, I wondered why the USB stick worked and the external drive did not. The next day I realized the main difference between my external drive and the USB memory stick was the file structure. USB sticks generally default to either the FAT or FAT32 file system. However, Windows XP likes to format drives to NTFS, a proprietary Microsoft file system. In fact, XP will not allow you to format a drive to FAT or FAT32 through it's GUI. It does provide instructions to do so via the command line (start-->run-->'cmd'), but after four hours of formatting my drive to FAT32, it failed. I did some research and found out that although a common misconception is that FAT32 can only format a disk up to 32 gigabytes or so, it can actually support drives up to 2 terrabytes. (2000 gigabytes.)

Do a search for a free program called "fat32format.exe" and run it from the command line on your external USB hard drive. It formatted my 80 gig drive it in about 30 seconds.

After doing this, I loaded up the drive again with mp3's, jpg's and several dozen movies and television shows, crossed my fingers and plugged it into the DVP5960.

I clicked the USB button, waited a few seconds while it tried to recognize the drive, and much to my delight, displayed the full contents of my 80 gig external drive! As I type this, my DVP5960 has been reading videos off that external drive for about 12 hours now. This alone makes this DVD player worth it to me.

As others have said, these drives do seem to break down after a period of heavy use. With the DVP642, I think I heard of two burning out, each running for about two years before they gave out. If you make sure they don't get to hot (provide ventilation) I think you can limit this. But frankly, I am more than willing to pay $70.00 every two years for the broad compatibility and USB functionality this drive provides. And who knows, maybe this new model will have a longer shelf life. Time will tell.

If you're looking for a drive that will run just about anything you throw at it, this is the drive for you. I have messed with many, many DVD drives, and I simply cannot recommend this drive enough.

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USB:

The primary reason I bought this DVD player was because of its ability to play off USB devices. The specs indicate it will read jpegs, MP3s, and WMAs off a USB flash drive. It will also read off a FAT32-formatted external hard drive as long as it is externally powered and it will also play divx/xvid from USB. I'm using a 250GB Seagate HDD inside a (warranty-voided) Maxtor enclosure. The divx/xvid playback works perfectly and no stuttering. The interface for the USB is pretty bad though. It will only give you 8 characters of the filename and only 4 filenames at a time.

DVD Playback:

No issues, but I wouldn't recommend this player if your only using this for DVD Playback. One should take advantage of the divx/xvid and USB capabilities, otherwise, why buy this? Some people have complained about lack of DTS decoding, but the vast majority of the public are fine w/Dolby Digital. It's a $80 machine after all. Like many DVD players, there's a region free hack (google it!) I don't have a very good TV and can only use composite, so I can't comment on the upscaling.

Remote Control:

I need to point the remote directly at the player to get it to work. The buttons you use the most (up,down,left,right,enter) are near the top where your thumb should land. Left/Right double as RW/FF when applicable and run at 2/4/8/16/32x which works on divx/xvid as well as dvd. The "enter" button is a huge 0.5inch diameter circle. Play/Pause/Stop/Next/Back are right underneath and also "thumb accessible". Would have liked a backlight though. There is no volume amplifier, so you will need at least 2-3 remotes (TV/DVD Player/Sound System). Overall, I'm happy with it.

Overall Impressions:

You get alot for $80. It is a steal if you're using the USB to play divx/xvid, something that only a fraction of DVD players can do. And those that do are generally international players. Bad USB interface though. No complaints w/DVD player. Not much to say about it other than you can do a region-free hack. Even though the remote has bad response, I like the fact that all the commonly used buttons are all around the thumb area and the buttons I use the most are bigger.

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I love my Philips 642 (which I use with the bedroom TV) and since my Zenith player in the living room was giving me trouble I thought I'd try this model. Sadly, it's gonna go back -

GOOD POINTS

Great picture quality. I haven't tried the upscale feature. My HD set only has DVI and I don't feel like buying an adapter, especially since (supposedly) the HDMI output on the player cuts off the coax digital audio output if you use it. Groovy if you've got a HDMI amp you can snake it to, I don't.

Hackable. Simple to turn off the region code and play PAL discs, and the PAL conversion is the best I've seen, even better than the 642. Very nice if you have import discs.

MP3 playback supports DVD mp3 discs, and sounds GREAT. The menu is a bit crude (like almost every DVD player is when it comes to mp3) but better than most. It at least displays the bitrate and total files in folder. It also allows you (via the "display" button) to select single, shuffle, folder and repeat folder options. That is an EXTREMELY nice option, since most of the time I only want to hear one folder (album) and damn near no other player I've come across features this.

I haven't messed much with the DivX playback, but the little I did worked fine.

CONS

Audio occasionally mutes on my burned DVD-Rs and RWs. BIG drag. This may just be a defect with this particular machine, and I'll try another before giving up on this model. Otherwise it doesn't seem to have any problems reading them.

Biggest complaint NO DTS OUTPUT. WTF?? Even the cheapest chinese throwaway players offer this. I don't have a HUGE collection of discs with DTS, but enough to make this a BIG drawback (since I happen to prefer DTS when available). Don't know what they were thinking with that one.

Oh, and the remote is pretty lame . . . . not as bad as the 642 but still cheap and awkward.

If the above drawbacks aren't dealbreakers I'd say go for it. For an under $100 player it's got a lot of nice qualities.

When shopping for a new DVD player I felt this Amazon page was lacking some vital information. Here is more information from the Phillips brochure.:

DVD Player with Video Upscaling up to 1080i

HDMI DivX

Picture/Display

*Aspect ratio: 4:3, 16:9

*D/A converter: 12 bit, 108 MHz

*Picture enhancement: High Def (720p, 1080i), Progressive Scan, Smart Picture, Video upsampling, Video upscaling

Sound

*D/A converter: 24 bit, 192 kHz

*Signal to noise ratio: 90

*Distortion and Noise (1kHz): 65 dB

*Crosstalk (1kHz): 70 dB

*Dynamic Range (1kHz): 80 dB

*Sound System: Dolby Digital

*Frequency response: 30-20000 Hz

Video Playback

*Playback Media: CD, CD-R/CD-RW, Video CD/SVCD, DVD, DivX, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW

*Compression formats: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX 3.11, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x, DivX 6.0, DivX Ultra

*Video disc playback system: NTSC, PAL

Audio Playback

*Playback Media: CD, MP3-CD, MP3-DVD, CD-R/RW, WMA-CD

*Compression format: Dolby Digital, MP3, PCM, WMA

*MP3 bit rates: 32 256 kbps

Still Picture Playback

*Playback Media: DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD-R/RW, Picture CD, Kodak Picture CD

*Picture compression format: JPEG

*Picture enhancement: Flip photos, Rotate, Zoom, Slideshow with MP3 playback, High Definition Resolution

Multimedia Applications

*Multimedia connections: USB memory class device

*Playback Formats: DivX, MP3, JPEG Still pictures

Connectivity

*Rear Connections: Analog audio Left/Right out, Composite video (CVBS) output, HDMI output, Digital coaxial out, ComponentVideo out Progressive

Convenience

*Child Protection: Parental Control, Child Lock

*On-Screen Display languages: English, Mexican Spanish, Canadian French

Accessories

*Included Accessories: 2 x AAA Batteries, Audio/Video cable, Quick start guide, Remote Control, World Wide Warranty leaflet, User Manual, Product Registration Card

Dimensions

*Set dimensions (W x H x D): 435 x 37 x 235 mm

*Packaging dimensions (W x H x D): 490 x 82 x 320 mm

Power

*Power supply: 120V, 60Hz

*Power consumption: < 10 W

*Standby power consumption: < 0.8 W

*

HDMI for simple AV connection

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is a direct digital connection that can carry digital HD video as well as digital multichannel audio. By eliminating the conversion to analog signals it delivers perfect picture and sound quality, completely free from noise. HDMI is fully backward-compatible with (Digital Video Interface) DVI.

Video Upscaling up to 1080i

With Video Upscaling you can increase the resolution of SD (Standard Definition) video signals that DVD uses to HD (High Definition) so you'll be able to see more details thanks to a sharper, more true-to-life picture.The resulting HD video output signal can be fed to an HD display through HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).

High definition JPEG playback

With High Resolution JPEG playback, you can show up to 2 Megapixel resolution on your Flat TV (FTV). Now you can view your digital pictures in their true resolution, without loss of quality or details.

Progressive Scan

Progressive Scan doubles the vertical resolution of the image resulting in a noticeably sharper picture. Instead of sending a field comprising the odd lines to the screen first, followed by the field with the even lines, both fields are written at one time. A full image is created instantaneously, using the maximum resolution. At such a speed, your eye perceives a sharper picture with no line structure.

Multi-format Movies with DivX

Multi-format playability allows you to play most disc formats for maximum disc compatibility and viewing pleasure.

DivX Ultra certified

DivX Ultra combines DivX playback with great features like integrated subtitles, multiple audio languages, multiple tracks and menus into one convenient file format.

Music: Windows Media(tm) Audio

Multi-format playability allows you to play most disc formats for maximum disc compatibility and listening pleasure.

Picture CD with MP3 Playback

Picture CD is a CD-R or CD-RW disc on which you can store your MP3 and digital pictures. When inserting a Picture CD in the DVD player, a screen menu will pop up, showing your JPEG's and/or MP3 files on the disc. Just select the music and pictures files you wish to enjoy and press play or OK. You can watch your pictures on TV with your music playing simultaneously.

AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2

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A new player in town, how does this compare to the well established Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black) which costs almost half the price (after the rebate) and the similarly priced Western Digital WD TV Live Plus 1080p HD Media Player. Is it a flawlessly made product ? is it a the holy grail of media player ? if you currently own a PBO is it worthy the upgrade ? if you are about to purchase WDTV Live+ is it worthy to reconsider ? Read on and judge for yourself ...

Packaging:

Nicely double backed, high end looking design with flashing logos thrown on every side of the box.

Unboxing:

How much would a 3' HDMI cable add to the cost of this box ? around the same price of any of the included cables ;)

Manual is exceptionally well written for this class of devices.

There is a quick installation guide too, which *interestingly* claims a USB webcam support !! :-0

The Device:

Nice metal casing, not flashy and would easily fit within a typical home theater setup.

LCD screen ? such a disappointingly tiny display especially with such an empty front (which contains nothing beside the power button). You could easily fit a 2/3 lines display on the front of this player.

The box is considerably big (due to the supported 3.5" HDD), see pictures for how it compares to a PBO and a standard slime external drive.

Remote control:

This is most thing I hate about this box. Not only isn't unjustifiably big, but also the button placement makes absolutely no sense, compare with the PBO to envy the PBO owners ;)

And whats with the unused buttons ?! the manual said the 4 buttons are for the DTV model. Why they heck should a remote for a device has buttons for some yet to be release device, especially that the remote is not a universal one.

Firmware:

I wont elaborate that much into this, there has already been one firmware released beside the one that is shipped with the box. There is also a new firmware that is promised tomorrow. So I will just highlight two main points and keep the full review for the new firmware.

1. BR-ISO (50GB) works beautifully over GB network (resides on a modest DNS-321), no stutter, pauses, smooth as silk and full menu support too.

2. (Didn't test bitstreaming) But DTS-MA does work from the ISO, but doesn't work on MKV (though the display button shows DTS-5.1 for both files). This must be a bug, as the firmware setting menu has an option for DTS-HD (7.1/5.1 core).

3. Logitech wifi mouse worked without a problem.

4. The LCD doesn't display mm:ss but only hh:mm (so you got 00:mm for the first hour), it also doesn't work on anything but local video files (doesn't work on audio files, online contents whether video or audio)

To put it in a nutshell (IMHO) for those who already own a PBO, here is where the AIOS shines:

If you have many ripped BRs (direct copy), the PBO will only play the longest track unless you go and individually select the streams. This is a worthy upgrade.

If you have an HDD that you want to load, you can now load "over the network" in reasonable rates. This is a worthy upgrade.

If you think the GUI 2.0 on the ACRBO is cool but too laggy for your taste, GUI 2.0 is very smooth on the AIOS. This is a worthy upgrade.

If you are stuck with SD (composite) on your EDTV with the PBO, the AIOS has component port for your EDTV (480p). This is a worthy upgrade.

If you want to watch YT-XL or have interest in logging to facebook from your big screen TV.

If you are like me an early PBO adopter and hate your inability to bitstream HD-Audio, AIOS can bitstream HD-Audio without a problem. This is a worthy upgrade.

If you are sick of PM support (or lack of) for the PBO, pivos is a new player with a single product to sell, so currently that's their bread and butter, so its not unreasonable to expect some serious development (on the firmware side).

Here is somethings to take into consideration:

The hacking possibility of this box is still undetermined, one thing I found so far (after disassembling the whole player) that there is no easy way for serial recovery (this is what makes the PBO brick proof), I am yet to open up the firmwares (AIOS and the ones from ACR and Mede8er) and see how tightly locked they are (unlike the PBO the AIOS does have a standby button to force panic recovery though).

Again, I hate the remote, they must have paid someone to purposely mess it up, there is no way you can do so many placement mistakes in any single remote control (beside tossing a coin for button functionality assignment).

To sum up, the AIOS is one step up the PBO in every single direction, but whether it would make a difference for you depends on your current usage. For those who don't own a PBO and are willing to pay $89.99 for WDTV Live+, better think twice

Thats all for now, more to come after the update.

Update 11/3:

Hacking unleashed, google for the AIOS WIKI.

Pivos released multiple firmwares since release each dealing with "some" of the reported problems, while not yet quite there but they are certainly on the right grades.

Update 11/25:

Semiofficial firmwares dealing with several bugs (adds metafeeds and nzbget).

DTS-MA in MKV still doesn't work (apparently Realtek was notified and they are still waiting for a fix from them).

Java (BD 2.0) menus not supported (and wont be), remember to switch BD menus to "simple" from setup if the disc have Java menus else the longest track will be picked up and played.

Community managed to provide a replacement skin (yay).

Arabic and Hebrew srt subs not working, they are working on a fix, but meanwhile one can use txt2vob to convert the srt subs to idx/sub files compatible with the AIOS.

Update 1/7:

Latest semiofficial firmware (R15) adds movie jukebox (check uploaded pictures).

Official firmware has working poster/coverart view mode as well a new NFS server scanner.

Arabic and Hebrew srt subs are now supported.

Pivos released bootcode update (B18) to fix scrambled bootup splash screen, this is very beneficial as we can now monitor firmware updates of HDMI.

Price went down to $88 (in Canada) including wifi N adapter during the boxing week, customer base is certainly getting wider with these deep discount sales.

Update 2/1:

it was reported on AVS that HD bit streaming (DD TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) works now on both in ISO and MKV containers (base firmware 2.8.3.2)

Update 2/25:

new firmware release 3.0.1.7 which fixes that playon UPnP server bug, this is important for those who want to stream netflix, hulu or amazon vod to the AIOS.

Update 3/24:

if you haven't checked already semiofficial R18 is already out, be sure to check the extended internet streaming feeds (literally hundreds of new channels, access to Justin.tv among many other additions).

Update 5/14:

R19 is out, with updated IMS contents and more bugfixes and features.

Update: 5/31: Remote control:

The original disastrous remote (check the pictures) is now updated, the one getting shipped with the AIOS now has glow-in-the-dark buttons, better button placement and extra unassigned buttons are now removed.

Update 7/8:

R20 is out, with updated IMS contents, new jukebox and a web enabled remote control.

Update 8/29:

R21 is out, too many updates to list here, most notably, improved network performance, reworked home menu and advanced cover view mode.

Update 3/31 (2013):

R22.1 is out, music jukeboxes, more customization for home screen, downloadable themes and updatable internet media services.

I tried quite a few media players for NAS and DLNA. Nothing quite compared to WDTV HD Live in simplicity and easy of use. Unfortunately WDTV is a mess when it comes to vendor firmware the only way to enjoy it is to update to alternative WDLXTV firmware. FW v.1.03.49 is the only one that works reliably, so for that very reason do not go higher with WDLXTV FW.

Enough about WDTV, AIOS is working flawlessly for me after firmware update to v.2.8.0.5. Tested with full BR rips with TrueHD and DTS-HD[MA] (leave default DTS-HD = 7.1) works, no lip sync issues. 1080/24p works. The vendor is actively supporting the product. I like GUI simplicity, direct access to Audio, Subtitles, Zoom, GoTo (my favorite one), list mode navigation and etc. Unit offers rich functionality for very reasonably price point. I will continue to test it and post any findings later on. Overall the unit is a A+ rated job, cudos to folks who designed it.

Buy AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2 Now

My main goal in getting a new media player is to be able to play my HD movie collection via ISO format and play audio through my surround sound home theater system. I own a first generation Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player and was pleased how it was able to play most video, music and picture formats. However it was no longer able to decode some of the newer DTS and Dolby Digital audio codecs. I'm familiar with some of the XBMC-based systems out there but didn't really want to spend the money (or time) buying and configuring a full-blown HTPC system. This AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2 system seemed interesting to me in that it has USB 3.0 support, an internal SATA drive bay, digital audio coaxial output (good for audiophiles), SD card slot and network capabilities things I didn't have with the original WDTV. I purchased, received and installed the AIOS after reading all the positive reviews. After encounter video and audio problems on the AIOS, I also decided to get a NETGEAR NeoTV 550 NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player for comparison. Here is what I have discovered so far between the two products:

AIOS vs NeoTV COMPARISON:

* AIOS is slightly less expensive than NeoTV. Advantage: AIOS

* NeoTV has an eSata port while the AIOS doesn't. Advantage: NeoTV

* AIOS has a coaxial output while the NeoTV doesn't. Advantage: AIOS

* NeoTV has a more sophisticated UI than AIOS. Advantage: NeoTV

* AIOS has a USB 3.0 support, NeoTV only has USB 2.0. Advantage: AIOS

* AIOS has 10/100/1000 Ethernet, NeoTV only has 10/100 Ethernet. Advantage: AIOS

* AIOS has FTP/CIFS server and CIFS client support. NeoTV has CIFS server CIFS/NFS client support. Both have UPnP/DLNA client support. Advantage: Tie

* AIOS has HTML5 web browser. NeoTV has no browser. Advantage AIOS

* AIOS has a metal case construction. NeoTV is mostly plastic. Advantage: AIOS

* AIOS requires USB for updates. NeoTV can be updated from network. Advantage: NeoTV

Despite the AIOS having better hardware specs on paper, the NeoTV worked better and functioned more properly by being able to play BD-ISO files with working digital audio and menu support. AIOS wasn't able to display the BD menus correctly, skipped video frames, played the wrong chapter for certain movies and my surround processor wasn't able to detect digital audio from the AIOS no matter what I did. Even though I set both HDMI and SPDIF output to RAW, my surround processor only played audio in Prologic mode from the AIOS. It could be that my surround processor (B&K Reference 30) may be a little older than others but I paid good money for it awhile back and not about to replace it that easily. On the other hand, the NeoTV played Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound fine through my processor in comparison. That is why I am keeping the NeoTV and returning the AIOS.

Read Best Reviews of AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2 Here

Very attractive little box, with a subdued display that doesn't distract the viewer. I must have got some older stock as the remote that came with mine isn't the new one which is glow in the dark. Once I had flashed it with the Xtraios 3.0.12 (google it, it's easy to find) firmware the front end is a lot more aesthetically pleasing, the AIOS orange screen is likely to damage your retinas!

When flashing with Xtraios 3.0.12 you need to use the emergency recovery system. Download your firmware and unzip the install.img file to the root directory of a FAT32 formatted flash drive, with the unit powered down insert the flash drive into one of the USB ports, to follow the install process you should connect up the yellow RCA video out to your TV, the updater doesn't output an HDMI signal. With the system switched off at the rear switch hold in the front power button for 5 seconds then switch the rear switch on and continue holding the front power button for a further 5 seconds, the updater should then start, DO NOT POWER OFF THE MACHINE, when the update is complete the unit will reboot. Functionally Xtraios offers a bit more than the AIOS firmware. Be aware if you install this FW your internal HD will show up as sda1 under the USB icon. Mapping network shares is relatively straight forward although with the AIOS firmware I found I had to enter the actual IP numbers of the PC. Streaming from shares is faultless and I've yet to find a format it wont play. The audio jukebox in Xtraios is particularly attractive. UPnP works faultlessly and I found my self quite effortlessly streaming web content from my Playon server from CBS, ABC and indeed from Amazon Prime VOD :-). The XtraAIOS (and indeed the AIOS) will show up on your network as a UPnP render device, quite how to utilize that I haven't figured out. If anyone has, let me know in comments.

The transfer speeds across the Gb network interface are far from Gb performance (I was getting about 6MB/s compared to about 60MB/s I usually get), having investigated this it seems this is down to a combination of factors, the Gb interface itself is probably being throttled by throughput to the internal HD interface, and this in turn is throttled if your HD is not formatted in ext3. To alleviate this you should install a bare HD, i.e. no partitions and use telnet to format in ext3 (if you haven't a clue what I'm talking about then I would just use the AIOS internal formatting utility), the AIOS will do so this in NTFS. If you're not interested in transferring files by LAN then you can just use the USB interface on the unit or load up the HD prior to installation. USB 3.0 will get you speeds up to 90 MB/s, alternatively install the drive temporarily in your PC and do it over SATA. Having said all this about the Gb interface, as far as streaming is concerned it is well up to the task as there is no involvement of the internal HD.

This unit replaced an Argosy HV335T which died a couple of weeks ago, it was about thirty dollars cheaper than the Argosy was some 3 years ago and so far out performs the Argosy in everything I have tried. I was quite sad when the Argosy died but now I am very happy that the AIOS is such a great replacement. The existence of a very active hacking and modding community which is to a certain extent encouraged by pivos is a great help and also makes this little device all the more attractive.

Update on the remote, I contacted Pivos Group by email and they responded within a couple of hours, on a Saturday no less, I was asked for a copy of my receipt and the SN of the AIOS and then told that I would be informed when stock of the new remote was in and I would be sent one if I returned my old remote. They apologized for the inconvenience and pointed out that they didn't have control of the stock of their distributors. Pretty satisfactory!

Update on Xtraios, now replaced with semiofficial firmware (R20) which is much more aesthetically pleasing and functionally much nicer.

Want AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2 Discount?

For about a week now I've been messing around with my new Pivos AIOS player, installing different firmwares (the latest versions of the official, semi-official, and XtrAIOS), and customizing the player to my liking. I've explored the strengths and weaknesses of each firmware and settled on the semi-official R18 firmware. I do understand the positive and negative reviews, why some users enjoy the player, while other hated it. Let me start with the bad.

BAD:

1) Although the player is operational out of the box, the factory installed firmware needs to be reflashed to the latest one to improve the performance and GUI appearance. This update is essential as bugs get fixed and the hideous orange menu system is replaced by other options.

2) Setting up and modifying the AIOS past the basics is a pain. The most simple set up changes can be done through the settings menu, but other more sophisticated customization, like bookmarking and setting up the jukebox, are a real pain and require software, skills, and knowledge not typically familiar to the average user. Hence, a steep learning curve applies.

3) The button layout on the remote control is very odd. For example the mute button is at the top of the remote, while the volume buttons are in the middle. The play/pause button is small, near the bottom of the remote, and not easily accessible by the thumb. There is no MENU button, and to get to the menu of a DVD, one needs to press the OPTIONS button and make the selection to access the DVD menu from there. That's an unnecessary extra step. Other important buttons are also scattered around the remote following limited logic. (I'm surprised the numbered buttons are in order.) But I've programmed my Harmony One remote to control the player, and I stashed the original remote in my drawer.

4) The player doesn't display the names of my local hard drives. It only identifies them as C:, D:, E:, etc, in either the thumbnail or filename display setting. I had to generate a custom thumbnail for each drive to display the name, and I'm displaying my content in the thumbnail view. What an unnecessary hassle.

5) The manual is basic and unattractive, with several typos and grammatical errors in it. I just don't understand why a company can't pay an American a few bucks and have the manual proofread. But the unprofessional manual isn't as bad as some of the crazy attempts at English I've observed from other Chinese companies.

GOOD:

1) The case and hardware appear to be solid and not bad looking. The player doesn't come across as a cheap, plastic box. I especially like the easily accessible internal HDD bay and the illuminated power button.

2) With the latest semi-official (R18) firmware, my player is very stable. As soon as I hooked up the new player to my TV, I first upgraded the firmware to the latest official one, and finally to the latest semi-official (R18) version. The unit has not froze or crashed on me yet, and I have yet to hard-reboot it. I can't speak for the early versions of the firmware, since I have not messed with them, but because my player is so stable with the latest firmware it appears most, if not all, of the past bugs have been worked out. The AIOS may finally be ready for the market, six months after its release.

3) The AIOS plays everything I've thrown at it, which are MKV's, DVD rips, AVIs, FLVs, etc.

4) The player recognizes MKV and DVD chapters and subtitles. The user can adjust the size, color, and location of the subtitles.

5) The unit has a frontal digital display, which displays the clock when a movie is not playing, and the time-elapsed when a movie is played. The display is a bit small and in unattractive orange color. But hey, better than nothing.

6) The AIOS is very customizable. The user can choose to use it as a basic player out of the box, he can set up the simple movie wall with movie posters (which is what I did), or he can go all the way and set up the jukebox. The reason I didn't go the jukebox route was that it required additional modifications via telnet (I don't have the time learning new techniques), and once the jukebox is set up, any new movies added to the list will require updating the jukebox database to have the additions show up in the jukebox database (I don't have the time to maintain my jukebox.). But I'm very happy with the movie wall and the movie posters. The free ThumbGen program is helpful at generating the thumbnails and posters, and any new movies can easily be added to the movie wall with a few clicks within the ThumbGen and dragging and dropping the movies into my HDDs.

7) The AIOS has an internal 3.5" HDD slot, which allows for the cheaper and larger capacity drives than some units that have room only for 2.5" drives. Some other players don't even have a slot at all, which means you have to haul around the player and the external drive if needed to transport the player to, let's say, a backyard projection party. The internal and external drives can also be shut down through the player and removed while the player is running.

8) When the player is off, the power button illuminates in red. When the player is on, the power button illuminates in blue. Several players out there have only one LED which illuminates as long as power is going to the back of the unit, regardless whether it's on or off; that's pretty useless. The AIOS also has a physical switch in the back to completely cut off power to the player.

9) The angle of reception and the distance of the remote signal is pretty wide and long, unlike some reviewer(s) have noted. The only issue I noticed is that my player, which is located nearly 6' above the floor, has a problem receiving signal from my sitting position. I need to raise my arm to about 3' above the floor, which is about 3' below the player, for the signal to be received. I'm sitting about 10' from the player.

10) The user has the ability to use a wireless keyboard (I tried the Lenovo mini keyboard N5901) and mouse with the player. The experience of navigating with the wireless desktop isn't as simple as on a PC, but typing into highlighted fields is simpler than using the on-screen keyboard. Some players don't have this luxury.

11) The unit has three USB 2.0 inputs, two in the back and one on the side, nearly at the front. I have two USB drives hooked in the back and the wireless desktop receiver in the front port. The rear USB 3.0 port is for the connection between the player and a PC.

OTHER THOUGHTS:

1) The AIOS has no problem detecting my USB or internal drives (1.5Tb, 2TB and the 3TB split into two partitions). All the HDDs were NTFS formatted several months ago in Windows 7 and are filled with files. The unit detects all the drives, every time, without an issue.

2) The player is able to automatically connect to my shared computer without any adjustments to my network. The wired network setting on the player was automatically enabled and configured as soon as I plugged the LAN cable into the back of the unit. I did not try a wireless adapter, nor did I mess with NFS or UPnP. I just manually navigated to my wired computer. The LAN port on the AIOS is a gigabit, but I've not measured any speed readings.

3) There are several websites out there with strong AIOS forums, like the official Pivos website, AVS, and pivos-aios wikidot. If you have any questions, chances are they have already been asked and answered.

4) There are several options for firmware out there. You can choose the official, semi-official, or the Xtreamer version (XtrAIOS) modified for the AIOS. I'm guessing that the Micca EP350 firmware may also be flashed on the Pivos, since the units are so similar, but I did not try it, so I'm not 100% sure if that's possible. The XtrAIOS firmware is beautiful, but a couple of issues prevented me to stick with it, so I switched to the semi-official R18.

5) The player's power plug is the typical 12V used for 3.5" external drives. I sometimes use a power supply for my USB drives with the AIOS, but I've noticed that not all of my 12V bricks generate enough amps for the Pivos.

Overall, I'm happy with the player. Since all my other media players are some of the first players that hit the market a few years ago, I can not compare the AIOS to any other modern player recently released. I guess the lesson with this unit is not to buy a fresh and untested device and let the others do the testing for you. Had I bought the unit back in fall, I would have shipped it back. But now that the bugs have been worked out, it's a very competent and competitively priced player. Because it is a bit of a headache setting up the player to get the full potential out of it, I can only recommend the player to more technical users, although for the current price of under $100, it is still priced right just as a regular player with an internal HDD dock. I'll post any updates as the weeks go by.

____________________________________________

UPDATE 04/05/2012:

BAD:

Navigation between thumbnails and posters in the movie library is a real pain. You have to strictly follow the associated commands, which often aren't what your common sense will tell you, because if you do not, you'll get penalized. For example, while in the thumbnail view you press the PLAY button to view the movie poster and then while in the poster view you unwillingly start playing the movie because you pressed any button on the remote except for the RETURN one, you're done for. When you abort the play by hitting STOP or RETURN, you're kicked out to the first movie's thumbnail, forcing you to scroll through the dozens/hundreds of your movies' thumbnails to your desired spot. The player does not remember the last played movie. Or again when in the poster view and your common sense tells you that pressing the RIGHT or LEFT buttons would lead you to the next or previous movie's poster, tough luck; RIGHT and LEFT buttons start playing the movie, and you have to press STOP and be kicked back to #1 movie's thumbnail. The only way to navigate in the poster view is to actually select the poster view via the BLUE button on the remote, but in that view it can take minutes to get to the end of your library, because you always start at movie #1 poster and you can't jump from the first movie to the last one. The player's navigation through the movie library lacks common sense and makes the experience unnecessarily difficult and frustrating.

GOOD:

The movie picture quality is awesome. I left all the video settings at the factory default of 50%, and the colors are just perfect, if not a bit vivid, on my Panasonic Viera plasma TV. I watched a movie which takes place in the tropics, and all the scenery came through very beautifully. The movie colors are more beautiful than through my HD cable box, which is also hooked up via HDMI.

OTHER:

The player startup is pretty average. It takes about 30 seconds from the time I press the player's power button to be able to navigate in the main menu. At 50 seconds into the startup, the internal HDD is detected. At about one minute into the startup, the USB drives are detected, but that time frame may vary from one USB drive to another.

____________________________________________

UPDATE 04/09/2012:

BAD:

I have my Pivos hooked up to my 100Mbps switch via a LAN cable. When copying files to the Pivos, the average speed I get is about 1.5MB/sec, which is pretty slow. Hence it takes me about 45 minutes to transfer a 4.3GB DVD. When transferring a DVD between two of my 100Mbps LAN wired computers, the process takes about 10-15 minutes. I may have to hook the Pivos to my gigabit switch and see what those rates will be like.

GOOD:

1) I enabled the Samba protocol in the Pivos' SETTINGS/NETWORK menu, so I could see the player's HDDs and copy files to the player from my computer via my network. I did not turn on the Samba Security feature, which would require a passworded login when connecting to the Pivos. The Samba protocol was very simple to turn on, with one click, and after I detected each drive by typing \\AIOS_IP_ADDRESS or \\aios in the Windows File Explorer, I mapped the Pivos' drives on my computer. I then renamed each mapped drive to my liking. Now I can just drag and drop new movies into each mapped drive without having to move the media drives between the player and my computer.

2) I streamed a 720p MKV movie from my computer via the 100Mbps LAN wire. The movie started right up and played without a buffering pause. But when I started to skip chapters, the player needed to be manually paused with the PLAY/PAUSE button for a couple of seconds to let the stream buffer some of the movie and avoid the playback from frequent bursts of pausing.

____________________________________________

UPDATE 05/11/2012:

GOOD:

Since I wanted to have three external HDDs hooked to the Pivos, and the front USB port was occupied by my wireless desktop dongle, I had only the two rear USB ports left for the drives. I therefore hooked a cheapo, no-name-brand unpowered USB hub into one of the rear USB ports and connected two of the three drives to the player via the hub. The Pivos detects the drives at every startup and plays movies from the two drives without any issues. I would have to verify this by actually timing the new startup time, but it appears it now takes slightly longer to detect the drives than when only two drives without the USB hub were connected to the Pivos. Regardless, I'm thrilled I can add more drives to the Pivos in this manner.

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