Easyrider's Playon HD mini review thread.

easyrider · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:24

Ok I have just checked my emails and I have had a quite a few emails asking me about the Playon HD mini after just receiving it yesterday.

So I thought I would start a thread about it.

Below are a couple of pictures

The unit is tiny and totally silent.

Up to now after a play and 3 firmware updates I can honestly say for the money this unit rocks.

It plays MKV files with DTS audio flawlessly. Scanning and searching through the film is faster than the PS3 and I have had zero sync issues.

The IQ is no different from the PS3

The menu's are OK visually ( one of the weak areas) but this will be addressed with firmware updates. The latest BETA release has made the GUI look much nicer and perform smoother and quicker. The firmware it came with was horrible.

Setting it up was very easy...I connected it to the network my manually giving it an IP address although this get be set to auto via the menu using DHCP.

I paid 79 delivered and wouldn't hesitate to have them dotted around the house.

One great feature is the MKV and Subtitle playback one thing I missed when streaming from the PS3...You can resize the SUBS in realtime while watching the film which is a great little feature.

Now the JUKE BOX feature, one of the reasons for me buying this unit. I pointed the the JUKE BOX at the index file on the server and loaded it.

It took 8 mins 45 seconds to load. This is to be expected for the first time due to the scanning of the JUKE BOX folder containing the Film info.

But once this is done it loads nearly instantly after that. Navigation is fine for my needs and the thing just works.

I have done a HD video of the menus etc...and will upload that for you to check it out and make a decision on whether a unit like this is right for you.

EDIT:

Latest Downloads here

Beta Firmware Here

Videos of menus etc...in 1080p

insane200 · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:29

Sounds great, but i dont really get what it does ! do you connect an external Hdd to it or does it stream over your network from a pc ?

rjk · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:31

looks good easy,

what do you think of the interface? is it web based?

im looking at something like this for the folks as i want my atom/ion based system back from them

any stutter or problems at all with HD playback?

easyrider · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:31

insane200 said:
Sounds great, but i dont really get what it does ! do you connect an external Hdd to it or does it stream over your network from a pc ?

You can do either. You can plug USB drives into and play the files from there or stream them from a NAS or Server over the network.

I have all my movies stored on my Windows Home server.

Bry · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:32

Great review thanks,

could we get some screenshots of the interface? I am especially interested in the jukebox view as well as the settings options

blairw · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:34

I REALLY like aeon xbmc setup, but if this is going to be less hassle I could be tempted!

craptakular · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:40

Had mine since Jan, it's awesome!

Link to the beta firmware and jukebox stuff?

I have never got around to setting it up hehe

lunarwolf · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:43

thx for the info

ThorpedoUK · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:54

Thanks easyrider, nice thread.

I was lurking considering wether or not to buy this myself when I saw your posts in the other thread!

I am stuck in two minds, wether to go for an additional PC for this (HTPC) using AMD 1055T and 4GB RAM (running XMBC Aeon), a Dune 3.0 Base system or get this and run off my existing PC (WMC in my sig), I'd rather NOT use my existing PC though as its a nice gaming rig, I also need something to run VMWARE, would XMBC run ok in VMWARE? (with that proc it should have no trouble????!)

easyrider, can I ask how you've got your LAN rigged at home? are you using ethernet over the power supply or 1Gb cat-5 etc?

insane200 · 2 Sep 2010 at 22:55

easyrider said:
You can do either. You can plug USB drives into and play the files from there or stream them from a NAS or Server over the network.

I have all my movies stored on my Windows Home server.

Cheers, will be something im looking to do when we move.

easyrider · 2 Sep 2010 at 23:23

rjkoneill said:
looks good easy,

what do you think of the interface? is it web based?

im looking at something like this for the folks as i want my atom/ion based system back from them

any stutter or problems at all with HD playback?

I have had no issues with Stutter either from the Network streaming or the HDD playback.

The interface is quite good a massive improvement over the one it came with.

Its still not in the league of the PS3 interface though..But for me the point is the Files it plays and the cost.

Lets face it 79 quid is nowt

easyrider · 2 Sep 2010 at 23:24

Bry said:
Great review thanks,

could we get some screenshots of the interface? I am especially interested in the jukebox view as well as the settings options

Will do.

I am uploading a short video to youtube of the menus in action.

easyrider · 2 Sep 2010 at 23:27

ThorpedoUK said:
Thanks easyrider, nice thread.

I was lurking considering wether or not to buy this myself when I saw your posts in the other thread!

easyrider, can I ask how you've got your LAN rigged at home? are you using ethernet over the power supply or 1Gb cat-5 etc?

Its simple and cheap and works. A HTPC will have better looking menus and will be more tweakable but I bought it for movie playback and MKV and SUBS support.

I have a server with all my media on connected via GIGABIT Cat 6 going into a HP Gigabit switch.

craptakular · 2 Sep 2010 at 23:45

Cool running YamJ GUI now!

craptakular · 2 Sep 2010 at 23:46

73/786 files done. Going to take a while

Matrix · 3 Sep 2010 at 00:59

Thanks for the review.

Have you tried HD Audio yet using a blu ray iso or folder? If so how did you get on?

I don't use mkv I only use blu ray files.

Reality Bites · 3 Sep 2010 at 08:35

Matrix said:
Thanks for the review.

Have you tried HD Audio yet using a blu ray iso or folder? If so how did you get on?

I don't use mkv I only use blu ray files.

This is also the key for me. HD audio and bluray iso's are a must for me. Also, have you got it working with your logitech remote?

wellibob · 3 Sep 2010 at 09:07

Hope you got the rather nice hdmi lead that the mini comes with

Participant · 3 Sep 2010 at 11:08

easyrider said:
You can do either. You can plug USB drives into and play the files from there or stream them from a NAS or Server over the network.

No Firewire or eSATA :eek:

Schizophonic · 3 Sep 2010 at 11:43

Reality Bites said:
This is also the key for me. HD audio and bluray iso's are a must for me.

Interested in this as well. I'm going to keep my HTPC but just want to know how well Media players are handling HD sound. Does it play rvmb files?