5 responses so far ↓

• 1 Furman

  My O!play not only doesn’t play the files its supposed to (even with the newest firmware) but it also destroyed my home theater speakers. While playing a file O!play froze and sent a maxed out volume screech of constant static through my home theater system destroying my speakers! The only way to get the O!play to stop was to unplug it.

  ASUS Technical support and customer support have been horible. First they refuse to even replace the O!play unit even though they think it is defective. Second they refuse to replace the speakers it destroyed. ASUS has the worst customer service I’ve ever seen…their manager even laughed at my misfortune. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT…YOU MAY END UP LIKE I DID WITH A MALFUNCTIONING UNIIT THAT DESTOYS A $1000 WORTH OF SPEAKERS. So now I have to go to court, file with the better business bureau and my state attorney’s office.

  I’ll never buy another ASUS product again.

• 2 Morton

  Bought both the WD TV Live and the O!play to solve my problem of streaming recorded TV from my Windows 7 PC to my Samsung LED TV. I wouldn’t have to do that if the Samsung TV was capable of performing as advertised, but its UPnP and DLNA support, and networking capabilities are horrible.

  Why do I mention that? Well, its a common thread for all these devices. You see, manufacturer’s now believe that embedded Linux is the way to go as all these devices are using it. Problem is, the firmware, support, and resulting performance are cr*p. If you are Linux developer, and can recompile the kernel, you might get your TV/Media Player to do what you want it to, otherwise you’re out of luck.

  While the O!Play IS better than the WD HD TV Live, that’s not saying much. It can render well, and has wide codec support, but, it’s firmware is flaky, especially in the networking and UPnP departments. You can only upgrade the firmware by USB, and even then Asus doesn’t provide release notes, so you won’t know what you are getting or why.

  Long story short – these devices are not ready for prime-time, especially if you are needing to integrate them into a Windows PC network. Both are on their way back to Amazon.

• 3 Fish

  First thing you do when you get your hands on this baby is to Upgrade the Firmware. Win 7 doc support is not that gr8 & if you took sometime like me to configure @ home network then you need to quickly create user a/c for in Win 7 & use the a/c to gain access to network folder on your Win 7 pc/shared drive.

  & ya.. don’t bother about Wifi/n channel thing if you can hook this up with cat5 cable to your network. I don’t think you will be a looser without wifi.. might as well same some $$$

  It does what is says El Perfecto! Browser with flash support & USB keyboard/DVD drive support are the lacking aspect that i can think off.. Is it too much to ask for from Linux firmware Image?

• 4 Harrison

  Please note because this media player comes with little to no instructions being tech-savvy or Internet Forum savvy is a must! Or being a stubborn mule who refuses to give up. Or knowing someone who are tech-savvy. Or being a wizard … cause as Harry Potter has taught us wizards.are.cool!

  With that note in mind (I am tech savvy) I can honestly say that the O Play is one of the most affordable/best media players out on the market right now. This little puppy played everything I threw at it, MKV’s, MPG’s, ISO’s, you name it, it plays it. Asia films with subtitles, check, Anime with subtitles, check, movies I ripped myself, movies that I borrowed from the Internet, check check check! I have been looking for something like this for a looonnnnngggg time.

  My current rig is as follows:

  TV: Toshiba 32″ LCD
  Connector: HDMI
  Player: Asus O Play
  Media Storage: 2TB DLINK DNS-323 NAS

  Previously I was playing movies through my PS3, but having to convert files to MPG wasn’t fun. Sure you could use PlayOn or Tversity but that requires leaving my computer on, more wasted electricity. To me that’s a stupid thing, you have a network, you have a NAS, why the eff can’t the PS3 play any and all media files directly from the NAS without converting or leaving an external system on? Alas it couldn’t and spending the time to convert just became too frustrating. The O Play does this beautifully though. Setup was a snap for me, I plugged it in, it detected my NAS/media folders, and I was good to go. I play all my movies through the NAS without any issue. Can’t comment on the USB or esata, I’ve not used them yet but I doubt they’ll be an issue.

  Now don’t get me wrong, this player can’t do things like UPnP for Hulu or Netflix, but since I don’t care for either its perfect for me. However others may feel that having Hulu or Netflix available is a necessity, if that’s the case don’t buy this thing, get the Brite-View BV-5005HD, that does everything the O Play does + UPnP. Of course the one caveat is the computer has to be on, so again pass. Another issue about the O Play is that the remote is weak sauce, it works but that’s about it. You may have range issues, I have to move closer occasionally before the O Play will register the remote, but it’s a minor complaint.

  For people who are a fan of the K.I.S.S. philosophy buying the O Play is a no brainer.

  It would be remiss of me to not point this out. If you’re really considering the O Play you should also research the Brite View BV5005HD CinemaTube. It has O Play like playability and some additional features such as Bit Torrent and UPnP for only $10.00 more. However if none of those things matter to you stick with the O Play.

• 5 Fields

  For how much media players cost now you could easily set yourself back $130-$300+. Why do that when the Asus O!play offers this much compatibility and functionality for the price?

  I admit, this is my first day using the product, so this will be the use of both a first time customer for a media player and the first day use of it.

  After getting the product you get all that is shown and told in their reviews. The power cord/power brick, the av cable, the unit itself, and an instructional cd and quick start guide. No hdmi cable, so you will need to get your own. You can get one for $5 ((which is the price+shipping)) on amazon for a 6 ft hdmi M to hdmi M so it isn’t a big deal price wise.

  Installation of the unit is quite easy for a tv, just plug in the respective things, and you are good to go. When you first power on the unit you will be greated with a setup. Asking you for screen quality, time, and other things.(This should only take a few minutes top) After that you are put to the main menu.

  As I ordered this on the 13th or so, it came with firmware 1.17 already installed. The latest on Asus is 1.18, which I updated to with minimal effort. For those of you who just download 1.18 it did now come with the installation guide with it, but it is quite easy to do: Insert a blank usb thumbdrive with the image file inserted(from the Asus download site) then go to setup and then “reinstall”. When you select to reinstall it will say it will go up to the version on your stick. After you okay this it will then proceed to do the update, at first the unit will look like it is off and that it isn’t doing anything, but after a minute the update screen will show up and then it will go to the latest version. The only minor(and I mean minor) issue with the reinstall is that you have to redo the settings you did when you first installed the unit, but this is trivial and not that big of a deal.

  As for playing files, the only file types I have thrown at it so far are AVIs, soon I will use the others, but it plays the files just fine. There isn’t really that much of a lag time. The only point that it has it is a minor amount when it goes to show you the preview of the file, and it is a fairly short wait so not that important.

  For a final note from a new buyer and user of this product, I do recommend it for those looking for a cheap and quality media player for their home. While the unit is bigger on the picture in comparison to the WDTV, it is in no way “bulky” It is quite smaller than some of our other devices including our mini dvd player which we thought was small. So if you are in the market, go cheap and go quality and get the Asus O!play.

You must log in to post a comment.