As a photographer and a sales trainer/consultant I often find myself in situations where I need to connect to a TV or monitor in order to show some media files to a client or a group. Usually I am prepared for this and have all of the equipment necessary for a professional presentation. However, sometimes an opportunity arises at a unexpected time or place. For me, that is what I will use this device for. I can also see many applications for home and family use.I thought that I would make this short video to show how the player works. One thing that really surprised me is how small it is and you can really see that in this video.
Disclaimer: Although I was not paid for this review I did receive a sample for reviewing purposes.
* First of all, this thing has great packaging... the box itself gives a good first impression and actually has a lot of useful information about specs and such right on there (somewhat of a rarity these days, so I thought I'd mention that).
* I have to say one of the things that first struck me about this device was when I opened the box and REALLY realized just how much smaller it was than I imagined. I have to say I was getting a little skeptical when I saw the size, but that wore off pretty fast when I picked it up. This thing, though small feels REALLY sturdy and VERY well made. The casing feels like some kind of metal or metal alloy, it's black with a good finish. I imagined this thing going on my entertainment stand, but to be honest it would get so lost, so I would probably more than likely just stick it on the back of the TV somehow. --[Minor -ve here: Two of the components at the back were slightly out of line with the cut-outs. This did not affect the plugging in of cables or anything, but it just might be noticeable really close up by the REALLY persnickety people out there. Definitely not an issue though as you might not even notice it.]--
* Another rarity is that this thing actually comes with a manual. The manual is pretty decent as well, I found it informative. --[Minor negative: I think the print may be a little small for some persons with less than 20/20 vision, but again, not a deal breaker.]--
* In terms of functionality. Hooking it up was REALLY simple. I'll probably do an update when I hook it up via HDMI, but the component cable that came with is pretty good. I just connected the cable, connected a (FAT32 file system) USB drive (doesn't seem to work with the NTFS file system) and powered it on via the included power adapter. That was it! It boots in like 2 seconds to its media menu to access files, play movies, music, etc. The remote has a whole lot of buttons as you can see by the pics, but it is easy to navigate. --[I think there is a chance that people with plump fingers MAY have a challenge there]--
* So I got a movie going ("300" in xVid format). This thing looked and sounded GREAT on my LCD. Finding the file to play was also easy, it uses an explorer-like interface to navigate the folders, etc. --[BIG +ve: A very nice surprise was that my DVD rip of 300 was in 2 different files within the folder on the USB drive. I didn't even notice until I finished testing because this thing just seamlessly ran from one file to next with the most subtle of jitter.]--
* Another positive, is that despite what the manual cautions us against, it hot-swaps gracefully, meaning I can plug in or out my storage device at will and this thing will "refresh" itself.
* Having been thoroughly impressed by how it handled the movie and all the controls (play, rewind, forward, etc.) I decided to really test it out. I threw a few other movies at it from the VERY recent rips and encoding to some really OLD ones... like pre-xVid old. Interestingly it did better than I thought, running my "Office Space" (old Div-X) rip without a hitch of any kind, but had some problems on much older titles... I think the CDs I had these on were probably scratched anyways. I had it actually run some really old rips, but had occasional skipping or synching problems... problems that definitely looked codec related. --[-ve: So far I haven't seen a way to upgrade the codecs of this device.]--
* I threw some audio files at this thing as well, again I was surprised as I think the audio fidelity was better than I thought and actually pretty impressive by any standards. The music files also auto-advanced just like the movies did, which makes setting up a playlist really easily --[I didn't see a way to readily configure or open a playlist]--
* The device actually multitasks pretty well as I can leave the audio running and go do some other stuff on the device... smooth, no hitches. Oh and another great thing... the music in the folder will auto-loop by default. There is a symbol there that suggests that this can be turned off if desired --[I haven't been able to find it yet.]--
* Returning to the home screen could be a little obvious but no biggie, there are lotsa different ways so it's probably just me.
All in all I REALLY luv this little player. I am just finishing up a deck out back to be little outdoor room for me. I think I'll attach this little device to my LCD screen that I'm planning to mount. The fact that it uses SD Card make this really possible as well because it adds to the portability of it. I would recommend this as a REALLY good buy if you're the kind that has many DVD rips lying around, need a player on the go for when you're traveling, or need a hardware music player that works with a screen. The 4 of 5 stars is because there are 1 or 2 little things (as mentioned) that could use some improvement.
That's it for now, I will update below with any additional findings.
UPDATE [Jan 30, 2012]: I was able to connect the device via HDMI now,looks GREAT as you can imagine, audio travels across the HDMI and works great. I re-tested the OSD as well, hoping it would look nice and crisp. There was slight improvement, I could actually now read what the text says (couldn't with the included composite cable), even though it still wasn't crisp at all.
Also, it could just be me, but it would seem that booting the device with some connected media adds about a second to the boot-time of the device.Pros:
-Very small
-Connects with HDMI
-Can read my 1TB portable hard drive, which my PS3 can't do
-Yet to find a file it can't play
-The remote works from relatively far away, but must be aimed directly at the sensor, not just in the general vicinity
-Displays entire titles in alphabetical order. (I had a phillips DVD player that could play various files types through USB flashdrive, but all of the titles displayed were cut off and out of order. Playing the file you wanted was a guessing game.)
Cons:
The remote battery died within the first week. This thing is totally useless without the remote and, unfortunately, doesn't run off AA. I had to go to 3 stores before finally finding the 3V CR2025 watch battery it uses. Of course I can get it on Amazon, but then I have to wait 2 days before I can use my fancy new gadget. I'm hoping the remote just came with a dud and that this doesn't need to be replaced once a week. I'm keeping spare batteries stocked in the TV cabinet just in case.
I have started to get used to the remote layout, but I don't like it. The buttons are small and close together. I wish the fast forward/rewind buttons were linked to the larger arrow keys like other remotes I've used.
When fast forwarding/rewinding it takes an extra few seconds while it thinks about it before it starts the action.
The titles play automatically from one to the next (at least they play in order for TV shows), but I would prefer if it would return to the menu after an episode ends. It plays continuously and once it gets to the last episode, repeats the whole folder. It never ends unless you stop it manually, so if you fall asleep with it on, it runs all night. I have been trying to figure out how to change this, but can't find anything in the settings and the manual is unhelpful. The repeat button seems to only turn it on and won't cycle back to off. My PS3 for example goes to menu after one episode and if I don't do anything for a period of time, the system shuts off.
Overall this is a good player for a great price, considering all the file types it can play, but takes some time getting used to the few operational annoyances.
I'm thinking about returning this and getting the Micca MPLAY-HD even though it's more expensive. If I do I'll edit this and post a comparison review.
UPDATE: 06/23/12
Less than a month later and I've already had to change the battery in the remote twice. This is especially annoying because of the CR2025 watch battery it uses, as I mentioned above.
The AV cable it comes with never worked at all. Now it doesn't even connect with HDMI unless I unplug the power and plug it back in. I know it's not the HDMI cable.
Initial impression was that this was an awesome little device and ended up being a real piece of junk. I am lowering this to 1 star and I will be attempting to return it.After struggling with a PS3 and irritating Cinavia...followed by a Roku device that recognized almost nothing attached to it...the Incredisonic was a last ditch effort to get a proper media player setup re-established. Thanks to the seemingly endless positive reviews for the Incredisonic IMP150, I decided to give this no frills player a shot.
Wow.
I can't believe how good this thing works, likewise the simplicity of navigation and file access. To date, it's played everything I've thrown at it, and does an excellent job in quickly accessing attached devices for quick play via HDMI.
A handful of advice quickies mostly echoed elsewhere:
1. The IR sensor is VERY delicate. Ensure the device is on a clear sight path, or be pressing buttons to no where. Be careful with blocking the sensor via cables from the adjacent USB port. There's a blue power light next to sensor as a reference point.
2. On a related note, the included remote is poorly detected, also non-descript (with nearly all buttons identical). Another reviewer suggested purchasing the URC WR7 remote as a replacement; outstanding advice.
3. Yet another device that can't read 3TB drives. (Ugh.) Caveat emptor here.
4. An odd power hiccup will turn on external devices manually plugged into the IMP150 when the device is supposedly turned off. Turning on the IMP150...then off again...will subsequently power down the USB device attached to it.
In sum: the IMP150 isn't pretty in design and menu...and its remote is lacking. Still, it's an absolute steal at its price point, a wonderful solution that does what devices 6x the price can't.
**FYI: Latest firmware: **pros:
1. small size
2. great interface
3. start fast
4. take no time to scan files on the hard drive (500G)
cons:
1. black color on the remote makes it very hard to read the letter
2. freeze once a while when playing some files
TIPS:
1. if it crash when loading subtitles, try turn off subtitle and then turn it on in OSD mode. notice that it's not easy to find the OSD button on the remote. this tip comes from jkh
2. do not plug the power cable in AV outlet!
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